Teaching and Learning Business Cases at Harvard

Teaching and Learning Business Cases at Harvard[1]

 

Overview

Students taking courses in business management at the Harvard Business School read and discuss cases in the Talmudic tradition to link knowledge and application.  Similarly, students taking the Communication in Business course at the Institute for English Language Programs also discuss cases for the same reason – to become acquainted with the complexity of real life business scenario. In discussing cases at great length, our fundamental objective is to prepare them for professional business practice so that they may communicate on the job more effectively and perform their professional tasks with relative ease and success. 

Discussing a Case

Teachers are often faced with the question as to how to lead and sustain a discussion, involving the students in the active investigation and discovery process. Barnes, Christensen, and Hansen (1996) formulated the following questions to refine the methodology of teaching cases at the Harvard Business School:

1. How does the instructor select a student to start off the class?
2. How does the instructor select one student to answer a question when many others with hands raised, are asking for recognition?
3. What kinds of questions can be used by the instructor? What type of question is most appropriate at what specific time in class?
4. How does an instructor decide whether or not to respond personally to a student’s comment, ignore it, or refer it to another student for comment?
5. When does one put a comment on the chalkboard?
6. How does an instructor obtain high levels of student involvement in a case discussion? Deal with apathy? Work with an angry student?
7. What should an instructor “know” about a student? How can such information be obtained? What professional considerations govern its use? 

After conducting intensive research to find pragmatic answers to the above questions, Barnes, Christensen, and Hansen (1996) came up with three propositions that have become the cornerstone of “the seminar’s philosophy, organization, and operations:”

1. A critical responsibility of the instructor is the leadership of the case discussion process. It is not enough to be in command of the substantive knowledge of one’s field or the specifics of the case problem. The instructor also must be able to lead the process by which individual students and the overall group explore the complexity of a specific case situation.
2. The key to effective discussion leadership is the instructor’s artistry, which consists primarily of mastering detail. The effective instructor, for example, expands the entire section’s opportunities for learning by asking the appropriate questions of a specific student at the best time during the discussion.
3. The pertinent details (skills and techniques) can be observed, abstracted, and taught. Case discussion leaders can be helped to learn their craft.

Clearly the instructor plays a pivotal role in facilitating a specific case study. However, it is imperative that the learner play an active role in the discussion. In other words, student involvement is crucial for leading and sustaining a case discussion successfully. As Professor Nathaniel Cantor put it:

“A skilled teacher recognizes that all significant learning can only come from creative efforts of the learner. That’s another way of saying learning is personal. You cannot learn for anybody….  Essentially the student must be the one to raise the significant problem for you to help him [or her] find the answer.”

It is obvious that Professor Cantor proposes a radical departure from the traditional teacher-fronted classroom instruction. Instead, he espouses the position that learning is optimized when the instructor refrains from teaching an instructor-dominated class and allows for “a hard-to-plan, free-flowing discussion driven by student ideas, which may well follow unusual paths and come to unexpected end points.”

Perhaps this student-centered approach to teaching a case study gives the impression that the discussion is bound to be incoherent and disorganized. As a matter of fact, it is important to note that it is extremely difficult to organize a case discussion. Barnes, Christensen, and Hansen (1996) explain why cases are difficult to organize:

1. Cases are holistic. They are drawn from practice, which typically involves multiple problems and issues. The same case narrative can promote disciplined speculation about subjects as diverse as what information about students is appropriate for an instructor to have and what challenges are implicit in humor and game playing in class.
2. Not only do multiple problems coexist in the same case, but each problem can be discussed on a number of different levels of meaning. In our seminars, we often use the image of the “abstraction ladder” to suggest the possibility of considering any given case issue along a continuum that ranges from theory to “nuts and bolts” practicality. For example, one can treat the “Case of the Dethroned Section Leader” as a problem of how to deal with a disruptive student or use it to discuss ideas about power in the classroom.
3. Cases flow together. The discussion of a case is not a separate, discrete event, to be mentally filed away. Wednesday’s discussion may continue, in greater breadth and depth, the question raised in Monday’s case. Or it may preview the problems that will come up for fuller consideration on Friday.
4. Participants almost always come to a case with their own agendas, based on the priorities of their own personal interests. These agendas will determine the areas that they wish to investigate – and they may or may not match the agenda of the syllabus. Even when these do match, the correlation is rarely precise. 

