Professor Englehart just used a case in his Principles of Management class for t

Question

Professor Englehart just used a case in his Principles of Management class for the first time. His class of 35 is composed mostly of first year students. Only a few of them are management majors. The case was 10 pages in length and explored a problem of delegation in the workplace. In the case, Emily, a new supervisor, found herself doing much of her subordinates' work in order to meet the outcomes and deadlines assigned to her by her manager. Englehart hoped to use the case to teach more fully about supervision and delegation.

Professor Englehart felt sure the case would be a hit. He distributed it a week in advance with the general instruction, "Be ready to discuss the situation." However, the case discussion was not fruitful. Students were mostly silent, with a few vocal exceptions. He tried to draw out what students had learned from the discussion, with little reaction. He suspected that many had not even read the case. The case discussion seemed to go on forever even though it lasted less than 30 minutes. At the end of class he told himself he would never use a case again. He thought, “At least in a lecture I could keep things going and cover the material.”

Based on what you know , suggest three questions you would ask Englehart in order to help him do better if he changes his mind and decides to try a case another time. Why do you choose those questions?

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Explanation / Answer

Following are the three questions that I shall ask with reasoning:

·          Was the class aware of how to crack a case study in the Principles of Management class before the class was distributed the case study and was asked to be prepared for the discussion?

(If the class is ignorant about how to give the case study a start and be prepared for the discussion upon the same, the purpose of the assignment itself fails. The students need to be taught ways as to how to crack a case study before going ahead with the actual case study plan.)

·          Was a ten-page case study assigned to the beginners a prudent thing to do?

(Considering that the students were majority of first year students with only few management majors, it shall be reasonable to believe that as they had limited knowledge about case study analysis, cracking a 10-page long case for the beginner would had been a task all by itself. Hence, the idea would had served the purpose better if the initial case studies were kept short and brief such that it would create the interest of the students to learn more from it. They would be able to gather confidence to gradually move with it.)

·          Did Professor Englehart gave an overall background of the case study and briefed them to what is the case study pertaining to?

(Had Professor Englehart briefed them about the case study he so circulated to the class and specifically asked them to work upon certain aspects of the case study, then the purpose of case study analysis would have had become more definite and thereby enabling the students to be more focused upon the same. Certain key points or features of the case could also have been highlighted such that it could create interest on the minds of the students.)

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