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Assignment 6: Case Analysis 2-Honey Grove School District

© Joe F. Donaldson

University of Missouri-Columbia

During week 1, project teams explored a case focused on the difficulties of the National Relief Society case serving flood-ravaged Inundation, North Dakota. Using conceptual lenses from Organizational Analysis 1 & 2, teams identified central and secondary problems, outlined recommendations and presented findings orally. Through a similar approach, teams developed a more formal, written case analysis of DouglasState. The written report required students to define central and secondary problems, offer a rationale for the problem setting, and offer recommendations and associated action plans.

For this assignment, teams will analyze a third case—HoneyGroveSchool District. In contrast to the traditional analyses conducted previously, the approach to Honey Grove requires teams to apply concepts of research design and action research (AR) to further inquiry into the case. A major purpose of this assignment is to provide you with practice and scaffolding for the final class project–The Even Wickeder Problem.

Teams will develop a portion of a second-person inquiry plan from an insider role assigned by the IT: an employer, resident or group from the Honey Grove community. Each project team will present inquiry plans orally (10 min presentation/10 min Q&A) in class the morning of Wednesday, July 25. Teams must also provide a one-page outline of their presentations to the IT by 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 24.

Proposed Action Research Design

The Proposed Action Research Design requires integration of organizational analysis, inquiry, and case analysis instruction and will be assessed according to portions of the rubric used throughout the summer (see attachment at the end of this handout). Each team will be assigned an insider role within HoneyGroveSchool District. Teams will be responsible for problem setting from the perspective of the insider by critically using and examining conceptual frameworks, local knowledge, and three types of assumptions. (See below.) The content of the oral report (and sections of the one-page outline) must include the following:

  1. Problem definition
  2. State the problem(s) involved in the case.
  3. Articulate your rationale for specifying the problem(s) as you do in (a). Establish the appropriateness of the conceptual lens(es) selected for the particular case given the interests/position of the insider group. Use tools, including Morgan’s (2006) use of the story line, to set the problem.
  4. Detail data collection strategies you would also employ (hypothetically) to help you in this problem setting/diagnostic stage.
  1. Exploration of “Pre-understanding”
  2. Name and define key concepts associated with the metaphors and corresponding frames you employ as lenses to examine the case.
  3. For each concept you are considering provide evidence of its existence through case facts.
  4. Highlight local knowledge that is relevant to problem setting.
  5. Detail how local knowledge and practices have been interrogated and critically examined. (See also inferred value assumptions below.)
  1. Exploration of Assumptions: Identify the set of assumptions brought to the inquiry.
  2. Conceptual assumptions relating to the problem definition (metaphors, frames, and associated conceptual frameworks).—What organizational concepts have you used to identify these problems? What assumptions about organizations were embedded in these conceptual frameworks?
  3. Research assumptions relating to the purposes of the research (epistemological, ontological, reflexivity)—What are the team’s ontological and epistemological assumptions* and what role do these beliefs play in problem setting? To explore these assumptions, you might ask:
  4. Is knowledge embedded in the language/culture/context of the knower or is there knowledge that the research team can establish objectively regardless of who the knower is?
  5. How does the research team decide what is real?
  6. To what extent can the research team agree on what will count as knowledge in terms of this study?

*Note: For the purposes of this exercise, the team will need to come to some consensus about the research paradigm within which the research team will be operating. The consensus should not be inconsistent with the insider position you have been assigned.

  • Inferred value assumptions motivating the persons/communities that are planning the action-research project (routine, habitual responses, personal values – both assumed and subjected to critique and changed). --What persona have you taken on in this case study? What worldviews, perspectives, assumptions, concerns etc. inform this persona’s behavior, attitudes, and wishes in the case? What other assumptions and perspectives do other actors in the case bring to the table? What is the context of this case?
  1. Quality/Standards: What standards of Action Research apply to the problem you have set? Why? In Reason and Bradbury’s (2001) words, how do you know that you are “…getting valuable work done well” (p. 447)?

Honey Grove

Biographical Sketches

Tom Adams (43 year old African American male). Mr. Adams is a successful restaurateur in Honey Grove. He attended DouglasState on a scholarship and majored in the institution’s hospitality program. He returned to Honey Grove after college to manage and be chef at the city’s major restaurant. Two years ago the owner retired and sold Sam the restaurant. Sam is an active, progressive community member. He has been very active in local politics and is largely credited for getting the newest school board member from Oak Grove elected.

Fred Barnhardt (59 year old White male). Mr. Barnhardt had grown up in Honey Grove and could trace his family’s presence in the community to his great-grandfather who was recognized as one of the leading pioneers in the county. Mr. Barnhardt had attended HoneyGroveHigh School where he was on the same football team as the current District Superintendent. He earned his baccalaureate and master’s of teaching degree in science education from a small private college about 250 miles from Honey Grove. Mr. Barnhardt is known as a ‘straight-laced,” “no-nonsense,” strict “old school” teacher who loved his job and the kids he taught. He was particularly proud of his students who went on to have careers in medicine and in academia. Due to his longevity in the community and in the district he had become an informal leader, especially for the group of “native” teachers.

