Education and Learning

One way to help trainees learn analytical and problem solving skills is by presenting a story (called a case) about people in an organization who are facing a problem or decision. Cases may be faced on actual events involving real people in an organization, or they can be fictional. Business case studies are included in college text books and courses in management, public administration, law, sociology, and similar subjects. They are increasingly available using video and other media. While cases vary in complexity and detail, trainees should be given enough information to analyze the situation and recommend their own solutions. In solving the problem, the trainees are generally required to use a rational problem-solving process that includes the following steps:

1. Restating important facts

2. Drawing inferences from the facts

3. Stating the problem or problems

4. Developing alternative solutions and then stating consequences of each

5. Determining and supporting a course of action

Proponents of the case study method argue that this form of problem solving within a management setting offers illustrations of the concepts students are respected to learn and use, improves communications skills, and facilities the linking between theory and practice. Proponents also claim that cases allow students discuss, share, and debate the merits of different inferences, problems, and alternative courses of action. Such insight can help students to develop better analytical skills and improve their ability to integrate new information.

The case study method also has vigorous critics who argue that it can cause group think, focuses too much on the past, limits the teaching role of the trainer, reduces the learner’s ability to draw generalizations, reinforces passively on the part of the learner, and promotes the quantity of interaction among students at the expense of the quality of interaction. Andrews and Noel claim that cases often lack realistic complexity and a sense of immediacy, and inhabit development of the ability to collect and distill information. In addition, trainees may get caught up in the details of the situation, at the expense of focusing on the larger issues and concepts they are trying to learn. Continue reading »