Posted: December 3rd, 2015

practical case study (six metaphors of organization)

This case study is the central individual project for each student within the course. This study serves to help synthesize the material covered in the course. It should bring the essence of the lectures and readings of the course. It should demonstrate the student’s thorough understanding of at least six of the “metaphors of organization” studied within the course (see below) and a capacity to apply these in depth to a chosen case study.

The following are general instructions for completing the project. You will find a rubric for the grading of the paper in Blackboard, under Assignments, “Practical Case Study”.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PRACTICAL CASE STUDY

In this course, you will examine a number of different ways of viewing organizations. Each way provides a lens that highlights different aspects of organization. These ways of viewing, or metaphors, should be explored in depth within the analysis.

The purpose of this case study is to create an opportunity to apply the ideas and concepts discussed in class and the readings in the analysis of a real organizational situation. The situation may be drawn from your own experience or from some public event on which information is readily available in newspapers, reports, etc. Your choice of organization and situation will be an important one, and will call for considerable judgment and discretion on your part in deciding whether it is feasible to use it for the purposes of the case study.