Engineering practice case study
A case study is a written description of a business problem or situation. Sometimes the
organisation about which the case was written is disguised, but usually the real name of the
organisation and the real names of the people in that organisation are used. Cases usually
include information about important facts that have a bearing on the issues that are central to
the case analysis, but sometimes, seemingly irrelevant information is also included to give a
more rounded picture of the organisation and the situation at the time of writing.
Preparing a case study
When attempting a case study there is no ‘best approach’, but there are a number of standard
recommended procedures that may help you to achieve a satisfactory result. The major
problem often faced by students attempting a case study is, where to begin. The following
processes should help to overcome that problem:
? Read the case through once without taking any notes or highlighting points of interest or
importance.
? Leave the case for sufficient time to allow the relevant information from the case to be
absorbed, at least 24 hours is recommended (this highlights one of the reasons why study
analysis should never be left until the last minute to complete).
? Re-read the case, this time making notes and highlighting areas that seem to be
important or inconsistent with the context of the case. At this stage, you are really only
‘fishing’ – looking for anything that stands out. This is often a good time to manipulate
the data in any financial tables – calculating ratios, percentage increases/decreases and
differences between years etc. Do not attempt to get too many answers, at this stage,
because you are really only looking for trends, inconsistencies and a general overview of
the company and the situation.
? Organise the information that has been noted. Identify any potential for the company and
consider possible causes. Determine if there are any areas where more information may
be needed, possibly from other sources such as textbooks, journals, newspapers and the
business press.
? Begin to gather more information about the company in general, or about its industry
sector. This background information will help to better understand the context of the
problems, possible industry trends and the external environment at the time of the case,
e.g. what the economy was doing, social norms and so on.
? Begin writing.
? When the first draft stage is reached, form a small group of fellow students (preferably
those who are at a similar stage of completion) and discuss your results, findings and
most importantly, any recommendations and reasonings.
This process provides an opportunity to check the reasoning behind the tentative
recommendations and to ensure that any vital information has not been overlooked. It is
important that this session is not used to ‘check’ the answers, rather it is an opportunity
to revise the main argument and get a different perspective. Do not worry if there are
different answers within the group. Each person could have used different reference
information or approached the problem differently.
Note: This practice is neither recommended, nor acceptable for other types of
assignment work (reports and essays) where individual ideas and approaches are
normally required. Submitting assignment work that is the same as another
student’s is called collusion (see section 4.2 for more details on the faculty policy
relating to collusion).
? Polish the report, proof read for spelling, typing, grammatical errors. Double check all
referencing and ensure that all appendices are attached. There is generally little sympathy
given by the marker for analyses that are missing vital components.
The structure of the case study
The case study format varies slightly from a traditional report format. Generally in a case
study detailed information about an organisation or situation is given and students are
required to provide a detailed analysis of the information; to correctly identify the problems;
to demonstrate an understanding of the causes and effects of the problems; and to provide
recommended solutions based on a theoretical framework.
You will note that stages (a) – (e) and (g) – (h) are the same as for the report style of
assignment. The area which differs from a report is the body of the analysis, or section (f).
It should also be noted that while it has the same heading, the Introduction section is also
slightly different in content from that which is required in a report. These differences are
discussed briefly below.
The required format for a case study is:
a. Faculty cover page
b. Title page
c. Executive summary
d. Table of contents
e. Introduction
f. Body of the analysis
g. List of references
h. Appendices
Introduction
When writing a case study, the introduction should give a very brief overview of the situation
and the organisation. It is a ‘setting the scene’ section. It should never be more than about
two paragraphs and it should be the only descriptive part of the case study write-up (i.e. the
only time you should tell the reader what happened). The purpose of a case study is to
analyse the organisation or situation and to propose solutions for the problems, not to
reiterate the situation.
The body of the analysis
This section contains the analysis of the case problem and provides recommended solutions.
It has essentially three sections:
1. The problem identification
2. The problem analysis
3. The recommendations/solutions and implementation issues
Problem identification
This section answers the question: ‘What is the problem?’ It should be very concise and is
often in point form. Be careful to identify the problems in the case and not the symptoms.
