[SOLVED] SOS for Stoneham BOS
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Case Study Assignment Details:
SOS for Stoneham BOS
Overview
This case study assignment requires students to:
• assess the group and dynamics of a meeting for the Stoneham Select
Board/Board of Selectmen (“BOS”), a governing body for a Boston suburb.
• recommend a specific plan for an upcoming meeting.
Outcome
The final product for this assignment will be a written proposal, including observations and recommendations, for the BOS.
Preparation
Before you begin:
• Read the Case Study- SOS Background document, included in our course materials, located both in the Week 1 and Assignment Details
folders.
• Watch the recording of the Stoneham Board of Selectmen meeting, located both in the Week 1 and Assignment Details folders. The total
required viewing time is 1 hour and 20 minutes.
Scenario
Imagine that you have been hired as an independent consultant for the Town of Stoneham to design and conduct a BOS relaunch meeting to report your findings and to help improve meeting facilitation going forward.
§ Assume that you have spent time learning about the BOS meeting culture and have attended many meetings, noticing a
pattern of dysfunctional meeting interactions. The results of your preliminary research are presented in the
Case Study- SOS Background document.
§ You will present specific recommendations for the BOS covering Parts I and II detailed below.
• Draw from what we have learned through our course materials to date, including lectures and assigned reading.
• Be sure to cite the assigned reading/articles/text appropriately using APA style.
Format for the Proposal to be Presented to the Stoneham Board of Selectmen.
Suggestion: use headings which reflect this format to help organize your paper.
Part I: Looking Back- Situational Analysis (10 pts toward final score)
Providing specific examples from the meeting interactions as shown in the video, assess the current meeting situation.
• What are the factors that contribute to the dysfunctional
meeting culture?
o What behaviors did you notice by specific BOS members?
o Illustrate using examples from the meeting. (e.g.- facial expressions, body language, etc.)
• Do you observe any divisions on this team?
o How do you think individual agendas on the BOS might affect the town overall?
§ This is a meeting dilemma that could be found in a corporate setting, too, such as during an interdepartmental, management, or a board of directors meeting. If there are divisions within those groups, those divisive attitudes could trickle throughout the organization at large.
§ In the case of a town government, it could be suggested that behavior in official meetings could have an impact on the community as neighbors align with certain leaders and against other neighbors.
• The audience was outside the scope of the camera, but members of the audience exhibited behaviors such as eyerolling, loud sighing, etc. throughout the meeting.
o How might this type of behavior be viewed as passive aggressive?
o What could be done to promote an environment that values a variety of ideas? Could you try (or have you tried) any of these ideas in your organization?
• As the hired consultant
o Discuss how you would help refocus the team.
o What questions would you ask the group?
Part II: Looking Forward- Plan for Relaunch Meeting (15 pts toward final score)
Imagine that the Town of Stoneham requests that you design and facilitate a relaunch meeting for the Board of Selectmen. During this
meeting, the Board will hear suggestions from you, the facilitation consultant, for how to improve meeting interactions going forward. The
topic for this meeting is to address the team’s dynamic and your recommendations for how they can improve. Hint: The double yellow lines issue is NOT the subject of this meeting.
Articulate the 5 P’s of Preparation accordingly.
Purpose/Product
• Include here how you would determine the purpose and product of this meeting.
• What do you think the purpose and product should be?
Participants
• Who should attend the meeting?
• Specifically, what value does each attendee bring to the meeting?
Possible Issues
• Include here how you would determine the possible issues of this meeting.
o What do you anticipate the possible issues might be?
o What can you do to address these issues in advance?
• What type of prework (if any) will you require?
Process
• What might your suggested agenda include?
o When would you propose to have this meeting?
o How long will the relaunch meeting last?
• What ground rules would you suggest for this group?
• What process steps do you think will help the group achieve the purpose, as well as some of the facilitation techniques
that will result in a productive meeting? Provide specific examples.
Additional Details
• Be sure to make specific references to course readings and lectures to explain your approach. This is not an opinion piece. You must cite and incorporate appropriate course concepts to support your suggestions.
• Your paper should demonstrate your level of comprehension and command of class materials and philosophies presented to date.
• Length is between 1600-1800 words. Please be mindful of the word count maximum. Part of effective communication is stating your
message in a clear and concise manner.
• This assignment is worth 25% of your final grade in this course.
• Within the appropriate assignment folder, use the TurnItIn link to submit your work.
o TurnItIn software checks for originality (instances of plagiarism) for
submissions.
o Additionally, the software provides grammatical
suggestions/corrections.
§ Automatically generated comments appear in purple text
bubbles. Sometimes these comments are inaccurate so keep
that in mind when you read them.
§ Pay specific attention to my personal comments on your work,
which appear in the notes section AND in blue text bubbles
throughout the paper itself.
o RECEIPT- If you have successfully submitted your paper, you should
receive an email receipt from TurnItIn. If not, then your paper was
not properly submitted. Please contact the NU Online support team for
assistance to be sure that your paper is submitted on time.
• Remember to use APA Citation.
o Regarding how to reference a specific part of the video, giving the
minute marker is helpful to me. For example, if you want to reference
when the Chairman says XYZ, you could add (Stoneham BOS Meeting,
2017, minute 62) so that I could watch that part of the video.
o Remember to use my Handy APA References Guide (in several related
folders throughout the course) as an additional resource for your APA
requirements.
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Case Study Grading Rubric
(See course syllabus for more information)
Elements EXEMPLARY: A/A- COMPETENT: B+/ B B- or Below
Description
of Grading,
based on
general
Grading
Rubric of
Northeastern
Outstanding, insightful
work. Goes beyond
requirements of the task to
develop a response which is
thoughtful, reflective,
considers alternative views
and makes connections
among ideas and
information from different
aspects of the course.
Displays creativity and
originality. Thoroughly
addresses all aspects of the
task.
Good work. Generally
clear, accurate and
relevant. Adequately
addresses all
requirements of the
task. Demonstrates
understanding of course
concepts with evidence
of some thoughtful
examination and
reflection. Development
is logical, facts generally
correct. Tends to focus
on one interpretation.
Minimally satisfactory
work. Shows some
understanding of
concepts with little
reflection or analysis.
Barely meets basic
requirements of
assignment.
References
Appropriately cites multiple
course materials (Wilkinson
textbook, lecture notes,
more than one assigned
article) throughout the
assignment to demonstrate
a command of course
readings
No deduction
Cites one or two course
materials
Up to 2 points deducted
Doesn’t cite any course
materials
Up to 3 points deducted
APA
Uses proper APA-style
citations throughout
No deduction
Uses APA-style citations
with a few minor errors
Up to 1 point deducted
Inconsistent use of APA
citation throughout
Failure to use proper
APA-citation could
result in failure and
academic discipline
Grammar
Almost no errors in
grammar, spelling or writing
mechanics
No deduction
Errors in spelling and
grammar (such as
subject/verb
agreements and tense);
uses poor writing
mechanics which
distract the reader
Up to 2 points deducted
Numerous errors in
spelling, grammar
and/or sentence
structure which
interfere with
comprehension
More than 2 points
deducted
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