Case Analysis Instructions, page 1

INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR CASE ANALYSES

READ THE FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS CAREFULLY.

YOUR CASE ANALYSIS GRADES DEPEND ON HOW WELL YOU FOLLOW THEM.

• Each question should be answered with an essay of at least one or two paragraphs.
o These questions CANNOT be properly answered in one or two sentences. If that's
all you write, you will NOT get full credit – nowhere near.
o You must give a full explanation and discussion of your answer.

• Your answers MUST clearly reflect relevant course materials.

o “Relevant materials” include both the text and the video lectures, as applicable.
o You should cite any explicit references to this material.
▪ You DO NOT need to put them in a References list.
▪ Just use short parenthetical citations: e.g. (text, p. 42) or (Video Lecture 2b).

• Outside sources are welcome but not required.

o If you use outside sources, be sure to document them correctly.
o Use BOTH parenthetical citations AND a References list.
o (One references list at the end of your last answer will be enough for the entire
assignment.)

• DO NOT rely exclusively or primarily on outside sources.

o If you answer does not clearly reflect primarily class material, you will receive no
credit for it.
o Outside sources should be used only for support, confirmation, or expansion of
class materials.

• Some questions are descriptive (asking for facts only) and others are evaluative (asking for a
judgment of what is right or wrong, good or bad, etc.) Pay attention to what is being asked.
o If you are being asked a descriptive question, you MUST NOT talk about whether
or not a given fact is right or wrong, good or bad, etc. If you do so you will lose
points.
o Offer your evaluation of a situation ONLY IF you are asked for it.
o In short, do not tell me what is right or wrong unless I clearly ask you to.
o BE CAREFUL ABOUT THIS. This is one of the main ways students lose points on
case analyses.
o See the Appendix at the end of these instructions for more on this.

• A follow-up to the previous instruction: Do not even reveal or hint at what you think about a
given case (what’s right or wrong) until I ask you what your judgment is.
o Keep your treatment of the case objective and evenly balanced at all time.
o If you even report the facts in a way that makes it clear what you think is right or
wrong, you will lose points.

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 Case Analysis Instructions, page 2

• Assume you have been given all relevant information in the case analysis.
o So DO NOT say that you can’t answer a question because there is something you
need to know but don’t know.
o If you are not given the information, assume that it is irrelevant. Just go with what
you’ve got. Assume all other things are equal, normal, what you would expect, etc.

• Do not use any negative terms referring to any position on the moral issues in the case study.
o Do not call a position (or the people holding it) stupid, greedy, selfish, (etc.), or
even immoral. Keep your discussion civil and academic.
o And remember – these are controversial issues. It is possible, even likely, that
someone may have very good reasons for disagreeing with you.

• Likewise, because these are controversial issues, your analysis should contain no simple, glib,
or obvious solutions to these case studies.
o If you think the answer is simple or obvious, then there is something vitally
important about it that you aren’t getting.
o Read it, think about it, talk about it with others until you see that there are good
reasons for conflicting views on the issues.
o You MUST understand the dilemma before you can make any rational or informed
judgment about it.

• The moral obligations of others should never be a consideration in trying to determine one's
own moral choices.
o We have no control at all over whether or not others will follow what we perceive
to be their obligations.
o So our decisions must be made without consideration of what they should have
done, should do now or will do next. I.e., the solution must be the right solution
whether others do their duty or not.

• Concerning your judgment about the right thing to do in a moral dilemma: When moral
principle A overrides moral principle B, rejecting B often has consequences.
o For instance, choosing A over B may mean the company will lose profits.
o Or, on the other hand, choosing A over B may mean that the personal rights of
employees are violated.
o Therefore, a good argument that A overrides B will often require recognizing these
consequences and offering a suggestion or two about how to deal with them or
mitigate them.

Be sure to read the Appendix on the next page.

 Case Analysis Instructions, page 3

APPENDIX: MORE ON DESCRIPTIVE VS. EVALUATIVE LANGUAGE

• When you are asked to describe or to give the facts of a case, do not ever talk about
someone’s motives or WHY they did something. You have no idea of the person’s motives
or intentions. All you can do is describe what they did.
• If you say “Meyer tried to get Zach and Courtney into counseling” you are describing an
action.
• If you say, “Meyer was concerned enough about Zach and Courtney to try to get them into
counseling,” you are interpreting. You have no idea if he was concerned or if he tried for
some other motive.
o If, in the case study, Meyer says, “I was concerned about them and so I tried to get
them into counseling” (or some such thing), then you should report, “According to
Meyer, he was concerned ....”
o Now you are simply reporting what Meyer said. You are not endorsing this as he
actual motive.
• Any talk of motives, any judgment of an action as good or bad, right or wrong, or any of
the words that relate to these is interpretation.
o This is sometimes a difficult distinction to make, and something you always need to
keep in mind – even when it’s not a school assignment.
o As a business, organizational, or community leader you will have many occasions
where only reporting facts is appropriate without judgment or interpretation, and
your effectiveness as a leader will depend to a certain extent on your ability to
separate facts from interpretations.
• All of the above also applies to reporting intentions.
o If you say, “Meyer tried to get Zach and Courtney into counseling in order to save
their marriage,” then you are going beyond the facts. You have no idea what
Meyer’s intentions were behind his actions.
o And again, if he says this was his intention, then you simply report that Meyers aid
his intention was ....