Guidelines for Case Analysis

OS286 - Organizational Behavior

Guidelines for Case Analysis

Case analysis provides students with an in-depth and real-world look at the complexities of managerial situations, and the opportunity to practice analytical skills that will be important in the real world. Cases allow you to associate relatively “clean” theoretical concepts and models with the messiness of management in action, and augment your own experiences to provide you with a foundation for analogical thinking. The objectives of case analysis are critical reasoning and sound analysis.

Case Preparation

1. Read the case quickly once to gain the general overview of the context and the major issues presented in the case. Identify key people and try to gain a general grasp of their opinions, attitudes, and relationships to one another.

2. Reread the case more carefully, annotating, highlighting, and questioning. Read to gain a thorough understanding of the formal and informal organization. Understand the facts, but do not disagree with facts that are presented as such. Consider the opinions, judgments, attitudes, and feelings of actors in the case as “facts” that bear on the situation even if the opinions or judgments are clearly erroneous or biased. As objectively as possible, try to learn everything that contributes to understanding of the situation.

3. Make decisions about the nature of the underlying problems and/or opportunities. Be careful not to confuse the symptoms of a problem with the problem itself. You are trying to answer the question “What is going on here and why?” Wherever possible, apply concepts and models discussed in class or in the readings. Good analysis requires you to distinguish between important and unimportant information. Understanding the root cause of a problem is critical to devising solutions that will work. Concepts and models presented in class are specifically designed to help ferret out real problems and thereby to suggest the beginnings of solutions.

Make reasonable assumptions if specific data are not available. For example, you may believe it is important to know the economic performance of the firm to understand a developing morale problem in a subunit. Make a sensible