Very often the symptoms are easily identified but one must always ask: ‘What has caused
this to happen, or is this really the problem?’ If this question can be answered, then it is
most likely that a symptom, rather than a problem, has been identified.
In most case studies there are only a few real ‘problems’. Therefore, if a large number of
‘problems’ have been identified for the particular case, further analysis will most likely be
required, as some of the ‘problems’ will probably turn out to be symptoms. Be sure not to
draw inferences here because the problems should be statements of fact.
An additional hint when writing a case study is to number the problems which have been
identified (e.g. 2.1, 2.2, and so on) and keep this numbering system going through the
problem analysis, the recommendations/solutions, and the implementation sections of the
case study. This will ensure that all major points are covered and will help to keep the
analysis section focused.
Problem analysis
This section answers the question: ‘Why is it a problem?’ This section should:
? identify the underlying causes of the problems
? justify why these are problems by using supporting concepts, frameworks and other
material from any readings
? examine the effects of these problems on the organisation.
This section requires evidence of an understanding of the organisation and its industry and
external environmental context, theoretical support for assertations made and evidence of
wider reading demonstrated by reference to other author’s work in the text and in the list of
references. This section should thoroughly explore the various options available to the
organisation and examine a number of possible solutions.
Recommendations/solutions and implementation issues
This section answers the question: ‘What should be done?’ It gives the proposed
recommendations/solutions to the problem/s which that have been identified and a brief
explanation of why the proposed recommendations/solutions are the most appropriate. It
should be reasonably brief and to the point because the discussion of all possible solutions
should already have been done in the previous section.
Assignment 2
Engineering practice case study
Description Marks out of Wtg(%) Due date
Case study 2 Engineering practice 300 30.00 13 May 2013
Objectives
This assignment addresses, in part, some of the following objectives for the course as
outlined in the course specification:
? review and analyse the role of engineers as managers
? evaluate the characteristics of effective management control, including elements of
operations and financial control
? distinguish and discuss the social and legal responsibilities relating to product liability
and professional negligence
? determine appropriate methods of protecting intellectual property for specific situations
? apply the concept of ethics, and select and justify suitable ethical guidelines for specific
situations, using as a basis the Institution of Engineers, Australia Code of Ethics.
Special instructions
This assignment is to be electronically submitted via Study desk assignment drop-box.
Please submit as a generated PDF file or Word file. Do not submit zip files or scanned PDF
files.
File name for your assignment may follow the following format: Student surname (in
capitals)_first name_ENG3003_ASS 2_S1_2013
For example JONES_Bob_ENG3003_ASS 2_S1_2013
This is not critical but helps in sorting student submissions.
CASE STUDY: KBC32
Melissa Mulders is a qualified chemical engineer who graduated from the Farbridge
University two years ago. Melissa works for East Island Petrochemical Company. Since
graduation she has been developing a research career and plans to return to university next
year to undertake fulltime Doctor of Philosophy studies. Currently she works in the Research
and Development Division of East Island Petrochemicals. The Research and Development
Division has about 15 staff, including 5 industrial chemists, 3 chemical engineers and 4
technicians. The Division has about 40 research projects underway, mainly looking at either
the use of petrochemical products in applications outside their traditional uses, or the use of
additives in petroleum fuels. Most of the research is cutting edge technology and is highly
confidential because of its commercial value. Melissa, along with all other staff, had to sign a
Confidentiality Agreement when she first joined the Division. Annual “Intellectual Property
Protection” seminars are held for all staff, and at these events the need for strict secrecy in
the work is always emphasised.
The Head of the Division is Walpole Snodgrass, a 44 year old divorcee. Walpole is a known
womaniser and has come very close on several occasions to landing himself in trouble with
sexual harassment charges. However, Walpole is also a very astute business operator when it
comes to recruiting funds for his Division. He knows most of the senior managers in East
Island Petrochemicals very well, and is also friendly with several of the directors of the
company. He is an expert at extracting funds from senior management, and if he is unable to
secure funds for a project in the normal way he is not averse to personally lobbying
individual directors to support his case. Melissa does not have a lot to do with Walpole, for
which she is thankful. The few occasions where she has had to discuss issues with him she
has found him to be lecherous and he tried to grope her on one occasion when they were
alone together.
