Case Study A: "Superintendent Briggs is Bust Creating Visions Today"

Mary Briggs is the superintendent of schools of a city school district comprised of more than 60 schools. Including pre-kindergarten, elementary, middle, and high schools. The school district has approximately 50,000 students enrolled at any one time. Many of the students are doing well, but the school district is also beset with many problems. Fewer than 50 percent of the students graduate from high school, and only about 10 percent of high school student's graduates are considered ready for college or employment.

The local press, many parent groups, and the office of the mayor voice frequent complaints about performance of the city schools. Some people blame the teachers and the school principles for the problems. Others blame the parents and the neighborhood influences for the problems. Still others blame the problems of the school district on Superintendent Briggs, who, as a leader, should be able to fix most of the problems facing the district, they believe.

A member of the school board recently asked Mary Briggs what she perceived to be the most important part of her job. Briggs replied, "I do visions. As a leader my job is to help create a better future for the schools, our students, and our teachers. I see a great future for our schools in which most of our students develop the skills and intellect to prepare them for the modern world. Many of our students will become leaders in our society, no matter what field they enter."

The school board member replied, "Thanks, Dr. Briggs, but I thought you might be working on problems like there not being enough money in the food program for our poorest students."

During the workday, school principals and vice principals often send Briggs e-mails asking her advice for dealing with an immediate problem, such as a student physically assaulting a teacher or another student in the classroom. Usually it takes about twenty-four hours to receive a response.

As an alternative to sending Briggs an e-mail about an important operational problem, some principals or vice principals will attempt to get through to her on the telephone. Usually, the calls go to voice mail. On occasion, the call does get through to Briggs' administrative secretary. A response from the assistant that has come to irritate many of the principals and vice principals, is "Sorry, Superintendent Briggs is busy creating visions today. So she cannot talk with you unless this problem is a total emergency." As a result, the phrase "Superintendent Briggs is busy creating visions today" has become a punch line for many jokes among principals, vice principals, and teachers

CASE STUDY INSTRUCTIONS

For the case studies in this course, it is strongly recommended that you follow the prescribed step-by-step approach to analysis before you attempt to answer any of the questions in the textbook.

Step 1: Frame the key issues, or identify the problem statement.

Step 2: Analyze the likely contributory factors and determine which of those factors are the likeliest to be the root causes.

Step 3: Determine possible solutions that solve the problem.

Step 4: Analyze the proposed solutions and determine the advantages and disadvantages of each. Consider the tradeoffs that may be necessary in order to implement the solutions. Also consider any possible unintended consequences or ramifications associated with the proposed solution.

Step 5: Make your final recommendations. If you follow these simple steps, there is a greater chance that you will solve the right problem with the right solution, rather than solving the wrong problem with the wrong solution.

Make sure to set paper up like so:

Tips on How to Improve the Case Study Analyses

• In Step 1, state your key issue as a problem statement. Avoid any conclusions, or causal factors in the statement. Focus on the effects of the problem, rather than the causes of the problem. The key issue statement can be phrased in a declarative manner, or as a question.

• Often, the key issues can be found embedded in the questions that follow the case studies. Those questions should give you a good idea as to what the key issues are.

• For Step 2, don't settle on the first thing that pops into your head. Almost always there are numerous likely contributory factors that you need to consider. Some case studies are relatively simple, and some are very complex. Typically, there are at least 2 or 3... or more contributory factors that need to be considered in Step 2.

• Don't just list the factors in Step 2. Explain in a narrative form how the contributory factors in Step 2 are related to the key issues in Step 1.

• Make sure that your contributory factors in Step 2 align with the key issues in Step 1. In other words, you need to explain how the factors in Step 2 cause, or contribute to the issues in Step 1.

• Make sure that your solutions in Step 3 align with the causes and contributory factors in Step 2.

• Consider multiple solution options in Step 3. Don't just settle for the first thing that pops into your head. Consider all viable options... not just the ones that you think will work best.

• In Step 4, make sure that you provide advantages/disadvantages to all your solution options from Step 3. It is best to list them separately for each solution option.

• Every solution option has at least one disadvantage. If you can't think of one, it's because you're not trying hard enough.

• In Step 5, make sure that your recommendation was one of the solutions that you previously stated. Don't come up with a recommendation out of the blue that was not previously considered in the analysis.

I recommend that you follow the below outline. If you do, the chances of all five steps aligning with each other will be much greater.