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The Princeton Review says an undergraduate major in business administration needs to understand “the coordination of human, material, and financial resources to accomplish organizational goals.” Sitting in a classroom listening to lecture after lecture doesn’t cut it when it comes to learning how to make finance, marketing, economics, technology and human resources come together to solve complex problems. What does cut it is a solid, grounded-in-reality approach to learn these things and succeed in today’s ferociously competitive business world. Enter the case project, and specifically, the question: what is the role of case projects within a bachelor’s business administration degree program?
Advantages of Case Projects
Most students in bachelor’s business administration programs are novices to the business world and therefore, they need more basic business grounding than their MBA counterparts. There’s no doubt that information is essential, theory, indispensable. But to learn, retain, and apply requires more. Simply put, students need to take information and situate it in the real world. They need to engage and this is clearly the most important advantage to using case projects. Theory doesn’t engage. Classroom lectures don’t engage. Application of these to solve problems engages. That’s when students learn. Case projects teach them how to use the tools of the trade in the form of data – quantitative or qualitative – to help in solving the problem. The more complex the situation and context, the more students must stretch, just as they would dealing with a real business problem.
Types of Case Projects
Case projects come in several forms and sizes, ranging from the individual pen and paper essay analysis to the team-based, in-company, real problem-solving project. With live case studies, students work alongside organization managers who are struggling with some internal issue. Not only do students see the problem in context, they have access to real statistics, data, web data, email and a host of other related and necessary information. However, this ideal project approach is not always possible. Alvin Burns details the differences in case projects, including term paper, case method, role playing and live case in his article “The Use of Live Case Studies in Business Education: Pros, Cons and Guidelines.”
Guidelines for Case Projects
Regardless of the format of the project, certain guidelines ensure an effective learning experience for students. First is a clear description of the scenario and the context of how the problem fits in. There needs to be a clear goal for the project. Students must determine the facts and figures they need to achieve the goal as well as any possible alternatives. The final objective is the solution: what is the recommendation and why. The article “Using Case Studies to Teach” from the Boston University Center for Excellence in Teaching gives more tips on the role of case projects in the business administration undergraduate curriculum.
A bachelor’s in business administration positions students for an enormous variety of job possibilities upon graduation, but the competition for those jobs is relentless. Gone are the days when a resume without some kind of actual, hands-on application experience is considered by employees. Today’s business administration graduates need to provide employers with case project experience, experience that shows they can immediately launch into being a productive and valuable member of the management team.
