GUIDELINES FOR TERM PAPERS/POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS

TERM PAPER PROTOCOLS AND FRAMEWORK

Every student must develop a term paper over the course of the semester. This term paper must analyze a specific organization and the management/policy crisis faced by that organization. The primary source for this paper MUST BE an "organizational crisis" book in the "A List" bibliography that is attached. Since the class will benefit most from hearing about the widest range of organizational crises and resolutions, no book may be chosen by more than one student and when several books address the same organizational crisis, only one student may report using that set of books.   A blind selection process will be used for distributing “in demand” books among interested students.

Format of the Term Paper

This format provides a framework for organizing the basic information in their books, as well as a set of diagnostic categories into which most case studies should fit. This format is not intended to straightjacket the student.

SECTION A--General Description/Critical Situations: Every term paper must begin by describing the organization or industry the student has chosen to analyze. In general, this description should include the organization or industry history, the principal functions (goods or services provided), size (number of employees, geographic scope, industry position), and the situations (problems, successes) that are the primary focus of the book you have chosen for your paper.

SECTION B--Symptomatic Analysis: Assess the relative importance of each of the following factors in the decline of your organization. You must offer specific instances to buttress your assessment of each factor. The factors below are simply the most common underlying symptoms of organizational crisis. Given the wide range of books in the bibliography, many students in this class will be studying organizations beset by crises that have causes different from, or in addition to, those listed below. Do not confine yourself to the list below if your organization’s problems stem from other factors.

·        Sudden changes in the organization’s demand environment (customer preferences/citizen expectations)

·        Inappropriate organizational responses to changing customer/citizen demands

·        Unrecognized/Ignored/Dismissed changes in the organizations competitive environment

·        Failure of the organization to adjust to changes in its size and/or structure

·        Failure to respond to/keep up with changes in technology

·        Perverse incentives that encourage behaviors and actions that damage the organization

·        Damaging performance by the chief executive of the organization

·        Conflict or lack of dissent within the executive ranks

·        An inward-looking, self-serving organizational culture

SECTION C--Assessment of Corrective Actions Taken or Possible: For each crisis symptom that you identify, describe the corrective actions that the organization took and the effectiveness of those actions. If the organization did not act on one or more crisis symptoms, identify the circumstances underlying the inaction, and the results of that inaction. Where inaction prevailed or ineffective action took place, describe and justify actions you believe would have led the organization out of its crisis.

 

SECTION D--Diagnosis: After identifying the pathologies present, you must categorize the condition of your organization in terms of one or more of the following: Resource Diversion, Oversight Failure, Structural Failure, Cultural Deviance, or Institutionalization. These categories are explained further below and will be applied frequently as we consider multiple cases of organizational crisis and failure.  

 

Resource Diversion—The use of organizational resources for other than their intended purposes through illicit schemes or marginally legal manipulation by employee beneficiaries.  From personal phone calls to afternoon golf games on company time, employees will find ways to divert organizational resources to their own purposes.  Wholesale resource diversions by top bosses can throw the organization into turmoil, instigate management upheaval, and force fundamental changes how the organization operates. While most organizations eventually uncover and address resource diversion, public exposure is damaging.  When combined with or arising out of one or more of the following pathologies, resource diversions indicate serious organizational problems.

 

Oversight Failure—Oversight failure occurs when governing boards, review boards, external auditors, internal examiners and quality control supervisors are unable or unwilling to detect and/or effectively address organizational conditions whose departure from the norm threatens the well-being of the organization.  Oversight units in an organization may "self-neutralize" because members identify with the rank and file.  External and internal oversight mechanisms may tread lightly with organizational leaders who have long tenure, a strong charter and/or a string of successes.  Or those overseeing the organization may owe their allegiance to the CEO or agency head, or may simply be asleep at the wheel. With oversight failure, errant leaders as well as renegade employees have free rein and the potential for disaster skyrockets.

