Case Study Report

Prepare a case/report on orientation, training or development or other HR practice based on their work experience.

 Word count: 1,500 words.

A case study is a written description of a business problem or situation at a specific moment in time - it may be described as a 'snapshot in time'. A case study analysis is the critical review of that case information in combination with other secondary data to identify the problems or issues that are (or should be) important to that organization.

Source: Summers, J. & Smith, B. 2006 Communication Skills Handbook, 2nd edn, Wiley, Milton Queensland p.52.

Case studies are designed to provide students with opportunities to experience the challenges faced in real-life situations. The main objectives of any case study are to:

• assist students in learning to apply various theories through simulated problem solving and decision-making
• allow students to learn by doing through the application of principles, rather than through passive learning forms such as listening to lecturers and reading textbooks
• allow students to reinforce and apply theories and concepts in managerial contexts
• develop students' analytic and judgement skills
• help students express their views about a case in a concise and logical way.

Keep these objectives in mind while preparing your analysis of the case.

It is most important that you note the Academic Dishonesty Policy outlined in the topic guide. The penalties for dishonesty are severe.

The marking and assessment criteria are included. Review this carefully before commencing your assignment.

2- Prepare a case/report on orientation, training and/or development practices or other HR practice based on your recent work experience. If you have more than one recent work experience, base your report on only one experience. The following aspects are to be included in your report:

1. Background to the organisation upon which you are basing your report. Include what the organisation - or part of the organisation in which you work - does; that is, their main business activities. Include the size of the company (e.g., how many employees the organisation, or the division in which you work, has);

2. Describe the orientation, training and/or development practices or other HR practice which you experienced in the workplace. This means describing practices you and/or your group experienced as they are, not as they should be (e.g., according to the text, articles etc). Explain to what extent, and how, if at all, the organisation uses these practices in order to organize and manage their personnel for performing their tasks effectively;

3. Critical evaluation - Conduct a critical evaluation of the orientation, training and/or development practices or other HR practice you experienced based on the literature. This means you look at your experience with the orientation, training and/or development practices/s or other HR practice, and then examine the extent to which your experience with these practices is consistent with how the text says orientation, training and/or development should be conducted. Students who are doing a report in a group should compare each group member's experience too.

If your experience relates to a large organisation, compare your experience with the orientation, training and/or development practices prescribed in the text, as in general, these are relevant to large organisations. If your experience is based on a small to medium sized organisation (defined as an organisation with less than 200 employees), I will provide you with citations for relevant articles with which you may compare your experience;

4. Recommendations - with the above analysis as a background, give suggestions on how the orientation, training and/or development practices or other HR practice which you based your report, might be improved.

Please note: if you intend to prepare a report by interviewing staff (e.g., a HR personnel or a supervisor) in an organisation you must observe ethical guidelines as outlined on the University's website:

http://www.flinders.edu.au/sabs/research/ethics.cfm