Drawing up cases. Training methods: Case method. Examples of ready-made cases for management training. How to create a case. Norbit case study "Modernization of the sales department"

The question is usually asked by students who have encountered this term for the first time. However, the concept is becoming popular in the business community. Before answering the question of what cases are and giving examples of how to solve them, let’s delve into the history of the origin of the term.

The emergence of cases

The concept first appeared in 1924. Professors at a prestigious university realized that textbooks from previous years were not capable of preparing graduates of modern professions. Manuals and manuals that are relevant to this moment time, have not yet been created, and the previous ones are already outdated. Then the professors thought through business cases - pressing problems of our time that graduates needed to solve. To do this, business owners were invited to Harvard and gave detailed instructions to graduate students. Entrepreneurs at the seminars talked about real problems that their companies faced. After this, graduate students had to find their own solution to these problems. The peculiarity of such training is that there are no right answers. You just need to find the optimal way out of the current situation. In other words, everyone chooses the solution to cases individually.

The innovation of Harvard professors turned out to be effective. The graduates actually had some semblance of experience when they left. They knew the problems and tasks of successful companies and could easily cope with the assigned tasks. In fact, solving cases as a student gave him real practice within the university. Therefore, since the mid-twentieth century, this method has spread throughout the world.

Appearance in Russia

In our country, even with the collapse of the socialist system in the nineties of the last century, the education system existed for a long time according to the established rules. The country no longer exists, but the USSR textbooks exist. Even textbooks on the history of the CPSU with Lenin on the covers finally disappeared only in the mid-nineties of the twentieth century, not to mention other disciplines.

And only Messrs. Management cases began to appear in leading universities in our country. Today, this method is actively developing in Russia. In addition, thematic case clubs are opening. The MSTU club is especially popular among schoolchildren and students. E. Bauman, NUST MISIS Career Center, etc.

So what are cases? Let's move on to the concept itself in more detail.

Concept

A case (from Latin casus) is an extraordinary situation, a problem the solution to which cannot be found in textbooks. A more accurate interpretation of the term “casus” is a problem that requires a solution, but this term came into Russian from English, in which the Latin word casus is pronounced “case”.

Students are simulated a problem situation that is as close as possible to the real one, and they must find a solution. The point is, there is no right answer. There is only the opinion of teachers and a real way out of this situation, if the case, of course, was taken from life. Methods of solution, reasoning, collective discussion, etc. are assessed.

So, we have explained what a case is, now let’s move on to the goals.

Goals

Despite the fact that the topics of the cases may differ from each other, the modeling itself, as a rule, has common goals:

1. Testing students' intellectual and analytical data.
2. Developing an argument for your position.
3. Developing resistance to stressful situations.
4. Training in time management skills.
5. Development of communication

Cases during interviews

This method is used not only in educational institutions. Today, many firms use it during interviews. Every day, the employer looks less and less at the applicant’s resume, his level of education, work experience, etc. It is enough to offer a candidate for a position several cases, and everything about the person becomes clearer than various pieces of paper and recommendations.

Of course, this doesn't mean that education and experience don't matter. Without them, you may not even get to the stage of solving the case. However, it is the last stage that becomes the decisive factor when choosing an employee. In this regard, it stands out Google company, which develops its own methods for modeling cases. They are individual for each vacancy. Work experience and level of education will not help a candidate if he cannot solve cases. And they sometimes amaze the imagination with their deceptive simplicity.

Examples of cases

Let's give an example. The company was faced with the problem of employee performance in the sales department. Three people work. The first one works with 70% of clients, the second one with 20%, and the third one with 10%. With these indicators, the second one shows the highest sales, but it only works with regular customers. The third, on the contrary, works only with new clients, while the first works with both new and regular ones. The task for the manager is to increase the sales plan and redistribute the flow of customers so that the company receives maximum profit.

To solve this problem it is necessary to answer the following questions:

• What opportunities for improvement might there be in this situation?
• What standards can help improve the performance of each salesperson and the sales department as a whole in the future?

