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General guidelines for the team case study assignments:
Papers must be APA formatted
An APA-formatted bibliography must correspond with the citations in the paper. (You cannot have references without citations, or citations without references.)
Each case study is expected to be between 800-words and 1200-words in length. You may go over the page maximum. 
Every question in the case-study must be answered and supported with research.
All researched facts must be properly cited.
All papers should be proofread, and be free of spelling and grammar errors.
Direct quotes cannot represent more than 7% of the total word count of the paper.
All case studies must have a minimum of three references that include at minimum:
·        Two peer-reviewed articles
·        Our textbook
Important: If a team member does not participate in the creation of the case study, then that team member’s name is to be left off the cover page. Writing team member’s name that did not participate is a violation of Academic Integrity policy, and can lead to a grade of a zero for the whole team. Every member of the team is expected to actively participate in creating these case studies.
Case 1: Managing Motivation in a Difficult Economy  
Learning Goals  
In this case, you’ll have an opportunity to assess a motivational program designed to re-energize a troubled company’s workforce. Acting on behalf of the company’s executive board, you’ll evaluate the board’s current strategy based on survey data. You’ll also advise board members about improving the effectiveness of this program based on what you’ve learned about goal setting and motivation in organizations.   
Major Topic Areas  
Changing nature of work 
Diversity and age 
Goal setting 
Organizational downsizing 
Organizational justice   
The Scenario
Morgan-Moe’s drug stores are in trouble. A major regional player in the retail industry, the company has hundreds of stores in the upper Midwest. Unfortunately, a sharp decline in the region’s manufacturing economy has put management in a serious financial bind. Revenues have been consistently dwindling. Customers spend less, and the stores have had to switch their focus to very low-margin commodities, such as milk and generic drugs, rather than the high-margin impulse-buy items that used to be the company’s bread and butter. The firm has had to close quite a few locations, reversing its expansion plans for the first time since it incorporated. 
Being that this is uncharted territory for the company, Jim Claussen, vice president for human relations, had been struggling with how to address the issue with employees. As the company’s fortunes worsened, he could see that employees were becoming more and more disaffected. Their insecurity about their jobs was taking a toll on attitudes. The company’s downsizing was big news, and the employees didn’t like what they were hearing. 
Media reports of Morgan-Moe’s store closings have focused on the lack of advance notice or communication from the company’s corporate offices, as well as the lack of severance payments for departing employees. In the absence of official information, rumors and gossip have spread like wildfire among remaining employees. A few angry blogs developed by laid-off employees, like IHateMorganMoe.blogspot.com, have made the morale and public relations picture even worse.
Morgan-Moe is changing in other ways as well. The average age of its workforce is increasing rapidly. A couple of factors have contributed to this shift. First, fewer qualified young people are around because many families have moved south to find jobs. Second, stores have been actively encouraged to hire older workers, such as retirees looking for some supplemental income. Managers are very receptive to these older workers because they are more mature, miss fewer days of work, and do not have child-care responsibilities. They are also often more qualified than younger workers because they have more experience, sometimes in the managerial or executive ranks. 
These older workers have been a great asset to the company in troubled times, but they are especially likely to leave if things get bad. If these older workers start to leave the company, taking their hard-earned experience with them, it seems likely that Morgan-Moe will sink deeper toward bankruptcy. 
The System
Claussen wasn’t quite sure how to respond to employees’ sense of hopelessness and fear until a friend gave him a book entitled Man’s Search for Meaning. The book was written by a psychologist named Victor Frankl who survived the concentration camps at Auschwitz. Frankl found that those who had a clear sense of purpose, a reason to live, were more likely to persevere in the face of nearly unspeakable suffering. Something about this book, and its advocacy of finding meaning and direction as a way to triumph over adversity, really stuck with Claussen. He thought he might be able to apply its lessons to his workforce. He proposed the idea of a new direction for management to the company’s executive committee, and they reluctantly agreed to try his suggestions.  
Over the last 6 months, stores throughout the company have used a performance management system that, as Claussen says, “gets people to buy into the idea of performing so that they can see some real results in their stores. It’s all about seeing that your work serves a broader purpose. I read about how some companies have been sharing store performance information with employees to get them to understand what their jobs really mean and participate in making changes, and I thought that was something we’d be able to do.”  
