Case Analysis Approach/Methodology

Objectives

The purpose of the oral presentation or written case analysis is to demonstrate that you can: Apply the theories and concepts of organizational behavior correctly to the specific situation. Identify organizational behavior approaches and actions that will deal effectively with a problem. Present your ideas and opinions in a well-organized form.

Please keep these objectives in mind while preparing your analysis of the assigned cases.

Problem-orientated approach

The oral presentation and written report should be organized under the following headings:

I. Symptoms and evaluation of key factors
The symptoms should be stated in point form (such as, "employee turnover rate was higher than
industry average", or "the firm is experiencing lower profits than the industry average"). A symptom is telling us that something is the matter. A symptom is a fact, something that we observe, etc. It is a direct observation statement in the case; it is evidence suggesting what the root problem or cause might be.
The question to ask is: "Am I referring to symptoms, or the problem?" Be sure that you do not interpret or make conclusions.

II. Statement of the problem
This should be brief, one sentence statement of the problem in organizational behavior terms. It must be specific, such as "The supervisor did not use active listening skills," and not "the problem is poor communication." The problem statement needs to be specific enough that you can apply a specific course of action. You can word the statement as sentence, such as "The problem is..." or you can ask in a question format, such as "What can the manager do to motivate the employees to maintain performance standards?"
The question to ask is "Have we identified the basic organizational behavior problem?"
Be careful, sometimes students get caught in not identifying the root cause of the fundamental issues that are causing the problem. For example, is it really the manager's fault? Or is it the organization's fault?

III. Analysis (or causes of the problem)
This section discusses what has led to the problem identified. Only the information pertinent to the problem is discussed. The major objective in this section is to illustrate clearly your understanding of organizational behavior concepts (introduced in the problem statement) to what is occurring in the case; and to demonstrate that you are applying the course material in an appropriate fashion. It is important that your analysis is supported by information in the case. If you make assumptions, be sure that they are stated.

The questions to ask are:
Do the causes I have identified relate to the organizational behavior problems(s stated in Section II?