Perhaps the first seller works most effectively with new customers or with regular ones. It is also worth trying to swap the places of the second and third seller. Those. the second will work only with new ones, and the third - only with permanent ones. Perhaps they are experiencing a professional crisis and need a change of scenery.

Second example

An interview is being held for the position of Head of Human Resources. The candidate must have the ability to be flexible and avoid unnecessary conflicts. It is proposed to solve the following case: the general director insisted that the daughter of an influential person be hired at the company. The previous manager gave her the position of assistant secretary. The girl herself did not express herself in any way, did not identify herself with the company and had no desire for career growth. Added to this is the lack of work experience at other enterprises.

During her work, her main skills were: receiving incoming documents, maintaining records, and filing documentation into folders. Six months later, the position of leading document management specialist became available. The general director insisted that this girl take this position. However, the company has many other employees who deserve promotion. In this task, the applicant must make a choice: either go against the general management, or work with a dissatisfied team.

Perhaps the candidate will find an acceptable option for both the CEO and the team. Example cases do not have correct solutions. Each case is individual.

There are not only business cases, but also cases in other industries: pedagogy, medicine, law. In every profession, you can simulate a problem situation.

Date of publication: 05/14/2012

Problem

In the modern economic situation, a large number of surprises are presented to the manager not only by the wayward actions of employees, but also by the machinations of competitors, and the “innovations” of the authorities, and in recent years, global crises.

But human intellectual capabilities develop poorly. This is especially true for managerial competencies in terms of making the right decisions. As the author’s experience shows, since 2005, university courses such as “Development of management decisions” do not provide such competencies.

Western business schools use the case method, but it is very ineffective. Cases are usually large in volume and require time to study. But there is no methodology for developing the right decisions. It is believed that discussing a problem situation is enough for the student to gain experience in finding solutions.

Can be formulated problem: The need for the right decisions is increasing in all areas of activity, but human capabilities and personnel training systems remain the same. What is required is an “upgrade” of decision-making in all spheres of human activity - a transition to more advanced technologies for developing, making and monitoring the correctness of decisions.

The need to improve the efficiency of decisions is already recognized in the highest authorities.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy initiated the creation of a Commission on measuring economic efficiency and social progress under the leadership of Nobel laureates Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen.

The head of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, Sergei Stepashin, defined “assessment of the effectiveness of the activities of executive authorities” as the most important area of ​​work his institutions.

The Message of the President of the Chuvash Republic for 2011 said:

“in difficult economic conditions it is important to take timely, competent and effective management decisions».

Thus, it can be argued that the need for the right solutions to guarantee efficient use resources has already been formed. It remains to find ways to satisfy it.

Solution

The successful use of Inventive Problem Solving Technology (TRIZ) since 1946 by specialists of the International TRIZ Association in Russia and abroad convinces: you can not only look for solutions by trial and error, but also “calculate” them, approximately in the same way as quadratic problems have been solved for more than 400 years equations using Cardano formulas.

The algorithm includes 7 steps:

1. Description of the situation is the first step towards its analysis.
2. Identification of “actors” (subjects and objects)
3. Identification of connections, relationships between “actors”
4. Formulation of the problem
5. Determining the cause of the problem
6. Setting goals and objectives to eliminate the cause (the actual solution)
7. Checking the solution for correctness according to the criteria.

A distinctive feature of the algorithm is the introduction at step 3 of graphical notations that make it possible to classify the connections (relationships) of actors as:

Useful;

Weak (insufficient);

Harmful;

Necessary but missing.

Thus, graphics have been introduced into the practice of making management decisions, similar to how it is done in engineering and scientific activities. Graphic models allow you to “break down” complex situations into simpler ones and more accurately determine the causes of emerging problems, as well as set goals for eliminating them.

Algorithm testing

In the process of training students in the specialty “organizational management”, it was found that the use of an algorithm and a system of increasingly complex cases makes it possible to quickly find the right solutions - and, importantly, check them according to the following criteria:

- efficiency(for compliance with the laws of farming);

- environmental friendliness(for compliance with the laws of Nature);

- ethics(for compliance with the laws of human relations).