The HR team came up with five options for the management system. Corporate allowed individual managers to choose the option they thought would work best with their employees so that managers wouldn’t feel too much like a rapid change was being forced on them. Program I is opting out of the new idea, continuing to stay the course and providing employees with little to no information or opportunities for participation. Program II tracks employee absence and sick leave and shares that information with individual employees, giving them feedback about things they can control. Management takes no further action. Program III tracks sales and inventory replacement rates across shifts. As in Program II, information is shared with employees, but without providing employee feedback about absence and sick leave. Program IV, the most comprehensive, tracks the same information as Programs II and III. Managers communicate it in weekly brainstorming sessions, during which employees try to determine what they can do better in the future and make suggestions for improving store performance. Program V keeps the idea of brainstorming but doesn’t provide employees with information about their behavior or company profits. 
Since implementing the system, Claussen has spoken with several managers about what motivated them to choose the program they did. Artie Washington, who chose Program IV, said, “I want to have my employees’ input on how to keep the store running smoothly. Everybody worries about his or her job security in this economy. Letting them know what’s going on and giving them ways to change things keeps them involved.”  
Betty Alvarez couldn’t disagree more. She selected Program I. “I would rather have my employees doing their jobs than going to meetings to talk about doing their jobs. That’s what management is for.” Michael Ostremski, another proponent of Program I, added, “It’s okay for the employees to feel a little uncertain—if they think we’re in the clear, they’ll slack off. If they think we’re in trouble, they’ll give up.”  
Cal Martins also questions the need to provide information to the whole team, but he chose Program II. “A person should know where he or she stands in the job, but they don’t have to know about everyone else. It creates unnecessary tension.”  
This is somewhat similar to Cindy Ang’s reason for picking Program V. “When we have our brainstorming meetings, I learn what they [the employees] think is most pressing, not what some spreadsheet says. It gives me a better feel for what’s going on in my store. Numbers count, of course, but they don’t tell you everything. I was also a little worried that employees would be upset if they saw that we aren’t performing well.”  
Results to Date  
Claussen is convinced the most elaborate procedure (Program IV) is the most effective, but not everyone in the executive committee is won over by his advocacy. Although they have supported the test implementation of the system because it appears to have relatively low costs, others on the committee want to see results. CEO Jean Masterson has asked for a complete breakdown of the performance of the various stores over the past 4 years. She’s especially interested in seeing how sales figures and turnover rates have been affected by the new program.  
The company has been collecting data in spreadsheets on sales and turnover rates, and it prepared the following report, which also estimates the dollar cost of staff time taken up in each method. These costs are based on the number of hours employees spend working on the program multiplied by their wage rate. Estimates of turnover, profit, and staff time are collected per store. Profit and turnover data include means and standard deviations across locations; profit is net of the monthly time cost. Turnover information refers to the percentage of employees who either quit or are terminated in a month.  
To see if any patterns emerged in managers’ selection of programs, the company calculated relationships between program selection and various attributes of the stores. Program I was selected most frequently by the oldest stores and those in the most economically distressed areas. Programs II and III were selected most frequently by stores in urban areas and in areas where the workforce was younger on average. Programs IV and V were selected most frequently in stores in rural areas, and especially where the workforce is older on average.  
Your Assignment  
Your task is to prepare a report for the company’s executive committee on the effectiveness of these programs. Make certain it is in the form of a professional business document. Your audience won’t necessarily know about the organizational principles you’re describing, so make sure you provide detailed explanations that someone in a real business can understand.
When you write, make sure you touch on the following points: 
CC-1. Consider the five management systems as variables in an experiment. Identify the independent and dependent variables and explain how they are related to one another. 
CC-2.  Based on the discussion of independent and dependent variables in the textbook, is there anything else you’d like to measure as an outcome? 
CC-3. Look over the data and decide which method of management appears most effective in generating revenues and reducing turnover, and why. Which methods appear least effective, and why? 
CC-4.  Are there any concerns you have about this data? 
CC-5. Does a comparison of the number of stores using each method influence your conclusions at all? 
CC-6.  Does the fact that managers are selecting the specific program to use (including Program I, which continues the status quo) affect the inferences you can draw about program success? 
