Framework of Case Analysis

Framework for Case Analysis

Part I – Analyzing a Case

What is this document?

You will be asked throughout your Graduate experience to analyze cases. Because there are

many ways to approach cases, the CM faculty has agreed upon a framework for case analysis

that you will be asked to learn in MGT 650. This framework will help you throughout your

Graduate experience in thinking about cases as well as in preparing written reports.

What is a case?

A case is a story---usually a true story, but not always---that illustrates business and management

theories and concepts you are studying in a course and/or presents a problem or series of

problems for you to solve. A case usually ends with a dilemma faced by a particular character in

the case. Sometimes a case will be accompanied by a set of questions, usually theory-based, that

your instructor expects you to answer. Some questions will be devoted to figuring out the

problems imbedded in the case and the causes of those problems; others will ask you to

determine a course of action to take in the future.

More complex cases usually contain a variety of types of information, e.g. industry and

economic data, financial reports, policies and procedures, market share and pricing data,

descriptions of personnel and other resources, job descriptions, individual perceptions, and

dialogue. Due to their complex nature, these cases demand your careful, sustained attention;

indeed, each case contains subtleties that are likely to be discerned only by several rereadings

and discussions with other students.

Why do professors ask students in the Graduate Programs to analyze cases?

Through the process of analyzing cases, professors believe that Graduate students can learn the

value of:[1]

responding actively and constructively to the conflicts of organizational life.

suspending judgment about personalities as well as about courses of action.

differentiating between facts and opinions.

graciously giving up an...