Consulting Project Assignment Electronic Arts (EAI) is a multi-billion dollar company that develops, markets, and publishes video games. It has been recognized for its innovativeness and its aggressive acquisition strategy (buying smaller development studios and then re-shaping them to fit into the corporate frame). It is also well known for its outrageous employment policies employees tend to work extraordinarily long hours (100 hours per week). EAI has experienced a number of challenges during the last years, and more challenges are likely ahead.
The list of challenges includes (but is not limited to): A class action lawsuit brought by game artists to compensate for “unpaid overtime”. Extensive turnover among the top management team, including many of the co-founders. Difficulty finding enough new employees to hire that match EASE needs for creative content. Several failed takeover bids. Extensive layoffs (more than 11% of its workforce). Poor sales and poor economic performance of the company, including failure to release blockbuster titles. Accusations that EAI ‘crushes’ smaller studios.
Products rushed to completion and then shipped with bugs. An anti-trust law suit about EASE exclusive contracts with the NFG Players Association and the NCAA and Arena Football League. A huge public outcry over its DRY technology. Your group should research the background of these challenges (and other challenges that you may find) and select a subset of related challenges that your group finds interesting (note, finding and discussing the relationships between the challenges you select will be important because that will give your report a unified focus).
You might want to discuss in your report why you chose to focus n the selected topics (e. G. , importance to company success, the specialization of your consulting team, ease of implementation, expected benefits, etc). Normally, consulting groups focus on a handful of challenges. Your consulting group will need to search relevant information about EAI using the various search tools available to you through the library, diagnose them from an Organizational Behavior perspective, and recommend a plan going forward for the company to manage its challenges and provide an attractive work environment for its employees.
You should specifically answer these questions: What insights do the theories of Organizational Behavior provide in understanding these challenges? What possible solutions could help EAI in light of these challenges? Which solution do you recommend? Why? How would you recommend implementing your plan? How do you justify your implementation plan? What potential difficulties might such an implementation face? Your team will be evaluated as follows: Verbal presentation (25 points) – Your verbal presentation will take place on the sat day of class.
A maximum of 25 points will be allocated as follows: Creativity (7), Professionalism (5), Organization and Clarity of Presentation (7), Team “Presence” (6). You will need to submit a hardcopy of your presentation to me in the beginning of the last class. Written presentation (25 points) – FORMAT: Your proposal should be between 10 and 12 pages of double-spaced text in a font size of Times New Roman 12 (excluding appendices and executive summary).
The report must have a cover page that displays a Project Title, the names of al your consulting team members, the name of the course (Introduction to Organizational Behavior) and the section number (e. G. , GMT 2070 AAA/AAA). Please also include a one-page executive summary in the report. A hard copy of the report is due on the last day of class. Note, we will run your reports through turning. Please make sure you avoid any form of plagiarism. A maximum of 25 points will be allocated as follows: Creativity (7), Professionalism (5), Organization and Clarity (7), Grammar and Spelling (6).
Overall soundness and quality of the elution, using relevant Organizational Behavior concepts (50 points) – You should be sure to integrate B concepts appropriately in your analysis of the threats, selection of the optimal solution, and in your implementation plan. A maximum of 50 points will be allocated as follows: Major problems identified effectively (10), Correct usage of Organizational Behavior concepts (1 0), Relationship of problems to solutions demonstrated (10), Quality/effectiveness of solutions (10), Quality/effectiveness of implementation plan (10).