CC-7.  What are the advantages of randomly assigning different conditions to the stores instead of using this self-selection process? 
CC-8.  How does the changing nature of the workforce and the economy, described in your textbook and in the case, affect your conclusions about how to manage retail employees? Does the participation of a more experienced workforce help or hurt these programs? Why might these programs work differently in an economy that isn’t doing so poorly? 
CC-9.  Claussen essentially designed the program on his own, with very little research into goal setting and motivation. Based on your textbook, how well has he done? Which parts of the program appear to fit well with research evidence on goal setting? What parts would you change to get more substantial improvements in employee motivation? 
CC-10. Describe the feelings employees might have when these systems are implemented that could help or hinder the program’s success. What advice would you give managers about how to implement the programs so they match the principles of organizational justice described in your textbook?   

Assignments are to be produced on A4 with a WSU cover sheet indicating Institution,
Program Name, Due Date, Tutor Name; Student Name; Student Number; subject Name;
subject Number and title of the assignment topic incorporating:
– brief structure/accommodation/land use description;
– property address; &
– word count (utilise a snapshot via ”Properties” menu);
– Student signature. Non-adherence will result in significant penalties.
The valuation purpose must be stated on report cover title page. Pagination is mandatory.
Students are required to keep a copy of all written work submitted. A personal copy is
retained by the student and is to be available on demand within 24 hours If any problems
arise in relation to lost assignments it is the responsibility of the student to provide a
replacement copy.
Assignments must be word processed (or typed), size 12 font, one and a half line spacing
with adequate margins for comment. A proper bibliography, due acknowledgments and
consistent referencing systems (preferably Harvard) are expected. No handwritten assignments will be accepted. Only the Harvard referencing system must be adopted. Footnotes
will not be acceptable. Marking will take written communication aspects into account.
All sources of information, including acknowledgments and graphs, are to be referenced
in both the text and the reference list. All background material is to be acknowledged in
the bibliography. Failure to correct the reference material or the submission of a report
or valuation with inadequate content, poor presentation and inaccurate information, regardless of accuracy of referencing, will result in a fail grade.
Submissions must incorporate the official WSU assignment cover sheet. That is why i
is called a cover sheet! Further, it must be signed, completed with name, SID number,
subjec
FFt number, subject name, property use type and address; whether internal or external
and dated. Inclusion of the word count snapshot via the properties menu is mandatory Instructions:
Overview
A detailed current market valuation of a commercial property together with necessary attachments is to be submitted
by the due date. This valuation report must comply with the ANZPI (Australia & New Zealand Property Institute)
professional practice standard http://anzvps.api.org.au/index.php and follow chapter 8 – Valuation Instructions and
Reports of the prescribed text.
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Students are to prepare a full-speaking narrative long format professional valuation report to a superior industry
standard on either a multi-tenanted commercial office or retail income producing property. Include details of all
valuation calculations, methodology, assumptions & market (sales/rental) analysis. Close attention will also be paid
to field notes quality and extensiveness of acknowledgements.
A separate assignment cover sheet with all details will be available on the vUWS site for this subject . See below.
An investment marketing report is NOT required. Provide all salient details pertaining to the commercial organisation
you have received instructions from including the purpose, interest and basis of valuation. Do not nominate WSU or
the subject coordinator as the instructing party. Keep it realistic and aligned with report purpose. For example:
Ron Asheton of Eastpac Bank or WSU Bank; or Freddie Hubbard, Director of ABC solicitors etc. Educational purposes
is not a valid valuation purpose.
You are required to adopt Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) as your primary method (MANDATORY). Other contributing
factors such as professional thoroughness of information gathering and market activity will is also required. A
comprehensive valuation rationale, methodologies (including primary and supporting secondary check approaches)
and full workings and calculations must be included.
Acknowledged and detailed assistance from a private practitioner is welcomed and ideally should score higher marks.
Plagiarism will however be keenly scrutinised this session. Always acknowledge persons but do not forget identifying
the existence of an industry report is equally important. Please read following through carefully.
