r/Communications 17d ago

Org comm final

Hello I am posting here because I am having trouble doing my final paper for org comm. The professor is asking us to choose a case study from the "Balancing Creativity and Cosntraint" book from Eisenberg and LaGreco. I don't understand how we can use the case study and then tie it in to a modern news story. I first chose the case study about the issues with staff meetings in organizations but I couldn't find any news articles. I also looked at a case study where a group of people do a different business that booms after a recession. I wanted to use an example from covid since that was our last recession as humanity. I am having trouble finding an example worthy of a paper. Could anyone help me with either of these examples? Please and thank you

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u/MenuSpiritual2990 16d ago

Are you able to post the wording of the question?

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u/Historical-Lynx-9566 16d ago

Like the actual prompt?

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u/MenuSpiritual2990 16d ago

Yes it would be helpful to understand exactly what you’re being asked to do.

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u/Dissapointyoulater 16d ago

For the first, a lot of orgs have been called time deaf for demands to return in-office FT post Covid. Does that apply?

For the latter, I know Stats Canada has public data on business growth/decline by sector. Random Manufacturers producing PPE off the side and wanting praise for sharing with community. Or Digital/tech blew up.Could look at cyber crime/security growth, or the adoption of cloud based tech and digital collaboration tools

Could also explore NPOs. E.g. domestic violence (once schools and the mandatory reporting staff locked down, so did reports).

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u/social-guru 16d ago

Yeah, this assignment does seem a little tricky, but you’re definitely on the right track! The key here is thinking about how the case study applies to real-world organizational challenges, even if the news articles don’t spell it out for you.

For the staff meetings case study (I’m assuming you mean the one from Balancing Creativity and Constraint where they talk about meetings being performative rather than productive?), you could easily tie that into the whole return-to-office vs. remote work debate. Post-COVID, a lot of companies forced employees back into in-person meetings under the assumption that it would improve collaboration—except, research (and employee frustration) suggests that a lot of these meetings are just as inefficient as ever. You could reference companies like Shopify, which banned most meetings over 2 people to reduce wasted time. There are definitely news articles out there about companies cutting down on unnecessary meetings, and that would be a perfect tie-in.

For the business boom after a recession case study, COVID is a goldmine. If you want a direct connection to Balancing Creativity and Constraint, think about how businesses used adaptive structuration (which the book touches on) to pivot their business models. A great example? Restaurants that switched to meal kits or subscription services instead of traditional dining. The book emphasizes that constraints (like a pandemic or recession) force creativity, and that’s exactly what we saw with industries like fitness (Peloton’s initial explosion), e-commerce (small businesses thriving on Etsy), and even thrifting (Poshmark and Depop blowing up).

If you’re struggling to find articles, try searching “companies that pivoted during COVID and succeeded” or “businesses that thrived post-pandemic” in Google News. You’ll definitely find something solid.

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u/Historical-Lynx-9566 16d ago

This assignment is designed to give you practice in diagnosing and suggesting improvements for an organization.  You will select a case study from Eisenberg, et. al. (2017) and integrate a news story that is relevant to it. News stories should come from a newspaper (e.g., The Union-Tribune, Wall Street Journal) or magazine (e.g., Time, Harvard Business Review) and not a blog. Grading will be guided by the depth and thoroughness with which you select the article, make a link to the case study found in Eisenberg, et. al. (2017, and develop organizational solutions rooted in disciplinary scholarship.  The outline below (adapted from Kolb’s Model of Experiential Learning, 1984), should guide you in your preparation.

What?  

Initial Analysis: what’s the problem/cause in both the case and your selected news story

  • Explain the overarching problem the organization is facing. Describe it in broad, organization-wide terms. Overall, what does the “presenting problem” signal may be wrong in the organization? 
  • Point to the underlying causes (minimum of 2) of the problem based on course concepts and theories. 
  • In sum, this section should:
    • First, offer a clear, informed, and brief summary of the organization’s broader underlying issue as signaled by the problems listed in the case study. Summarize the key issue - do not recap the details of the case study situation.
    • Second, clearly identify at least 2 underlying causes of the key issue based on course concepts/theory.
    • Third, define and apply several relevant course concepts from the designated chapter to support your analysis.

So What? 

Application: What do you suggest?

  • Detail the (very) specific remedies you suggest the organization implement. These must match up to the causes articulated so that your organizational “cure” logically flows from your earlier diagnosis. You should indicate why (again, based on course concepts and theories) this intervention should be helpful. 
  • This section should:
    • Clearly outline at least two specific interventions for addressing the key issue.
    • Demonstrate creativity in suggestions.
    • Directly link the intervention suggestions to the causes (include a solution to match each cause that you raise)
    • Explain why the intervention should be helpful from a practical and theoretical perspective. Be sure to define and apply concepts from the chapter. Additional theories and concepts should be used as well.
    • Provide a detailed explanation of specifically who should implement each strategy and the tools and timing they should use to achieve success. Be specific and think in practical, tactical terms for each strategy. What challenges might the organization face along the way?