Case-based online training for leaders.

Case In Point, online, 2004, Harvard Business School Publishing E-learning (800-795-5200, www.elearning.hbsp.org), $228 annual license per user, 10 user minimum; volume pricing available. User guide, facilitator guidelines, application tools.

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Case in Point, an e-learning course for management skills, is a "library" in which scenarios of common workplace situations are presented for analysis and resolution. Harvard Business School Publishing E-learning uses the term "blended component" to describe the most likely role for their product: an embedded element within a more traditional management development curriculum.

Presumably, such usage by a company's training department for multiple, repetitive classes is why the most economical site license available is for instances numbering a thousand or more at an annual rate of $60 per user. From there, pricing is variable on a per-user basis, down to a minimum of 10, at $228 per person per year. HBSP also suggests their material may be used for just-in-time training as particular issues arise (change, decision making, etc.) or as a stand-alone resource for individual self-directed learning.

MANAGING CRISES

Each case history is presented to participants who log on to the HBSP site and select from a menu of 10 scenarios. The scenarios involve various "organizational crises" that must be dealt with and resolved. The circumstances of these problems are revealed to the users in various ways such as eavesdropping (by both audio and text) on a meeting between two or more employees or by being privy to the replay of someone's voicemail messages or perhaps by monitoring both ends of an email exchange.

Users progress through each case by selecting from a number of menu items that describe the company (Organization), the employees involved in the scenario (Players), what the Situation is, Decisions that were made, followed by the Outcome summary and Lessons Learned from the scenario. In a facilitated setting, users can stop prior to the Decision phase and formulate their own resolutions, then discuss and compare these with those shown in the Outcome and Lessons Learned sections.

Then, each scenario has Resources in the form of two PDF files of recent Harvard Business Review articles that amplify the lessons learned. Additionally, other follow-up resources (books, e-learning courses, articles, etc.) are available for purchase from HBSP. Finally, under the Takeaways heading, a review of the learning objectives and key concepts is provided along with an Application Tool, a topic-specific worksheet.

SCENARIO TIME

Each case reveals a snapshot of "scenario time" that may have a duration of a few hours to a few weeks, all of which can be easily covered by users in 15 to 20 minutes of real time. The only problem is, the users' point of entry into the scenario timeline is often after a number of "mistakes have [already] been made," which, had they been competently managed before they got out of hand, would likely have precluded the current crisis. That's not all indictment of the course, but it happens to be just one of those unfortunate artificialities that curriculum developers are confronted with any time they try to create realistic scenario-based training products.

For example, one scenario shows a sales rep who's losing sleep over how he's going to get IT to help him customize a service for a potential buyer (so he can get a larger commission) before the end of the pay period. To do that, several other deadlines have to be put in jeopardy. Real life (hopefully, with realistic managers) would have dictated that the sale be carried over into the next quarter to maintain equilibrium among the involved parties and their interests. But, by and large, the scenarios are fairly well orchestrated, each being anchored by a management expert who is listed in each Overview section.

Cases in Point are an interactive version of the Case Study feature that appears in each issue of Harvard Business Review. Along with contributors to the Harvard Business Review, the experts become the arbiters of the prescribed solutions and the key concepts for each scenario. Their suggested remedies for problem resolutions are quite good and highly practical. For example, in the Difficult Interaction case, the first rule is one of introspection: Don't automatically assume you are right and that the other party is just "out to get you." These are excellent starting points in any conflict resolution, which are much along the lines of "taking the beam out of your own eye before you remove the speck from your brother's."

The tradeoff with any prescriptive case study is the possible limit on learning. If you don't agree with the expert, in whole or in part, you have no recourse. And even experts miss things or, constrained to condensed comments required by the format, ignore nuances.

RECOMMENDATION

HBSP likely has the right idea when they recommend that Case in Point be used as an integral part of a management development curriculum. Discussing potential solutions among a group of mid-to-upper managers having diverse experience levels would appear to be an ideal leadership training methodology.

Case In Point star rating

CATEGORY

Holds user interest  3
Production quality   3.5
Ease of navigation   3.5
Interactivity        4
Value of content     2.5
Instructional value  3
Value for the money  2.5
Overall rating       3