Random thoughts

In the last 6 months we have done more than 100 cases, most of them published by Harvard or written by the teachning Professor (Prof. Ziv Katalan, Prof. Rama Velamuri and Prof. Charles Dhanraj).

While case method is an excellent method, it does bring in certain issues to the class. The case writer and teacher knows the solution and the students generally don't. Also as the case cannot be too long, certain information is omitted and this brings in a lot of information asymmetry.

A good way of facilitation is to allow the students to bring out the different ways of thinking and then critically evaluate them. The evaluation criteria can either be based on different academic theories or on findings from empirical studies. But if the evaluation is done based on hindsight, keeping in mind the result of the action taken then the whole process will go into a biased mode. While the case writer is free to have his admiration of the actual events that happened after the case situation, that shouldn't bias the learning dimension.

We have seen in the past and we will witness in the future, the gap between what we know and what we don't. Anyone who is a mere spectator can never accurately guess what's going to happen. If they can guess he would be the next Warren Buffet. But alas, we have only a handful of people on the whole earth who can predict the future based on their assessment of present situation.

Many times we get to see that same decision taken in similar situation can lead to completely different outcomes. Sometimes it is external environment that aids or works against and sometimes it is the way the execution is carried out and the people involved would turn the way things happen.

While trying to learn from cases, it is important to explore both sides and make an estimated guess about what would happen if a different course of action is taken. It would then be useful to evaluate the decision that was taken, the outcome and the factors that led to the outcome. Here the outcome is not important but the factors are more important. As an individual we have control only on certain factors and our ability to judge the situation and then manage the controllable factors is what that matters.

People who are in positions that have a very large circle of influence have to be very careful about their choices. Owing to their larger circle of influence they loose the freedom to have opinions and express them openly to a certain extent. This is applicable to teachers, political leaders, officers, movie directors, writers etc.

Lastly I am wondering if it is OK to compare the situations in the political and social context with financial markets and whether media (particularly news channels) can create a perfect market kind of situation, where information is known to everyone and even if not one can gain insights just by watching others, to the political and social scenario. I was watching the coverage of auto strike in India and the comments made by the auto drivers and the concerned minister and was wondering how this would impact the public opinion and thereby their reaction?