management case study exam paper with examiners comments

Management Case StudiesAdvance Information for Candidates

Advance information case study 1

Based in a council which experiences a local disaster, you will be asked to prepare for enacting the Councils Emergency Plan for delivery of service and from various offices.


This question not set in a local authority will ask you to consider employment terms and conditions and the process for altering these.


Consultation of residents is an important part of corporate activity. The question will centre on the available methods and how to structure these for use within a council to improve the council’s reputation.

Management Case Studies, Diploma Qualification, June 2014

DIPLOMAQUALIFICATION

June 2014

Management Case StudiesWednesday 4th June 20149.25am-12.40pm (INCL. 15 MINS. FOR READING)

Time allowed: 3 hours

Answer any TWO out of the three cases.

Candidates may make such assumptions as are reasonable to complete the questions but these should NOT conflict with the Case Material provided. In all cases, assumptions should be clearly stated and justified.

Answers should show a range of current knowledge and understanding and apply it appropriately to the selected cases. The information / material provided should be used relevantly and comprehensively whilst the outcome(s) should be reasonable and suitable to the circumstances described.

Candidates should ensure that their answers are clear and logically structured and that both the structure and the language conform to the requirements of the required format(s) (leaflet, internal report, presentation notes etc.).

An “essay” style is not required.

Maximum marks: 300

Management Case Studies, Diploma Qualification, June 2014Page 1 of 4

Case Study 1

DIPLOMAQUALIFICATION

June 2014

Westermouth Council is a Unitary Council based in the rural county of Westerset. The poor weather this winter has seen the water levels rising until one day, you are called in to work for 7.00 am as the main council building has flooded at the ground floor ruining your customer services centre.

The Chief Executive has called an Emergency Planning Meeting for 8.30am; however, the emergency planning officer is currently on Maternity leave and you have responsibility for covering the role. You therefore will attend the meeting and be part of the restoration project.

You are able to ascertain the following before the meeting:-

Switchboard is not working due to water damage.

There are several inches of water in the ground floor making the building inaccessible.

One of the two Drop in Day Centres (which provide lunches for approximately 80 people) that you also own (and run within a quarter of a mile), is also flooded and will not be able to open to the public.

The weather forecasts are not yet suggesting the end of the bad weather.

The council is being called upon to remove debris and damage to roads where trees have fallen, cordon off flood areas and support vulnerable people who may be affected by the weather.

You are to attend the meeting and explain to the group your plan to still provide council services to the public, Prepare your notes for this meeting to explain how you intend to ensure that the council can carry out its duties to the residents who have been affected by the weather and what help may be available immediately (and in the future) for any costs.

It is necessary for you to explain how you would enact the detail of the emergency plan. At the very least, you must advise staff, provide a telephone link to the council this morning and ensure that the public are aware and up to date with what is happening and the efforts being made by the council during this period.


Case Study 2

You are the Personnel Officer in a small private business. It has become apparent that the staff terms of work (hours of work / notice for leave / reporting for sick / recording and taking TOIL) are not strictly adhered to and while there may not be any out-and-out abuse occurring, there is a lack of clarity around the entitlements for staff. In addition, staff feel at ease taking and making personal phone calls at work, using the photocopier and internet facilities for personal use.

You raise this with the Director who tells you that it has gradually arisen due to a very informal environment being created with staff to the point that providing the work is done, he is not too concerned about “following the strict rules”. He does accept that there are some office practices that cause disruption (such as leave or TOIL taken without notice and then leaving the service short) and staff tensions (where staff are observed to be observing their own rules) do occur from time to time.

The Director agrees that it is probably time that a halt was called to this and all staff should be reminded about correct processes. He is happy that some use of office facilities can be regarded as a “perk” but limits need to be set to ensure they are not abused. He agrees that this will help the staff to understand their roles in the office again. You look at the terms and conditions and decide they could do with being reissued and for office practices to be included. The Director asks you to do this and to ensure that staff are appropriately consulted and advised of any changes.

You should prepare a paper for the Director including the redraft the document adding any matters that you wish and drawing up an implementation plan including communication with the staff for its release. You should explain why the changes will benefit the organisation and the staff themselves.

The current “Terms and Conditions of Employment” are as follows:-

The normal working week is 37.5 hours worked 8.30am - 5.00pm Monday to Friday with an hour taken for lunch each day.

Leave is 22 days per annum (plus statutory bank and public holidays) to be approved by the Director at least 3 working days prior to relevant dates. Where staff are part time, the leave will be pro rata. Leave can be brought forward and carried forward as agreed.

