MGT 332 Case Study Project
You will be doing a case study of a company where you have worked. This project involves two elements, a written presentation and a PowerPoint presentation. The project consists of the four sections described below. Each member of the class will be responsible for a 10 to 15 minute PowerPoint presentation to the class on each section. Following the presentation, you will hand in a 2-3 page written (double-spaced normal margins and font) version of the section. If you haven’t yet worked for a company, you should discuss an alternative with me by the end of your second class. The date of each presentation can be found in your class schedule. These presentations and papers are in lieu of exams and your final presentation and paper will be your final exam.
You will be asked to select one of the following topics: “organizational culture”, “organizational structure”, “employee reward and recognition” or “leadership and decision making”.
Organization of the project:
Section 1: Tell the story of the specific topic you want to focus on. At this point in the term, you may believe that “something significant” happened in the company, but you may not yet understand the organizational behavioral principles that can be used to analyze the situation. Examples may be a description of a meeting where managers made an important decision about the company, or a memo that was circulated to all employees describing a policy change. Make the story real for your reader by using names of people involved, the date that it took place, the conversations that went on between people. Talk about what was given as the reason for this change and how people reacted to that reason. You could also tell the story of an important event that occurred. Think of the UPS ad on television where the owner of the company comes into the shipping manager’s office and reads a letter from a happy customer. That is the type of story you are looking for.
Section 2: Do a quick recap of section I to your audience, then present the relevant history and background information that will help your audience understand what was going on in the company that led up to the story in section 1. For example, if the story is about the day that the company reorganized into teams, you would talk about how things were organized before that day and how that organization was working. The company’s performance should be highlighted in this section and, most likely, you will be focused on the year or two leading up to the story. Remember that performance includes quality and reputation, as well as, financial performance.
Section 3: After a recap of sections 1and 2,discuss the organizational behavior concepts that are relevant to this story. Is this about organizational culture, organizational structure, employee reward and recognition, or leadership and decision making? . Show your understanding of the theories that you’ve learned during this semester and how they can be applied to the story you are telling.
Section 4: Once again, begin by recapping the case presentation to this point and then give your opinion and make recommendations. Based on what you have learned, are the actions of the company firmly grounded in theory? What do you think the company was trying to accomplish in behavior organizational terms? Discuss the actual outcome or consequences of the actions taken by the company and discuss how they support your recommendations. Elaborate on what you believe would have been alternatives to their actions and talk about what you would have done if you were one of the decision makers. Support your opinions with the theory that you described in section 3..
Writing Tips:
One of the goals of this project is to help you develop our business writing style. This skill is critical to career advancement. Business writing should be concise, clear and focused. Any content should be relevant to the reader’s understanding of the case, not just for the sake of describing something that is interesting, but irrelevant, to the case.
When you use materials from other sources, you must footnote the source.
Case studies should be written in the third person. (i.e. “Jon Firger said” not “I said”)
Have at least one other person proof your writing before you hand it in. Ask them to comment on grammar and the clarity on your content.
PowerPoint Tips
Developing effective visual presentations is another important skill in business. An effective PowerPoint presentation helps to keep your audience focused on your most important talking points.
Think of each slide as an outline of your key points. Each bullet serves as an anchor to remind the audience of what you are talking about, so:
The title of the slide should be your general topic for that particular paragraph
Put three or four bullet points on each slide that explain the title and act as summaries of what you are telling your audience.
Use large fonts and good contrast so that those in the back row can read your slides.
Always ask you audience for questions at the end of your presentation.