HRT 476 Operations Analysis Learning By Case Method

1. HRT 476 Operations Analysis Learning By Case Method Dr. Ed Merritt, CCM, CHA, CHE, FMP Cal State University (Cal Poly Pomona)

2. Case Method Introduction • Best way to learn managerial skills • Most relevant • Most practical • Discuss how case method works • Discuss how you can get the most out of it

3. 1. How Cases Help You Learn • Cases sharpen your analytical skills • Produce quantitative and qualitative evidence to support recommendations • Defend your arguments and analyses • Hone problem-solving, thinking, and reasoning skills

4. Continued • Wide range of organizations and situations • Build knowledge in various subjects • Problems you face are not unique • Develop a more professional sense of management

5. Varied Backgrounds • Participants bring expertise, experience, observations, analyses, and rules of thumb • Likely will differ significantly on what is important and how to deal with issues

6. Main Benefits • Helps managers learn how to determine the real problem • Helps managers learn to ask the right questions • Focused on learn by doing

7. 2. How To Prepare A Case • Working individually • Carefully read and think about the case • Typically two hours of prep time • No single way of prep works best • General guidelines offered on next slide

8. General Guidelines • Read first few paragraphs, then page through case, asking • What is case about? • What info am I to analyze? • How do the exhibits contribute to the case?

9. Continued • Read the case carefully • Underline key facts • Write marginal notes • Ask: What are the basic problems these managers have to resolve? • Put yourself in place of the manager • Make their problems your problems

10. Continued • Note key problems or issues • Use a writing pad • Go through the case a second time

11. Continued • Sort out the relevant considerations for each problem or issue • Using a writing pad allows you space to diagram, expand, reevaluate

12. Continued • Do appropriate qualitative and quantitative analysis • Utilize case and exhibits • Qualitative is textual evidence that you extrapolate from the case • Quantitative evidence is anything that you can count or time • Ensure that you are building evidence beyond a simplified “feeling”

13. Continued • Develop a set of recommendations • Ensure that recommendations are supported by analysis of the case data

14. Individual vs Group • Up to this point, you have done most of the work individually • High degree of payoff to discuss with others who are working on the case • Hear others’ reactions to the problems or issues • Refine, adjust, amplify own thinking

15. 3. What Happens In Class • Faculty job • Let members discuss aspects of case • Facilitate, pose questions, prod, draw out reasoning, highlight issues • Present frameworks, concepts • Generalize, summarize, or relate similar situations • May organize on board

16. Continued • What faculty will not do • Likely will not give own view during discussion • Will not try to facilitate a consensus • Will not drive a particular outcome • The thought process is more important than the conclusion

17. Continued • Toward the end of class discussion • Question may arise, “What is the answer?” • Case method does not provide a discrete answer • Participants will have developed several viable answers • If faculty member knows the particular outcome, will likely let everyone know • However, the outcome is not “the” answer

18. 4. Getting The Most Out • Prepare. Do not free ride. • Discuss with others before class. • Participate. Express views and challenge others. • Share related experience. Enrich the discussion. • Relate the topic to your experience. Do not tune out.

19. Continued • Actively apply what you are learning to past and future situations • Note what clicks. Different people will focus on different issues and with differing perspectives • Mix it up. Embrace divergence of thought • Enhance and craft your mgmt style