Read the case, “No Good Deed Goes Unpunishedâ€. Notice that this case was written by two other Troy professors as a learning opportunity for our students. Yes, this really did happen in a major metropolitan area in the U.S.
You will write a Draft case for your first case assignment. The end product should be polished and as complete as you can make it, given the constraints of the assignment. The assignment ends with the Formulation section of the paper, so everything needs to be in place and ready for the next piece of the case that will be added as the Week 5 assignment. The presentation needs to be professional, creative, and comprehensive, so you have less rework as you move into the Week 5 assignment. Use APA format, including front matter, and write full explanations according to directions in the lecture videos.
[ASSUMPTIONS]
1. Your team has been hired by the Arts Festival to help them, because they realize the problems with Mark and the drug store are extremely serious. The board of the Arts Festival is worried about their credibility and reputation in the community.
2. You were hired, because the Festival’s leadership cannot do this for themselves. What that means for you is that they do not need generic answers. They need specifics. For example, do not explain what “readiness to change†means. Instead, assess readiness to change and give your client your results. If they are not ready to change, where do they need to change? Specificity is your friend.
3. This is not a creative writing exercise even though you are working with creative people. This is a technical report that needs to be straightforward and concise.
4. This piece of the case will take you through analysis and recommendation, but will stop before the implementation plan.
Develop the case for change by fully completing the following tasks and by supporting your answers with outside sources. Be sure to cite your sources in the text and to include a list of references in APA format. Do NOT write this as a set of responses to each task. I have never seen a professional document that simply answered a list of questions. Instead, write your response as a report to a client and let your report demonstrate your professional proficiency in the resolution of complex problems through excellent communication. Your plan for the Festival needs to be fully fleshed out and, again, cannot rely on generic answers.
Formatting is very important in professional documents, so use strong formatting to help your reader stay with you through the process. Subheadings will help your reader understand your thought process. Look at all the formatting in your text book to get an idea about how important tables, subheadings, and other formatting conventions are to making documents readable.
Your job here is to diagnose the problems, analyze the internal and external environments of the organization, make and justify recommendations for improvement. Provide a cohesive report that will help the organization fully understand your change intentions.
[TASKS]
- Use the Case Outline and the other note and work sheets to help you structure the case in a logical manner.
- Identify and state the Assumptions for your case.
- Identify the symptoms that triggered an awareness of need for change. This is a short explanation that does not require you to restate the case. Instead, list the set of symptoms that arise from the organization’s current manner of doing business.
- Use One of the models: Six-Box, 7-S, or Star. You must discuss each component of the model as it relates to the case.Do not waste time just describing the model for the reader. Instead, explain why you chose the model that you chose as the diagnostic guide. Do NOT give recommendations in this section. This section is about analysis only. The analysis section describes current conditions.
4. Explain, in detail, the external factors that are impacting change as they relate to this case. Complete the external table that you found in Elements of a Case using the Environment Worksheet and the PESTLE Analysis worksheet that specifically describe the factors of the external environment. If you have a gap in the information in the table, look it up, and provide current information to complete the table. Again, do NOT make recommendations in this section of the case/change plan. Be sure to explain why the external forces so important to this organization.
5. Explain, in detail, the internal factors that are impacting change as they relate to this case. Complete the internal tables that you found in Elements of a Case that specifically describe the factors of the internal environment. You will find two internal tables that you will complete. If you have a gap in the information in the table, look it up, and provide current information to complete the table.
7. Analyze/ Map the organization’s culture by explaining each component of the Cultural Web as it relates to the case. What are the notable aspects of the culture?
8. Diagnose structural dilemmas. You MUST interpret the meaning of the results for your client, not in generic terms, but in terms that apply directly to your client.
9. Assess the organization’s readiness to change. Interpret the results in terms that apply directly to your client.
Note: At this point, analysis is completed. You should see all of the pieces fitting neatly together, such that readiness for change is noted as either a strength or weakness, structural dilemmas are classified as either a strength or weakness, and opportunities and threats are all conditions over which the organization has not control. They simply exist and must be taken into consideration before you make you recommendations.
10. Identify your recommendation for either first-order or second-order change and provide a short explanation about why you chose this level of change.
11. List your primary change recommendations. We will work on the implementation plan in the next step, so a well developed list with reasons is sufficient at this point.
12. Write a conclusion to this piece.
This piece is due at the end of Week 3.
