What mother never told you about Excel . . . it's not all number crunching

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to inform the general management community on the qualitative and visualization capabilities available to them through Excel.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a basic overview and illustration of a subset set of qualitative capabilities, along with some brief tutorials and tips on how to make use of these capabilities. Discussions are aimed at novices and those with experience in Excel alike. A reference for more in‐depth discussions and guidance is provided.Practical implicationsAccess to novel and powerful capabilities that have traditionally been under‐utilized in Excel are within grasp of any management research or practitioner, provided they know where to find some basic guidance and are intrepid enough to test it out. The wave of new, tech‐savvy management users is likely to have a pivotal impact on the way technology‐assisted decision making is thought of in the future.Originality/valueThe opportunity to open the eyes of a wider audience to the convenience and power of Excel as a development, decision support, research and teaching tool is of critical value. This work suggests that such awareness may be instrumental in changing the climate of organizational technology perspectives across a wide range of fields of practice.