Alberto Casañas (33 year old Latino). Mr.Casañas had impressed Farmlake Industries executives in his initial work at a southern plant where he rapidly rose through the ranks. He had become known for his outgoing personality and for an uncanny ability to recruit workers for the company. When the Honey Grove plant was opened he was appointed director of employee recruitment and moved to Honey Grove to assume his new position. A loyal supporter of Farmlake Industries he now travels throughout the south and southwest to attract workers to the Honey Grove plant. Mr. Casañas has been kept busy recruiting owing to the transient nature of the workforce and relishes in what he considers to be a very profitable and long-lasting line of work.

Maria Gonzalez (47 year old Latina). Ms. Gonzalez is the director of Centro de La Comunidad, a Latino/a nonprofit community center dedicated to fostering the health and welfare of the Latina/o community. As the Latina/o community has grown, Maria has become increasingly active in developing programs and supporting Latino/a efforts to improve working conditions at the Farmlake plant and to improve the education received by Latina/o children and adults. She has also taken on advocacy roles for this highly transient community with the federal, state, and nonprofit agencies that are charged with “serving” members of the Latina/o community.

Alan Hanna (46 year old White Male). Mr. Hanna is a local attorney who has served on the city council for the past six years and has been an active leader in the Honey Grove Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Hanna has developed a reputation for being a strong supporter and advocate for traditional community values. The Hanna and the Rankin family go back several years and are members of the same church and the same Rotary Club. Mr. Hanna has developed a strong relationship with the plant manager at the Farmlake Industries plant.

Teresa Johnson (52 year old Native American female). Ms. Johnson has lived in Honey Grove her entire life. Educated in the Honey Grove schools, she has never been satisfied with her education or the education now offered Native American young people. Having afforded herself with community organizing training offered by the Cherokee Nation Office of Community Services, Ms. Johnson has increasingly taken on a leadership role in assisting the Native American Community to press for school reforms that will lead to more effective education for Native American children. Her efforts are based on a central value of the Office of Community Services, “Ga-Du-Gi,” which simply translated means “Cherokee helping Cherokee.”

Jane Mead (23 year old White female). Ms. Mead is in her second year of teaching, having completed her teacher education degree in English education from DouglasStateUniversity in the adjoining county. As noted in the case she commutes daily from her home in Oakville and has expressed confusion about the different role messages she has been receiving from different groups of teachers at HoneyGroveHigh School.

Jonathan Rankin (57 year old White male). Dr. Jonathan Rankin has been superintendent of the HoneyGroveSchool District for the past 12 years. Dr. Rankin is a native of the community, having left the county only to get his formal university education. He received his baccalaureate, master’s and specialist degrees from a public regional institution in an adjoining state. He received his Ed.D. only three years ago, having completed an on-line doctoral degree from a well-respected national for-profit higher education institution. A graduate of HoneyGroveHigh School, he was president of the senior class and played tackle on the football team. He had moved up the ranks in the District from high school teacher to principal to superintendent. He was hired by a school board that had known his family and him for years. His relationship with the Board has been very good, although the newest Board member posed a totally new challenge for him – offering a perspective that differed from the normal Honey Grove point-of-view.

Walter Reid (33 year old White male). Mr. Reid accepted the position of principal of HoneyGroveHigh School after completing his Educational Specialist degree at a public institution of higher education in another state. He had two years experience as an assistant principal in a suburban high school that had been engaged in a major school reform project, a project that had been a center piece of the educational administration program from which he received his Ed.S. degree. Mr. Reid was viewed by school district stakeholders as a very bright, solid person who was still learning to be a leader.

Rubric

Criteria
Substance and Insight / 8
Role-Taking: Understands significance of role within the organizational context; Accurately portrays role and view-points of assigned actor in contextually appropriate manner; Avoids stereotypical biases.
Application/Reflection: Raises to awareness implicit assumptions and practices. Unearths taken-for-granted/hidden assumptions in concepts, metaphors, frames, and personal theories.
Depth of Analysis: Understands complexity of case, uses all metaphors/frames appropriately to set problem; incorporates richness in diversity of perspectives to arrive at the setting of the problem. Presentation demonstrates a thoughtful, comprehensive analysis of the situation (within the limits established for the assignment);Key concepts are accurately identified, clearly distinguished, and integrated coherently.
Comments:
Argumentation and Articulation / 8
Logical flow: Concepts are introduced in a logical flow, with strong transitions to signal shifts in argument and connections among concepts;
Voice: Presentation is made in a professional tone, using a voice which is authoritative by recognizing and speaking to (rather than dismissing) the possibility of alternative interpretations.
Phrasing and Structure: Presentation uses to good effect phrasing and structure to cue the listener.
Elegant expression: As a whole, the presentation provides for ease of listening and interpretation through logical organization and avoidance of awkward and/or ambiguous phrasing and overly complex wording.
Comments:
Attention to Detail / 4
Instructions: The presentation follows assignment instructions regarding the outline, length, and focus.
Comments:
Total