“The road to learning has no end”
Harvard Don Exposes Students to the Case Teaching Method
A recent dialogue session which took place on 12th July 2017 featured Prof V. G. Narayanan, the Thomas D. Casserly, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Unit Head of Accounting and Management. Nearly 100 individuals including CUCMS’ staff and students took part in this dialogue.
The dialogue began with a case study, an interactive session between Prof. Narayanan and participants. They exchanged analysis, opinions and ideas on how a business can be sustained in the context of ethics and maintaining profits. Pertaining to this, Prof. Narayanan stressed on how an organisation should avoid compromising and consistently follow the law to uphold its integrity. He also reminded participants to “constantly reinforce your values and beliefs in actions as actions have a higher tendency to influence others”.
Prof. Narayanan also included demonstrations on how teaching is done at Harvard Business School namely the case teaching method. Among the key aspects include participant centred learning, case discussions, small group practices to enhance one’s level of confidence and more.
Prof. Narayanan explained that “The Harvard Business School has a high level of expectation from its students as it incorporates professionalism within them hence placing severe emphasis on courtesy and respect”.
The Harvard Business School’s case teaching method provides a platform for students to engage in ‘Inductive Theory Building’. It is central to a topic where students capture real world problem scenarios and deduce theories while improving the existing theories according to different settings.
Teachers at the Harvard Business School are well prepared for lecture sessions; they practice a lot of patience, are able to empathize and are energy-driven to deliver quality lessons with a well-constructed classroom design.
The dialogue session was then concluded with a question and answer session from participants present. The entire session was immensely informative and had somehow intrigued participants to consider applying the Harvard method in their personal, career and social life.
