CASE SYSTEM NEEDS SLEUTHLIKE RESEARCH MAN

Economist, author, detective, the Business School Researcher is the key to the case system, for around him revolves the task of compiling the facts and distributing the clues for the histories of industrial problems which are the School's most important text books.

The researcher must be extremely tactful in his approach. He is selected from the graduates of the school on the basis of academic excellence, personality and tact. By working in close cooperation with the teachers who will use the cases and with other researchers who face common problems, the investigators acquire a technique of going about their work in about a year. Their cases are rewritten many times by them and by the teachers before the cases are shown finally to the companies. Even after cases have been used in the class room they are sometimes further revised and rewritten on the basis of class discussion. If an investigator does not have a talent for the work, inaccuracies in the case material or letters from antagonized business executives will inform him of that fact. Generally, the snoopermen are welcomed with enthusiasm and royally entertained. Some executives are flattered by the request to "give students the benefit of your experience," and in the words of a researcher, "damn near talk your ear off." All recognize their opportunity to "contribute to better business education." Other business men have been so impressed by the research assistants that they have offered the assistants immediate jobs in their business.

Try Big Shots First

The actual research technique is a time-tested formula. Write or telephone before you arrive at an office. Always start with the president and work down. Don't pester the companies more than once or twice for each case. By observing these three rules, researchers establish and retain the good will of cooperating companies.

Although snooperman's contact with a company is usually too short for him to solve its problems, many companies have benefited by his visits. Once a factory worker was explaining the workings of his machine to the researcher, and became so enthusiastic about it that his production rate jumped 50 percent for the next six months.

Occasionally the school's analysis of a problem is used by a company to its great advantage. A mid-western department store, ignorant-of the niceties of financial budgeting, was written up in a B School case. Professor Bates, who was a student at the time, wrote the best report on the case. His report besides winning a school prize was sent to the store and was adopted by it as the basis of future calculations. Another firm revised its entire factory scheduling procedure after seeing their system set forth in a case.

It is a tough job to write readable, interesting cases, while distributing the clues in a logical and subtle manner. Particularly complex is the problem of disclosing the identity of the company involved. There was one episode where the installation of a bonus system in a factory had been delayed seven years because the English foreman knew he would be unable to explain to his wife why he brought home different amounts of pay each week. Here, the personality of the foreman was the key to the case; yet the instance would have seemed too fantastic to be true, and might have revealed the company.

Originally company names were disguised to keep students from pestering local firms for information to help solve their cases. Many business, however, specifically request that their identity be hidden so that the information may remain confidential--especially firms in highly competitive industries. Each case, before it is released, is sent to the company concerned for an official OK.

Many research men pick names of Indian tribes, rivers, mountains, and streets or else name them after sweethearts, colleagues, and friends. Usually, however, they just choose the first choose the first two syllables that pop into their head. Then they send the titles to Miss Madonna Louke, curator, who checks through files to find out if such a company actually exists or if the name has been used before on another case. Much amusement was provided recently by a finance case in which the three executives were called Messrs. Pod, Peas and Beans.

Vain Businessmen Troublesome

Eccentricities of businessmen often make the case writers' job more difficult than it need be. One man insisted that his name appear in the title every time although the name of the company couldn't be used. Another man refused to sign a release unless a paragraph was added stating the company was well managed and that future earnings appeared likely.

Often a B Schooler is seen sulking around the halls of Baker with his cases hidden under his coat. Inevitably, upon questioning, he admits that he is carrying sheets marked "confidential, for classroom use only." Actually this is no mark of a great secret document, but merely the administration's method of saying that they have not been able to copyright the case. They manage to copyright almost everything and the "confidential" case is the exception rather than the ruls.

Pet peeve of the case system addict is the long, involved and ungrammatical sentences he sometimes encounters. Sometimes stretching out for half a page, repleter will dangling participles and non-parallelism, these cases have definite soporific effect on the student. This condition is primarily the result of war pressure, for there is such a tremendous turnover of cases that it is impossible to catch every error. Write-ups are usually read by members of the department and a special editing committee under Miss Norton, but some boners manager to slip through.

Once a case has been analyzed, written, named and cleared through the company described, it is sent to the basement of Morgan Hall to be stenciled, reproduced and bound. These later processes take from two to three weeks normally, and present an interesting problem in scheduling. The stencils for over 16,000 cases are filed away for possible future use. The cases move from the bindery to Morgan 3 where they are purchased by students at prices which are established by the administration on the basis of the production costs. Contrary to student opinion, the prices charged for case books do not include the traveling expenses of researchers on round trips to the West Coast or expenses for entertaining thirsty company presidents. Funds for research and case collection are separately allocated in the school's budget.

From Little Acorns

The gradual evolution of the system has seen the case develop from short and simple problems to larger, more complicated proportion. With this increase in size and complexity has come an improvement in accuracy and completeness. Sometimes, however, there is too much material to be covered in an hour; hence important points are overloked. Professor Malcolm P. McNair, who has been closely connected with the development of the system, pointed out another weakness, when he suggested that "not enough attention is paid to the pedagogical standpoint. A good case should be like a detective story. Clues ought to be there, but not obvious enough to give the answer away. A certain amount of dramatization is needed, and this requires all the niceties of composition." He further indicated that the present tendency is to place too much emphasis on criticism of business action. The professors like this, because it makes teaching easier. But as a result, when students are in business, they tend to be hypercritical and rarely constructive. Professor Franklin E. Folts, head of the Production Organization and Engineering Department, summarized the evolution of the case system when he compared the case method to a "completely dynamic, always improving" business. "It may eventually lead to visualization and pictorial dramatization," he concluded. The case method because it helps companies, ivory tower and the office, is growing in all directions. Along with the introduction of movies into the class rooms, the increased use of the case method promises to be the teaching technique of the future.