Herbert Tuttle
Director
Assistant Professor
125 C Regents Center, Edwards Campus
209 Burt Hall, Lawrence Campus
(913) 897-8561 (office)
(913) 897-8682 (fax)
htuttle@ku.edu
Case studies provide a framework of thinking. In class the students will learn how to write their own case studies, to extend existing case studies and to assess the impact on the problem or problems at hand. Emphasis is on building an experience base in interviewing and getting sources of information that are non traditional for engineers.
What is the risk in a certain course of action? It is necessary to think far enough into the future to give an assessment of what the possible outcomes of courses of action might be. In this class, the students learn to do research to support and extend analyses to estimate or predict the "behavior" of a business, a product or process on a time line basis and be able to assess outcomes. By learning and studying case studies, management strategies can be evaluated so that risk is minimized.
External influences and events have a significant impact on a proposed course of action or actions. The business, government and social environments have as much to do with the outcomes of technical decisions as the technology itself. Accordingly, the students review "Movements in Management" to gain perspective on fads, present practices and evolving theories. The class will discuss and assess claims, concepts and management philosophies from "Further UP the Organization" by Townsend. One goal of the course is to compare, contrast and share these with the students present and past experiences.
Another important goal of the course is to strengthen the student's communication skills, both written and oral. Accordingly, significant weight is given to the student presentations, the accompanying briefing materials and to the written paper for the original case study.
Finally, as the capstone course in the Engineering Management Program, it provides an excellent opportunity and forum to begin the student's Field Project. Working with his or her Advisor, the student will choose a topic for the project (possibly an extension of the original case study), prepare a pre-proposal and present it to the class for feedback and comments.
In short, this course is aimed at:
Technology and Social Shock, Edward W. Lawless
ISBN: 0813507812
This book is out of print and on reserve in the KU Library. Students will not need to purchase this text, see instructor for additional details.
Presentation Time Requirements: Approximately 10 minute presentation and 10 minute discussion led by presenter
"Movements in Management" have come and gone for many years. The objective of this assignment is to provide overviews, interrelationships and to help establish the stage for the case studies. There are three alternative approaches to completing the Movements in Management project.
Alternative 1
Students will choose a Movement in Management either from their own experience or preferences or from the list of potential topics. The presentation should not be an exhaustive book review. Rather it should provide a succinct overview with the key points of the "movement" highlighted and it should include some analysis based on the students previous or current work experiences and material from other courses. The student should plan for a 10 minute presentation with a 10 minute period of discussion that the presenter must lead. Grading will be based primarily on the presentation and leadership in the discussion.
Alternative 2
The student may elect to recruit a guest speaker on a similar topic. The student is responsible for introducing the speaker, taking notes and handing out copies the following week summarizing the presentation by the speaker. The guest speaker should plan on a 30 to 40 minute presentation with a follow-up period for questions. A grade for the student will be based primarily on the summary prepared for the class.
Alternative 3
On the Movements in Management potential topics, two topics are of great importance in decision making processes. One is SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) and the Kepner-Tregoe approach. These topics must be done in the second week of the class and volunteers will be asked for at the first meeting. The student should plan for a 10 minute presentation with a 10 minute period of discussion. Grading will be based primarily on the presentation and leadership in the following discussion.
Potential Movements in Management Topics (Fads?)
Continuous Improvement
Employee Empowerment
Management by Objectives
Mission Statements
MRP II
ERP
Six Sigma
Systems Integration
Participative Management
The Peter Principle
Reengineering the Corporation
Benchmarking
Quality Circles
Scientific Management
SPC
Total Employee Involvement
Total Quality Management
Quality of Work Life
Value Engineering
PeopleSoft
Teams in the Workplace
Virtual Project Management
Deliverables: Presentation, presentation handouts for fellow students and report.
Presentation Time Requirements:Approximately 15 minute presentation and 15 minute discussion led by presenter
Pick a case study from Lawless and extend the study by doing research to either bring the study to a conclusion or to the present time if still unresolved. It is expected that some discussion on the research techniques will be included. Review the course objectives and goals. The student should plan for a 15 minute presentation with a 10 to 15 minute period of discussion led by the presenter. Handouts must be prepared. Grading will be based primarily on the presentation and leadership in the following discussion.
Deliverables: Presentation, presentation handouts for fellow students and case study paper.
Presentation Time Requirements: Approximately 15 minute presentation and 10 minute discussion led by presenter
The original case study should be from personal experience. The student should have the opportunity or had opportunities to observe who are the players, the problems, the results and what might have happened. As you select the topic for you original case study and as you prepare it, please keep in mind the course goals and objectives.
Please note that a formal written report is required in addition to the in class handout.
Deliverables: Presentation, presentation handouts for fellow students and proposal.
Presentation Time Requirements: Approximately 20 minute presentation and 15 minute discussion led by presenter
Many of the case studies undertaken by students in previous semesters formed the basis of their field projects. In all cases, tools and techniques honed in this class are critical components of successful field projects. And most importantly, as the capstone course in the Engineering Management program, the next and last program activity is the field project. Thus this is the logical time to prepare the pre-proposal. You will gain additional experience in presentation and gain from the feedback from your class members.
The student should work with his or her advisor in topic selection and in the formulation of a rough outline. For the class presentation, the student will define the problem, discuss research techniques to be used, describe the situational analyses as appropriate, and present the Field Project Proposal (at least the first draft) to be submitted to the committee.
The proposal should be two or three pages long and must include:
Submit a copy of the proposal to each committee member for review and approval. The proposal should be accompanied by a letter of transmittal specifically asking committee members for their comments and suggestions for changes.
Movements in Management –
Lawless Case Studies –
Original Case Studies -
Field Project Pre-Proposal -
One three-hour session per week in class and additional team activities as needed. It is anticipated that the student will spent two to twelve additional hours (on average) per week out side of the lecture and presentations. These hours will be needed to read, locate research, research Field Project Proposal, prepare presentations, and review materials prior to lectures. Each student shall be sufficiently prepared to participate fully in each lecture.
A Case study is an attempt to examine numerous characteristics of an organization and the people that constitute that organization in order to study a specific situation(s) and draw some relevant conclusions from such a study. A case study attempt to capture the realities of business and encourage students to play an active role in the learning experience by: (1) defining the problem, (2) analyzing key information, and (3) devising effective plan(s) of action. The significance of the findings can be somewhat subjective and because the sample is one, the ability to generalize the findings may be limited. Nevertheless, case studies form an important learning tool. A listing of the steps in the development of a case study is given below:
Copying, plagiarism and so forth on exams, homework or whatever assignment will result in an F for that assignment and an F in the course!
The issue of digital plagiarism has raised concerns about ethics, student writing experiences, and academic integrity. KU subscribes to a digital plagiarism detection program called Turnitin.com, which may be used to check papers submitted in this course. You may be asked to submit your papers in a digital format (email attachment, BlackBoardtm digital drop box or on disk) so that your paper can be checked against Web pages and databases of existing papers. Although you may never have engaged in intentional plagiarism, many students do incorporate sources without citations; this program can alert me to your academic needs.
