Please read the attached case and submit your response to the three questions at the bottom.

Thank you.

Case exercise Waterton FerformingArts Festival The Waterton Performing Arts Festival (WPAF) is a long and wellsestablished charity that has been in operation for over 50 years. Culminating annuaiiy in a series of stageebased perfore rnances (including drama. speech, singing and dance), it offers indiwduals and groups the opportunity to participate in a competition and be professionally assessed by world-class judges. The charity is one ofa large group of such festivals based in the UK and Europe and is struggling to keep its head above water. Annually lt has some 2,500 entries, distributed among some very different sections ranging from the very traditional - such as hymn singing to the more contemporary creative dance. The last seven years have been difficult for the Festival. It is continually running at a loss and is only able to continue with the nancial support of a few individuals who have an emo tional and historical attachment to WPAF. One ofWPAF's more enlightened ofcers, Lucy, has taken the decision to use some of the monies donated to the Festival to seek some help in putting the Festival back on a better footing. In particular. she wants the organisation to be more in line with the requirements of younger people, and open to new developments, for example. She knows that the prime benefactor will not continue to donate as he has done in the past without some major improvements. She calls you in and outlines the many problems facing WPAF: - Overtime 'sales' (comprising entry fees and admissions to the events) are slowly decreas ing. Not all sections are affected; 'dance1 is quite buoyant, but the overall downward trend is clear. 0 Attempts have been made to cut costs - such as altering the venues and reducingjudging costs (though the latter of which is xed by the Festival's governing body). The biggest single remaining cost, however, is stationery; the Festival has always used the same printer which can work with the quirkiness of the section secretaries, some of whom have onlya rudimentary knowledge of the use of computers. I The main benefactor tends to impose his own views on the WPAF based on his own historical perspectivelhe took part as a child). Case exercise o The age prole of the key people is quite old and does not reect the target audiences that the Festival serves. Each of the eight sections is led by someone over 60. Despite numerous attempts, there is no succession planning as the Festival is run by a small numu ber of stalwarts and no one is coming forward to help or replace them. 0 As all are volunteers, and without anyone in real authority, it is difcult to make the group behave as a team. Each section secretary runs their own Show and only matters of com mon interest, like health and safety, require them to turn to the central group for help. - Apart from a recently introduced website created by a student from a local university, IT systems are nonvexistent. Attempts have been made to introduce automated systems but not enough of the participants are using the system for this to be valuable. o The chairman is worldclass in his eld (opera singing) but he knows little or nothing of running an organisation. His idea of chairing a meeting is to ask the various secretaries to read out prepared statements. There is no discussion and decisions are taken unilaterally causing regular dissention in the group. 0 With lime, there are more and more demands placed on the WPAF by its governing body [the UKIGF). WPAF has to be a member ofthe UKlGF to protect itself in many legal ways, as the requirements of health and safety, child safeguarding and care of the disabled increase annually The body, which is international, imposes its own rules about the num- ber of partlc1pants per section, choice of adjudicators, etc. The links with UKIGF and coor- dination ofthe group are dealt with by one over-stretched lady. o The treasurenjames, who has been in post for over 20 years, also works for five other charities and has little time to devote to the WPAF. He is perceived by some to cut cor ners.James has always considered that producing an accurate picture of which sections are or are not protable would be 'divisive'. o WPAF as a charity is registered with the Charities Commission though little is understood in the group of what requirements that imposes on WPAF. 0 There have been some disagreements between the sections about a range of topics, such as contestants entering more than one class within a section. Guidelines are very informal. o The Festival is suffering from local and regional corn petition. Slowly some of the sections are being eroded as they are seen as dated, even elitist. From the long list of problems above, consider some of the consulting projects that might help the organisation. Hint - which are strategic. which are operational and which are 'people issues'? Consider what questions you would ask Lucy to try to understand what are WPAF's greatest priorities, as you cannot solve everything at once. Which do you see as WPAF's most pressing problem? Choose one of what you believe to be the highest priorities and consider the stages you might go through using the consulting process outlined above