1. Introduction

- Identify the key problems

- Formulate and include a thesis statement, summarizing the outcome of analysis in one or two sentences

2. Context

- Provide background information, relevant facts and the most important issues

- Demonstrate that you have researched the problems in this case study

3. Alternatives

- Outline possible alternatives (not necessarily all of them)

- Explain why alternatives were rejected

4. Proposed Solution

- Provide one specific and realistic solution

- Explain why this solution was chosen

- Support the solution with solid evidence:

- Concepts from class (text readings, discussion, lectures)

- Outside research

5. Recommendations

- Determine and discuss specific strategies for implementing the proposed solution

- If applicable, recommend further action to resolve some of the issues

Case Study - Westerfield Construction

Westerfield Construction hired a new quality manager, Kelly Deters, to help integrate its quality system into everyday business operations. One of her initial projects was to lead the development and implementation of a customer service life cycle (CSLC), which is the identification, analysis, involvement, management, data sharing, and evaluation of all the contact points between the company and its customers, along with strong feedback mechanisms. Deters began by assessing the readiness of the organization for change. She determined that the executive team was able to inspire others and act as role models, and were strong and effective leaders. The company had a functioning quality council of executive and middle managers, whose purpose was to review and become personally involved in selected change initiatives. Communications among the team, middle managers, and employees had improved significantly, largely because of frequent open forums that were initiated by the CEO. Deters concluded that the firm's strategy supported its mission and vision, and that organizational culture supported change in the company. These factors all pointed to a favorable environment for change, leading her to believe that she would be able to successfully implement the CSLC.

Because the CSLC was cross-functional, it touched almost every part of the organization, including some that did not recognize their relationship with other parts of the company. Deters built a cross-functional team of employees to review the business plan and customer strategies to provide context and alignment with the vision and company strategy. She also had a consultant train the team in the use of the seven management and planning tools (see Chapter 5). Resources were available to the team for benchmarking outstanding organizations with established CSLCs. Sufficient budget, time, and other resources were also provided to her by the executive team. The CSLC team used the tools prior to developing an action plan for implementation. They developed measures to monitor the effectiveness of the CSLC and drive continuous improvements. She decided to phase in the implementation in two functional areas that had strong existing customer relationships: estimating and project management.

Within six months the CSLC was operational and the team was rewarded for its efforts; each team member was given a day off with pay, and the company newsletter ran articles about customer service, satisfaction, and the progress of the CSLC team. An executive manager was given the responsibilities for managing the new process, and before the team disbanded, lessons learned were identified and shared for future projects.