The Public Policy and Management Program for Case/Course Development

Abstract

This review essay does not examine a specific publication as such. Rather it is a general commentary on the collection provided by the Public Policy and Management Program for Case/Course Development, formerly the Intercollegiate Case Clearing House (ICCH) Public Policy and Management Program. Under this program, hundreds of teaching cases are now readily available through the recently renamed Harvard Business School (HBS) Case Services, formerly ICCH.1 program, directed by a Council on Public Policy and Management, has issued three successive bibliographies (1978, 1979, and 1980).2 revised 1979 edition listed 577 cases. That edition remains the basic reference source. updated 1980 edition lists 26 recommended cases approved by a peer review system, 120 best selling cases, 230 new cases, and 25 older cases with new teaching notes (so that nearly half of these listings are duplicated from 1979). Later cases are reported in the Council's Public Policy and Management Newsletter.3 Some of these cases have been commissioned, reviewed, and approved by a separate Public Policy Curriculum Materials Development Program. Many of these cases have been published in a series of casebooks.4 authors have been asked to review this case/ course development program, commenting on as many cases as possible, and discussing the general characteristics and attributes of the collection in terms of teaching and other purposes. First, the essay will examine the case both as a pedagogical tool for classroom instruction and as a research vehicle for theory development or proposition testing. We do so both because the method is presently undergoing close scrutiny along these dimensions, and as a basis for evaluating the development effort. Second, we will analyze the existing collection as a whole. The primary objective of the ICCH Council on Public Policy and Management is to increase the quality and availability of curriculum materials for use in public policy, public management, and public administration programs.' We will try to consider how well and in what specific directions the program has accomplished this objective. Finally, the essay will touch on those cases which the authors find most germane to this review. Since we can discuss only a fraction of the several hundred cases available, our selection is inevitably a highly subjective one. recent name changes are occasioned by the decision of the Harvard Business School to cease distribution, as of July 1983, of cases authored at other institutions. Henceforth, HBS Case Services will sell only their own cases. It will continue listing non-Harvard cases in its annual bibliography in a special section; but other institutions must disseminate their own cases directly. Public Policy and Management Program plans to continue its newsletter as a vehicle for publicizing new cases.6 effects of this change on the collection's direction, quality, and availability are as yet unknown, but may well be negative. peer review system was initiated in spring 1979, when panels of outstanding specialists were created. An editorial board developed criteria for excellent teaching material in terms of being both well written and useful. Of 78 cases reviewed in the initial round, 26 were approved. purpose of this peer review process is to create a journal-like publication mode for writers: The cases that met the board's standards became