Staff are paid 1/12 of their annual salary less statutory deductions on the 15th

of the month by BACS transfer.

Notice is a minimum of 4 weeks in writing by either party.

Overtime will be paid as appropriate or the accrual of TOIL.

The Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures are set out separately.


Case Study 3

You have been asked to sit on a Customer Service Review Group, who have been put together by your Chief Executive because there is some concern that the authority, while offering an excellent internal communication and staff policy, decisions are not always well communicated with the public and as a consequence, the council’s reputation is falling. There has been some criticism of schemes where money has been invested in new ideas, but the public don’t necessarily see the advantage. A recent example of this was the building of a new library and conference complex, which is well used in part but many residents do not use it. There are regular letters in the local paper decrying this project and calling for investment in to the old town’s retail area which is run down but offers small specialist shops.

Additionally, the satisfaction of the public for use of the existing services is not formally measured. Response to letters, telephone calls and waiting times are all measured by electronic systems. The results indicate that 75% of customers have their query dealt with within the publicised targets.

The group has been asked to devise a Consultation Policy which will relate to integrating the public in to the conceptual decision making of the council yet also ensuring the services supplied remain to the standard that is expected. At the same time, there is a need to meet the need of the customer when they contact the council. There have been many terms discussed by the group including the use of focus groups, satisfaction surveys, citizen’s panels, mystery shoppers and citizen’s juries.

It has fallen to you to prepare a presentation for chief officers, on behalf of the Customer Service Review Group, to explain the type of consultation methods that are available and to suggest the method (or methods) that would be most suitable to ensuring that objectives concerning interaction with the customer are met.

You should prepare both the slides that would be used for a power point presentation and include the notes that you would use to assist you with the presentation to the group. Clear explanation of the current situation of council consultation, what you know, explanation of the different approaches available and a preferred option should all be included, considering likely costs of each.


Diploma Management Case StudiesExaminers Comments

June 2014

Case Study 1

This question was emergency plan deployment following severe weather damaging council property. The Candidate was given a scenario to explain what customer facing services were available and those most vitally that were not. There were lots of hints and suggestions included to be used which some students grasped and others did not. Students were simply expected to find a solution and could use their own imaginations, which many did. Students were asked to prepare notes for a meeting to explain how they intended to ensure that the Council can carry out its duties to the residents who have also been affected by the weather and what help may be available immediately and also in the future for the costs to be incurred. Public communication was also asked for.

Marks were awarded in the following manner

Style Meeting notes - so not a report but a logical progression of the points that the candidate will raise staring with setting the scene, the background to the emergency plan through to how it will be implemented and what to do if further contingency is needed – including environment agency interaction, contact with emergency service and finishing with reprovision of the offices when planning can be taken and any funds that may be available to help with the costs Most candidates were able to produce a logical set of notes that showed that the main issues were to be covered. Stating the current situation What can happen the building / what cant / the state of the electrics etc - is any of the building usable immediately or in time and how do we establish this? What will risk to further disruption be?Press and communications Patchy in that students tend to forget the requirement for press releases and the more immediate use of social media and other options. Some students plunge in the to solution and forget to set the scene. Setting the scene can allow for statement of assumptions which will get marks for completeness of the solution Analysis moving forward, emergency plan provisionsImprovisation where the day centres are to be used Immediate support on floods / road closures/ debris and help for vulnerable Highways and support servicesIdentifying the most important services and keeping the service to the community going in light of Councils own difficulty Reprovision of switchboard for incoming coms Staff communication Temporary offices or service provision Alternative customer service provisionCandidates can be as imaginative as the wish there is no right or wrong - this question is testing process, ability to think on feet and being aware of emergency plans and how they can also be challenged through multi failure. Mostly handled well, a bit more corporate thinking about updating and liaising with highways on road closures, for example would have been required to give a holistic approach to the answer

45 for emergency plan deploy for initial ongoing service

25 for reprovision – getting things

more regulated for what may be a period of time

Reprovision of services in longer term Buildings - order to carry out repairs and refit – phased move back?Review of emergency plans and success of operation thereafter.Some of the students seemed to think that a few buckets and mops would do, thinking about the effect on IT and the time to dry out an office and allow it to be used (Environmental health involvement) would have been helpful. Finances : Belwin / government aid / insurances As always the weakest part of the answer. A Big authority is not looking to pay these costs themselves but to get them recouped from insurance / grants etc and this as always was a little thin. Total General: mostly well answered with all but three students who attempted the question receiving a comfortable pass

Case study 2

An old staple set outside of a local authority and simply asking to produce a new set of Terms and Conditions of employment. This should be bread and butter for the students with core personnel matters showing here. The question included the current draft and allowed the student to add to this as they wished.

