Case is, now, the subject and predicate of a class module in a business school class room. It is subject as it is the subject matter in the class. It is predicate also as whatever that happens in a class is about the subject and about nothing else. How far it is treated religiously as the subject and how far it is treated as a predicate, is an issue that demands assiduous attention. Propriety demands to investigate the what, the why, the where, and the how of the case ontologically.
Comprehending a Case as the subject and the predicate invites a philosophical probe in this context. A full understanding of the class, where a case is tried, is also crucial. Ontologically one has to know what a class really means. Class comprises many: many students belonging to different cultures and spheres of knowledge. The ontological understanding of these different constituents is essential for the faculty and the students to actively participate in a case discussion.
What, in truth, is a case? Where does it exist? Is it real life-like experience? Is it fact? Is it fiction? Is it a mixing up of fact and fiction? Is it a format in language only? Is case a description or a narration? How shall we substantiate its veracity? Will the person, perspective, and mode in narration influence the case? How far will the case bear faithfully the manifestation of what the case composer comprehends? How far what the participating students can comprehend really matters in case study?
Will the students get a real learning experience through a case? If so, what are the learning experiences? Is the prefatory statement of a case that it is a representation of a life experience, is far from truth? If so, is it not unethical to start a session like that?
Knowledge of the realms theories of space and time will be essential for understanding a case. The event in a case presented in the class has to be evaluated on the strength of the spatial and temporal existence of the event as represented in the case. Help from hermeneutics, the science of interpretations, shall be sought for analyzing case. Students shall have to get themselves acquainted with many theories?
Case study as a pedagogic strategy has not been properly used in a class room. Care has not been taken in preparation of the case or its presentation. No prior training is imparted to students in comprehending, responding and addressing the issues related to the case.
The competence of a language expert with proficiency in knowledge theories and expertise in case writing and presenting, is desirable. These theories will be used in textual analysis, reader response, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, structuralism, semiotics, deconstruction and similar other theories.
The above note on case brings to light lapses, shortcomings, and casualties in treating case as text in a class in b-schools and of course it denotes a few possible solutions to the issues raised.