It is obvious that there is no single way to organize a case-based seminar. However, it would be misleading to presume that the seminar is random or arbitrary. Both the instructor and students need to be eclectic and prudent in organizing the case. As students become familiar with the fundamentals of the case-based seminar and get to know the instructor and each other better, they will disseminate knowledge, making valuable contributions to collaborative learning.   

Some Points to Remember

1.     Teaching and Learning the Case Method of Discussion: Opportunities, Dilemmas, and Risks:

For the success of a case discussion, it is crucial that students form a cohesive, inclusive group. Instead of thinking of cases as a confinement, students must form a strategic alliance with the instructor and avail themselves of the opportunities to achieve their academic goals. Their academic and professional success depends on how closely they work with the instructor, how actively they participate in the case discussion, and how well they link knowledge to application in the real world.

2. The Roles, Responsibilities, and Skills of the Case Discussion Leader:

Discussion leaders must become their peers’ partners. Instead of performing one role, they must play several roles such as that of a coach, a conductor, a sounding board, a fellow learner, etc. Discussion leaders must also be concerned about how discussing a specific case study facilitates or impedes the learning process. Last but not least, they should make sure that the participants raise interesting questions, make reasonably provocative statements, listen to their peers attentively, and respond to questions with specific examples.

3. Establishing, Monitoring, and Modifying a Teaching/Learning Contract:

The teacher and students should agree on how learning is to take place in the classroom. This includes adhering to the course guidelines and addressing and responding to each other in a respectful manner. When students deviate from the acceptable classroom behavior, the teaching/learning contract needs to be reevaluated and, if deemed necessary, changed to create a conducive learning atmosphere for all.

4. Questioning, Listening, and Responding: The Key Skill Requirements:

On a cursory glance, it may seem that these skills are separated from each other. In reality, they interact with each other and form a holistic triad. In an ideal seminar group, discussants listen and respond to each other as they formulate questions for further discussion.

5. The Critical Instructional Choice: Guidance vs. Control:

Discussion leaders must be cognizant of the crucial role they play in the success and/or failure of a class discussion. They must give students the floor and encourage them to voice their opinions. It should be noted that the tendency to control and dominate the discussion is likely to create a stultifying atmosphere. One simple way to preclude this is to ask, “Am I outtalking the discussants?”

6. The Case Discussion Leader in Action: Operational Challenges and Opportunities:

Cases often pose operational challenges to the discussion leader and the discussants. In studying and discussing case materials, both the leader and seminar participants have a great opportunity to polish and refine their diagnostic skills and pay increased attention to their performance. After the discussion, they have the opportunity to reflect on how well they spoke and acted.

7. Ethical Dilemmas and the Case Discussion Process:

Cases are likely to evoke emotions and raise ethical questions because they involve real people and real events. It is the responsibility of the discussion leader and seminar participants to address ethical dilemmas, however uncomfortable some of they may be. It is important to note that misunderstandings, accusations, disagreements are likely to crop up in a discussion, but that thinking through one’s response and carefully formulating questions will probably douse the blaze.

8. Some Wider Questions:

Studying and discussing cases should not be a means to an end. As mentioned previously, seminar participants must evaluate their performance. In other words, they must reflect on everything that has transpired during the discussion, including the cases, discussions, relationships, and their own reactions. Last but not least, they must link their thoughts to their own practice to become better professionals in their respective fields.

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[1] Borrowed from Teaching and the Case Method by Louis B. Barnes, C. Roland Christensen, & Abby J. Hansen. Harvard Business School Press. 1996