Assignment #2 Case Study Analysis GROUP

This assignment will help you develop your critical thinking and analytical skills, apply ideas, concepts,
and terminology from the course to analyzing a real-life scenario, as well as develop your skills of
working in a team. You will be required to explore a case study assigned by the professor and analyze it
in an essay format.

You are expected to look at the presented situation from multiple perspectives, including but
not limited to:
1. Providing a professional assessment of the situation (e.g., reviewing external/internal
environmental factors, providing situational analysis, etc.) as if you were an invited
management consultant
2. Identifying the issues, explain why they are happening, and explain why particular
recommendations are suggested. The recommendations should use material from the
textbook
3. Identifying leadership styles, concepts and methods mentioned in the case
4. Evaluating from a critical thinking perspective if the most suitable leadership approaches
have been used and if they were used correctly and sufficiently and linking them to what
learnt in the course
5. Doing some “what-if” analysis, providing best-practice approaches directed in the context
with the situation
6. Formulating at least 5 future action points to get the best possible outcome from the
situation, focusing on specific measures, benefits, and risks associated with the plan you
propose

Requirements:

 Paper should be at least 5000 words (at least 8000 words to be considered for A grades) and
should exhibit clarity and analytical skills, appropriate for an MBA level. Specifically, your ideas
must be presented in a succinct and clear way; key ideas must be easily distinguishable and well-
developed
 Paper must contain the following sections: table of contents, executive summary, introduction,
main body, conclusion, and recommendations (action points), reference list. Use in-text citations
when necessary, as per APA.
 Paper should employ at least 8-10 relevant in-text citations from the textbook and other
sources. To be considered for A grades, you have to properly employ relevant research findings
beyond the content of the textbook as well as some relevant statistics in your analysis
 You must demonstrate a solid knowledge of the course concepts and ideas as well as your ability
to successfully apply them to deal with real-life situations
 You must correctly and sufficiently use professional terminology related to the course
 You must be as specific as possible, illustrating your points with multiple references to the case
content
  You must be impartial in your analysis, beware of your biases which might affect your
judgement.
 You must demonstrate a decent level of critical thinking in your analysis, comparing and
contrasting various theories and applying them to the case given
 Paper must be submitted via Turnitin timely (only one submission allowed); late submissions are
penalized by 10%/day
 Contribution of each team member should be clearly indicated in the Introduction

This assignment holds a value of 25% of your final grade.

If you experience some extraordinary circumstances which affect your ability to complete the
assignment on time, e.g., medical emergency, you should request an extension before the due date,
providing supporting documentation

Before you start working on your assignment, ensure that you have paid attention to the rubric below,
and listened to the in-class explanations provided by the professor.

Important! This rubric will be used to calculate an average grade for the team which might be further
individually adjusted for each student based on the assessment of their contribution to the project by
the professor and the rest of the team.

Grading Rubric for Assignment #2

Criteria Below At Exceeds

standard standard standard
Assessment of the situation
❏ Accurate and comprehensive assessment of the situation
overall has been provided
❏ Leadership methods and approaches used in the case were
correctly identified – Use textbook
❏ Conclusions on suitability and sufficiency of the methods and
0-15 16-20 21-25
approaches used are solidly justified
❏ Assessment is specific, impartial, and focused on all aspects
of the situation
❏ Key points of the author are clearly formulated, well
developed, and supported by examples

“What-if” analysis 0-15 16-20

❏ Various scenarios of what could have been done differently 21-25
are developed for the entire case as well as for each of the
key problems identified in the previous part
❏ Scenario modelling is based on research and textbook
recommendations
❏ Decent level of critical thinking, including comparing and
contrasting various theories and applying them to the case
given, is demonstrated in this part
❏ Analysis is specific, impartial, and focused on all aspects of
the situation
❏ Key points of the author are clearly formulated, well
 developed, and supported by examples

Executive Summary, Introduction, Conclusion, and

recommendations
❏ Executive Summary concisely and clearly summarizes
key points of the paper
❏ Introduction clearly and succinctly introduces the topic
0-9 10-12 13-15
and outlines main goals and a structure of the paper
❏ Conclusion part clearly and concisely summarizes main
findings from previous parts
❏ At least 5 recommendations are formulated
❏ Recommendations are specific and relevant
Integration of concepts from the textbook/other sources
❏ Multiple sources including the textbook are used in the
essay; references are accurate, and all the sources
mentioned are actually used in the paper
❏ Cited sources match concepts discussed
0-9 10-12 13-15
❏ In text citations are used to support specific and relevant
points, not to provide basic definitions and general ideas
❏ Reference list is formatted properly

Professionalism of the document

❏ Paper contains all required sections
❏ Minimum word or pages count requirement is met
❏ Paper exhibits good writing, research, and analytical skills,
appropriate for an MBA-level
0-12 13-16 17-20
❏ Paper is coherent; author’s key points are clear and well
justified
❏ All parts of the paper are consistent and well aligned
❏ Paper does not contain grammar or spelling mistakes
❏ Title page is formatted properly