Melissa’s immediate supervisor is Brian Bunsen, an industrial chemist. Brian is in his early
50’s and has been with the company all his working life. He is fairly apathetic towards his
job, and tends to do the minimum to keep the bosses happy. He feels the company has
overlooked his talents and was particularly upset when Walpole was appointed Head of the
Division five years ago. Walpole was brought in from another section of the company and
Brian, as the most senior research scientist in the Division at that time, had expected to be
named as Head. Brian now reports directly to Walpole and their relationship is often stormy.
Apart from Melissa, the other people in Brian’s section are Roger “The Revhead” Robinson,
Craig Cattler and Trudy Truesome. Roger is a chemical engineer who graduated from
university 8 years ago. He is known as “The Revhead” because of his obsession with car drag
racing. Roger has his own dragster which he races in drag meetings all around the state. He
has confided to Melissa that although he finds the drag racing is fun and exciting, he also
likes to be involved in it because of the prize money which he is personally able to keep, and
the fact that the company vice-president, Bill Breezeway, is also keen on drag racing and this
allows Roger to mix with the upper managers and directors of the company.
Craig Cattler is a morose character who is always finding fault with the work of others. He is
an industrial chemist with five years experience and Melissa suspects he has a drinking
problem. Frequently, after lunch, he smells heavily of booze and often disappears into a quiet
part of the laboratory, presumably to have a sleep.
Trudy Truesome is the technician in the section and therefore assists Brian, Roger, Craig and
Melissa in their research projects. She is in her mid 30s, is divorced, and has two small
children (ages 7 and 4 years). Trudy is quite good at her job and is a willing worker, although
she tends to be fairly stressed because of her family situation, and sometimes leaves critical
work undone.
Brian’s section of the Research and Development Division is concerned with research into
fuel additives. One of the projects they have been working on for the last 12 months is the
development of a new additive which will significantly increase the octane rating of normal
automotive fuels. The additive has been coded as KBC32. The project has been going well
and initial trials of KBC32 indicate that the product could be a lucrative money spinner for
the company. Small quantities of KBC32 are stored in the laboratory, and each time some of
it is used the user must record details in a register and sign their name.
Roger has been suggesting to Melissa for some months that she should go along to one of the
Saturday night drag meetings that he is involved in, so that she can see for herself what drag
racing is about and how much fun it is. Melissa has resisted attending a drag meeting because
she is not interested and has always thought how boring it all sounds. However one Saturday
afternoon her friend Brooke Burton suggests that the two of them attend the drag meeting
that night and Melissa agrees so that she finds out what drag racing is about.
The drag meeting is of course quite crowded but eventually she spies Roger in the distance.
She is somewhat surprised when she realises that the woman with Roger is Trudy and they
are acting in a way which indicates that they are more than just friends. As she pushes her
way through the crowd towards Roger she suddenly becomes aware that Roger and Trudy
have been joined by Milton Steiner, head of Steiner Industries, a small but aggressive
petrochemical research company which is a rival to East Island Petrochemicals. This stops
her in her tracks and as she stands and watches she sees Roger handing to Milton a vial filled
with bluish-green liquid. She is shocked and dismayed as she realises that the liquid looks to
be KBC32. Her concern then turns to panic as she realises that the previous afternoon Trudy
had asked her to procure and sign for 25ml of KBC32. Trudy had said that Roger needed the
sample for some further testing, but could not leave what he was doing at that time to get the
sample. Melissa had been fairly busy herself but in order to help Roger expedite his testing
had signed out the liquid for him. If the liquid that Roger is now handing to Milton is
KBC32, then it is probably the sample that Melissa has signed for!
As she stands there stunned she sees Milton reach into his inner coat pocket and bring out a
brown envelope which he hands to Roger.
Identify and discuss the management and ethical issues involved in this case. What courses
of action would be appropriate for Melissa to follow (starting immediately)?
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