Dealing with Cases

1.

Dealing with Cases

2.

Case analysis structure
1 Profile : description of a company and its problem (3-4 sentences)
2 Problems/Tasks: What is the problem? What should be done?
3 Options available : what are possible ways to deal with the
problem/fulfill the task?
4 Analysing options:
- If we do this, what will be the consequences:
- What will this improve?
- What problems may it bring?
- Will it achieve the goal?

3.

Profile: 3-4 sentences:
The company/the person = name, location, what it specializes in,
Activity
Person: name, the company he works for, position/responsibilities
Background of the problem: what is happening and why
Problem/Task: you formulate it yourself
Options: you formulate them yourself
Analysis of the options:
- If we do this, then …..
- What will it improve?
- What problems may arise?
- Will it help to achieve the goal?

4.

Questions to ask
- How is this fact important?
- What difference would it make?
- Will the consequences be negative?
- Will it be cost-effective?
- Does it achieve the goal?

5.

Giving the profile/background
• Let's start with the background
• Let me explain the background to the problem
• I'll give you some background information
• The background to the problem is.....
• Basically the situation is this. A few months ago.....

6.

Introducing the problem
• The company is at present going through a difficult period
• The company is currently faced with/is facing a problem
• The company has a serious problem
• The company has run into a problem
• The problem (we've got) is.....

7.

Specifying the task
• We must consider what action should be taken
• What can/should we do?
• What are we going to do?
• What are we should do (about it)?
• What are the best steps to take?
• How do you think the company should deal with/do this?
• If the company is to survive it must... The question is: how?

8.

Presenting options
• There seem to be at least two ways of dealing with/solving the
problem
• There are several ways to deal with this
• As I see it, there are two possible solutions
• One solution/possibility is (obviously) to... Another
possibility/alternative is/would be to...
• One thing we could do is to... Alternatively, we could...
• Maybe we should...
• Maybe a better solution would be...
• I think it would be better to...
• I feel it is best to...

9.

Analysing options
• If we do this, we'd be in a better position to/we could...
• In this way we'll be able to …
• By doing this the company/we’d be able to ….
• If we/the company do/does this, we could ….
• It would allow/enable us to/let us...
• Doing this means/will mean that...
• It would improve...
• It would be cost-effective
• It would save money/time

10.

Case study
You work in the Human Resources department of a medium-sized engineering company. There is a
recession and orders have decreased. You have been instructed to cut costs in the Administration
Department by making one secretary redundant. You have been looking at two possible
candidates and have made notes about each of them.
Mary Henderson
Nora Jameson
- been with the company for ten years
- high salary due to length of service and a lot of
experience
- generally efficient and competent but doesn’t seem
interested in learning new skills
- attitude problem? Has made negative comments
about company and management
- respected by colleagues but not particularly liked
- poor absence record. Four weeks sick leave last year
high redundancy compensation costs due to length of
service
- been with the company for two years
- still on basic starting salary
- is the niece of one of the company’s directors.
Problems with uncle if she goes
- has only basic qualifications
- does job adequately but unlikely to be promoted
- very willing but takes longer than average to complete
tasks. Stays after hours to finish jobs where necessary
very shy.
- Doesn’t mix much with other workers
minimal redundancy compensation costs

11.

What do we start with?
1 Structuring data:
2 candidates:
- Strengths/weaknesses of each of them
- Which impact do they have for the job they do? (Prioritizing)
- If we make candidate …. redundant what would be the
consequences?

12.

Common mistakes
- Problem not identified/too general
- No analysis of options
- Consequences not identified or explained
- No logical argumentation given
- Cause-effect disconnection

13.

Problem not identified/too general
The main task is to select an employee to be fired. I need to analyse the
strengths and weaknesses of each employee
There is recession and orders have decreased. Due to the fact that I work
in HR I have to solve this problem
I have to choose one candidate for the secretary position from the two

14.

Cause-effect
The employee does her job well but hinders the development of the
company so she has no desire to learn
At the same time she hinders the development of the company
because she has no desire to learn new skills
She ignores the obtaining new skills what tells us about further
degradation of the employee

15.

No logical argumentation
Mary Henderson is better but her salary is higher
If we remove Nora we’ll have problems with her uncle
She doesn’t have that much experience like Mary but we should try to
take a risk
It’s best to fire Nora Jameson because she had only basic qualifications
and she’s also very shy
Mary has poor absence record – this negatively affects the company

16.

