The case method brings real-life problems to life in the classroom. Students are given a business case to analyze which they then discuss with their peers in a classroom setting. In contrast to lecturing, professors mainly act as facilitators for the conversation in a case-method classroom. They may ask questions of the students or reframe student statements, but they spend little time interjecting their own thoughts or opinions.

Case-method Pros:

• The case method is real, it is lifelike, and it deals primarily with concrete and specific questions—Should the production manager recommend to the board that the company erect a new factory building?— rather than with generalities and abstractions—What are the general advantages and disadvantages of a single-storied versus a multistoried building for production purposes?

• The case method puts the student in the habit of making decisions. Typically, students prepares for two or three differenct case-method courses each day. The frequency with students have to do this accustoms them to the decision-making process, including analytical and critical thinking and the exercise of the imagination. All this takes place within a framework of time limitations, a characteristic of an administrator's job. The student soon perceives the necessity of deciding upon the important factors in a situation and, in analysis and planning, of spending most of his time and effort on the more important elements and a minimum on the less important. This, of course, is developing "judgment."

• The use of the case method generates forces the student to think.
  • The student is put in the position of the administrator and asked, "What should be done to accomplish this objective?"
  • The case presents a challenge. The case approach has an element of the competitive spirit that most sports have, with the challenge being presented by the problem rather than by human opponents.
  • The case system gives the student a sense of participation that is lacking (or present to a much smaller degree) in the lecture method. The individuals in the class contribute toward the solution rather than receive the solution from the instructor. After a relatively short time under the case method, students often become vocally dissatisfied when the instructor takes up most of a class period reciting his ideas instead of developing theirs!
  • The discussions both within and without the classroom result in critical examination of one another's ideas, and this pulling and hauling of ideas refines each student's thinking. It is well known that talking over our problems with someone else stimulates us and helps us to clarify our thinking.

Case-method Cons:

• Students can be frustrated with the case method since the student is placed in a different position and has different responsibilities than in a traditional lecture class.

• The case method as applied to instruction in business administration assumes a basic knowledge of facts. Many schools try to bring students up to speed with pre-matriculation materials. However, a background in business can be helpful to understanding cases.

• The case method oversimplifies the business situation. Furthermore, the factors involved and much of the information needed for analysis and planning have been incorporated in the case by the case writer; whereas in the business situation, deciding what information is required and getting it (if it is available with an appropriate expenditure of effort) are an important part of the task of the administrator.