Serials, How to Save Money Case Study Analysis

Group 3: Hannah Bitner

Heather Morgan

Sheila Peacock

Elena Spear

INFO640-902:

Managing Information Orgs

Professor Collins

Winter 2011

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We certify that:

This paper/project/exam is entirely our own work.

We have not quoted the words of any other person from a printed source or a website without

indicating what has been quoted and providing an appropriate citation.

We have not submitted this paper/project to satisfy the requirements of any other course.

Signature: Hannah Bitner, Heather Morgan, Sheila Peacock, Elena Spear Date: March 13, 2011

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Table of Contents

Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................................3

Statement of the Facts .................................................................................................................4

Statement of Alternative Courses of Action .................................................................................5

Advantages & Disadvantages for Each Alternative Course of Action ..........................................6

Rational Persuasion .................................................................................................................6

Rehearsing/Personal Mental Prep ............................................................................................7

Pressure ...................................................................................................................................7

Coalition ..................................................................................................................................7

Consultation ............................................................................................................................8

Do Nothing ..............................................................................................................................8

Evaluation of the Advantages and Disadvantages ........................................................................9

Certainty of Occurrence of Advantages and Disadvantages .........................................................9

Selection of the Best Alternative .................................................................................................9

Group Strategies and Responsibilities ....................................................................................... 10

References ................................................................................................................................ 11

Appendix .................................................................................................................................. 12

Appendix A: Identified Case Study Problems and Rankings ................................................. 13

Appendix B: Advantages and Disadvantages for Alternative Courses of Action.................... 14

Appendix C: Certainties of Advantages and Disadvantages .................................................. 17

Appendix D: Net Advantages and Net Disadvantages ........................................................... 20

Appendix E: Group Task Divisions ...................................................................................... 21

Statement of the Problem

After group analysis of the problems, it has been determined that the communication

problem in this case study is the most urgent (as seen in Appendix A).

The justification for this choice follows:

It was unanimously determined that the problem of Ethics, or in our case preferential

treatment, was the least urgent. It is a decision that has already been made and nothing can be

done currently to reverse that decision. At some point in the future, guidelines or policies should

be created in regards to hiring practices for the position of President at the school.

It was also unanimously decided that the Problem Solving issues and Communication

issues were intertwined. It was determined that if the Communication issues were alleviated

first, then the Problem Solving issues may also be eased as a consequence. If effective

communication can be established between the library director and the president of the

university, then there will be a greater chance for brainstorming and sharing of practical, ethical

ideas regarding the purchase of costly serials. This effective communication includes both active

listening from the President and assertive communication from the library director. Since the

library director isn't pleased with the president’s idea about the purchase of periodicals, she

needs to be able to voice her concerns rather than only trying to avoid confrontation. Baldwin,

Bommer, and Rubin (2008) point out that “communicating assertively means acting with

confidence, assurance, and a positive attitude” and “being assertive does not mean you will

always get what you want” (p. 64).

Concurrently, the president needs to improve his active listening skills – even if he

cannot enact the ideas that the library director shares, he still should listen to her concerns.

Baldwin, Bommer, and Rubin (2008) state: “Even when managers cannot give employees what

they want, employees feel better when they believe their point of view has been heard. Listening

to employees is a way of showing acceptance, which makes for a more open work climate and

higher satisfaction and productivity. Moreover, managers who listen to employees can learn new

ways to approach company problems” (p. 67). If the president did utilize active listening in this

case, perhaps he might have learned of a better alternative to his idea regarding the purchase of

serials. Communication isn’t just about what one says but it is also about how one listens. As

pointed out in the following quote from Madlock’s (2008) article, the skill of active listening is

essential in order to be a competent communicator as a leader:

“Specifically, Salacuse noted that in order for leaders to persuade people to follow their

vision, they need to communicate effectively by appealing to the interests of the followers. In

that competent communicators must employ communicative resources such as language,

gestures, and voice (Stohl, 1984), and in order for supervisors to be perceived as competent

communicators, they must share and respond to information in a timely manner, actively

listen to other points of view, communicate clearly and succinctly to all levels of the

organization, and utilize differing communication channels (Shaw, 2005).” (p. 63)

For this project, the group has decided to focus strictly on Burrard’s lack of

communication with the president regarding his purchasing solution.

