Core Disciplines: Leadership/Organizational Behavior; Non-Profit/Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
DESCRIPTION: This case presents students with a crisis at the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) Railroad Museum. The museum, which was established alongside the first railroad in the United States, had a long and varied history of prominence and recent irrelevancy. A new director, Courtney Wilson, took over management of the museum in 2000, and planned to revive the museum through a prominent fair which he and his staff were planning for the summer of 2003. However, in February of 2003, a terrible snowstorm hit Baltimore, and the resulting snow destroyed the museum’s roof and most of its collection. In Case A, the students are asked how they would respond to the immediate crisis, and in Case B the story of what Wilson and his staff did to remedy the situation is given to the students as an example of organizational resilience.
TEACHING POINTS: After discussing this case study, students will be able to: describe appropriate business terms and principles approriate to this case, apply critical concepts from earlier learning to define a solution to the case, successfully articulate data and information in support of the solution proposed, critically analyze and discuss other responses and solutions to the case, draw lessons from the case analysis, generalize the learnings of this case to other business challenges and decisions in organizations other than the one analyzed in this case study, demonstrate leadership and scholarship in analysis.
Secondary Tags: Change Management; Crisis Management Sales Rank: #36