Consequences
If we dismiss Mary Henderson this would entail large compensation costs due to length of
service
If the company fires Mary it would save money. Because she has negative attitude towards
the company and when she leaves the company will be able to reduce costs
If we consider Nora she’s hard-working which is good for the company as well as for her
minimal redundancy compensation costs
The company pays a basic salary and receives an average quality of work so there no
additional costs.
She has no desire to learn . Accordingly, this entails monetary losses
The costs for Nora are less however she’s hard-working and works after hours

17.

Language
Reduce one secretary
Fire one secretary
Remove one secretary
Cut one secretary
In our conditions
Often absent record
Leave Mary Henderson
At the role of a secretary
The company highlighted one strong and one weak side each

18.

Language
Orders have become less
She stays behind
one candidate for the secretary position from the two
The costs for Nora are less

19.

Good examples
She has basic qualifications but this can be fixed by training her as we need,
however this will require resources
Keeping Nora we will focus on her retraining
If we dismiss Nora it will entail problems with one of the directors as she’s his niece
The second candidate is more willing to do the job which is a plus
The task is not easy because the two candidates are completely different
She has a long working experience and because of this she has high salary. She is
also absent from work but money is still credited to her
Company will be able to teach nora new skills but it will take time to retrain her
We have been looking at the two possible candidates and each of them has
strengths and weaknesses
After Mary’s dismissal the company will lose an employee with 10 years’ of
experience

20.

Good examples
It is better to keep Nora Jameson at work because the company pays her a basic
salary and gets an average quality of work and doesn’t make any additional costs
for her
The company has run into a problem of choosing a secretary for dismissal
Her main strength is 10 years of work so she has a lot of experience and knows the
company well
Mary is having relationship problem, this will lead to misunderstandings between
employees and management
We will carry high redundancy compensation costs due to her length of service but
we will save money from paying her high salary
She stays after hours which tells us that she is very hard-working
We choose Nora because she has no problems in relations with co-workers and will
be able to improve her qualifications

21.

Good examples
Nora takes longer than average to complete tasks, she stays after hours to finish
work. It is very important in long perspective because with time comes
experience

22.

What is a Case?

23.

• Первый из них ― определение проблемы. Кандидату дают кейс
и предлагают запросить дополнительную информацию.
• Сначала вам нужно уточнить, верно ли вы поняли задачу
• переформулируйте вопрос своими словами и озвучьте
интервьюеру
• Постарайтесь сформулировать задачу по SMART, то есть сделать
ее конкретной, измеримой, достижимой, актуальной
и ограниченной по времени

24.

• Пример задачи по SMART: за один месяц провести
маркетинговую кампанию, посвященную новой марке зубной
пасты, в Instagram с охватом 100 000 человек
• PSW (Problem Statement Worksheet) — это шаблон для описания
бизнес-задачи, который придумали консультанты из McKinsey
& Company

25.

• Контекст. Этот блок поможет понять, почему возникла задача
кейса, какую проблему она должна решить и какое место эта
ситуация занимает в рамках глобальных целей бизнеса
• Пример вопроса: «Можете рассказать об истории проблемы?»
• Критерии успеха. Вам необходимо понять, как будут оценивать
ваше решение: по количеству продаж, снижению расходов,
рекламному охвату, приросту новых клиентов или чему-то
другому.
• Пример вопроса: «Подскажите, что для вас будет означать
хорошо решенная проблема? Как вы будете это оценивать?»

26.

• Пространство решений. Вам будет проще решать кейс, если
вы разберетесь, где уже не нужно копать. Например, заказчика
интересует только один конкретный регион или определенная
аудитория
• Пример вопроса: «Подскажите, какие сферы мне необходимо
проанализировать?»
• Ограничение пространства решений. Остановить ваш полет
фантазии могут рамки бюджета, законодательные ограничения
или четкий список инструментов, которые вы можете
использовать.

27.

• Пример вопроса: «Подскажите, каковы наши ограничения?»
• Заинтересованные стороны. Все заинтересованные стороны делятся
на три категории: те, кто решает, те, кто помогает, и те, кто мешает.
• Пример вопроса: «Подскажите, чье мнение нужно учесть при решении
задачи и кто будет принимать финальное решение?»
• Ключевые источники информации. Уточните, есть ли дополнительные
источники, которые помогут вам в решении кейса.
• Пример вопроса: «Подскажите, с анализа каких материалов вы бы
начали исследование задачи?»

28.

• Когда вы решите, что спросили обо всем, пробегитесь глазами
по PSW. Если вы заметили, что в нем есть пробелы, заполните их.
Очень важно не показывать интервьюеру этот шаблон
на презентации решения: собеседник и так знает задачу
и лишняя информация его только запутает. Эти заполненные
блоки нужны вам, чтобы ничего не забыть. На них вы будете
ориентироваться во время второго этапа кейс-интервью ―
формирования дерева решений.