Statement of the Facts

The facts supporting the need to resolve the issue of communication are as follows.

Maurice DeGaury, the new president of Selbour University, set up a meeting with Eva Burrard,

the library director, to listen to her suggestions on ways to cut the library’s budget (Case Study,

paragraph 4). DeGaury made several recommendations, including cutting funding to periodicals

which would affect several key programs, as a way to reduce the library budget (paragraph 5).

Burrard did not like DeGaury’s plan to supplement the cost of the periodicals; however, she was

interrupted before she could fully express her opinion (paragraphs 8-9). DeGaury did not want

to listen to criticism about his idea (paragraph 9). Burrard left the meeting without voicing her

hesitations concerning the periodicals (paragraph 10).

Statement of Alternative Courses of Action

As a group, we compiled six alternative courses of action which could take place in our

case study. Four of these six courses of action include actions defined by Baldwin, Bommer, and

Rubin (2008) as influence tactics: rational persuasion, pressure, coalition, and consultation. The

other two courses of action are rehearsing/mental prep and doing nothing. Rational persuasion

would involve Burrard researching and creating a presentation that provides logical facts and

arguments as to why DeGaury’s idea is ill-conceived. Burrard would also include ways she

thinks the expensive serials problem could be alleviated. Baldwin, Bommer, and Rubin describe

rational persuasion as “using logical arguments and facts to persuade someone your request will

result in beneficial outcomes” (p. 208). Rehearsing/personal mental prep involves Burrard

enlisting a friend that is a good listener as well as honest and non-judgmental to listen to her

views and thoughts before she presents them to DeGaury. As Weeks (2001) mentions:

“An excellent way to anticipate specific problems that you may encounter in a stressful

conversation is to rehearse with a neutral friend. Pick someone who doesn't have the

same communication problems as you. Ideally, the friend should be a good listener,

honest but nonjudgmental. Start with content. Just tell your friend what you want to say

to your counterpart without worrying about tone or phrasing.” (p. 116)

Pressure involves Burrard threatening to either quit or bring DeGaury before an ethics board due

to the way he wants to reduce the cost of serials. Consultation and coalition are extremely

similar, but coalition would involve Burrard working along with the library staff, committee, and

faculty to persuade DeGaury to change his mind about his idea. Coalition is emphasized in

Developing Management Skills: What Great Managers Know and Do as “seeking the help of

other people to get someone to do what you want, or using the support of other people to get

someone to agree with you” (p. 208). On the other hand, consultation would involve working

along with the library staff, committee, faculty, and DeGaury to determine better ways to fund

the purchase of the serials needed by the university. Baldwin, Bommer, and Rubin emphasize

that consultation is “seeking someone’s participation in planning or developing something they

ultimately need to buy into” (p. 208). Lastly, doing nothing would involve Burrard choosing not

to respond to the situation.

Advantages & Disadvantages for Each Alternative Course of Action

Rational Persuasion

For rational persuasion, the advantages identified included: Burrard feeling more

confident with her views because she will have facts, statistics and a prepared presentation to

back them up; Burrard providing DeGaury with what he originally asked to have as based on the

description of our case study (“a detailed presentation of several alternative ways the goals might

be accomplished”); and the ability of Burrard to research why individual subscriptions would not

benefit the library or university. The disadvantages for rational persuasion would include the

further strain of Burrard and DeGaury’s relationship (since Burrard will be offering negative

feedback even after DeGaury already mentioned he did not want to hear it) and the time

consuming task of creating the presentation.

Rehearsing/Personal Mental Prep

For rehearsing/personal mental prep, two advantages were identified: Burrard would be

able to become more aware of the improvements she needs to make with her communication

skills and Burrard will feel more confident with her views since she has already practiced

communicating them. One disadvantage identified is the possibility that Burrard will choke, or

will be unable to perform when it is needed. Practicing in front of a friend is much different than

performing in front of person who intimidates you. Another disadvantage of rehearsing/personal

mental prep is similar to that of rational persuasion: Burrard will be offering negative feedback

even after DeGaury said he did not want to hear it. A third disadvantage is that DeGaury may

end up dominating the conversation once again.

