Outline for Case Preparation and Case Reports:
REQUIREMENTS: 5-6 pages, no cover sheet, 1” margins, 12 point font, double-spaced, include references.
OUTLINE FOR PREPARING CASES (USE FOR: McD in Asia & YUM! in Asia)
1. Gaining familiarity
a. Describe, in general and over time, who does what, how do things happen, and where and when do events take place.
b. Describe, in detail, any history and the current state of the places, persons, relationships, activities, tasks, and context of case events.
c. Notice where case information lies along the continuum of certainty; also noting what most information pertains to.
2. Recognizing symptoms
a. List all major, recent indicators that something is not as expected or desired by case characters and you (including any statements of ‘problems’ by case characters).
b. Note who in the case situations seems to be bothered by these symptoms.
3. Identifying goals
a. List all the reasonable important goals of the major entities in the case, for example, central case characters, groupings, work units, organizations, and so on. Be sure to list all goals described in the case as well as all that can be reasonable attributed to major entities.
4. Analysis
a. Select those ideas, models, and/or theories that seem useful for understanding the case.
b. Carefully and systematically apply these conceptual tools to the case situations and circumstances.
5. Diagnosis
a. Identify relevant goal gaps.
b. Identify major inconsistencies among goals (predicaments).
c. Identify major discrepancies between goals and actual performance (problems).
d. Prioritize identified goal gaps, predicaments, and problems as to urgency for corrective action and relative importance to the organization and/or key case characters.
6. Action
a. Specify and then prioritize the criteria to be used to choose among action alternatives.
b. Invent or discover possible and feasible action alternatives that detail specifically who should do what, when, and where.
c. Carefully examine the probable positive and negative consequences of all action alternatives.
d. Using the criteria choose the preferred course of action.
e. Design a specific plan for implementing the preferred course of action. Include a schedule.
f. Note a plan for assessing the recommended course of action, that is, how would one know whether it was effective?