Case Studies Analysis

Shailaja Karve

Why ? The Dialogue

Defining Case Studies

1.
2.
3.
4.

Complex, real world scenarios

Supporting information
Open-ended problems
Prompts and questions

. Focus
. Lengths

Problem Solving & Decision

Making
Why look at the concepts
Different or two sides of the same
coin?

Definitio
ns
Problem
Solving.

A systematic approach to defining

the problem (question or situation
that presents uncertainty, perplexity or
difficulty) and creating a vast
number of possible solutions
without judging these solutions.

Definitio
ns
Decision
Making:

The act of narrowing down the

possibilities, choosing a course
of action, and determining the
actions potential consequences.

Problem Characteristics
Structured problem

A problem whose nature and context are

well defined.
The desired end state is clear and the
course of action to get to the end state is
clear.
Unstructured problem

A problem characterized by a lack of

problem and context definition.
The desired end state is not clearly
understood, and therefore the appropriate
course of action is unknown.

Types of Decisions
Nature of task

Structured

Unstructured

Certain

Uncertain

Level of certainty

Level of decision making - Scope

Strategic
Managerial
Operational
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Scope of Decision
Operational
Efficient and effective execution of specific tasks.
They affect activities taking place right now
E.g... What should be today's production level
Managerial
Focus on effective utilization of resources
More longer range planning horizon
E.g... What is next years production level
Strategic
Long-range goals and policies for resource allocation
E.g... What new products should be offered

Impact

Affective learning
Self-direction
Responsibility for learning
Oral presentation
Communication
Cooperation

Apply the solving process

Define Issues
Analyze case data
Generate alternatives
Select Decision criteria
Analyze and evaluate alternatives
Select preferred alternative
Develop an action plan

Defining the Problem

Two wilderness hikers chanced upon a fierce grizzly bear.
One of them pulled his running shoes from his pack and
rapidly laced them up. His companion yelled in astonishment,
Are you crazy? You cant outrun a bear.
His reply as he took off down the trail,
I dont have to outrun the bear.
All I have to do is outrun you.
Defining the real problem. A difficult task!
Define

12

The Case of the Dead Fish

A chemical plant used to discharge
waste into a stream that flows into a
relatively wide river.
Biologists monitored the river as an
ecosystem and reported the
following data of the number of dead
fish in the river and the river level
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The Case of the Dead Fish

14

Collect and analyze information

and data

Graphs of the type shown above are called time plots and
control charts.
The acceptable level of dead fish was exceeded on
August 1 and 15.
On July 29 there was a large amount of chemical waste
discharged into the river. Discharges of this size had not
caused any problems in the past.
There has been little rain and the water level in the
river was low on August 1

Your conclusion?
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The Case of the Dead Fish

The Situation: "Design a new waste
treatment plant to reduce the toxic
waste from the chemical plant"

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The Case of the Dead Fish

An engineer in the company initiates his own investigation

Identify Available Information - toxic discharge, river level

low, temperature was quite high, fish dead up and down the
river
Learn Fundamentals - call biologist about what could kill fish
Missing Information - a fungus in nearby lakes could kill fish
Hypothesis - Fish dying because of fungus not discharge
Confirm findings - an examination of the fish concluded that
they did die of a fungus not the discharge
Problem definition changed to Identify ways to cure
infected fish and prevent healthy fish from being infected
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Confirm
Looking past the obvious
Challenging the basic premise
Asking for clarification when you do not understand
something
Ask insightful questions
If possible, go see the problem yourself
Confirm findings

18

The Duncker Diagram

The Duncker Diagram

The Duncker Diagram points out ways to solve the problem

by making it OK not to reach the desired state.
There are two General Solutions:
1. Solutions that move from the present state to the desired
state
2. Solutions that modify the desired state until it conforms to
the present state
.
.

Functional Solutions - What to do, possible paths to

the desired state.
Specific Solutions - How to do it, implement the
functional solutions.
19

Problem
Cereal not getting to the market fast
enough to maintain freshness

20

To Market to Market

21

The Statement-Restatement
Technique
Originalproblemstatement:
Cerealisnotgettingtomarketfastenoughtomaintainfreshness
Cereal is not getting to market fast enough to maintain
freshness
(Do we have other products that get there faster?)

Cereal is not getting to market fast enough to maintain

freshness
(Can we make the distance/time shorter?)

Cereal is not getting to market fast enough to maintain

freshness
(Can we distribute from a centralized location?)

Cereal is not getting to market fast enough to maintain

freshness
(How can we keep cereal fresher, longer?)
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The Statement-Restatement
Technique
Substituteexplicitdefinitionsforkeywords
Breakfastfoodthatcomesinaboxisnotgettingto
theplacewhereitissoldfastenoughtokeepitfromgettingstale
(Makesusthinkaboutthepackageandtheproblemofstaleness

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KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid).

