Karim R. Lakhani’s Infrequent Musings

A common reaction after reading an HBS case is: “So what happened? How come there are no conclusions and recommendations?”  Welcome to the world of case-based teaching! A good overview of the case-based teaching method is here. Here are few excerpts about what we tell our new students about case-based teaching: (If there are some MBA 2008 - Section E students reading my blog - instead of their assigned cases - they may also want to pipe in on the comments about the case method and their experience with it):

What is an HBS Case?

Typically, an HBS case is a detailed account of a real-life business situation, describing the dilemma of the “protagonist”—a real person with a real job who is confronted with a real problem. Faculty and their research assistants spend weeks at the company that is the subject of the case, detailing the background of the situation, the immediate problem or decision, and the perspectives of the managers involved. The resulting case presents the story exactly as the protagonist saw it, including ambiguous evidence, shifting variables, imperfect knowledge, no obvious right answers, and a ticking clock that impatiently demands action…….though every case is different, nearly all center on one overarching question: What should the protagonist do?

What happens in the class room?

Almost inevitably, class begins with a “cold call,” a provocative question the professor poses to one specific student to open the case and ignite the thinking of the section as a whole. In the course of a year, every MBA student is cold-called at least once, and you never know when it will be your turn—a powerful incentive to come to class prepared (Ed: As Section E students will tell you - I got in the habit of cold calling them through out the class - did not know that this was unusual - but hey it was lots of fun (at least for me!).

From the springboard of this opening question and the response, the class collectively dives into a riveting eighty minutes of analysis, argument, insight, and passionate persuasion. In more traditional classrooms, practically the only voice you hear is the professor’s. HBS professors aren’t soloists, but rather conductors who every day orchestrate a stimulating rapid-fire discussion, playing off all ninety minds in the room to analyze and synthesize the situation. Since 50 percent of each student’s grade depends on class participation, everyone is inspired to contribute.

Class rarely ends with a tidy solution to the protagonist’s dilemma, but more often with a deep appreciation of the complex factors at play, a clear idea of how to apply appropriate techniques to analyze and assess the problem, and new insights into how to deal with the untidy uncertainties of real business.

Harvard Magazine has a great article on the inside of faculty preparation and class room dynamics in the HBS classroom.  So the reason for the cliff hanger in our case is because we want the students to collectively determine the conclusions and the path forward.  As I said before: “There are no right answers - but - there are wrong answers.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 1st, 2007 at 9:29 am and is filed under Harvard, Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.