For all intents and purposes the foregoing may be viewed as client instructions as the observant student will note that
these issues must be addressed in any quality valuation report. It is left to the student to discern the most appropriate
basis, purpose (insurance valuations and on completion valuations are however excluded), interest to be valued and
valuation methodologies for the chosen subject property. Submitted reports without a properly defined purpose
or a contradictory, conflicting & erroneous purpose attract very low to fail grades. Distinguish between
the basis and the separate underlying reason for the valuation. Current market value is a basis and is NOT a
purpose! (Review Millington text, An Introduction to Property Valuation, Chapter 7 if uncertain or prescribed text
Principles & Practice Ch.8)
– A tenanted building with passing rents is a much better proposition for our purposes than a vacant or owneroccupied building. As per instructions we prefer existing multitenanted lease expiry profile with passing income.
We recommend freehold (fee simple in possession) subject to existing leases. Assess under/over/current market
situations. Valuation of a building on a vacant possession basis is undesirable and will attract discounted marks
compared to a passing rental analysis scenario at the date of valuation (fully let up basis) as reversionary income
will be reflected in the preferred market realistic approach.
– Ideally the subject property/building should have a business or commercial zoning. Confirm and support via
appendices with planning scheme ordinance extract or LGA/consent authority land use table reference. If
existing use rights apply amplify.
– One of the two valuation methods has to be DCF. It cannot be avoided.
– A secondary check method of valuation is compulsory.
– Long term ground leasehold and ACT leasehold is OK.
Details
Further clarification and discussion will be carried out in class and online. Students are expected to peruse the vUWS
posted materials relating Assignment Resources e.g. Due Diligence checklist. As a valuation practitioner the subject
coordinator/assessor will tend to focus on:
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VALUATION REPORT
1. The premises are to be described in terms of size, construction, accommodation, layout and present use. Additionally, students are to outline and
investigate the status of the selected property in terms of town planning conformance considerations.
2. Having regard to the current use of the premises the basis of valuation must be ”current market value”; students are to put forward prime,
supporting secondary (check) methods of valuation and must identify market data presently available to the valuer (e.g. sales, yields, absorption and
rental levels).
3. Additionally, students will highlight the points of comparison discerned in the key sales/rental transactions identified in the rationale‘ section of
valuation report. What attributes assisted their deliberations in arriving at the final value conclusion in accord with the stated report purpose. See
Millington, Ch.7 as per vUWS posting.
4. Students will prepare a full-speaking narrative professional valuation report for the selected premises. The ANZVPS Business Focus 14.3 Reports,
Content and Compilation section specifically refers to self-contained or comprehensive style reporting format.
http://anzvps.api.org.au/14-3-business-focus.php Details of all valuation calculations, methodology, assumptions, and market analysis are required.
Professional standards will encompass instructions, valuation executive summary, evidence and annexures. Especially, students will identify the matters
that must be conveyed to persons commissioning a valuation of the premises selected for this exercise.
The traditional industry reporting format does not preclude scholarly discussion (where relevant) and proper referencing for this subject ’s purposes.
The increased word limit is 2,500 words (excluding appendices) maximum incorporating if deemed relevant, figures, tables/charts, floor and site plans, locality maps, photos/pictures, sales transaction analysis schedules, field
notes, supporting valuation calculations and workings; qualifications, disclaimers, acknowledgements, table of contents, executive summary and reference list. Students must hone, edit and re-edit their reports down to a lean,
concise document. Cultivate a professional and objective narrative tone that flows.
Note exclusions: No regional dispensation on current market value threshold. No single fronted, double storey
lockup shops allowed. No retail bulky goods developments. No single floors of a commercial building allowed. This
means strata floors and legal chambers are effectively voided. A whole strata building of course, isn’t a problem. No
industrial buildings/ complexes. Industrial property is the focus of Principles of Valuation. Commercial office, retail
and mixed uses are the province of this MGMT2001 subject .
It is envisaged that students will consult the lecturer associated with this topic with a view to discussing in some
detail the suitability of the premises selected. The preference is post via property address blog and note the vUWS
assignment related section.
This subject is not to be viewed as a discrete subject area. Students are encouraged to implement and incorporate
skills or ’tools’ acquired from other subject areas into their valuation assignment.
