Reference no: EM132858568

Case: Motivation

Leslie Knope was an enthusiastic employee when she began working in the accounting department at Parkrec Ltd. In particular, she prided herself in discovering better ways of handling invoice and requisition flows. The company had plenty of bottlenecks in the flow of paperwork throughout the organization and Leslie had made several recommendations to her boss, Mr. Swanson, which would improve the process. Mr. Swanson acknowledged these suggestions and even implemented a few, but he didn't seem to have enough time to either thank her or explain why some suggestions could not be implemented. In fact, Mr. Swanson didn't say much to any of the other employees in the department about anything they did.

At the end of the first year, Leslie received a six percent merit increase based on Mr. Swanson's evaluation of her performance. This increase was equal to the average merit increase among the eleven people in the accounting department and was above the inflation rate. Still, Leslie was frustrated by the fact that she didn't know how to improve her chances of a higher merit increase next year. She was also upset by the fact that another new employee, Tom Haverford, received the highest pay increase (ten percent) even though he was not regarded by others in the finance department as a particularly outstanding performer. According to others who worked with him on some assignments, Tom lacked the skills to perform the job well enough to receive such a high reward. However, Tom Haverford had become a favoured employee to Mr. Swanson and they had even gone on a fishing trip together.

Leslie's enthusiasm toward Parkrec Ltd. fell dramatically during her second year of employment. She still enjoyed the work and made friends with some of her coworkers, but the spirit that had once carried her through the morning rush hour traffic had somehow dwindled. Eventually Leslie stopped mentioning her productivity improvement ideas. On two occasions during her second year of employment, she took a few days of sick leave to visit friends and family in Pawnee, Indiana. She had used only two sick days during her first year and these were for a legitimate illness. Even her doctor had to urge Leslie to stay at home on one occasion. But by the end of the second year, using sick days seemed the "justify" Leslie's continued employment at Parkrec Ltd. Now, as her second annual merit increase approached, Leslie started to seriously scout around for another job.

You are the HR Generalist at Parkrec Ltd. Mr. Swanson has approached you for advice on how to improve the motivation in the department and to try to keep Leslie with the company. What would you suggest?

To work on this

A) Executive Summary

The purpose of an executive summary is to provide the reader with a clear and concise overview of the contents of your report. The executive summary is typically short (less than one page), and should contain three basic sections: 1) a brief introduction to the firm/product/situation, 2) an indication of the key problem(s) you have defined, and 3) your final recommendation(s) and/or plan of action.

(Please note: the Executive Summary is placed before the Table of Contents when you are putting the report together, so it is the first thing the reader reads)

B) Summary of Important Facts

Using the given information, develop a clear and concise summary of what is happening in the case. Do not re-state the entire case - just the most salient (important) facts, and organize the information into appropriate sections.

Remember that in business, consulting reports are often read by a variety of people, for a variety of purposes. Never assume that the reader sees the big picture: introduce it and develop it clearly!

An important aspect of writing this section is that it helps you to clearly understand the given information. This should help you to isolate the specific problem.

An environmental scan is often a component of this section, along with associated SWOT analysis. Including these helps to provide a complete 'situation analysis'.

C) Statement of the Problem(s)

Without a doubt, the most difficult part of solving any case is defining the main problem or issue presented by the case. Very often, you will notice a number of obvious difficulties in the case, such as a decline in sales of a product. These are symptoms of the key problem. Your job is to identify "the key problem". In order to identify the "key problem" you will have to ask yourself, "What is at the root of all of the symptoms I can see?" The answer to this question is your "key problem".

You may also want to include any other problems, which are significant but unrelated to the main problem. However, be careful not to get sidetracked by unimportant issues.

D) Analysis

This section is the real "body" of your case report. The main concern here is: how can the problem be solved? Some potential solutions may be suggested in the case. Very often, however, you will need to think of other alternatives. More often than not, your self-generated alternatives are better than those listed in the case! Be imaginative but be reasonable!

Your grade will depend on the quality of the alternatives solutions as well as your ability to identify the relative strengths and weaknesses of each alternative. In other words, your rationale or argument is as important as the final answer. In cases, we cannot test your answer to see if it will work. Instead, we look at your reasoning for choosing a particular alternative. This means that you must ensure that your analysis is clear, concise and complete.

You must also ensure that the reader can easily follow your analysis by organizing the content appropriately. The use of sub-headings for sections within the analysis is strongly recommended and is often helpful for the reader.

E) Recommendation/Your Best Solution

Once you have analyzed the relative strengths and weaknesses of all of your alternatives, you should state what you feel is the best solution, and provide your reasoning as to why. This may be one of the alternatives you examined, or may be a combination of several acceptable alternatives.

There are two key rules for this section, firstly, be concise (do not repeat the pro/con analysis) and secondly, do not recommend any additional alternatives which have not been covered in the analysis section.

F) Implementation/Plan of Action

It is good business practice to clearly outline the steps necessary for implementing the recommended solution. You must clearly indicate the steps or decisions to show how the organization can actually get your recommendations accomplished.