EDPA5011
Assignment 2 Case Study
Presented by
Dr Christine Grice
Sydney School of Education and Social Work
THE UNIVERSITY OF
SYDNEY
What is a case study?
The University of Sydney
The purpose of a case study assessment is to provide you with the opportunity to apply the theoretical information you have received in our course to a real-life problem that in this assignment is hypothetical. You will need to analyse and reflect on the event/issue/situation presented in the case study to determine how and/or why it happened as it did relating it to theory we have covered, and then discuss potential solutions in order to demonstrate how you would manage the situation.
Case study skills are useful life skills. For example: A case could describe a particular technical problem, or diagnosis
A case may describe a critical incident in the workplace, and your role as the leader is to use your understanding and knowledge of concepts and theories to determine the causes and propose strategies to avoid and/or resolve it.
Page 2
Case Study: 3000 words
Task: Assignment 2
Case Study: Write a case study about an organisational change effort in an organisation with which you are familiar. Briefly describe the intended change and its rationale. Outline the methodology you would use if you were to conduct the research. Outline the potential impact that the change could have upon the culture of the organisation or work-group affected and how you could evaluate the way in which the change was conceived, planned and implemented. Refer to the organisational culture and change literature in your case study.
Purpose
— Develop the academic skill of planning a case study through critical engagement with change literature to solve a potential problem of practice in an educational organisation
- You will choose your own case based upon your interests.
— Develop research skills useful in the workplace in the future or as a future RHD student
The University of Sydney
60%
Assessment Criteria
— LO1. Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of change processes and their impact upon leaders in schools and other educational organisations
— LO2. Demonstrate a capacity to analyse and critically evaluate theories of organisational culture and change.
- LO3. Critically analyse how organisational cultures may develop, be created, changed or disrupted and transformed.
- LO4. Apply ethical principles to organisational culture and change issues.
- LO5. Write and evaluate a case study about leading organisational change in an educational setting.
— Accurate APA referencing
Page 3
Case Study Process for answering a case study
Four steps before writing:
1. Carefully analyse the case: Develop a clear outline of the most significant people/incidents/details; write a short description of the most important aspects of the case, and consider what actions need to be taken for it to be resolved.
2. Brainstorm: Map out your knowledge of the concepts and theories you have studied throughout your subject and determine which are most helpful for making sense of the case. Jot down ideas and solutions for the key issues.
3. Focus: Determine the core elements of the case that you will focus on. Sometimes it is necessary to only focus on the top three or four factors rather than dealing with all the minor details.
4. Plan and write:
— Address one key factor at a time integrating evidence from the case and the theoretical sources. Think about potential recommendations for each factor.
— Consider your audience: who will be reading the case study. Who is the hypothetical audience? If you are an educational leader is it the School Board, P&C or parent body, or your staff team?
- Your response to the case study is a great opportunity to describe how you would handle a situation, so be sure to anticipate the questions the audience might have and have them covered in the text. This includes explanations of terminology or implementation.
The University of Sydney
The problem-oriented method
— The case is the hypothetical situation
— The case study is the analysis of that situation
— Identify the problems
— Relate theory to practice
— Make recommendations
— Detail potential solutions
The University of Sydney
Page 5
What evidence can be used in a case study?
When writing a response, you will be expected to describe and interpret the facts of the case and integrate these with the theoretical material you have found to help you to explain, justify or recommend particular actions.
In a case study, the core sets of evidence include:
the facts of the case (including qualitative quotations or narrative evidence or statistical information if applicable)
reference to relevant theories and concepts that assist in explaining aspects of the facts of the case (as found in course material and reliable peer reviewed journal articles).
The University of Sydney
Page 6
Generally, there are eight sections in a case study. Use this as a guideline to write your case study.
Synopsis/Executive Summary
• Outline the purpose of the case study.
• Describe the field of research - this is usually an overview of the company.
• Outline the issues and findings of the case study without the specific details.
• Identify the theory that will be used to analyse the case study.
• The reader should be able to get a clear picture of the essential contents of the study.
• Note any assumptions made. You may not have all the information you would like, so some assumptions may be necessary e g. “It has been assumed that...-,
“Assuming that it takes half an hour to read one document...-).
Findings
Identify the problems found in the case.
- Each analysis of a problem should be supported by facts given in the case together with the relevant theory and course concepts
- It is important to search for any underlying problems; for example, cross-cultural conflict may be only a symptom of the underlying problem of inadequate policies and practices within the company.
This section is often divided into sub-sections, one for each problem
Discussion
Summarise the major problem/s.
Identify alternative solutions to this/these major problem/s (there is likely to be more than one solution per problem).
Briefly outline each alternative solution and then evaluate it in terms of its advantages and disadvantages.
There is no need to refer to theory or coursework here.
Conclusion
Sum up the main points from the findings and discussion.
The University of Sydney
Page 8