A case brief opens: "Sales at the Kingston store are down." In stage-2 terms, that sentence is:
A case brief opens: "Sales at the Kingston store are down." In stage-2 terms, that sentence is:
Answer
A symptom — what someone noticed
Options - A. A problem statement — the gap is named - B. A symptom — what someone noticed - C. A cause — why the gap exists - D. An issue already ranked by impact Why - A. A problem statement carries a number and names the objective missed. "Sales are down" has neither. - B. Correct — it is what was noticed. It becomes a problem once the gap from the sales objective is quantified, and a cause once the reason is found. - C. A cause says why sales are down. This sentence only reports that they are. - D. Ranking comes after issues are stated. Nothing here has been stated as an issue yet.
Smith 11.1.2.1–2; Van Cleave 1.3; concept map E01, E02