Students were asked to draft a new T and C along with a report to the Director explaining how it would be implemented, including communication with the staff (to include staff side and unions)for its release. Students were asked to explain why the changes will benefit the organisation and the staff themselves.

Marks were awarded as follows:

Format A new T and C document explanatory brief for Director and an implementation plan for communication with staff and getting agreement for the introduction of the changes It never fails to surprise when a student forgets the implementation plan or even the detail of the T and C - this did happen on this occasion which meant marks were unable to be awarded.

Statement of position Why is it necessary that the staff understand what is expected of them. Harmony in the workplace etc reference to management theory and studies could be made here (Mayo / Herzberg etc) - but briefly as this is backgroundImprovements to productivity if staff are not concerned about matters that should be clear. The benefits of a content workforce. Time saved in dealing with office fallings out. Some reference to management theory in the draft to the director could have been made and this is disappointing when it is not. Students should remember this is not just testing ability to deal with the problem presented but also the application of the background learning, a little reference to management theory is expected and will be rewarded. New T and C The candidate can add in whatever they wish provided legal! I would expect to see examples such as:Consideration of flexi time rather than fixed hours (but this is not essential)Explanation of variance if part time. A cap on the number of days taken to and from different years A process for recording leave and toil referred to (possible reference to leave being approved provided it meets the teams requirements/ minimum staff numbers etc) Toil and Overtime being approved in advance of being worked

Who will deal in the absence of the director – should it be delegated anywayExplanation of pro rata What the leave year is and when it starts / ends what the lunch period is (12.00 – 1.00 or between 11.30 and 3.00??) needs of the service if any.Clarifying – use of computer / internet and company tools such as phones/ photocopier and also time (personal phones).

The T and C needs to be well set out, logical legal and clear There was little alteration from the details as included In the papers which is a shame. To a large degree the public sector are good examples of flexible terms and conditions and the reproduction of changes to match the students own T and C would have been very suitable.

Communications and implementationStaff side / union discussion on anything “new” or perceived as being taken away. Negotiation if necessaryImplementation time including - Period of grace, written communications and clear statement as to the purpose of the reissued policies (to avoid misunderstandings and clarify the working arrangements)Staff briefings to know it is coming and perhaps get them involved in the changes. Students who forget about the unions(or staff side negotiations) simply miss picking up marks

Max score Overall comment: only 4 students attempted this, all bar one passed comfortably with what should have been a very easy question at this level

Case Study 3

Students were given the current result of some customer feedback and image of the council in the public domain and were asked to prepare a presentation for chief officers, on behalf of the customer service review group to explain the type of consultation methods that are available and to suggest the method or methods that would be most suitable to ensure that both objectives concerning interaction with the customer are met.

Both the slides that would be used for a power point presentation and notes that would be used with the presentation to the group were requested. To include the current position and the cost of implementing new options.

Marks were awarded as follows

Structure of AnswerThe answer should be presented as the content for slides plus the speaker notes for the presentation. Background :Strengths of the council and good intention projects Understanding the needs and wants of residentsWhat statutory surveys/ voluntary surveys are already carried out Responses measured and overall 70% satisfaction service. Some students were not aware of any surveys that may be carried out, many former best value indicators such as communication are still kept by local authorities as they did provide insight and information and this would have been a good place to start. Strategy:What do we want to achieve?

What is acceptable / higher level satisfactionEducating the residents and keeping them on-board Where do we aim ourselvesNot so well done, students like to answer the question rather than consider the holistic issue which includes thinking – why are we doing this! What is available (should include with brief explanation of each and how it works but may not be exclusive): Focus GroupsCitizens PanelsResidents satisfaction surveysMystery shoppingCitizens juries

What experience / expertise have we got?What can we do ourselves what should be put out to third partiesWhich of the options will best suit us?

Fairly well attempted by everyone, the question did give some examples but those students who introduced other canvassing options gained additional points. Political / financial / assessment implications As always the weakest area, most students pick up finance, don’t say how it will be funded and often ignore reputation and political fall out.

Total marks available Some good solid passes with only a couple of students marginally failing the question. Read the question, pluck elements from it but also add your own knowledge and answer the question as asked, including each requirement and a pass should follow.

management case study exam paper with examiners comments

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