 

Structural Failure—The breakdown of operations, procedures and processes that occurs under pressure of time, resources and workload, often exacerbated by organizational and task design incorporating competing or conflicting rationales.  Fundamental defects in organizational structure and/or processes include unclear grants of authority; redundant and overlapping work groups, faulty communication systems, haphazard planning mechanisms and perverse incentive systems.  Since these defects lurk in legitimized structural elements of the organization, conditions can deteriorate substantially before anyone sounds the alarm, and mini-disasters can accumulate into catastrophes.

 

Cultural Deviance—Cultural deviation occurs when a group of employees operate in disregard of organizational rules and norms as a matter of daily process and moral value. When one or more groups deviate significantly from behavioral and/or performance norms and expectations, the organization is contending with renegade elements that can compromise its legitimacy.  Deviant units or divisions may be characterized by high complaint volume and a concentration of problem employees, but may also contain very high performers who are willing to cut any corner and break any rule in order to excel. Culturally deviant organizational elements tend to bunker, building walls between themselves and the rest of the organization and creating an isolation in which incipient disaster can fester.

 

Institutionalization—Institutionalization is an organizational condition characterized by a widespread approach to task that hinges on maintaining employee status and preferences, and on insulating the organization from change and outside scrutiny.  Organizations strive for dominance and certainty, and often achieve a substantial measure of both.  This brings about a paradoxical trap. With hubris born of success and comfort in the "tried and true" processes and roles that achieved victory, organization members increasingly see priority number one as maintaining their processes, their ways and each other.  The managers and professionals ("We are the experts!") and/or the workers ("The contract says we don't do that!) pursue self-protective policies.  Mutual deference and intense territoriality within the organization slows action, mutes self-reflection and defers critical analyses of policy.  The organization thus loses touch with customers, markets and other critical elements, often with disastrous consequences.

 

 

SECTION E--Exploration of the Alternative Hypothesis: Normal Accident

 

Normal accidents occur when complex technological elements malfunction, either individually or interactively, and human operators misjudge what is happening and respond with actions that accelerate the deterioration of the situation.   The concept of normal accident was first applied to technology failures, such as nuclear plant meltdowns, but organizations themselves, as technologies for getting things done, can also fail despite carefully laid plans and the good faith efforts of everyone involved.  Though each book below more or less takes the view that various dysfunctions and unsavory or hapless individuals torpedoed the organization under discussion, you must devote the last section of your paper to considering whether more normal and innocent processes conspired to bring disaster and crisis to your organization.

 

*****

 

(A note on the "bad person" explanation: What jumps out in several of the books below are one or more key individuals whose actions are self-serving, arguably dishonest or larcenous, and ultimately destructive to the organization. They are, indeed, "bad leaders" in their negative impact on the organization and many also end up as convicted felons.  Yes, "bad leaders" make for engaging reading, and satisfying targets of our anger.  However, this is not a diagnostic category. Why? Because employees--high and low--are sustained by the systems and cultures that surround them.  "Bad" employees are nurtured by cultures that accept them, organizational structures that enable them, territoriality that insulates them and overseers blinded to their offenses. You need not ignore "bad persons/leaders" if they play a role in your organization's crisis.  Do not, however, put them center-stage. Be sure that your paper focuses mostly on how such destructive behaviors were enabled by the structures and policies of the organization.)

 

YOUR TERM PAPER SOURCE: Each student must base his or her paper on one of the "A List" books from the bibliography at the back of this document.  Only one student may report on each book chosen, so the instructor will use a blind selection system to resolve any competing choices. Books will be assigned within the first week of class. While not every student will get his/her first choice book, the organization(s) in each book faced similar crises and/or debacles, and offer similar lessons to student analysts.

 

Immediately obtain and start reading your book. While your term papers are not due until Week 13’s class, PowerPoint presentations may begin as early as Week 5 in some PAD 706 classes.  While the instructor will seek to fill up the “early” presentation slots with volunteers (who may be interested in getting a major chunk of course work done early), random assignments to early slots will be made if there aren’t enough volunteers.

 

 

POWER-POINT PRESENTATION GUIDELINES

 

Each student is required to make a presentation about their organization or industry to the class using PowerPoint.   This presentation is essentially an outline of your term paper as modified by the “evaluation” criteria below.  

