Reality and Role Playing: The Use of a “Living Case Study” in Management Education

Abstract

This paper describes some of the major elements of Marfleet Steel Company, a multidisciplinary case study which we developed with the help of Chris Dixon. The case attempted to address some of the educational problems which had arisen from our experiences with the group of students for whom it was first designed, but which we felt were typical problems of management education in general. The paper begins by discussing our own particular difficulties and their relation to the generalised problems of the education/experience gap; the common sense/education distinction; the importance of the unconscious in developing managerial “skills”; the need for integrating disparate disciplines; the difficulties of handling various and conflicting sources of information and the indispensability of action and involvement to successful learning. We go on to discuss our specific objectives and methodology in developing Marfleet, focusing on issues of verisimilitude, the provision and release of information and the importance of role‐playing to the “living case study”. We examine the running of the case, with formal inputs, monitoring the process and providing and organising feedback. Finally, we discuss the experiences of both staff and students on the case and suggest that the “living case study” method, though demanding for all participants, offers huge benefits in stimulating discovery and learning. It makes considerable advances in bridging the gap between the too often isolationist classroom case study or simulation and the organisationally problematic action‐learning project.