Pressure

By applying pressure to DeGaury, there would be three advantages and four

disadvantages. The advantages include: making Burrard feel as though she has control of the

situation, frightening DeGaury into behaving the way Burrard wants, and alerting others of the

poor ethical choice that DeGaury has proposed. One of the disadvantages of pressure is that

DeGaury may take Burrard up on her threat to quit and Burrard is left without a job. A second

disadvantage would be the university losing their president. A third disadvantage would be

Burrard not having the influence necessary to back up her threats. A final disadvantage is that

Burrard may strain her relationships with co-workers if they view her actions as unprofessional.

Coalition

The advantages of coalition include Burrard having the confidence that many people

support her decisions and also the possibility that Burrard will receive many ideas and feedback

about resolving the budget issue. In turn, a disadvantage of coalition may be that DeGaury feels

threatened that so many people are against his decision, which ends up backfiring on Burrard and

her supporters. Another disadvantage would be that Burrard may spread discontent among the

faculty because she has shared her hesitations with them. The final disadvantage is that Burrard

may receive too many ideas from the library committee and faculty and may not have enough

time to research them.

Consultation

Consultation will have some similar advantages and disadvantages of coalition. Some of

the advantages of consultation include: Burrard feels confident with herself, her position, and her

responsibilities; Burrard would also show her ability to make decisions, as well as work with

others; and Burrard and DeGaury would be able to avoid conflict by working through their

problems rationally. Disadvantages could include: DeGaury may think Burrard is being overly

confident, arrogant and critical; at the same time, DeGaury may think Burrard and others doubt

his authority and end up resigning; and lastly, DeGaury may convince the board of the college

that Burrard is not the right person for the job.

Do Nothing

By doing nothing, we found only one advantage but three disadvantages. Burrard's

refusal to address the problem with DeGaury allows her to avoid conflict with him; this is our

only advantage. The three disadvantages include: the university library will use unethical means

to provide periodicals to the students; DeGaury will believe that Burrard will do whatever he

suggests; and DeGaury may face several damaged relationships with the faculty.

Appendix B shows the different alternative courses of action identified, as well as their

advantages and disadvantages.

Evaluation of the Advantages and Disadvantages

For this step, the group evaluated each other’s lists of advantages and disadvantages via

threads on the discussion board. Suggestions were made on what to add, what to take away,

which advantages might be disadvantages (and vice versa), and questionable decisions were

defended. After this step was completed, we arrived at the list of advantages and disadvantages

that were detailed in the previous section.

Certainty of Occurrence of Advantages and Disadvantages

In order to determine the certainties of the advantages and disadvantages of each course

of action, we created a five point scale for the percentages. A percentage of zero means there

would be no chance at all of the advantage or disadvantage happening. Twenty-five percent

denotes that it will probably not happen. Fifty percent would mean it may happen. Seventy-five

percent denotes that there is a good chance it will happen. Lastly, one hundred percent means

that it will happen. Appendix C shows the different percentages we established for each of the

advantages and disadvantages of the alternative courses of action.

Selection of the Best Alternative

After tabulating the certainties of the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative

course of action (see Appendix D), the group narrowed the field down to two options:

consultation and rational persuasion. The alternatives, pressure, coalition, and doing nothing,

did not present enough of an advantage to pursue. The alternative of rehearsal/personal mental

prep had percentages for advantages and disadvantages that cancelled each other out. Of the two

alternatives that showed the advantages outweighing the disadvantages, the group determined

that rational persuasion had the best chance of succeeding in a subsequent conversation between

Burrard and DeGaury. Rational persuasion had the largest net advantage (250) and also had the

largest difference between net advantage and net disadvantage (100). Furthermore, Baldwin,

Bommer, and Rubin state that when giving a presentation, it doesn’t matter “how credible you

are, you need to provide some evidence other than your own opinion…” (p. 57).

In choosing rational persuasion over consultation, the group believes that Burrard will be

able to research DeGaury’s recommendation as well as alternatives to that recommendation to

form an argument that would both make sense to him (Chapman, 2009, p. 330) and would bring

the most benefit to the library (p. 341).

Group Strategies and Responsibilities

FILL IN YOUR OWN THOUGHTS!! Make sure to include a reference to Appendix E:

Group Task Divisions.

