Lessons drawn from real life engage trainees
Business case studies can transform a drab training session
into a lively and memorable experience
 Rosheen
Rodwell
Generating enthusiasm for training programmes is not an easy job
for human resources personnel. The idea of spending long, boring
hours in a classroom while work piles up at the office can put
a dampener on any training initiative.
There is a way, however, to liven up educational sessions. Business
case studies, with discussion and participation, can transform
a dull teaching environment into a lively and memorable session.
As a result, the use of business situations as part of training
sessions is gaining popularity.
Case studies can be used in a variety of ways in training sessions.
One way is to use the material for idea generation. First, participants
can analyze the case study individually and come up with ideas.
Then, those ideas can be shared, discussed and debated in small
groups or together by the entire class.
It is much more effective and enjoyable for students to discuss
real-life situations than to talk about theory alone, according
to Nigel Goodwin, Ivey-Nanyang case writer with the Asian Business
Case Centre at the Nanyang Business School in Singapore.
Mr Goodwin said: "The case study is always a real story.
It is about a real manager, in a real company, facing a real problem:
so it forces students and trainees to step into the manager's
role, and examine the problem from his perspective.
"It gives them [the trainees] the chance to take the concepts
and techniques they are learning from reading or lectures and
apply them to real situations."
Although case studies can be a highly beneficial tool, writing
them is a laborious task. It can take more than a month to research
a company in detail, interview the managers concerned and get
the background material.
"My job is basically to gather as much information as possible
about a company and a situation or challenge that it faces, and
then condense all that information into a format that is usable
in the classroom,"Mr Goodwin said.
The studies are then published and sold as teaching tools to universities,
business schools and corporations.
Businesses themselves appreciate the value of case studies as
a training tool for their employees.
"Imagine that you are a manager in a company and a case study
is written about your company," Mr Goodwin said. "This
case is used in a classroom with a very experienced professor
and 50 to 70 students of an Executive Master of Business Administration
[programme].
"There is going to be a lot of brainstorming, a lot of good
ideas and analysis, so a manager from the company may very well
be interested in sitting in the back of the classroom and listening,
or maybe even participating in the discussion."
Just as a case writer may approach a corporation, a company may
also commission a case study. A business may have a particular
problem to grapple with, or may need to improve internal training
and the skills of its staff.
Corporations may also buy case studies of other companies or even
their competitors because of the amount of information they contain.
Every good case study describes the background of an industry
and its competitive environment, and can sometimes even explain
how an industry is organized in a particular country.
Mr Goodwin said managers benefited greatly from looking at case
studies written on other companies.
"After some time, managers start feeling they know it all
or have seen it all. If they do a case on the same sort of issues
but in a different industry or country, it forces them to take
a new look and that can be very healthy," he said.
Reality bytes
Business case studies are sold as teaching tools to universities,
business schools and corporations.
They are used for individual analysis and group discussion.
Case studies relieve the boredom of training by allowing trainees
to apply theories to real business situations, and through discussion.
Businesses can commission case studies to create customized training
for their staff.
Managers can also get a fresh perspective from the case studies
of other companies.
Mr Goodwin said case studies were an invaluable learning tool.
From an HR perspective, a lot can be learnt from an analysis of
another company because there is extensive information about the
firm, its employees, the skills required, and so on. The case study
could also examine turnover problems, reasons for people leaving,
where they are going, how they are being replaced, and what tactics
are being used to retain them.
Mr Goodwin recently attended a two-day workshop where different
teaching techniques were employed. Feedback showed particularly
high satisfaction with the sessions that involved case studies.
Feedback showed that the cases were lively, fun and "kept us
awake", he said.
Saturday, February 18,2006
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
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