OGL 481 Pro-Seminar I:
PCA-Choosing an Organization Worksheet
Worksheet Objectives:
1. Identify an organization and situation you want to study over the remainder of the course.
2. Describe the organization and the situation
Complete the following making sure to support your ideas and cite from the textbook and other
course materials per APA guidelines. After the peer review, you have a chance to update this and
format for your Electronic Portfolio due in Module 6.
1) Name and describe your organization.
The organization that I would like to study is Tesla. “Tesla, Inc. is an American
multinational automotive and clean energy company headquartered in Austin, Texas,
which designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles, stationary battery energy storage
devices from home to grid-scale, solar panels and solar shingles, and related products and
services (Tesla, Inc. 2024).” The reason I chose Tesla is due to its unique characteristics
as an organization. Tesla is not just a car manufacturing company. It can also be
described as a technology company. According to TechCrunch.com, “Tesla’s stock is
worth more than that of Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen and Stellantis
combined. Even though Tesla is an automaker, it’s valued as more of a tech company,
with a share price that puts it in the camp of companies like Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft
(Bellan, 2023)”. Tesla has gone through many struggles in the past because there are
almost no car manufacturers that sell purely electric vehicles. Also, Tesla is one of the
only car manufacturers in the United States who has not had to file for bankruptcy. Due
to this, I believe Elon Musk should be studied on what has he done to make Tesla the
iconic electric car company it is today.
2) Describe your role in the organization (it can be an internal or external role).
My role in the organization is an external role. I will act as an external journalist
and study what type of organization Tesla is. I believe that this role is important because
based on what my findings entail, it can persuade or dissuade consumers from buying
Tesla products. As an external role I will specifically research the manufacturing
struggles, consumer adaptation struggles, engineering struggles, and what Elon Musk has
done to allow Tesla to succeed.
3) Describe the situation, including information you think will help the reader
understand the most important elements of the situation. (This will require
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selectivity: part of the art of case writing is separating the essential facts from the
mass of information that might be included).
The specific situation that I would like to talk about is what are the main
contributors that allowed the organization known as Tesla to succeed. In the past, Tesla
was on the urge of bankruptcy. According to Business Insider, “in 2008, struggling Tesla
nearly collapsed during the financial crisis. When Tesla needed cash to fund the Model S,
Musk chose to bankrupt himself — giving up the money he earned from his success with
PayPal — rather than let it die. He sunk his last $35 million into the company, the New
York Times reported. (Davies, 2024)” As an external journalist, I will research what Elon
Musk was thinking at this crucial time in the development of Tesla and what it took to
overcome such obstacles.
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References
Tesla, Inc.. (2024) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla,_Inc.
(Accessed: 21 January 2024).
Bellan, R. (2023a) Tesla’s margins remind us that it’s an automaker, not a tech
company, TechCrunch. Available at: https://techcrunch.com/2023/07/21/tesla-
earnings-stock-price-down/#:~:text=Even%20though%20Tesla%20is
%20an,like%20Apple%2C%20Nvidia%20and%20Microsoft. (Accessed: 21
January 2024).
Davies, A. (2024) How Elon Musk is revolutionizing two major industries at the
same time, Business Insider. Available at:
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-elon-musk-overcomes-challenges-
2013-3 (Accessed: 21 January 2024).
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