Using Case Study Research in Post Graduate Teaching

Abstract

Harvard Business School pioneered the use of cases as a pedagogical tool in the early 1920s. Since then, it has been adopted by management schools across the globe. Teaching cases used for class teaching are usually based on events, having a protagonist who is facing a dilemma, and has multiple options to choose from in order to resolve that dilemma. It is a shared belief that such cases are better suited for the classroom teaching for such students who are required to hone critical thinking, decision-making and problem-solving skills. However, can a case study research, in which a phenomenon is studied within a context, also be used in classroom teaching? It is now becoming a known fact, that given the complexity of the business world, organizations expect their employees to develop a research mindset, which can help them to not just solve organizational problems but also identify underlying issues causing that problem. Teaching cases have undoubtedly helped students to develop and hone critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making skills in simulated risk-free environment, in the comfort of a classroom. However, they are unable to translate the knowledge and skills into ‘doing’ and ‘being’ stages where students apply, critique and evaluate in a different situation. With teaching cases, they simply work with what they have instead of formulating the problem statement, developing a research question, hunting for actual data with appropriate methods and tools and scientifically analysing the same to solve the problem and suggest implications. This gap between knowing, doing and being can effectively be bridged by a research case. Often the problem that is visible is a symptom of an underlying issue which is not obvious. Studying research cases will also expand the student’s knowledge about the current trends in research on various topics and help them understand how to reach to the root of the problem as done by the researchers. Moreover, a research case study includes phenomenon, context and theory within the case itself. Hence, students can clearly see the integration of the three and understand well how practice meets theory. Further, studying published research cases creates an ambience to develop research mindset, in addition to problem solving and decision-making. Using research cases in classes will also develop practice-oriented understanding of the phenomenon and result in effective teaching learning process. In place of having a monotonous, summer internship project, where often the industry mentors as well as students are clueless as to how the interns will add value, this practice can be taken a step forward by actually making the students conduct case study research. A research case can push students to learn to identify the underlying issues. For example, after discussing a phenomenon-based research case on ‘employee engagement’, or ‘job embeddedness’ or ‘transactive memory system’ in a class, students may be asked to do either a short-term field project or the summer internship of assessing the same phenomenon in a real firm. This approach will allow students to identify the weak links that are causing the problem. Methods like observation, interviewing, focused groups and so on, can be applied by them to make recommendations, which will be backed by research, and thus acceptable to the organizations as well. By adapting research case within the curriculum will develop strong connect with industry practitioners as the students will be involved closely with the organization during their research. Furthermore, the Editorial