MINI CASE ANALYSIS 800 WORDS PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIONS AND SEE ATTACHMENTS FOR RESOURCES AND ASSIGNMENT/CASE STUDY

ASSIGNMENT

To fully complete this case assignment, please read and analyze the assigned case. Be sure to speak in OB language throughout to reflect your knowledge of the terminology and concepts covered this week. Your response must be numbered as outlined below, and provide the following:

1.      Situation

In this section of the case analysis, you will focus on identifying situational aspects that have led to the situation being reported in the case. You are to explain the situation in Organizational Behavior terms specific to this week's material. These aspects should include relevant context, people-related, and organizational factors that have contributed to the current situation.  Creating this profile relies on your understanding and application of key concepts, frameworks, and theories contained in the text and other course materials. Please note that the focus of this is to highlight the OB related issues; however, it is understood that other management-related issues may also contribute to the situation. This section MUST explain the situation using terminology and related material from this week's textbook readings. Remember to cite appropriately.

 2.      Problem

The situational profile leads to the identification of the major problem in the case. For example, the case may frame the problem as personality and attitude, but the underlying OB problem may relate to organizational structure. Thus, you must analyze the situation deeper to uncover the foundational OB problem. In a case, there may be several problems; however, there is likely only one MAIN problem. All the other factors that appear to be problems are symptoms of the main problem. In this section, you will identify the ONE main problem and explain why it represents that main OB problem in this case. The problem MUST be stated in OB terms. Include specific examples from the case, textbook, and external sources to support your position. Be clear in your statement of the problem.

  3.      Case Question(s)

Identify the specific questions that must be addressed in order to solve the central problem identified. Think of what you would need to know in order to make a decision on how to solve the problem you have identified. Please note that these questions MUST be related to the problem that you have identified and you must explain why an answer to each question is necessary to solve the problem. What information do you have to know to solve the problem? Questions unrelated to solving the problem or those that are general and not specific to your problem will not meet these criteria. Consider internal and external factors that may have influenced the current situation, whether mentioned in the case or not. Think about the functional information required in order to accurately address the central problem. List each question and explain individually why each question is pivotal to solving the identified problem. Be clear and specific in your answers.

 4.      Alternative “Solutions” (3)

Present three separate and independent courses of action that could be enacted to solve the problem. For EACH alternative, be sure to explain the course of action, the organizational actors and resources required to complete, the benefits and risks of said action, and how/why the action could potentially solve the problem. Each action MUST solve the specific problem identified, and be independent of the others. Make your case with the support of internal and external sources. Number each alternative solution as 4a, 4b, 4c, etc.

 5.      Recommend

Identify and recommend the ONE solution out of those identified in item 4 above that is most tenable. You may not offer a combination of the alternatives; only ONE of the alternatives can be selected. Provide evidence to argue in favor of the chosen solution, explaining why this solution is the most tenable compared to the others, and is most appropriate to solve the problem identified. Assume you are presenting your idea to the organizational decision-makers; you want and need their agreement and support. Present a persuasive argument as to why this solution is the best solution for the problem, including support from course material, the field of OB, and other relevant factors as support for your argument. OB language must be used. Thoroughly support your position using internal and external sources.

 6.      Prediction

Briefly predict and paint a picture of what the situation looks like AFTER implementation of your recommended solution. How would the situation as outlined in your response to number one (above) change? How does the organizational experience change for the actors involved? Please note this is not a conclusion; it is a prediction of what the outcome will be and how the situation will be different after your recommendation is implemented.

CASE

Betty Kesmer was continuously on top of things. In school, she had always been at the top of her class. When she went to work for her uncle’s shoe business, Fancy Footwear, she had been singled out as the most productive employee and the one with the best attendance. The company was so impressed with her that it sent her to get an M.B.A. to groom her for a top management position. In school again, and with three years of practical experience to draw on, Kesmer had gobbled up every idea put in front of her, relating many of them to her work at Fancy Footwear. When Kesmer graduated at the top of her class, she returned to Fancy Footwear. To no one’s surprise, when the head of the company’s largest division took advantage of the firm’s early retirement plan, Kesmer was given his position. Kesmer knew the pitfalls of being suddenly catapulted to a leadership position, and she was determined to avoid them. In business school, she had read cases about family businesses that fell apart when a young family member took over with an iron fist, barking out orders, cutting personnel, and destroying morale. Kesmer knew a lot about participative management, and she was not going to be labeled an arrogant know-it-all. Kesmer’s predecessor, Max Worthy, had run the division from an office at the top of the building, far above the factory floor. Two or three times a day, Worthy would summon a messenger or a secretary from the offices on the second floor and send a memo out to one or another group of workers. But as Kesmer saw it, Worthy was mostly an absentee autocrat, making all the decisions from above and spending most of his time at extended lunches with his friends from the Elks Club. Kesmer’s first move was to change all that. She set up her office on the second floor. From her always-open doorway she could see down onto the factory floor, and as she sat behind her desk she could spot anyone walking by in the hall. She never ate lunch herself but spent the time from 11 to 2 down on the floor, walking around, talking, and organizing groups. The workers, many of whom had twenty years of seniority at the plant, seemed surprised by this new policy and reluctant to volunteer for any groups. But in fairly short order, Kesmer established a worker productivity group, a "Suggestion of the Week" committee, an environmental group, a worker award group, and a management relations group. Each group held two meetings a week, one without and one with Kesmer. She encouraged each group to set up goals in its particular focus area and develop plans for reaching those goals. She promised any support that was within her power to give. The group work was agonizingly slow at first. But Kesmer had been well trained as a facilitator, and she soon took on that role in their meetings, writing down ideas on a big board, organizing them, and later communicating them in notices to other employees. She got everyone to call her "Betty" and set herself the task of learning all their names. By the end of the first month, Fancy Footwear was stirred up. But as it turned out, that was the last thing most employees wanted. The truth finally hit Kesmer when the entire management relations committee resigned at the start of their fourth meeting. "I’m sorry, Ms. Kesmer," one of them said. "We’re good at making shoes, but not at this management stuff. A lot of us are heading toward retirement. We don’t want to be supervisors." Astonished, Kesmer went to talk to the workers with whom she believed she had built good relations. Yes, they reluctantly told her, all these changes did make them uneasy. They liked her, and they didn’t want to complain. But given the choice, they would rather go back to the way Mr. Worthy had run things. They never saw Mr. Worthy much, but he never got in their hair. He did his work, whatever that was, and they did theirs. "After you’ve been in a place doing one thing for so long," one worker concluded, "the last thing you want to do is learn a new way of doing it."