Assignment task:
Introduction:
In this task, use the given complex case studies illustrated below. You will analyze the case study WGU's Four-Step Tool (based on "Six Steps to Thinking Systemically" by Michael Goodman and Richard Karash)." You will submit the completed "Four Steps Tool," which includes an analysis of the problems in the case study and your proposed best solution. Your analysis will include the solution's strengths and challenges; its superiority over other rejected alternatives; and its anticipated impact on the overall system.
Requirements:
A. Analyze one of the given case studies from the attached "Case Studies" document by doing the following:
1. Evaluate the case study using the attached "Four Steps Tool."
2. Submit the completed "Four Steps Tool," which includes the following:
a. your proposed best solution and the solution's strengths and challenges
b. the solution's superiority over other, rejected alternatives
c. the solution's anticipated impact on the overall system
B. Acknowledge sources, using in-text citations and references, for content that is quoted, paraphrased, or summarized.
C. Demonstrate professional communication in the content and presentation of your submission.
Case Study Option:
Jamal: When I started as one of the data analysts in a small but growing company, Jaechap Advisors, it took me a long time to learn the sophisticated analytic software program my department uses. Now, though, I easily use the software to complete all the essential functions of my work.
However, my manager, Maria, wants our department to switch to a new software program. This would be a huge undertaking, and it could take a long time to learn a different system. I would not be able to perform my job nearly as well with unfamiliar software, nor would my teammates, and this would negatively affect our clients. Why change something that has been working so well?
Maria: I understand that Jamal wants to continue using the software program. It would be easier for the team in the short run, and none of them, including Jamal, wants work quality or efficiency to suffer while learning a new system. In fact, it could take them months to become as skilled with a new program as they are with the current one.
However, the CEO has made it clear that I need to keep my department up to date on the most advanced analytic tools available. This new software can do everything our current program can, plus it has cutting-edge features and capabilities our clients will love.
Jamal is right about one important thing, though: How can the team maintain its current level of productivity while learning a whole new system?
Pat: As CEO of Jaechap, it's my job to keep us competitive, especially as we are a small company trying to gain market share. We must not only meet our clients' current needs, but we also have to anticipate their future needs. If we are using outdated software, we may not have the best possible information and projections. And if we can't give our clients the best possible business advice, somebody else will.
While our level of service meets the expectations of our clients for now, eventually they will demand more. We need to get ahead of their demands, not simply react to them. This new software program provides more accurate and precise data projections and analysis.
To compete with larger and more established firms, we need to distinguish ourselves by taking advantage of enhanced features of new programs as soon as they're available. So why is it so hard to get the data analytics team to adopt new and improved software instead of continuing to use something that's becoming outdated?
Focusing statement: What is the best way for Jaechap Advisors to remain competitive now and in the future?