THE CASE METHOD

The case method is an approach to learning which allows us to extract useful lessons and information from the experiences of others (cases). We will study specific events and people to discover general principles we can apply in other situations. It's very important that you understand this method and know how to complete this type of analysis.

🔍 The cases in our courses will be primarily evaluation cases, where you are focusing on leadership successes and failures and working to find the underlying reasons for that success or failure. Some of our cases also expect you to diagnose problems in the case which we could proscribe possible solutions too - including problems with the decisions made by those in the case.

💬 There are many things you could do with cases, but in our courses we will usually focus on discussing them together. Given the types of cases (evaluation) we will be using, you should intend to come to attend our case discussions ready with your own initial analysis of the case already done. That doesn't mean you need to have all the answers before we discuss the case, but you do need to have done quite a bit of preparation as explained below.

📆 PLANNING YOUR TIME

This tutorial should only take you about 15-20 minutes to read through, but I encourage you to return to it again before the first two cases to ensure a deep understanding of the method.

You may also need to complete the quiz on Learning by Case Method if your instructor has asked you to do so. Instructions for that are located near the end of this page.

Learning Objectives

Reading this ensures that you will ...

  1. Be capable of earning a high grade in Case Discussions, and
  2. Understand what constitutes participation in Case Discussions.

The Goal of our Case Discussions

As a class we want to take these cases and discover the general principles, ideas, and theories that we can apply in business situations. There's something special about working with these cases in this way - even when we use theories we've studied before in the textbook or in other courses it becomes clear just why people use it, how we can use it, and what its limits are. So what we're trying to do is identify the important issues in the case, address them through analysis, and identify which lessons can be applied elsewhere.

It's all about layers...

Have you ever read a certain book or watched a certain movie more than once and felt like you noticed so much more the second (or third or fourth) time through? That's how cases usually are as well, they have layers. So you want to plan for that and make it work best for you - generally by taking the following steps:

  1. Get oriented with the case
  2. Identify the success/failures, problems, and/or decisions (and begin to think of alternative solutions - remember we'll be discussing this together - you are not expected to develop or have all the perfect answers on your own but you are expected to have some ideas before you discuss this with everyone else)
  3. Analyze the case and your current ideas
  4. Discuss
  5. Reflect

Sometimes these steps are not done in this order at all, and that's totally fine! The first one is always first, and the last one is always last, but you can go through the others more than once and in whatever order works for you. Example: You might first identify a failure and then in your analysis of it you might discover something else about it which means you've identified a new problem you want to go back to consider.

Working a Case

Here are the steps listed above in more detail - to help you with this process.

Getting Oriented

  • Do a first pass of the case (read the opening section, skim the case, if there's a summary read all of that, and be sure to read any assignment questions if you have them)
  • Now summarize the types of concerns you have for the case (is it focused on a success? a failure? problems? decisions? etc.), and the main problem or issue that might be the appropriate focus of your analysis

Identify Issues

  • Start digging! You can start by trying to find the answer/solution to the main problem/issue you previously identifies or by answering an assignment question. While doing this, watch for patterns and themes that will allow you to figure out the purpose of the case.
  • Now you can go back and read the case more deeply, adding notes and highlights. Take the time to note facts or details that feel important to you. Then, take a break from it.
  • When you come back, stop and think about the theories and concepts and frameworks you've studied before and try to apply them. In particular in this course that can be fairly easy to do since you will usually study helpful things in the unit leading up to the case.
  • Now that you've got some connections made, you've read the case deeply, etc. you can go back to the issue you identified first and see if you feel the meaning of the case has shifted or not, and why. If there are new key concerns, decisions, problems, etc. you've found - be sure to note them.

Analyze

  • Now that you can apply hindsight to the case, go for it! Try to create a list or concept map which shows what you needed to understand first, and what factors are involved in the main issue you identified (including what they depend on, etc.). Do you have new directions to pursue? If so, go after them.
  • Don't expect a case to have a 'final answer', especially not before our discussion, but one of the best things you can do is to just mull it over (perhaps while in a car driving somewhere or in the shower) and decide what you think it was more about and what the big idea was.
    • If you're having trouble getting to a judgment of the case it can help to identify what is objective and subjective. For example - you can ask yourself what is opinion vs. fact, the validity of any quotes in the case, the interests of those reporting, or the history, reliability of the sources, etc. You can focus on what data you have and what you need or have to fill in (it's OK to read between the lines). It can help to draw cause and effect diagrams, time lines, or use other visual organization strategies. Those may be especially helpful for matching to theories and other important concepts you should be applying from your studies.
  • Stop when you should, but not before. If your analysis is still feeling superficial, you should probably do more before we have our discussion (if you're really stuck, try something new like reading it backwards or chatting with a classmate). If you haven't thought of anything new in a while, that's a good clue that it's time to stop analyzing.

📋 HOW TO TAKE THE QUIZ

If your instructor has asked you to take the Case Method quiz on this information - you can find it right here. You only have to take it once for ALL LDRV classes. Your instructor will be able to access your score, but it will not automatically show up in D2L - so don't forget to print the Adobe report at the end and submit it to your class' dropbox!

Analyze & Reflect (a.k.a. Action Planning)

During our discussion (you do not have to pre-prepare this step) you should begin to see how the case applies to real-life situations. That allows you to develop an action plan for using this information in your own life or business situations.

This is where you should come away with lessons learned or best practices, typically you should have 4 or 5 major takeaways from the case analysis.

Congratulations!

You should now be very well prepared to succeed in courses that use the Case Method for learning! Students consistently rate case discussions as high points in their classes, both for how much they teach you and how much fun they can be - we hope you feel the same.

Acknowledgements

This help page was originally designed as a collaboration between Brandy Brown and Laura Lunsford. We have borrowed liberally from other case method preparation materials, from the Harvard Business Publishing Case Analysis Coach tutorial and Acadia University's Approach to Case Analysis.