HOW TO ORGANIZE A PROBLEM- DIAGNOSIS SCENARIO ESSAY

Một phần của tài liệu The case study handbook, revised edition a students guide (Trang 166 - 169)

Essays about problem- diagnosis scenarios have four elements. They:

• Defi ne the problem.

• Summarize the causes of the problem.

• Prove each cause.

• Present an action plan.

Position Statement: Defi ne the Problem

In the essay, you need to defi ne the problem. Without a problem, there is nothing to diagnose. You want to be sure your readers understand the problem before you do anything else in the essay. You can broadly defi ne a problem in a sentence or two and then describe its major characteristics or symptoms. Here’s a position statement for a problem- diagnosis essay:

GoXd has struggled to regain traction in the gaming market, posting losses the last three years. The founders have clashed over many issues, key devel- opers have been leaving, and early investors have threatened to bring in a new CEO.

The fi rst sentence states the problem— a gaming company is steadily losing money— and the second sentence specifi es major symptoms.

Position Statement: Summarize the Causes of the Problem

In a problem- diagnosis essay, the position statement has two parts: a prob- lem defi nition and a summary of causes. The second part names the major causes of the problem you have just defi ned. When you summarize the causes at the beginning of the essay, you’re telling readers what to expect and making an implicit promise to argue why you think the causes are responsible for the problem. The summary of causes can be in the same paragraph in which you defi ne the problem or in a separate paragraph that follows the problem defi nition.

How many causes are suffi cient to diagnose a problem? The complex problems featured in cases usually have multiple causes. But a diagnosis that has many causes is hard for readers to grasp and complicates action planning. If you fi nd that you have a list of, say, ten causes, consider whether you can consolidate them. For example, let’s say you have several causes related to teams. You could combine them under a broader cause:

team performance or team eff ectiveness.

Prove Each Cause

The most logical way to organize your argument is by cause, from most important to least. Your burden of proof is to show how the causes

contribute to the problem. To do this, you’ll need evidence from the case and appropriate analytical concepts and frameworks that you can apply to the evidence. Analytical tools serve two purposes in problem diagnosis.

They help you make connections between causes and problems, and they help organize the essay. You’ll see how this works in the sample essay.

Causation can be diffi cult to prove to a high degree of certainty. In science, achieving a consensus about the causes of something can take many years, even generations. The causes of problems that arise as a result of human actions— the kind you’ll encounter in cases— can have a signif- icant level of uncertainty, in part because of the large number of variables involved. You should do your best to use case evidence to prove how a cause infl uences a problem. In the real world, businesspeople have to diag- nose problems and take actions that can control or correct them. Waiting for a diagnosis that meets a scientifi c standard of proof while the problem worsens is a far less preferable option than making a good- faith diagnosis with the evidence available and using it to guide action.

Present an Action Plan

The fi nal section of the essay is the action plan, unless the writing assign- ment or exam doesn’t ask for one. The goal of a problem- diagnosis action plan is to fi x the problem. When the problem is positive (e.g., the unex- pected success of a new product), the goal is to maintain and extend the positive outcome or result. You can think about the following questions when planning a problem- diagnosis action plan:

• How can the major causes of the problem be fi xed or, when the problem is positive, be supported and sustained?

– What urgent actions will have the greatest impact on the problem?

– What other short- term actions are necessary but not as urgent?

– What long- term steps will result in the most impact on the problem?

• Who should be involved in the action steps? (And, possibly, who should not be involved?)

• What could go wrong with the action plan? What actions could avoid or mitigate these problems?

For more information about action plans, see chapter 8.

DEMONSTRATION:

Một phần của tài liệu The case study handbook, revised edition a students guide (Trang 166 - 169)

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