Decision Case Studies

Case Studies

Subject : Request for Leave of Absence

Don, a project engineer, has requested a two – month leave of absence beginning in two weeks. He has just won custody of his two sons in an unpleasant divorce settlement. He needs time to make arrangements for child care, and he wants to be absolutely sure that the boys are cared for properly.

Don is the lead person on the SASTEX project, which will involve 35 other engineers and technicians. He is the technical expert who helped the firm land the contract. Without Don, SASTEX may not get off the ground. The Family Medical Leave Act of 1993 doesn’t mandate Don’s request be granted. However, Don has been a top performer and has pushed hard to get the leave.

Subject : Unpaid Debt/Bill of Top Customer

Wilson Beeson has worked closely, with Marco Quintana, a Spanish businessman, to create what was up until now a profitable exporting relationship. Beeson is the president of profitable exporting relationship. Beeson is the president of Americana, a machine tool firm that has been providing Quintana’s manufacturing plant in Seville, Spain, with machine tools for 15 years.

Until recently, Quintana has been a model customer very demanding in the quality expected, but prompt with payment. The Spanish economy has dramatically faltered. Inflation has skyrocketed, and unemployment rates are increasing. Quintana has informed Beeson that the $4 million, eight – months-overdue bill simply can’t be paid. Although Beeson and Quintana are close friends, the debt has strained their relationship. Beeson’s board has instructed him to solve the problem now.

Subject : Teamwork

Over the past three years, Mary Higgins has hired an outstanding group of accountants, engineers, scientists, sales people and financial analysts. The talent and experience of each individual are impeccable. Despite the individual strengths of those who were hired, Higgins can’t get the people to work effectively together. There is gossip, withholding of information, animosity and hostility displayed within and between groups. The lack of teamwork and cooperation has taken its toll on many people; some employees have quit and gone elsewhere; and Higgins herself has been hospitalized three times this past year for an ulcer. She is at a loss about how to get her key employees to work together as a team. She is thinking about firing the biggest instigators to send a message to the remaining employees.

Subject : Company Policy

Trish cravens is the most productive and dedicated lead technician in Anderson Optical Systems Co. She has worked her way up in the past 10 years and has expressed aspirations to become the division coordinator, a highly rewarded and recognized position. Denise Calkins, the division general manager, just found out that Cravens may be leaving Anderson because her husband, a research scientist who lost his job when his company closed six months ago, has found a job in Colorado.

Anderson has had seven job opening in the past 10 years chat fit Craven’s husband’s record and experience, but the company has a policy to not employ spouses in the same facility. Calkins has expressed her opinion over the years that this policy has cost Anderson some top talent. She has requested a meeting with the president, who has recently been talking about updating some of Anderson’s policies.

Subject : Personal Time management

Typically, Pete Maxville is a bundle of energy, optimistic, and committed to excellence. This has all changed in the last year. Maxville has not been able to return his telephone calls, meet with customers on time, or develop his strategic plan (no six months overdue). He is totally overloaded with requests for his time or presence at meetings. He has been working from 7.00 AM until 9.00PM for at least nine months, is totally fatigued, and believes that his performance has suffered. He has flown off the handle three times this past week and has had some major arguments at home about trivial matters.

Maxville has attended time management workshops and read everything he can about time management, but nothing seems to improve his attitude, emotions, or behavior. He feels overwhelmed by the job, Budget cutbacks, increased competition, new government regulations and policies, and the retirement of six key managers have all placed new responsibilities and burdens on Maxville. He is searching for a way to get himself back on track.

Subject : An Ethical Dilemma

Bob Ogan is the audit manager of Pearl, Lendnini, and Nordstrum, a fast-growing firm in Phoenix. While working on a recent major project, he-realized that he was spending 60 to 70 hours more than the company had estimated for the work. He asked another audit manager, Rick Spurgeon, how he would handle the excess hours.” This is a term used to indicate that excesses above estimates are simply not reported. In a short response, Spurgeon said “Bury the Hours” Coming in with excessive hours was just not acceptable in the firm. True, the firm didn’t receive a true picture about the time, but “burying the hours” was the honorable. Company-spirited thing to do.

Ogan thinks that although he participated in estimating the time to do the project, it was the senior partner who was the final authority. Ogan feels that he was expected to work longer hours and that “burying” is unethical. He is wondering how he is going to solve this dilemma.

Managers are Paid to Make Decisions

Bob Wilson is president of Security National Bank (SNB). During the seven years he has been president, the bank has become one of the three largest banks serving metropolitan Rockford. It has been extremely successful, mostly at the expense of competing banks.

On his desk, Wilson has a report from Barbara Stark, the Bank’s director of marketing. The report focuses on the bank’s entry into the first phase of electronic banking the purchase and installation of automatic tellers (ATs). Wilson is very impressed by the report and has asked Stark to come to his office to discuss the proposal. It is a very positive meeting, with both parties agreeing on the necessity for getting the program started, Stark says:

Mr. Wilson, most experts believe that before very long every bank in the country will be faced with a decision concerning these machines. The decision will be either offensive (to install them in order to be the first in the marker) or defensive (to respond to a competitor that has already installed them). I believe that to maintain the growth rate, we have achieved during your seven years as president, our move should be an offensive one.