This presentation will be assessed on the degree to which each student:

 

NOTE: Students should practice this presentation in advance, especially the flow of presentation frames in relation to the overall presentation. Figuring things out for the first time in front of the class is a sure way to get stuck and flustered while faced with an impatient and restless audience. 

Depending on overall class enrollment, presentations may run from 12-20 minutes, followed by a brief 5-10 minute question and answer session.  Your instructor will let you know.  Faculty will cut short presentations that exceed time limits in order to make sure that all students get a shot.  Faculty may also comment on presentations, especially initial ones, to help subsequent presenters better understand what works.

“A” List Bibliography

 

Basic information about most books can be obtained by clicking on the "http" locator, if you are viewing this on the internet. You can also type the URL in the locator on your Netscape or Explorer browser if you are viewing this hard copy, though going to the Amazon.com, or any other on-line bookseller site and typing in the book title will be easier. REMEMBER: Obtain and start reading your book as soon as possible after your choice is confirmed.  These books all have material relevant to our discussions in the first ten weeks of the course.  Everyone's learning can be enhanced by relevant examples from your term paper books, even if you are only a chapter or two in. 

 

** Double-starred books are best sought through CUNY or city library system since you may have difficulty purchasing the book through commercial sources (i.e., a bookstore or internet bookseller) in a sufficiently timely manner to meet the requirements for this course. Most books in the bibliography should be available in the CUNY library and John Jay's library should house most of the books that concern criminal justice agencies.

 

A NOTE ON BOOK SELECTION: A lottery number will determine each student's selection order. A book that has been selected is off the list. In addition, the instructor will work with students in the first class to achieve the best match between book topic and the student's interests based on his knowledge of the books and his understanding of the student's career path and interests.

 "A" LIST BOOKS:  (Use ONLY this list for your principal term paper book. Books on the "B" and “C” lists on the syllabus may intrigue you, and may even be about organizations covered by "A" list books.  You may read "B" list and "C" list books as supplementary reading.  Past experience has shown, however, that "A" list books are best suited to (1) term paper development and (2) presentations that engage the audience.)

Peter C. Fusaro, Ross M. Miller.  What Went Wrong at Enron: Everyone's Guide to the Largest Bankruptcy in U.S. History.  Wiley, 2002.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0471265748/qid=1030573697/sr=2-2/ref=sr_2_2/002-6523240-1396041

Brian Cruver. Anatomy of Greed: The Unshredded Truth from an Enron Insider.  Carroll and Graf, 2002. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786710934/qid=1030574233/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/002-6523240-1396041

Bethany McLean, Peter Elkind.  Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron.  Portfolio, 2003 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591840082/qid=1074638905/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/102-5358092-1458524#product-details

Sherron Watkins, Mimi Swartz, Power Failure: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Enron.   Doubleday, 2003.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385507879/qid=1074638905/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books#product-details

Note: The four books immediately above are a single entry.  Only one student may choose this entry. The student may read any one book—though more than one might give a better perspective.  "Smartest Guys" is probably the most thorough.  And Watkins is the whistleblower who told Enron CEO Ken Lay about accounting chicanery.

Barbara Ley Toffler, Jennifer Reingold, Final Accounting: Ambition, Greed and the Fall of Arthur Andersen.  Broadway, 2003.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0767913825/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books#product-details

 

Susan Squires, et. al.   Inside Arthur Anderson: Shifting Values, Unexpected Consequences.  Prentice Hall, 2003
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0131408968/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books

Note: The two books immediately above are a single entry.  Only one student may choose this entry. The student may read either book—though both might give a better perspective, especially neither is very lengthy. 

James Adams. Sellout: Aldrich Ames and the Corruption of the CIA. Viking, 1995. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670862363/qid=917501231/sr=1-1/002-5090961-6362828 **

Tim Weiner, et.al. Betrayal: Aldrich Ames, The Story of an American Spy. 1997. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/067944050X/qid=998431959/sr=1-5/ref=sc_b_5/103-7909515-6754237

Note: The two books immediately above are a single entry.  Only one student may choose this entry. The student may read either book—though both might give a better perspective. 

