Case Assignment 1
Kenneth Rains
BUSI600
Liberty University
Running head: Case Assignment 1 1
Companies that wish to stay competitive must find ways to retain and attract new
customers. Golf is a popular sport in America and throughout the country players can find public
and private course. Public courses often attract casual players that only seek playing on few
occasions where private courses seek memberships and tend to offer better courses and amenities
to its members. The NCR County Club prided itself on being “an award winning, championship-
hosting course on the PGA tour” (Cooper & Schindler, 2014, p.1). This popularity was enough to
attract new members but recently the club has found that it’s membership is declining and is
searching for ways to change this.
Decisions that are based foundations of knowledge and sound reasoning can lead
companies into long-term prosperity; conversely, decisions that are made on the basis of flawed
logic, emotionalism, or incomplete information can quickly put small businesses out of
commission (Decision Making, 2011). There are many methods that the club can use to develop
courses-of-action for improvement to include the Management-Research Question Hierarchy.
The Management-Research Question Hierarch is a six step processes that aims to help managers
identify and implement solutions in an effort to alleviate the management dilemma. The process
is composed of:
Management Dilemma
Management Question
Research Question(s)
Investigative Questions
Measurement Questions
Management Decision
Building the Management-Research Question Hierarchy
The Management Dilemma is a major part in the process as it identifies the cause or
reason for the management concern. If managers can’t identify or improperly identify their
problems they won’t be able to truly solve them. NCRR’s main problem is that its number of
memberships is on the decline and a good portion of its member are in the 55-64 age group.
Management must find ways to retain its current member while attracting new and younger
members. In the second step of the process management seeks ways to eliminate the problems
causing the management dilemma. This step involves the formation of a series of questions that
that seek to eliminate the root causes of the problem, such as:
What can be done to prevent the loss of our younger members?
How can we boost our membership rate?
The third step in the process is the generation of research questions. These questions
provide courses-of-action to managers and narrow down their plans for moving forward. This
series of question begin the formation of a structured plan and are similar to:
Should we reduce our membership costs?
Should we offer shorter contracts to entice new members?
The research questions that are formed require a great deal of research and thorough analysis. To
eliminate the course of action mangers utilize the investigative method. During this process
investigative questions are asked in an attempt to choose the best option from the list created
during the research process. The next step in the process is the measurement process which seeks
to quantify the possible benefits of each course of action. These questions are similar to:
If we reduce our membership costs how many new memberships will we gain?
If we reduce our contracts from 12 to 6 months how many memberships will we
gain?
The data gained from this round of questioning will determine which course of action
management will take. This round of questioning requires a lot of questions, pooling, and data
collection to ensure management has the best information possible prior to making their final
decision. The final step on the process is the management decision. During this process managers
take a final look at the process and ask the final question: Based on the data gathered should the
company reduce membership costs or reduce contracts from 12 to 6 months?
How Appropriate were the Measurement Questions?
The measurement questions were in line with what management needed answered. The
questioned sought answers as to what attracted the individual to the club, why the visited the
club, and their overall satisfaction with the club. The questionnaire also provided the individual
with the opportunity to handwrite their suggestions for the future growth of the club. If members
can assist in the direction of the club there is a good chance that they will remain members.
Members that have their voices heard truly feel like a part of their club and will take more pride
in being members. This will benefit the club as these members will promote the club in their
workplace, to their circle of friends, and will most likely enforce the clubs rules when at the
facility.
The goal of any business is to maximize profits and a healthy decision making process
assists companies in achieving this. By recognizing the needs of the business managers can tuey
asses the firms needs and develop ways to meet them. Communication is also important in
growth as it provides individuals with an opportunity to know what’s happening.
Communication should flow from the top to the bottom and from the bottom to the top which
allows the company to remain transparent and able to meet the demands of its customers.
References
Cooper, D. R., & Schindler, P. S. (2014). Business research methods (12th ed.). New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill. ISBN: 9780073521503.
Decision Making (2011). Reference for business. Encyclopedia of business (2nd ed.). Retrieved
from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/small/Co-Di/Decision-Making.html
Quast, L. (2011). How to prevent poor ethical decision-making. Forbes. Retrieved from
http://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2011/12/19/how-to-prevent-poor-ethical-decision-
making/
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