Group strategies and responsibilities: In this section, you will have an opportunity to

comment upon the contributions of each member of the group to the project. This section must

include the following information: the strategies the group members used to follow the steps of

the assignment; the timeline (as presented in the Gantt chart) to complete the essential tasks of

the project; a description of the responsibilities of each member of the group including the chair

or leader, if one was selected; and an evaluation of how well each member of the group fulfilled

their responsibilities. You may write this section individually or as a group.

References

Baldwin, T. T., Bommer, W. H., & Rubin, R. S. (2008). Developing management skills: What

great managers know and do. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Chapman, B. (2009). Leading you down the choice path: Rational persuasion as collective

rationality. Queen’s Law Journal, 35(1), 327-358.

Collins, C. (2011). Case study: Serials, how to save money [Word document].

Madlock, P. E. (2008). The link between leadership style, communicator competence, and

employee satisfaction. The Journal of Business Communication, 45(1), p. 61-78.

Weeks, H. (2001). Taking the stress out of stressful conversations. Harvard Business Review,

79(7), 112-119.

Appendix

Appendix A: Identified Case Study Problems and Rankings

Problem Description Ranking

Communication

Burrard needs to communicate with DeGaury why his

proposed solution will or will not work.

Very Urgent

Problem

Solving

DeGaury needs to use ethical problem solving skills, which

may include the university employees helping him to

brainstorm ideas.

Urgent

Ethics

The university’s hiring practices need to be reviewed.

Rules against preferential treatment need to be established.

Not Urgent

Appendix B: Advantages and Disadvantages for Alternative Courses of Action

Action Description Advantages Disadvantages

Rational Burrard will research and create a Burrard will feel more confident with Burrard and DeGaury's

Persuasion presentation that provides logical her views since she will have professonial relationship will

arguments and facts as to why DeGaury's facts, statistics, and a prepared be further strained since she

idea is ill-conceived. She will also provide presentation to back them up. will be offering negative

logical facts and arguments for ways she Burrard will be providing DeGaury feedback, even after he said he

thinks the expensive serials problem can with what he originally asked to have didn't want to hear it.

be alleviated. ("a detailed presentation of Creation of the presentation

several alternate ways the goals will be a time consuming task.

might be accomplished").

Burrard is able to research why

individual subscriptions would not

benefit the library or university.

Rehearsing/ Burrard will enlist a friend that is a "good With this friend, Burrard can rehearse Choking (or the inability to

Personal listener, honest but not judgmental" . what she will say to DeGaury and perform when it is needed) is a

Mental Prep This friend will not have the same become more aware of the potential problem. Practicing in

communication problems as Burrard. improvements she needs to make in front of a friend is much different

her communication skills. than a person who intimidates

Burrard will feel more confident you.

presenting her views since she has Burrard and DeGaury's

already practiced communicating professional relationship will

them. be further strained since she

will be offering negative

feedback even after he told her

he didn't want to hear it.

The president may once again

dominate the conversation.

Action Description Advantages Disadvantages

Pressure Burrard threatens to quit or bring DeGaury Burrard may feel as though she has DeGaury takes Burrard up on her

before an Ethics board because of the way control of the situation. threat and she is left without a

he wants to reduce the cost of the job.

serials. Burrard frightens DeGaury into The university loses their president.

behaving the way she wants.

Burrard alerts others to DeGaury’s Burrard does not really have the

potentially unethical decision. influence necessary to back up

her threat.

Burrard will strain relationships with co-workers who view the use of threats as unprofessional.

Coalition Burrard meets with the library committee Burrard has the confidence that many DeGaury feels threatened by so

and faculty to persuade DeGaury to change people support her and her decisions. many people being against his

his mind about his idea. decision which backfires on all

of them.

Burrard receives many ideas and Burrard spreads discontent

feedback about resolving the budget among the faculty because she

issue. has shared her hesitations with

them.

Burrard receives too many ideas

from the library committee and

faculty to research them in a

reasonable amount of time.

Action Description Advantages Disadvantages

Consultation Burrard will work with the library staff, Burrard will feel confident with herself, DeGaury thinks Burrard is being

committee, college faculty, and DeGaury to her position and her responsibilities. overly confident, arrogant and

determine alternative ways to garner the Burrard will show her ability to make critical.

funding that is needed. decisions and work with others. DeGaury thinks Burrard and others

Burrard and DeGaury will be able to doubt his authority and ends up

avoid conflict by working through their resigning.

problems rationally. DeGaury may end up convincing the

board of the college that Burrard is

not the right person for the job.