In the category of problem solving:
Look at all the asserted root causes
of the problem. Pick the simplest one
-- likely to be the closest to correct.
Consider the proposed corrective
actions. Pick the simplest one -likely to be the one most easily
implemented and the one most likely to
solve the problem

24

A toothpaste factory had a problem: they sometimes

shipped empty boxes, without the tube inside. This was due
to the way the production line was set up, and people with
experience in designing production lines will tell you how
difficult it is to have everything happen with timings so
precise that every single unit coming out of it is perfect
100% of the time. Small variations in the environment
(which cant be controlled in a cost-effective fashion) mean
you must have quality assurance checks smartly distributed
across the line so that customers all the way down to the
supermarket dont get cranky and buy another product
instead.
Understanding how important that was, the CEO of the
toothpaste factory got the top people in the company
together and they decided to start a new project, in which
they would hire an external engineering company to solve
their empty box's problem, as their engineering department
was already too stretched to take on any extra effort.
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The project followed the usual process: budget and project

They solved the problem by using high-tech precision scales that

would sound a bell and flash lights whenever a toothpaste box
weighed less than it should. The line would stop; someone would
walk over and yank the defective box off of it, pressing another
button when done to re-start the line.
A while later, the CEO decides to have a look at the Return on
Investment of the project: amazing results! No empty boxes ever
shipped out of the factory after the scales were put in place. Very
few customer complaints and they were gaining market share.
Thats some money well spent! he said, before looking closely
at the other statistics in the report.
It turns out, the number of defects picked up by the scales was 0
after three weeks of production use. It should have picked up at
least a dozen a day, so maybe there was something wrong with
the report. He requested an inquiry, and after some investigation,
the engineers come back saying the report was actually correct.
The scales really weren't picking up any defects, because all boxes
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that got to that point in the conveyor belt were good.

 Puzzled, the CEO traveled down to the

factory, and walked up to the part of the line
where the precision scales were installed.
A few feet before the scale, there was a
cheap $3 desk fan, blowing the empty boxes
out of the belt and into a bin.
Oh, that, says one of the workers one
of the guys put it there 'cause he was tired
of walking over every time the bell rang.
27

 When NASA first started sending up

astronauts, they quickly discovered that
ballpoint pens would not work in zero
gravity. To combat the problem, NASA
scientists spent a decade and $12 billion
to develop a pen that writes in zero
gravity, upside down, underwater, on
almost any surface, and at temperatures
ranging from below freezing to 300
degrees Celsius.
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 The Russians used a pencil.

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TOWS Matrix

StrengthsMaximize

WeaknessMinimize

StrengthsMaximize

OpportunitiesMaximize

StrengthsMaximize

ThreatsMinimize

Opportunities- ThreatsMaximize
Minimize

mdp@simsr.somaiya.edu

WeaknessMinimize

OpportunitiesMaximize

WeaknessMinimize

ThreatsMinimize

5 whys

Why is our client, unhappy?

Because we did not deliver our services when we said we

would.

Why were we unable to meet the agreed-upon timeline or

schedule for delivery?
The job took much longer than we thought it would.

Why did it take so much longer?

Because we underestimated the complexity of the job.

Why did we underestimate the complexity of the job?

Because we made a quick estimate of the time needed to

complete it, and did not list the individual stages needed to
complete the project.

Why didn't we do this?

Because we were running behind on other projects. We clearly

need to review our time estimation and specification
procedures.

If you don't ask the right questions, you don't get the right answers.

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Cause-Effect Fishbone
Analysis
Lack of Spot ChecksProcedures

Equipment
Computer Down

No documentation
Drawing Errors

Not enough
Analysis
Terminals
Bypassed

Printer Delays
Lack of Training

Program Errors

No Teamwork
Bureaucracy

Morale Problems

Job Vacancies

People

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Deadline Pressure

Management

Decision Tree Method

3.Problem identification
Micro level, Macro level.
Structural, Process
Immediate, Short term, Long term
Individual, Group, Organizational

34

Decision Elements
Decision Statement
What are we trying to decide?
Alternative:
What are the options?
Decision Criteria:
How are we going to judge merits of each
alternative?

35

solution
s
1

Consequence
s of
Acceptation/r
ejection

immediate
2
Problem
identification

Short term

Long term

36

Select Decision criteria

Profits, ROI
Competitive advantage
Customer satisfaction
Employee morale

Analyze and evaluate

alternatives

Cost
Time
Ease of implementation
RoI, Cus_Satis,
Competitive etc

Inquiry based learning

careful inspection of methods which are
permanently successful in formal education will
reveal that they depend for their efficiency upon the
fact that they go back to the type of situation which
causes reflection out of school in ordinary life.
They give the pupil something to do, not something
to learn, and the doing is of such a nature as to
demand thinking.
John Dewey, Democracy and Education.
1916

Discussion