Daniel Quinn Mills, G. Bruce Friesen. Broken Promises: An Unconventional View of What Went Wrong at IBM. Harvard Business School, 1996. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0875846548/ref=sim_books/002-5090961-6362828

Paul Carroll. Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM. Crown, 1994. (Check CUNY library) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517882213/o/qid=916892887/sr=2-2/002-5090961-6362828

Louis V. Gerstner Jr. Who Says Elephants Can't Dance? Inside IBM's Historic Turnaround.  Harper Business, 2002.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060523794/qid=1074641952/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books#product-details

Note: The three books immediately above are a single entry.  Only one student may choose this entry. The student may read any book—though Gerstner's is more current, up-front and personal.  Hint, skim Carroll and/or Mills, read and report on Gerstner.

Nina Munk. Fools Rush In : Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Unmaking of AOL Time Warner.  Harper Business, 2004. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060540346/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-7426009-8405729?v=glance&s=books

 

Kara Swisher, Lisa Dickey. There Must Be a Pony in Here Somewhere: The AOL Time Warner Debacle and the Quest for a Digital Future.  Crown Business, 2003.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400049636/ref=pd_bxgy_text_1/102-7426009-8405729?v=glance&s=books&st=* - product-details

 

Alec Klein. Stealing Time : Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner.  Simon and Schuster, 2003. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743247868/ref=pd_sim_books_1/102-7426009-8405729?v=glance&s=books

Note: The three books immediately above are a single entry.  Only one student may choose this entry. The student may read any book—check out the reviews on the on-line sites. 

John Kelly and Phillip Wearne. Tainting Evidence : Behind the Scandals at the FBI Crime Lab. Free Press, 1998. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684846462/inktomi-bkasin-20/102-1536419-3959344

Adrian Havill. The Spy Who Stayed out in the Cold: The Secret Life of FBI Double Agent Robert Hanssen. St. Martins, 2001. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312287828/qid=1030512784/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/102-1536419-3959344?v=glance&s=books

Lou Cannon. Official Negligence: How Rodney King and the Riots Changed Los Angeles and the LAPD. Westview, 1999. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813337259/o/qid=967212728/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_3/102-5551230-7180125

Dick J. Reavis. The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation. Syracuse University Press, 1998. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0815605021/qid=916892032/sr=1-1/002-5090961-6362828

John Anderson, Hilary Hevenor, Burning Down the House: Move and the Tragedy of Philadelphia.  Norton, 1990.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0393024601/qid=1074641375/sr=1-8/ref=sr_1_8/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books#product-details

Piers Paul Read. Ablaze: The Story of the Heroes and Victims of Chernobyl.  Random House, 1993.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-0679408193/qid=1043871362/sr=1-18/ref=sr_1_18/103-3888685-3290255?v=glance&s=books

Lawrence Schiller. Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: The Uncensored Story of the JonBenet Murder and the Grand Jury's Search for the Final Truth. Harper Paperbacks, 1999 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0061096962/qid=967215629/sr=1-3/102-5551230-7180125

Owen W. Linzmayer, Apple Confidential : The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc. No Starch Press, 1999. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/188641128X/qid=998430030/sr=1-36/ref=sc_b_36/103-7909515-6754237

Lynne W. Jeter, Disconnected: Deceit and Betrayal at WorldCom.  Wiley: 2003  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/047142997X/qid=1074642845/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books#product-details

Ken Auletta. Greed and Glory on Wall Street: The Fall of the House of Lehman. Warner Books, 1987 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446384062/qid=916893128/sr=1-10/002-5090961-6362828 **

William Bratton with Peter Knobler, Turnaround: How America’s Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic. New York: Random House, 1998 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0679452516/o/qid=966617971/sr=2-3/103-5646095-2698247  NOTE: If you take this book, you may NOT use NYPD as the principal case study. Focus on Transit and the Massachusetts police agencies Bratton ran.