Thus, students get the opportunity not only to “create, invent, try” by trial and error, but also to develop a solution according to the rules and evaluate it according to the criteria of reasonable activity. The further development of their decision-making skills depends only on the intensity of application of the algorithm and the criteria for evaluating the solution.

Analysis of the results showed that a stable skill is developed in 20% of students after 4-5 solved cases.

Continued work

At the next stage, it is necessary to test the algorithm in field conditions, in the real practice of existing managers and specialists. This requires cooperation with organizational leaders who are aware of the need for the Right Solutions for the organization’s prosperity and who are committed to implementing Hi-tech into practice.

Possible forms of cooperation with organizations:

Joint formalization of situations of employees and managers (formation of a mini-case) and application of the Algorithm to find the right solution (examples of mini-cases are given in the Appendix);

Training managers in using the Algorithm through the training “Correct decisions in management.”

Expected results

It can be expected that the widespread introduction of technology for producing Correct Solutions into the activities of organizations and society will help solve many problems, both global and local.

ANNEX 1

Examples of mini-cases

Three “good” mini-cases are given. A good case has the following features:

1. small in volume (printed text is about half A4 size);
2. contains enough information to obtain a solution, or part of the information can be obtained in the process of analyzing the situation;
3. the description is made without a large number of special and rarely used terms, or they are explained;
4. the description of the text directly indicates the undesirable phenomenon or it can be detected during the analysis process;
5. From the description it is clear who exactly is interested in obtaining a solution.

The professional content of the situation is practically irrelevant, since most emergency situations arise at the intersection of specialties.

1. Case “Chipping ice in the port”

In autumn there are often storms in the port. Water floods the quay wall and freezes. And the pier is covered with a thick layer of ice. In this case, mooring the ship to the wall becomes impossible.

The port administration tried to send workers to chip away the ice. But it ended sadly - workers were injured, and one worker almost died. Then they decided to make a machine for chipping ice. It turned out to be ineffective.

The port manager again faced the question - what to do?

A comment

The situation is interesting because it demonstrates two “wrong decisions”. It is typical for everyone - costs are incurred, but there is no result. Moreover, costs are rising, but there is no progress towards a solution. This situation applies to " emergency situations": something needs to be done, but “experience” and “common sense” cannot suggest anything.

The problem that has arisen is difficult to attribute to any specialty. It is clear that the chief engineer of the port was assigned to deal with it. But he was not taught to deal with the consequences of storms.

The situation is real and the solution proposed by TRIZ Master G.I. Ivanov has been implemented. The costs were “meager”.

The use of the case in teaching practice showed that without preparation it is impossible to find the right solution here. According to popular classification, this is an “unsolvable problem.”

2. Case "Sustained decline in income"

The Obmen company has been operating in the market for providing intermediary services in real estate transactions since 1995. Since the founding of the company, the branch network has been developing and the number of employees has been increasing.

Currently, the branch network of the secondary housing department includes 28 branches throughout the city and occupies about 25% of the market in terms of transaction volumes. Each of the departments is practically a separate company, with its own administrative, technical and production divisions.

Since September 2008, all branches of the department have seen a decrease in profits. The peak of the decline in income came in December 2008 and to date no positive dynamics have been observed.

The company administration conducted an analysis and found that there was a decrease in the number of newly concluded service contracts and an increase in the number of terminations under newly concluded contracts across all branches.

The question arose: what to do?

A comment

A competent analysis of the situation should, first of all, answer the question: what and at what point was not done in a timely manner by the Administration, which led to the problematic situation.

The situation can be classified as abnormal, since the Administration has not encountered anything like this before and does not have “experience” in solving such problems.

3. Case of Norbit "Modernization of the sales department"

You have headed the sales department of a company that has been operating in the market for a long time and has an established sales department with three employees. One of them works with 70% of the company's clients, the second with 20%, and the third with 10%. Sales results are highest for the second employee (50% of the total volume), and worst for the third (10%). At the same time, the first employee has the most new clients (70% of all new clients are attracted to the company), while the third does not work with new clients at all.

It is obvious to the company’s management that this team of salespeople could achieve better results, and they set this task for you with the condition that you will not dramatically change the existing work rules, redistribute clients between sellers and reclassify sellers by sales stages - now they are all are engaged in working with the client from the first call to the shipment of products.

