Assignemnt: Critical Thinking and Persuasion

Instructions

You are an analyst for the Capital City Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (CMATA). CMATA is interested in hiring a management consulting firm to help overhaul CMATA's image and public transit system. Your boss, the head of Transit Operations and Planning for CMATA, has asked you to review two management consulting firms and recommend one firm for hire. Your recommendation should be presented in the Two-Criteria, Two-Alternative Decision Template (handout).

You should not include any outside information, e.g. data, studies, or reports, in support of your recommendation. Therefore, only the relevant criteria and facts from this business scenario prompt and your own reasonable inferences from those facts may be used in your final analysis. However, to understand the business concepts implicated in this prompt, you may find it necessary to conduct outside research for the sole purpose of familiarizing yourself with those concepts and effectively analyzing the prompt. You are strongly encouraged to conduct such research.

Your memorandum should include a proper memorandum heading (i.e. "To", "From", "Re", and "Date" lines). In addition, you should use Times New Roman 12-font type with one- inch margins and double-space your memorandum. Your completed assignment should be a minimum of 500 words and a maximum of 800 words (exclusive of the memorandum heading and any interim headings). You will not receive credit for any submissions below 500 words.

If you have any questions regarding Writing Assignment #1, please contact your professor.

Writing Assignment Business Scenario

The Capital City Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (CMATA) runs all of the public transit in Capital City-primarily an elevated train system that is about 100 miles long in total. A base fare for a ride anywhere in the train system is $3.50. Capital City is located in the northern part of the country and has a population of 2.5 million people. Its borders encompass approximately 200 square miles of land.

CMATA has been experiencing a significant decline in ridership, with a particularly drastic drop in the past year. Just five years ago, ridership averaged 700,000 daily but is now down to 410,000. While CMATA conducts appropriate maintenance of its trains, its fleet is older than those of most other major American cities.

CMATA experiences some equipment failures each winter, however this winter, Capital City has already experienced record-breaking snowfall within a short period of time and unprecedented breakdowns in the transit system. The significant snow accumulation has caused railway switches to freeze, failures in the trains' propulsion systems, and power losses. As a result, the transit system experienced two weeks of interrupted train service in December and January, with regular delays and periodic closures of almost every rail line.

CMATA's governing board is projecting a significant shortfall in CMATA's budget for next year. Almost all of CMATA's revenue is from fares and government subsidies. However, with the decline in ridership and fare revenues, CMATA is in serious trouble. Further, according to a recent poll conducted by Capital City's best-selling newspaper, there is a widespread perception that CMATA wastes money and runs an over-stressed and outdated transit system. That poll also concluded that many of Capital City's more affluent residents generally find public transportation to be "undignified".

Given the severity of CMATA's crisis, CMATA's governing board has concluded that a radical solution is necessary. It has decided to hire a management consulting firm to study the situation and recommend changes. The board has narrowed its choices to two firms, Transport Methods and J.D. Hunt Consulting. Using the following criteria, write an argument in favor of the board's hiring one firm rather than the other:

• The board wants to hire a firm with expertise particularly relevant to the issues CMATA is experiencing.
• The board wants to hire a firm with a proven record of success in devising radical business solutions.

Transport Methods is a firm that specializes in public transportation. Most of its consultants have degrees from top institutions and specialize in engineering, management sciences, or operations management. It has far more experience analyzing transit authorities than any other consulting firm in the nation. A sizable majority of the transit authorities that have employed Transport Methods have subsequently experienced satisfactory results. For example, Transport Methods consulted for the San Francisco metropolitan area transit system, a system

previously near failure due to operational issues. San Francisco is now ranked the second best transit system in the United States. The newest member of Transport Methods' team of consultants is a former airline executive who is known for advocating an overhaul of the nation's public transportation systems.

J.D. Hunt Consulting has experience in many industries but no experience in public transportation. All of its consultants have worked exclusively in the private sector. J.D. Hunt is mostly known as a Public Relations consulting firm but also has departments devoted to accounting and management consulting. J.D. Hunt services a wide array of clients ranging from Florida Power & Light Company to Goldman Sachs. In addition, J.D. Hunt consulted for Domino's Pizza in 2008 and 2009 when it recommended that the restaurant make major changes to its pizza recipe and created a corresponding marketing campaign. J.D. Hunt's most successful projects to date were the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Presidential campaigns for President Susan Steinberg. J.D. Hunt is the originator of the idea of centering an election campaign on the notion of "hope and change". J.D. Hunt is known within the industry as being "outside the box" and providing unique solutions for a wide array of problems its clients face.

Format for a Two Alternative/Two Criteria Decision Report

I. Introduction

A. Identify the issue presented (choice between two alternatives)
B. Identify the criteria for evaluation of the given alternatives
C. State your main conclusion

II. Evaluation of Selected Alternative

A. Discuss strengths regarding first criteria
B. Discuss weaknesses regarding first criteria
C. Discuss weaknesses regarding second criteria
D. Discuss strengths regarding second criteria
E. State your mini-conclusion for the selected alternative

III. Evaluation of Un-Selected Alternative

A. Discuss weaknesses regarding first criteria
B. Discuss strengths regarding first criteria
C. Discuss strengths regarding second criteria
D. Discuss weaknesses regarding second criteria
E. State your mini-conclusion for the un-selected alternative

IV. Conclusion

A. Compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of your two mini-conclusions
B. State your main conclusion.