THE CASE METHOD – A LEARNING TOOL

The case method of study goes beyond the lecture method. The focus of the lecture method,
which is often supplemented by a text book and exercises, is on transmitting, absorbing, and
retention of information. But the case method focuses on the skill of application of knowledge
and to some extent on the attitude of the learner.

The case method emphasizes the learning of both in the left and right hemispheres of the brain,
particularly in learning from decision-making situations. Recent discoveries on the functioning of
the human brain indicate that the left part of the brain specializes in logical, sequential, and
linear functions and the right part of the brain in relational and holistic functions. The educational
systems, often backed by the lecture method, helps to improve the functions of the left part of
the brain and leaves the functions of the right part of the brain untended. This situation is
rectified to some extent by the case method.

The case method changes the order of learning from concept to application to from application
to concept.

Philosophical Overtones

The case method, as it is used in management, originated from the American experience, and
its philosophical tenets are as follows:

Theory and practice – the twain should meet. Often it is argued that the case method ignores
theory. This is a myth. In the case method, theory is as much important as in the lecture
method.

The process of learning in a class should be close to the process of learning in the real world.
The Case method, therefore, emphasizes the live process of knowledge creation or
conceptualization through observation, experience, and experimentation.

As Gragg said, “… wisdom can't be told." It has to be experienced and discovered on one’s own
and through others rather than from any single source as the repository of all wisdom.

The students receive as much as they give. They learn as much as they share their views with
others and as much as they put in the effort in learning. For this very reason, the case method is
known as the case method of study rather than the case method of teaching.

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Excerpts from the note on “The Case Method-An Overview” of Professor S. Sreenivas Rao,
Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

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Types of Cases

Broadly cases can be divided into two kinds:

1. cases for research

The research cases are in-depth descriptions of representative situations in which a researcher
is interested in. From these extensive descriptions, generalizations are drawn. Research cases
describe not only the problem faced by an organization or its executives but also how they tried
to cope with it and what the result was. They also include the researcher's analysis and
conclusions.

But the case for study stops at the problem or the dilemma faced by an organization or its
executives. What they actually did is immaterial to the student learning. What becomes
important is how the students think through the issue and what they learn from it.

A case for study may emphasize different facets of learning depending on the situation that the
case writer has been able to capture and the Case teacher has been able to gather from it. A
case may emphasize anyone, or more, or all of the following aspects:

1. Concepts
2. Tools and techniques
3. Decision-making process (emphasizinq anyone or more parts of the problem-solving
spectrum)
4. Decision-making in a single function or multi-functions
5. Illustration (for appraisal)

Class

Student’s Role

1. No case class can be held if the students have not prepared the case.

2. Students inhibited to present their arguments and listen to others will become
dysfunctional in a case class and may not learn much. It is not the art of debating but the art of
sharpening one's thinking that matters.

3. Students benefit more from a case discussion if they have been oriented to the case
culture. To provide the orientation, constant use of case method may be required rather than
use of one or two cases as a variation in the pedagogy.

Teacher’s Role

1. The teacher must have an open mind and tolerance for the views and effort. Too
domineering and an authoritarian attitude may force the class discussion into a question-answer
session. But a self effacing role may force the class into a regardless voyage.

2. A case teacher must have the breadth of knowledge across areas to handle not only
multi-functional cases but also to integrate and relate the subject knowledge with organizational

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functions. He/she may acquire such capabilities with reference to the case under discussion or
even invite faculty members from other areas to participate in the class.

3. The case teachers must have a picture of what managers do every day and what they
are training the students for; they must have a philosophy or a perspective of the management
profession.

For instance, does the case teacher realize that the managers decide day in and day out in a
variety of situations on the basis of

1. information available to them or they can get with in a given time

Therefore, the decisions are the ones that they take. They are neither right nor wrong to them.
They only have consequences to reckon with.

Class

1. Case discussion leads to frustration among students. They look for the right answer at
the end of the class. Should the teacher give a solution or indicate the action taken by the
decision-maker? If the teacher does it frequently, the message that the student gets is that
there is a right answer, the teacher knows it, and he/she will give it. The student will slip back
into the lecture-culture.

2. The teachers can evoke discussion on the relevant issues. They can identify the students to
be called upon for discussion at the beginning, middle, or end. Using the seating chart, they can
plan for involving various segments of the class. The opening question and the first student who
has been called upon to start the discussion may make or mar the whole class discussion.

3. Even though teachers should have a strategy for the class discussion, they would not be so
hung up on it as to ignore new themes developing in the class. They would master the details
and internalize the case situation. They would be prepared for surprises from the students.

4. Should the teachers direct the class discussion or not? More often they direct the discussion,
the student expects to receive this help and thereby curtails his/her own effort.

5. At what point of time, does the teacher intervene? It may be to change the theme, refine the
arguments, or examine issues which the class has overlooked.

6. The teacher may ask questions, but he/she lets the students find the answers.

7. Can the teacher bring reality into the class? Students will complain about inadequate data.
Real situations have to be handled most of the time under inadequate data and uncertainty. The
teacher may involve the students who have had experience in the particular industry into the
discussion so that they can supplement the case information with their first-hand experience. A
company executive, if possible, can be invited to attend the case discussion?

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8. The teacher may play some of the following roles:

 Guide  Prompter
 Moderator  Clarifier
 Reality harbinger  Answer giver
 A devil's advocate  Pattern discerner
 Tension reliever  Summarizer
 Inquisitor  Integrator
 Role player

9. Usually students fall into the following categories. The teacher will try to get all the students to
participate in the class and the learning process.

 Some need challenge

10. The teacher helps the students from being frustrated if they can’t get out of a maze. He/she
questions and tries to open their thinking, yet he/she does not give them the solution on the
golden platter. The best case discussion is when it is held among the students rather than
between the students and the teacher.

11. A variety of allied teaching methods and aids can be used in the case class. For example,
role play can be done. Written reports after class or before class can be given. Films, slides, film
strips, and over head transparencies could be used depending on the purpose. Video recording
and feedback is a powerful tool. Use of the blackboard is almost a necessity.

12. A summary towards the end by the instructor may help to pull back the major issues into
focus and provide a take-off stage for further thinking by the student after the class. However, a
summary which is a disguised answer or is perceived by the students to be so defeats the
purpose and philosophy of the Case method.