The following questions need to be answered:
. What opportunities for improvement do you see in this situation?
. Establishing what standards would help in the future improve the performance of each salesperson and the sales department as a whole?

IN this material Some successful management cases and tasks for assessing managers (cases on management skills) are presented. Including tasks for assessing sales department managers. The tasks are provided by the search for executives of the recruiting agency website. If you are interested in a wider selection of similar materials, write to us at pm@site.

1. There is an employee in your department who has gone through all stages of career development. IN currently no one knows the specifics of the unit’s activities better than he. However, you understand that after a while he will get bored of working here. What will you offer him?

2. A specialist came to you to discuss the situation: he was offered to move to another department, he is interested in it, he sees prospects, but understands that the situation on the labor market is difficult and finding a replacement for him within even a quarter is not an easy task. What will you do?

3. After the training you provided, it became clear that one of your subordinates was unable to put the course material into practice. Find a way to tell him about it.

4. Your subordinate is an older lady, so she prefers to do many things sedately and in an orderly manner, which, in your opinion, does not always correspond to the rhythm of the company’s activities. How will you tell her about this?

Answer to the first 4 cases:

Such cases allow managers to consider in detail difficult situations often encountered in management practice:
. related to the formation of motivation or management of an employee’s career (situation 1);
. related to solving issues of retaining specialists in the company for long term(i.e. working with counterproposals) or for the period of searching for a replacement (situation 2);
. consisting in finding a way to transmit information and choosing a channel for data perception (situation 3);
. requiring a clear identification of the problem and provision by the manager feedback subordinates (situation 4).

5. Appearance.

The secretary comes to work wearing a too short skirt and heavy makeup. Do you understand that appearance subordinate does not comply with the company dress code. Your actions?

Answer: Desired answer options: “I will make an oral remark,” “I will ask you to re-read the requirements for the dress code in the company.” After answering the first question, you can ask the following: “What will you do if your subordinate does not respond to your remark?” Desired response options: “I will reprimand”, “I will apply disciplinary action.” But the answer “I’ll complain to higher management” should be alarming; it may indicate a lack of management and communication skills.”

6. Delegation of powers.

We invite you to consider an example of a case, with the help of which you will evaluate a manager’s ability to delegate authority, skill in organizing work, and ability to rationally use working time.

Fable. The head of the design department went on maternity leave. Victoria D was appointed in her place. Her responsibilities, among others, included checking reports and calculations of department employees. In addition, every month she had to submit a statement for the payment of bonuses. By nature, Victoria was very responsible and scrupulous. She carefully checked all reports and calculations of employees to the point. And even knowing that some of them do not make mistakes, I still studied all the data in detail. This took a lot of time, she did not have time to complete other duties and often stayed late. The leading specialist suggested that she give some of the reports to him for verification, and the calculations and drawings to the chief engineer. But Victoria did not agree. As a result, several times in a row she did not draw up a statement and the employees did not receive a bonus, which worsened the atmosphere in the team.

Exercise. Are such scrupulous checks of employee performance necessary? How to properly organize Victoria’s work in the department?

7. Teamwork.

An example of a case that will help you evaluate the skill of interaction in a team and conflict-free communication, as well as the ability to discuss the problem that has arisen.

Case “Annoying newcomer”

Fable. A new employee, Irina M., came to the personnel department. The head of the department introduced her to her colleagues, gave her a tour of the office, showed her where to get sample documents, and set tasks for the week. After some time, the girl turned to department employee Yulia D. for help, who explained to her all the nuances in detail. A few hours later, Irina again asked about what Yulia had already told her in detail. But, despite this, Yulia calmly repeated everything that had been said and once again explained where to get necessary documents. A few days later, requests to clarify something were repeated, and then it got to the point that Irina began to tug at Yulia on any very insignificant issue. One day, Yulia could not stand it and was rude to a new employee, and Irina complained to her manager that she was not helping her adapt.

Exercise. What should a leader do in such a situation? What should Yulia have done when Irina began to pester her with constant questions?