Bryan Burrough. Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard the Mir. Harper-Collins, 1998. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0887307833/o/qid=916895093/sr=2-1/002-5090961-6362828**

Bryan Burrough. Vendetta : American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060167599/qid=935778486/sr=1-1/002-5047019-2484207 **

James B. Stewart. Blind Eye: How the Medical Establishment Let a Doctor Get Away With Murder. Simon and Schuster, 1999. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684865637/o/qid=967215388/sr=2-1/102-5551230-7180125

Mary Schiavo, Sabra Chartrand. Flying Blind, Flying Safe: The Former Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Transportation Tells You Everything You Need to Know to Travel Safe. Avon, 1998. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/038079330X/o/qid=916894524/sr=2-1/002-5090961-6362828**

Stephen A. Fredrick, S. A. Frederick. Unheeded Warning: The Inside Story of American Eagle Flight 4184. 1996. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ts/book-similarities/0070219516/ref=sim_m_books/002-5090961-6362828**

Paul Eddy, et.al. Destination Disaster. Time Books, 1974 (DC-10 Aircraft: A Model of How to Build a Crash-Ready Aircraft Fast in the Race for Profit) CUNY Library

Connie Bruck. The Predators’ Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders. Penguin, 1989. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140120904/ref=sim_books/002-5090961-6362828

Kevin Goldman. Conflicting Accounts: How Corporate Greed and Mismanagement Led to the Crash of Saatchi and Saatchi, the Worlds Largest Ad Agency. Simon and Schuster, 1997. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684815710/qid=916899307/sr=1-1/002-5090961-6362828

 Dan Kurzman: A Killing Wind: Inside Union Carbide and the Bhopal Catastrophe. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0070356874/qid=917500671/sr=1-14/002-5090961-6362828 **

Joseph Vranich. Derailed: What Went Wrong and What to Do About America’s Passenger Trains. St. Martins, 1997. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/031217182X/qid%3D917501007/002-5090961-6362828

Judith Reitman. Bad Blood: Crisis in the American Red Cross. Kensington, 1996. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1575661152/qid=916899728/sr=1-4/002-5090961-6362828

Mark Baldassare.  When Government Fails: The Orange County Bankruptcy.  University of California Press, 1998.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0520214862/qid=1030573310/sr=1-15/ref=sr_1_15/002-6523240-1396041?v=glance&s=books

William H. McMichael, The Mother of All Hooks: The Story of the U.S. Navy's Tailhook Scandal.  Transaction Books, 1997. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/156000293X/qid=1043871655/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-3888685-3290255?v=glance&s=books

David Kuo. dot.bomb: My Days and Nights at an Internet Goliath.  Back Bay Books: 2003.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0316600059/qid=1074642539/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-5358092-1458524?v=glance&s=books

 

Clarke, Richard.  Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror.  New York: Free Press: 2004. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0743260244/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-7326988-9067907#reader-link

 

Dennis, Norman, et. al. The Failure of Britain's Police: London and New York Compared. New York: Coronet Books, 2003. Focus on London/England, not New York http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1903386268/qid=1093312390/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-7326988-9067907?v=glance&s=books#product-details

 

Blum, Lawrence. Force Under Pressure: How Cops Live and Why They Die. Lantern Books, 2000. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1930051123/qid=1093312866/br=1-11/ref=br_lf_b_11//104-7326988-9067907?v=glance&s=books&n=10907

 

Lehr, Dick and Gerard O'Neill.  Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob.  New York: Perennial, 2001. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1891620401/qid=1093314225/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/104-7326988-9067907?v=glance&s=books

Melanson, Philip and Peter F. Stevens. The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency.  New York: Carroll and Graf, 2002.  http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0786710845/qid%3D1093381525/103-1424236-1042234

 

Jess Walter. Ruby Ridge : The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family.  New York: Regan Books, 2002. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006000794X/qid%3D1093381003/103-1424236-1042234

 

Ernest Volkman. Gangbusters: The Destruction of America's Last Great Mafia Dynasty.  New York: Avon, 1999. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380732351/qid=1093381645/

 

Chris Ryder. The Fateful Split: The Failure of Policing in Northern Ireland.  London: Methuen, 2004. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0413772225/qid=1093382805/