Do Nothing Burrard chooses not to respond to the Burrard's refusal to address the The university library uses an

problem. problem with DeGaury allows her to unethical means to provide

avoid conflict with him. periodicals to the students.

DeGaury will know Burrard will do

whatever he suggests.

DeGaury faces damaged

relationships with the faculty.

Appendix C: Certainties of Advantages and Disadvantages

The following percentage scale was used:

0%

no chance at all 25%

will probably not happen 50%

may happen 75%

a good chance of happening 100%

will happen

Action

%

Advantages

Burrard will feel more confident with her views since she will have facts, statistics and a prepared presentation to back them up. 75%

Burrard will be providing DeGaury with what he originally asked to have ("a detailed presentation of several 100%

Rational alternative ways the goal might be accomplished").

Persuasion Burrard is able to research why individual subscriptions would not benefit the library or the college. 75%

Disadvantages

Burrard and DeGaury's relationship will be further strained since she will be offering negative feedback, even 50%

after he said he didn't want to hear it.

Creation of the presentation will be a time consuming task. 100%

Advantages

With a friend, Burrard can rehearse what she will say to DeGaury and become more aware of the 100%

improvements she needs to make in her communication skills.

Rehearsing/ Burrard will feel more confident with her views since she has already practiced communicating them. 50%

Personal Mental

Disadvantages

Prep Choking (or the inability to perform when it is needed) is a potential problem. Practicing in front of a friend is 50%

much different than a person that intimidates you.

Burrard and DeGaury's relationship will be further strained since she will be offering negative feedback, even 50%

after he said he didn't want to hear it.

The president may once again dominate the conversation. 50%

Advantages

Burrard may feel as though she has control of the situation. 50%

Burrard frightens DeGaury into behaving the way she wants. 25%

Pressure Burrard alerts others to DeGaury’s potentially unethical decision. 75%

Disadvantages

DeGaury takes Burrard up on her threat and she is left without a job. 25%

The university loses their president. 25%

Burrard does not really have the influence to back up her threat. 75%

Burrard will strain relationships with co-workers who view the use of threats as unprofessional. 75%

Advantages

Burrard has the confidence that many support her decision. 50%

Burrard receives many ideas and feedback about resolving the budget issue. 100%

Disadvantages

Coalition DeGaury feels threatened by so many people being against his decision which backfires on all of them. 75%

Burrard spreads discontent among the faculty because she shared her hesitations with them. 100%

Burrard receives many ideas from the library committee and faculty to research them in a reasonable 0%

amount of time.

Advantages

Burrard will feel confident with herself, her position and, her responsibilities. 25%

Burrard will show her ability to make decisions and work with others. 50%

Consultation Burrard and DeGaury will be able to work along with others to make an effective decision. 50%

Disadvantages

DeGaury will think Burrard is being overly confident, arrogant and critical. 50%

DeGaury will think Burrard and the others doubt his authority and end up resigning from his position. 25%

DeGaury will end up convincing the board of the college that DeGaury is not the right person for the job. 25%

Advantages

Burrard's refusal to address the problem with DeGaury allows her to avoid conflict with him. 100%

Do Nothing Disadvantages

The university uses an unethical means to provide periodicals to the students. 100%

DeGaury will know Burrard will do whatever he suggests. 50%

DeGaury faces damaged relationships with the faculty of the university. 75%

Appendix D: Net Advantages and Net Disadvantages

NA = Net Advantage (all percentages for the advantages are added together)

ND = Net Disadvantage (all percentages for the disadvantages are added together)

D = The difference between NA and ND (NA – ND)

Alternative Courses of Action

NA ND D

Consultation 125 100 25

Rational Persuasion 250 150 100

Pressure 150 200 -50

Coalition 150 175 -25

Rehearsing/Personal Mental Prep 150 150 0

Do Nothing 100 225 -125

The blue shading indicates the “greatest net advantage” and the “least net disadvantage”. The

green shading indicates actions where the net advantages are greater than the net disadvantages.