Interpretation of answers to the case “Annoying newcomer”

8. Focus on career growth.

A case option with which you can assess whether an employee is focused on career growth, his readiness to perform more complex work if circumstances require, his ability to take responsibility and diligence.

Case “Earn a Promotion”

Fable. Olga F. has worked in the marketing department for several years. IN Lately she began to feel that her job dissatisfaction was increasing and that she was ready to do more complex work. She realized that she could very well take a higher position, and turned to her manager with a request to consider the possibility of promoting her. The boss invited her to perform the work of a leading specialist along with her duties for three months. Her salary will remain the same, but she will receive a bonus based on her performance. After three months, a decision will be made on her promotion.

Interpretation of answers to the case “Earn a Promotion”

9. Honesty.

And this case will help you evaluate such personal qualities, such as financial integrity, honesty, lack of tendency to kickbacks.

Case “Personal reward”

Fable. Inna is the head of the secretariat of a large holding company. Among other responsibilities, she was looking for suppliers to support the life of the office. The head of the company was not satisfied with the previous supplier of office supplies and asked Inna to find an optimal replacement. She studied the needs of the departments and approved the budget. Based on demand and allocated funds, I chose two companies - “P...” and “K..”. They had a similar range and comparable prices. The organization “P...” offered Inna a personal reward. In the end, she chose this company. After the first delivery, she conducted a survey which showed that all departments were satisfied with the quality of the office supplies. A few months later she placed an order again. But this time the quality was worse. The dissatisfaction reached the manager. Inna was reprimanded and asked to change supplier. She found herself in a difficult situation, since she had already taken a reward for the third order.

Interpretation of answers to the case “Personal reward”

10. Communication skills.

To identify communication skills in the process of team management, the following competencies are assessed:
- self-confidence, ability to independently solve work problems;
- ability to show flexibility and avoid unnecessary conflicts;
- the ability to make rational decisions and act in an unusual, stressful situation.
Case (management skills):
The head of a small company asked the HR manager to hire the daughter of a very important partner for the company. The partner’s daughter had not worked anywhere for many years and wanted to be more around people. She didn’t show any ambitions for a career in the company. The main goal was to make the girl feel in demand. The HR manager did not propose her candidacy for line divisions and accepted the girl for the position of HR specialist. She was asked to master the simplest functions and perform them to the best of her ability. As a result, the main, highest quality skills that she acquired during adaptation were: receiving incoming documents, entering account, packaging corporate documentation into folders. For several months everyone was happy and the work went on as usual. Six months later, the position of leading document management specialist became available. While they were deciding to find a person from outside or choose from among their own, the director called the head of the personnel department with a proposal to promote the partner’s recently hired daughter, at his request. Knowing that there were employees in the department who were more suitable for the position of leading specialist, the HR manager could not give this position to a new employee, but she also could not put the general director in an awkward position in front of her partner.

Questions:
What do you think the head of the HR department should do in this situation?
Could this problem have been avoided?
How will the promotion of the partner’s daughter affect the team if the general director insists on this decision and the head of the personnel department has to carry out this order?
Case assignment: Offer your options for solving the problem.

Answer options

1. The applicant takes the side of the general director and explains this by the fact that in companies, anyway, everyone below the head of the company does not decide anything. As the management says, that’s what everyone does. There was no way to avoid this situation.

2. The applicant is of the opinion that it would still be fair to think about those who have been working in the team for a long time and offer the daughter a partner alternative solution. For example, he suggests that someone from the team can be promoted, and she (the daughter) be placed not in the place of a leading specialist, but in the place of a simple specialist who has been transferred. It was hardly possible to avoid it, since it is impossible to predict how events will develop.

3. The applicant assumes that the basis for refusal may be selection policy norms prohibiting the employment of relatives of the founders or partners of the company. But now that the head of the department has already faced this problem, she needs to make a decision taking into account all parties and promote someone from the more qualified ones, and offer her partner’s daughter something else. Otherwise, a decision in favor of only one side can ruin the relationship between the team and the manager.

After the answers are formulated, you need to interpret them and draw conclusions about how well they correspond to expectations.

