Assignment 3: Individual Case Study (20%) Purpose This assignment provides you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned about organizational behaviour to a practical case. You will analyze organizational culture, examine organizational decisions through the ethical lens, and propose ways to manage teams in ways that best meet the needs of the situation.

How to Proceed Review the case study and respond to the following questions: Did Lloyd choose the correct communication medium (email) to share his message? Explain why you agree or disagree with this choice.

Which organizational culture type is Lloyd's Landscaping in its current (pre-franchise) form, and what organizational characteristics lead you to that determination?

Is it ethical of Lloyd to ask former employees to become his business partners? Explain your reasoning behind your answer.

If Lloyd wanted to work with his employees through a decision making process to develop a way to solve his current problem, which strategy development technique (brainstorming, delphi or nominal) would you recommend he use and why?

Your response to each question should be between 200 - 400 words.

Submit your paper, including your full name at the top, to the Assignment 3: Individual Case Study dropbox on UM Learn by the due date specified in the course schedule, provided in the Course Outline.

Case study Landscaping Company Outgrows its Roots Man laying sod for new garden lawn.

Lloyd's Landscaping began operating as a one-person business out of Lloyd Kramer's family garage when Lloyd was 15 years old. What started as summer job mowing lawns quickly expanded into an innovative entrepreneurial business, with a reputation for using the latest lawn care products and doing so in interesting new ways. Lloyd never expected to become an entrepreneur, but he always had a solid understanding of chemistry, and his natural charisma meant that he could talk to anyone about anything. One of his favourite topics was the latest and best way to achieve a great lawn without overusing harsh chemicals. Lloyd was creative, so if a fertilizer instructions said to apply in the spring, Lloyd would try using it in the fall to see if it performed better having settled into the ground over the winter.

When Lloyd graduated from high school, Lloyd's Landscaping was doing so well that Lloyd registered to attend a local college and maintain his business, rather than attending a college away from home. He recruited some of his high school friends who were also attending the local college to work for him and employed them each year over the spring, summer, and fall. It was a great working relationship, and Lloyd hired six of his former classmates as part time staff. In the spring, they did lawn clean up and fertilizing, in the summer there was lawn mowing and trimming, and in the fall they raked and bagged hundreds of bags of leaves. In the winter months, everyone focused on their coursework, and Lloyd researched the latest products and tools for his business.

Once Lloyd and his staff were in their final year of college, Lloyd faced some difficult choices. His friends were preparing to map out careers of their own after graduation. Lloyd knew that there were opportunities to expand the business and had been struggling to keep up with demand for services. Lloyd had found a niche market in the community and built a solid reputation for his company. Business was good and poised to get even better. He knew that with the financial history of the company, he could get bank financing to expand the business and buy more equipment to take on more customers. Lloyd spent the fall considering his options. He narrowed them down to three:

Continue operating the company under the current model, where he would run the business and hire new staff for the following spring;

Seek financing to expand the company by increasing its capital assets of equipment, hiring more labour staff, and hiring an administrator/bookkeeper, and Lloyd would focus on keeping the company innovative and expanding the business into new markets; or

Convert his business into a franchise model where he would be responsible for research, development, innovation, quality control, and marketing, and his franchise owners would be responsible for hiring labour staff for their regions, buying and maintaining their own equipment, and serving customers. All of the franchises would benefit from bulk buying supplies and from Lloyd's ability to generate sales.

Because of the long working relationship between Lloyd and his staff, he felt that they were colleagues and friends who would make great business partners. He decided to explore the franchise option as his first choice, with his current employees as potential franchise owners. Since they knew the operational side of the business, and there was a history of trust between them, Lloyd felt that they would make great franchise owners. Lloyd went to his lawyer to seek advice on converting a business to a franchise and then visited his accountant to calculate a fair current market value for the company. By the end of November, Lloyd had gathered all of the information he needed and sent the following email to his six workers:

email that reads; Good evening,

I hope that this message finds you well.

I know that we are all thinking about the next steps we will be taking once we finish our degrees. It has been such a pleasure working together over the past four years, and I can't imagine facing next spring without you as part of the business. I hope you know how grateful I am for your hard work and dedication to the company.

It is in that sentiment of appreciation that I write to you with the following offer:

I am planning to convert my business to a franchise, effective March 1st, in advance of the next spring season. In light of our great working relationship, I want to offer you the opportunity to buy a region and operate a franchise of Lloyd's Landscaping in that region as a franchisee. I will continue to do research and product development, so that our company maintains its reputation for innovation and quality. I will also lead our marketing efforts and know that there are several ways that we can expand into new properties. While our residential contracts have maintained steady growth, you know that I was approached to take on the hospital's lawn care, and I am sure that we could win a bid for the landscape work for the mall that is currently under construction in the south end. The sky is the limit!

From a business model perspective, I am going to retain 51% of the company and divide the remaining 49% equally amongst any of you who want to join me. The number of franchises will determine how many regions there will be when we divide the company and the cost of the buy-in. Your cost for a franchise will be equal to the percentage of the business you buy multiplied by 50% of the assessed value of that percentage of the business. The calculations are dependent on how many franchises are created.

There is enough opportunity for all of us to be successful, and I hope that you will consider continuing to work together as partners.

Please let me know by Monday if you are interested in moving forward. I will arrange a meeting with everyone who is interested in buying a franchise to talk more about how we can proceed.

Sincerely, Lloyd

Grading 5-6 Points 4-5 Points 3-4 Points 2-3 Points 0-1 Points Points Analysis Paper presents strong reasoning for their answers and relevant arguments about organizational culture type, ethical decisions, chosen communication medium, and suggested strategy development technique.

Paper provides insightful connections between the issues in the case study and course theory. Paper presents sufficient reasoning for their answers and mostly relevant arguments about organizational culture type, ethical decisions, chosen communication medium, and suggested strategy development technique.

Connections between the issues in the case study and course theory are generally relevant and include at least some strong examples/explanations. Paper presents moderate reasoning for their answers and somewhat relevant arguments about organizational culture type, ethical decisions, chosen communication medium, and suggested strategy development technique.

Connections between the issues in the case study and course theory are somewhat relevant and include at least one example/explanation. Paper presents poor reasoning for the answers and weak arguments about organizational culture type, ethical decisions, chosen communication medium, and suggested strategy development technique.

Connections between the issues in the case study and course theory are poorly linked or missing. Paper presents little to no reasoning for their answers and irrelevant or no arguments about organizational culture type, ethical decisions, chosen communication medium, and suggested strategy development technique.

There are few or no connections between the issues in the case study and course theory. _/6 3 Points 2 Points 1 Point Professional Writing There is concise, clear, and well organized writing, and it contains only minor spelling and grammar errors. There is mostly concise and clear writing. The content structure may be improved, and it contains some spelling and grammar errors. Writing is unclear, overly wordy and/or not organized and contains major spelling and grammar errors that detract from understanding. _/3 Total _/9