Case Teaching Workshop: Benefits and Challenges of Using Case Studies in Education

1. Case Teaching Workshop By John Harris, Abdul Naveed Tariq, Kevin Pitts

2. Contents • Introductions: Small Ice breaker (Naveed) 5 minutes • Context: Seneca and Cases (John) 10 minutes • Case Based Teaching: Benefits and Challenges (Naveed) 10 minutes • Anatomy of a Case: Case Vs. Scenario etc. (John) 5 minutes • Case Exercises: (Naveed) 30 minutes • Developing Cases; Case Community; Case Learning; Case Writing (John) 10 minutes • Resources: (Kevin) 10 minutes John, Naveed and Kevin

3. Icebreaker Find one or two other people in this session born in the same season as you (e.g., winter, spring, summer or fall). Form a group. Find out one thing that you all have in common (something you are willing to share;-) Come up with a “tag line” for your group that relates to your “thing in common” (e.g., we are the “A Team” because we all took advanced inferential calculus in grad school and got an “A”) John, Naveed and Kevin

4. What is a Case? • A case is a description of an actual situation, commonly involving a decision, a challenge, an opportunity, a problem or an issue faced by a person(or persons) in an organization. • A case can be used in the teaching of any discipline. John, Naveed and Kevin

5. What is a Case? • Real life situation • Involving a person or persons • Involving a problem, an opportunity, a challenging decision • Learner steps into the role of a decision maker John, Naveed and Kevin

6. What is a business case study? A business case study is a detailed account of a company, industry, person, or project over a given amount of time. • The content within a case study may include information about company objectives, strategies, challenges, results, recommendations, and more. • A business school case study may be brief or extensive, and may range from two pages to 30 pages or more. John, Naveed and Kevin

7. Why Case Studies • Case studies can be used in the teaching of any discipline • business schools use case studies to teach students how to assess business situations and make decisions based upon those assessments. • the School of Business makes case study part of their programming • this method of teaching has allowed students to compete well against students from universities (as exhibited by the win in the 2013 Supply Chain and Logistics Canada Student Case Competition. • http://www.senecac.on.ca/international/Student_News.html http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/BMT.html http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/BAM.html http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/BMI.html http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/IAF.html http://www.senecac.on.ca/fulltime/BBM.html John, Naveed and Kevin

8. John, Naveed and Kevin

9. Industry Expectations and Opportunity for Student Jobs:Accounting-focused Cases • Doug Brooks, FCGA, CEO of CGA Ontario (and member of Seneca College Board of Governors). "CGA Ontario support students in their career aspirations and by becoming a certified general accountant, students can acquire the skills and knowledge they need for success.”http://www.cga-ontario.org/About_Us/Media_Relations/Media_Releases/CGA_Ontario_Accounting_Case_Competition.aspx • http://www.senecacollege.ca/media/2013/2013-10-02.html John, Naveed and Kevin

10. Industry Expectations and Opportunity for Student Jobs: Case Challenges in Financial Service • "This is a great opportunity to showcase and demonstrate the fine job that these institutions are doing with [financial services students]," says Keith Costello, president and CEO of the Mississauga, Ont.-based Canadian Institute of Financial Planning. "It's a really good indication of where our highly skilled manpower in financial services is going to be coming from in the next 10 to 20 years.“ • http://www.investmentexecutive.com/-/financial-planning-students-compete • The students are divided into teams of two or three members. During the competition, a financial case will be given to the teams, which will then have 90 minutes to craft a plan for that case. The teams will then each have 20 minutes to present their plans to a panel. The panel will ask follow-up questions about the plan following the presentation. • The teams will be marked on such criteria as time management, creativity and presentation skills. John, Naveed and Kevin

11. Case Based Teaching: Benefits • Real life situations-learning by doing • Students can see the applied perspective of theories • Provide an opportunity to practice art and science of management-Latest real challenges faced by companies • Students engagement increase • Improve students’ analytical, problem solving, decision making, oral and written communication, time management and creative skills • Develop self-confidence, work independently and work cooperatively- important skills for a true professional John, Naveed and Kevin

12. Case Based Teaching: Challenges • Sometimes unfocussed discussions - details of a company but miss important points • Students don’t prepare in advance • Few students may dominate discussion • Poor in note taking • Difficult to grade if used for evaluation purpose • Effective but sometimes time consuming • Cases may become outdated and need to be rewritten John, Naveed and Kevin

13. Case versus Scenario Case = real, person, decision, consent, role Scenario = fictional, person, decision, role John, Naveed and Kevin

14. Kohlberg's Theory: Three Levels of Personal Moral Development Level 3: Postconventional Follows internalized universal principles of justice and right. Balances concern for self with concern for others and the common good. Acts in an independent and ethical manner regardless of expectations of others. Level 2: Conventional Lives up to expectations of others. Fulfills duties and obligations of social system. Upholds laws. Level 1: Preconventional Follows rules to avoid punishment. Acts in own interest. Blind obedience to authority for its own sake. Based on Lawrence Kohlberg’s Theory presented in The leadership Experience by Daft. John, Naveed and Kevin

15. Exercise: 1 • Case/Scenario: The Boy, the Girl, the Ferryboat Captain, and the Hermits • List in order the characters in this story that you like, from most to least. What values governed your choices? • Rate the characters on their level of moral development. Explain. • Evaluate each character's level of courage. Discuss. John, Naveed and Kevin

16. Theory: Leadership, Culture and Followership • Leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes. • Managers maintain status quo by using different types of powers. • According to research, many traits are common in good leaders and good follower. John, Naveed and Kevin

17. Exercise: 2 • Case: Jake’s Pet Land • Which store manager—Phillip Jordan or Jan Whitall—would you prefer working for? How did each leader’s style affect the culture of the pet store? Explain. • What kind of follower was Adam Gerrit? In general, what characteristics of followers do you admire? What characteristics would you want them to display when working for you? • If you were the district manager, which store manager would you prefer to have working for you? Why? In your opinion, which manager did a better job of managing up? Which manager did a better job of managing down? John, Naveed and Kevin

18. References • Daft, L. R.(2011). The Leadership Experience. 5th Edition, South-Western Publishing, Cengage Learning. • Mauffette-Leenders, L. A., Erskine, J. A. and Leenders, M. R. (2007). Learning with Cases. 4th Edition, Ivey Publishing. John, Naveed and Kevin

19. Developing Cases with Humber PressCase Community; Case Learning; Case Writing Case Study Samples Case study samples can inspire you and help you decide where to start your project. Here is a list of Humber Press websites/links that offer • Free Case Study Samples (current list – more being added) http://humberpress.com/browse/cases.html#/// • Tips to develop your ideas http://humberpress.com/develop.html John, Naveed and Kevin

20. Resources • Case Study Guide for Business • Case Study Guide for Students John, Naveed and Kevin

21. Thank You Thanks for having us: John.harris@senecacollege.ca Abdul.tariq@senecacollege.ca Kevin.pitts@senecacollege.ca John, Naveed and Kevin