Tasks are provided for the assessment of managers, including assessment of sales department managers by the direction of searching for managers of a recruiting agency website..

The case method began to be used in education relatively recently, but it is rapidly gaining popularity and demonstrates high efficiency.

The main difference between this method and traditional teaching methods is that the case does not have a uniquely correct solution. Each student can offer the most optimal, in his opinion, way out of the proposed situation. In the case method, the emphasis is not on the result, but on finding solutions and discussing them.

Many students, when faced with cases for the first time, do not know how to approach a task that is different from traditional and familiar tasks. Let's understand what cases are, how to solve them and design them. But first, a little history.

Definition and history

Case – from Latin case – a problem or situation that requires a solution.

The solution to the case is not in textbooks; you should look for it only in your own head. Theory and practice, as we know, go side by side, but at the same time they stand on different banks. Even if you take all the textbooks in the world, they will not contain descriptions of situations that happen in real life.

This is exactly what the wise professors thought about Harvard university V 1924 year. It was simply impossible to train specialists in modern specialties using existing textbooks.

Then the university organized seminars where entrepreneurs and businessmen told students about the real problems that their companies faced. Students had to propose their own solution, which each one chose individually.

This method of training quickly brought results. Thanks to the cases, graduates received practical experience while still at the university and were well prepared to solve non-standard problems.

If cases have become popular all over the world already in 50 -X years 20 century, then into the education system Russia this method came only after the millennium. Nowadays, case assignments are actively used in education, and it is simply irresponsible to underestimate their benefits.

What goals does the consideration of case situations help to achieve as part of the educational process?

• Development of intellectual abilities;
• the ability to defend one’s position with reason;
• resistance to stress;
• development of communication skills and the ability to work in a team.

Cases exist in almost all fields of knowledge. After all, problematic situations arise and can be modeled in every profession: medicine, law, pedagogy, psychology, business analytics.

By the way! For our readers there is now a 10% discount on

Cases in business

Cases are actively used not only in training, but also in business. To attract new clients, a company can write a case based on a specific situation.

Example: a company is engaged in demolition of buildings. The case posted on the website examines the task of demolishing an old power plant in the city of Tolochin. A potential customer, having read the case, immediately sees how the work happens, what equipment is used, and how real practical problems are solved. In other words, this is a clear demonstration of the service in action.

Thus, the case is a powerful tool for promoting services and products.

Another popular use of cases is using them in interviews. Instead of studying resumes, applicants are asked to go through a case interview and offer solutions to several situations, after which it immediately becomes clear whether the candidate is suitable for the position.

Here is an example of an interview case.

Situation: poet Marina Tsvetaeva was left without work. She can translate from French and German, and has a musical and philological education. You are her agent. What are your actions to successfully help Marina find a job? When solving a situation, you can use data from the biography of the poetess.

As you can see, there really is no clear solution to such a task, but the ways to solve it will allow you to judge such qualities as the ability to negotiate and competently argue.

How to write and design a case

Many people ask themselves the question: how to properly prepare a case? A case is a non-standard task, so when designing it you don’t have to adhere to strict rules. In other words, preparing a case is not as serious a task as .

What the case should contain:

1. Title. It is important that the title reflects the essence of the case and gives an advance idea of ​​the situation that will be considered further.
2. Description of the situation. It's like the "given" section in physics problems. To make information easier to perceive, the situation can be divided into points.
3. Searching of decisions. Detailed description, analysis of ways to solve the case and choice optimal option way out of the situation. Everything needs to be considered here possible options indicating the expected consequences.
4. Description of the result. This paragraph describes the result of actions to solve the problem. What happened, what happened and why.

It is recommended to choose a font that is comfortable and easy to read. In the design of the case, the use of illustrative materials is encouraged: graphs, diagrams, videos, tables. Cases are often presented in the form of presentations.

Any experience is gained through difficult trial and error. Now you can avoid this by contacting our authors to complete the case. We will not only solve assignments, but also help you prepare a document or case presentation, which will only need to be submitted to the teacher for review. Learn easily and gain new experiences with Zaochnik!