Assignment restrictions
In previous years students tried to submit public hotels, residential towers, a strata suite and industrial buildings
which all failed to meet the client instruction brief. Students are not allowed to:
– Undertake a land use/property type completed in an earlier program/subject;
– Submit an address that has been valued by another student of this subject within the last two years. If you
have any doubts in this respect, you must raise them with teaching staff;
– Submit a subject property address outside their official enrolled residential home state; i.e. NSW students’
property must be in NSW. (However, externally enrolled interstate or overseas students may choose an address
in their home state/territory/country.)
– Undertake on-completion, rental, insurance valuations; nor adopted forced sale value https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEture=youtu.be (However, if mortgage security is stipulated for valuation purposes note 8.2 ANZVGN 2 Valuations for Mortgage and Loan Security Purposes http://anzvps.api.org.au/8-2-vgn.php)
Ideally each student selects a different property address. In the past if more than one valuation is carried out for
the same property then the assignment will be marked as one and students will share marks. This policy has been
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changed in recognition of the vast student numerical cohort now enrolled annually. There is no group option but a
maximum of only two students can submit a valuation on the same commercial property address. Only individual
submissions via Turnitin are permitted with no collusion between students allowed.
To avert the above scenario each student will email me, the property use and address of their selected premises for
assignment purposes. First come, first served. The coordinator will not be responsible for incomplete details.
An exterior photograph (jpg.) attached of the subject property is always a good idea as a picture often tells the story
better than copious text. This aids in the ’reply’ feedback. For example, the subject property simply has its address
in the title:
17_West_St_PARRAMATTA_ NSW_2150 6 Sty. Com. Office Bldg.
If you have queries or need to amplify use the comments key etc. Your name & SID # is automatically recorded so
need to waste space keying same.
It is expected that students assiduously organise contacts and finalise arrangements in order to make site inspections,
conduct interviews and secure property specific income/cost data from the first teaching week of Autumn Session.
It is not the coordinator’s role to check duplication. The onus is on students to check and self-monitor. Third &
above subsequent posters will automatically be disqualified unless a first or second poster has publicly withdrawn.
Students are required to check e-mails, announcements & vUWS.
All are required to pre-register their full nominated property address, proper description and any subsequent changes
via email. The non-submission of the above requirement (which virtually constitutes the Title page of the assignment)
will attract a single 5% penalty of available marks.
A property address and use may change if a valid reason is explained to the subject coordinator/tutor. This flexibility
does not void the above requirement.
The subject coordinator has no problem with mentored, fee paying supervised assignment submissions with proper
due acknowledgement of all parties, so long as the employer’s express consents/permission is obtained. There is
also no impediment to adopting a valuation firm or company’s reporting format, jargon or standard descriptions and
endorsements. Spreadsheets, valuation calculations and analysis must be original. If any assistance is provided by a
valuer in any way, then the extent of this assistance must be fully detailed and acknowledged in the report. Permissions
and clearances must be obtained regarding a specific building, especially if a valuation report is being partially utilised
as an information source. Further, the explicit existence and extent of any report (investment/valuation, industry-fee
paying or otherwise) must be clearly identified.
The assignment emphasis will be on the coherence of the property solution to the valuation problem and whether
the story of the property is communicated effectively. The valuation report’s purpose and interest must conform
to the stated valuation approaches. Teaching staff are concerned with sales and rental analysis, relevance to the
marketplace and the methodologies supporting the conclusion. We are not overly concerned with whether the final
current market value is 100 per cent accurate, right or wrong. The prime areas of interest are the soundness of the
valuation process and how well that is represented in the parallel valuation report writing process.
The owners may very well provide the student with dated passing rental or cost data (say, 2 years prior to date
of valuation or earlier). So be it. It is up to students to make their own adjustments and comparisons to current
market levels. Brokers, valuers, centre managing agents (City-scope publications for contacts) and asset managers
etc. may be of further assistance. It is perfectly legitimate for the owners/operators to disguise certain information
if commercially sensitive with appropriate qualifications. You may even be provided with ballpark figures! Just be
certain to quote the proper context.
please use recent articles that relate to the assingment no longer then 10 years old
Note:  
A detailed current market valuation of a commercial property, together with necessary attachments, is to be submitted
by the due date. This valuation report must comply with the ANZPI (Australia & New Zealand Property Institute)
professional practice standard: http://anzvps.api.org.au/index.php and follow chapter 8 – Valuation Instructions and
Reports of the prescribed text.