case analysis

Case Analysis (200 Points Total—40% of Your Grade)

General Case Instructions

The case assignment is due NO LATER THAN the date and time listed below, as well as on the syllabus. I will NOT accept late assignments, unless you have a university-approved excuse. The case should be submitted to their corresponding “Assignment Submission Folder” in D2L. If for some reason you have difficulty uploading your assignment to the D2L folder, e-mail it to me and explain the situation in your e-mail. I will start downloading assignments from D2L soon the morning after they are due. Follow the instructions for the case very carefully. All written assignments in this course need to be submitted in a Microsoft Word document that is compatible with Microsoft Office-Windows. Make sure your name appears somewhere within the document that you submit. You can include a cover page, but it is not required. Please use 12-point Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins, and double-space your assignments. NOTE: References are very important to quality case analysis. The more references you use, the better . You should use as many as you need in order to back up all of your ideas, thereby creating a stronger analysis. Some references are better than others. I frown upon the use of internet websites as references and rarely give credit for them!!! Scholarly journal articles (and scholarly books) earn you scholars more points!!! With most websites, anyone can post anything they want on the website and no review process is utilized. With peer-reviewed scholarly journal articles, a strict review process is implemented in order to make sure that only the most useful and factual information is printed. Some journals implement a stricter process than others, so some journals are considered to be better than others (there are A-level, B-level, and C-level journals). I have provided a list of journals that are considered to be very good journals in the field (in D2L under “Course Materials”). You should try to use articles from some of the highest-ranked journals in your assignment. You should use the textbook for guidance and cite it when you use information from it. However, it does NOT count as an outside reference since you are expected to read it for the class and I want you to be seeking information from other sources. Stretching above and beyond the “required” readings for the course is what graduate school education is all about. Specifically, I would like you to find and use as much empirical evidence (findings from actual research studies…which you find in many journal articles) as possible. Books are acceptable, but try to use more empirical articles than books. With respect to APA formatting, I am only concerned with your formatting with respect to in-text citations (references) and your reference page. You do not have to provide an abstract, use headings in a certain way, or anything else that the guidelines I gave you state. Just use the guidelines for your references. I want all of you to submit original work with properly referenced support from other sources.

IMPORTANT POINT #1: Use as many high quality references as you can find to back up your analysis and opinions.

IMPORTANT POINT #2: Your required text for this class DOES NOT count as outside reference. You can use and cite it, but make sure you have enough outside references to support your ideas.

IMPORTANT POINT #3: Proofread your analysis before submitting it to me. Prior to submitting your assignment to me, you can also send your papers to the online writing center available through the school and they can help you develop your writing skills. Clear and effective communication is a vital management skill.

Specific Case Instructions

***Please include the following FOUR distinct sections/headings in your case assignments: (1) Identification of Critical Issues; (2) Analysis of Critical Issues; (3) Recommendations; (4) References.

Case: Lincoln Electric (200 Points)—Due December 4th by 11:30 PM

Based upon your reading of the assigned text for this class (the OB book by Bauer and Erdogan) and the Lincoln Electric case that was provided to you under the “Course Materials” content tab in D2L, identify as many organizational behavior (OB) related issues/topics as you can in the case. Label this section “Identification of Critical Issues”. Present them in list or bulleted form on the first page of your assignment. In the next section of your assignment labeled “Analysis of Critical Issues”, discuss each of the OB-related issues/topics (i.e., where you identified these issues in the case, how well they were carried out, why the way Lincoln Electric carried out these OB issues/topics was good or bad, the resulting outcomes, etc.). Also, make sure that you include as much reference support as possible in order to back up your discussion. In a separate section entitled “Recommendations”, I would also like you to recommend some other things that the company could have done to improve upon any of these OB issues/topics or alternative ways of doing things (even if you think that LE has done everything pretty well, discuss some things they could have done differently). Be as thorough as you can in your discussion and provide reference support for your recommendations. Include the full citations for all of your references on your “Reference” page at the end of your analysis, following the APA Guidelines that I provided you in “Course Materials”. You will be evaluated in accordance with the grading rubric provided at the end of this document. Submit this assignment to the Case “Assignment Submission Folder”.

NOTE: My grading of these cases will be largely holistic and comparative. If one student submits a case that is 20 pages of rational analysis, makes quality recommendations, includes 40 references for support, and is well-written, that student’s grade will be dramatically higher than a student who submits 5 pages, includes only 5 references, does not provide a rational analysis or recommendations, and has a bunch of spelling and grammar errors. I reward A-level work and appreciate and value those students who are willing to go above and beyond and put an extreme amount of effort into their work. If you do the bare minimum to just scrape by in this class, your grades will reflect that. I expect a lot out of my graduate students, just as my professors expected a lot out of me when I was in graduate school. Cases require a substantial amount of work and you will get frustrated at times. Just put in the effort and it will pay off in the end. Always try to work ahead so that you don’t get into a bind at the last minute. Case analyses always take longer than you think.

Case Analysis Grading Rubric

	Far Exceeds Standards	Exceeds Standards	Meets Standards	Fails to Meet Standards
Identification of Critical Issues/Topics I will consider how many valid critical issues/topics that you identify in the case. Score:	Identifies all of the critical organizational behavior issues/topics. (23-25)	Identifies most of the critical organizational behavior issues/topics. (20-22)	Identifies many of the critical organizational behavior issues/topics. (18-19)	Identifies few, if any, critical organizational behavior issues/topics. (17 or Less)
Depth of Analysis of Critical Issues/Topics I will consider how detailed your analysis is and how far into depth you go in your discussion of the critical issues/topics that you identify in the case. Score:	Thoroughly discusses, evaluates, and analyzes each organizational behavior issue/topic, providing convincing and supported arguments. (90-100)	Discusses, evaluates, and analyzes each organizational behavior issue/topic, but could have gone into more depth. (80-89)	Discusses, evaluates, and analyzes most of the organizational behavior issues/topics, but could have gone into much more depth. (70-79)	Fails to discuss, evaluate, and analyze each organizational behavior issue/topic and lacks any significant degree of depth. (69 or Less)
Generates Alternatives and Recommendations Score:	Generates several high-quality alternative solutions; Recommendations are well-argued and based on thorough analysis and fully supported by references. (23-25)	Generates two or more high-quality alternative solutions; Recommendations are based on thorough analysis and fully supported by the analysis. (20-22)	Generates two or more alternative solutions; Recommendations are not based on the previous analysis nor fully supported by references. (18-19)	Proposes only one (or no) alternative solution(s). The one recommendation (if any) is not based on the previous analysis nor supported by references. (17 or Less)
Literature Review of the Managerial Issues—Reference Support The more reference support you use, the better. The quality of the journals is also important. Score:	Provides a complete and clear review of the scholarly journal literature. Empirical research from multiple journal articles provided support for why each issue was included. Several of the journal articles used came from top-tier journals. (45-50)	Provides a substantial and clear review of the scholarly journal literature. Some, but not all, issues were supported by empirical research from journal articles. More references could have been used and more could have come from top-tier journals. (40-44)	Provides an adequate and clear review of the journal literature, but several issues lacked strong support from the empirical research presented in journal articles. Most of the articles came from lower-level journals. (35-39)	Provides an incomplete review of the journal literature and fails to support the knowledge associated with each identified managerial issue. The few articles that were used came from low-level journals or websites. (34 or Less)
Total Score:	___ out of 200