The case study or situational analysis method is a teaching technique that uses the description of problematic business situations. When compiling a case, real factual material is taken as a basis. Initially, the case method was used only for the study of economics and management, recently this teaching technique is increasingly used in the practice of teaching technical and humanitarian disciplines.
The essence of the method and types of cases
The case method is an active teaching technique that allows you to include certain elements of professional activity in the educational process. The most successful cases are created on the basis of primary and statistical data from real companies. Top managers of these companies can take an active part in the case writing process.
The case method is very popular in foreign teaching practice, and recently it has been actively used in Russia as well. Cases can be used not only in the learning process, but when applying for a job. This technique allows you to assess managerial skills and analytical ability, as well as show how well an employee can cope with complex tasks. Personnel evaluators in large companies can use case studies based on data about their company.
High-quality financial planning, management and marketing cases should include a large amount of additional information about the dynamics of the market and exchange rates, about the history of the company. Additional external and internal information makes the situational analysis more reliable.
Cases are varied in structure and volume. If it is necessary to assess the ability to apply certain formulas or methods of solution, then structured cases are used, which are short situations with specific numbers and data. If it is necessary to assess the creativity of an employee's thinking, then unstructured or complex cases are used, they contain a large amount of diverse data and may have several solutions.
Methodology for solving cases
To solve a case means to find one or several options for a way out of a difficult situation.
At the first stage, it is necessary to carefully read the text of the case, identify the problem of the enterprise and define the tasks. For example, if the problem is low profits, then the challenge is increasing profits.
The next step is to structure the information and identify which data is important for solving the problem and which is not. Next, you should identify the causes of the problem situation and offer several solutions. From several options, it is necessary to choose one and develop an implementation strategy, since the proposed recommendations must be executable.
At the last stage, a presentation of the case solution is prepared. The presentation should be clear and intuitive; graphs, photographs, tables and diagrams can be used to formulate the results. During the presentation, it is necessary to convince the audience that all the information has been comprehensively studied, and the proposed solution will change the situation for the better.