Appendix E: Group Task Divisions

TASK DESCRIPTION DUE DATE SIGN UPS

1) Case Study Plan

One person is responsible for compiling the

thoughts of the group to create the Case Study

Plan. This person is also responsible for

sending it out early to the group members on

2/20 to receive final feedback before submitting

it on behalf of the group later that night.

SUN

2/20/11

Elena

2) Gantt Chart

One person is responsible for compiling the

thoughts of the group and agreed upon division

of tasks in order to create a Gantt Chart. This

person is also responsible for sending it out

early to the group on 2/27 to receive final

feedback before submitting it on behalf of the

group later that night.

SUN

2/27/11

Heather

3) Creation of a

Template

One person will be responsible for creating a

template in Word for our final project. This

template should include a Title Page (with

academic honesty certification), Table of

Contents (with no page numbers listed yet), and

all Section Headings (including Appendix and

References). This document should be

deposited into the File Exchange for our group.

SUN

2/27/11

Sheila

4) Ranking of the

problems/Justification

of the number one

problem

The group will decide via discussion board the

most important problem presented in the case

study as well as the rankings of the other

problems along with appropriate justifications.

MON

2/28/11

Group

5) Statement of the

problem

One person will be responsible for creating a

table that will reflect the rankings of our three

problems; this person is also responsible for

creating “a simple, concise, and unambiguous

statement” as mentioned in the project

description. This task should be added to the

TUES

3/01/11

Elena

last revised copy of the project template.

6) Statement of the

facts

One person will create a paragraph that

describes the facts presented in our Case Study

that pertain to our management problem. This

task should be added to the last revised copy of

the project template.

TUES

3/01/11

Hannah

7) Brainstorming

about alternative

courses of action

The group will list alternative courses of actions

together via a thread on the discussion board. A

minimum of four actions should be chosen.

THURS

3/03/11

Group

8) Statement of

alternative courses of

action

One person will be responsible to compile our

list into a summary paragraph for the final

project. This task should be added to the last

revised copy of the project template.

FRI

3/04/11

Sheila

9) Brainstorming and

compilation of the

advantages and

disadvantages for

each alternative

course of action

Once alternative courses of actions are listed,

they will be divided as equally as possible

among group members via sign-ups through the

discussion board. Each member will be

responsible for her 1-2 course(s) of action(s).

SAT

3/05/11

Group

10) Evaluation of the

advantages and

disadvantages and

the certainties of their

occurrences

Advantages and Disadvantages should be listed

and evaluated. Certainty of occurrence

percentages should also be assigned to each

member’s respective course of action. This task

should be reported in individual threads on the

discussion board.

MON

3/07/11

Group

11) Appendix/

Creation of Tables

One person will be responsible for the creation

of all charts for the appendix and the

compilation of our thoughts about the

advantages and disadvantages. This task should

be added to the last revised copy of the project

template.

TUES

3/08/11

Heather

12) Selection of the

As a group, selection of the best alternative or

WED

Group

best alternative least disadvantage will be discussed via a new

thread on the discussion board. The group will

also provide support for their selection.

3/09/11

13) Statement of the

Selection of the best

alternative

One person will be responsible for creating a

summary of our thoughts and support for this

alternative course of action. This task should be

added to the last revised copy of the project

template.

THURS

3/10/11

Hannah

14) Final Formatting

One person will be responsible for filling in

page numbers in the table of contents, and final

proofreading of entire project (including

appendix and resources). This person will also

post the final copy on the file exchange on the

night of the 11th so each member can provide

final feedback. Each member is responsible for

her own Group Strategies section.

FRI

3/11/11

Elena

15) Group strategies

and responsibilities

This task will be completed individually - “the

strategies the group members used to follow the

steps of the assignment; the timeline (as

presented in the Gantt chart) to complete the

essential tasks of the project; a description of

the responsibilities of each member of the group

including the chair or leader, if one was

selected; and an evaluation of how well each

member of the group fulfilled their

responsibilities.” Each individual member will

be responsible to submit her own copy of the

project to the professor.

SUN

3/13/11

Group

Please Note:

References used during the writing of a section are put on the reference page by the

author of that section.

All group work will be in a discussion thread designated to each group task.

The project description provided by the professor should always be referenced when

creating each part. The descriptions listed in this table are NOT a replacement for her

expectations.