Page - 1

To manage is knowledge; excel is wisdom. To become a manager, applying acquired knowledge is important. To become a wise manager, applying thoughts through creativity is important. Fostering creativity is inevitable to attain wisdom. Same way, having critical problem solving skills is significant to effectively manage organizations and retain a good position as a manager.

A management study is a science to be learnt as well as an art to be practiced. Case study method is more relevant to Management Studies in the context of functioning as a platform for visualizing different situations and learning by practicing solving various problems. In Management Studies, while text books help acquiring more knowledge, Case Studies help in developing wisdom. Case Studies give lot of scope for application of knowledge and mind, which is the crux of wisdom.

Case studies fix the minds of the students in a specific situation and facilitate them to develop the art of making smart decisions by practicing. Today's organizations want the fresh management students to be "job ready" from day one of their appointment. Therefore the management students are better trained on live organizational situations with the help of case studies. This underlines the relevance of case studies in Management Education even today.

In the 1880s, Christopher Langdell, the dean of the Harvard Law School, revived the case method that the early Chinese Philosophers used. It slowly won acceptance in the schools of business, law, and medicine. Langdell felt students could learn more about the law by studying actual court opinions than by reading legal texts. By the early 20th century, virtually every American law school had adopted Langdell's method. In the 1960s, most schools began to introduce some form of clinical education to supplement the classroom study of cases. Although the classic Harvard case is quite comprehensive in nature, cases used at present are not long and detailed to excite and encourage the creative efforts of the learners.

A Pioneer of the Case Method

Many are grateful to Late Prof. M. N. Vora of IIM-A for helping to shape them into successful businessmen or academic scholars. He is credited as the pioneer of the case study approach in management education. His contemporary cases had been compiled and published by IIM-A. He had co-authored with many scholars including the marketing guru Philip Kotler. Being one of the first Indians to get MBA from Wharton in 1961, he joined IIM-A in 1963 where he worked for 30 plus years. His biggest contribution was really to organize common sense which never gone out of fashion. He invented the "endless why" techniques much before Toyota and ITC.

Next

Dr. Hema Bhalakrishnan,
Senior Lecturer,
Department of Management Studies,
Tamilnadu College of Engineering, Coimbatore.