Teaching Note Research Articles

Teaching Note—Time for a Teach-In? Addressing Racist Incidents on College Campuses

ABSTRACTThis teaching note discusses a teach-in organized in response to a racist incident on a college campus. An examination of the history of teach-ins demonstrates that social work educators have been involved with them since the beginning of the profession, and the method is a natural fit for social work given its historic role. Social work educators have unique professional and ethical responsibilities to respond to hate crimes and other racist incidents on campus and to develop the competencies of social work students to do the same. Teach-ins are a model for doing so in ways that demonstrate the profession’s commitments to social justice advocacy, social justice education, and a robust implicit curriculum.

Explaining Internalized Oppression Using the Film, Claudine

This is a teaching note. Therefore, I did not include an abstract. However, if there were one, it would be this:Lester and Tina Pine’s 1974 film, Claudine, is a fictitious story depicting the dating life of Claudine, a 36-year old African American mother of six who had been married twice (and “almost twice”). This film can be used to explain internalized oppression and how it might manifest itself differently even in individuals from the same families

Beleza Natural: Marketing Strategies for Empowering Social Change

This case features an entrepreneur striving to rapidly grow a successful chain of hair salons that serve women with afro hair. After doubling from 13 to 26 salons across Brazil in 2014, the founders' expansion plan called for 120 Beleza Natural salons and R$1 billion in sales by 2018. CEO and cofounder Leila Velez is considering various fundamental marketing strategies to catalyze growth: Should Beleza launch a new mass-media campaign, increase promotional discounts, expand its target market to serve men, broaden its service offerings, streamline processes to reduce wait times, expand distribution channels, or franchise? Students assume the role of Velez and are asked to recommend which growth strategy would be their top priority. In doing so, they are required to evaluate how these strategies pertain to the company's business model and value proposition. They are also challenged to consider what a brand is and what makes a strong service brand in order to verify if their strategies are consistent with Beleza's brand. The teaching note outlines a framework for developing or evaluating a business model as well as developing strategies for managing growth. The case is accompanied by a series of video interviews with Velez that support case preparation, in-class discussion, and key learning points.

Teaching Note—Using Simulation to Teach Advanced Competencies in Mindfulness to Social Work Students

ABSTRACTThis teaching note describes one example of a shift from content to competence in a graduate MSW course teaching advanced mindfulness complex practice behaviors and skills for use in direct practice. The development of advanced mindfulness competencies and skills provides a conceptual base o shift teaching from lengthy lectures to experiential learning. Simulation-based learning and aspects of the objective standard clinical examination adapted for social work are used as a base for a summative evaluation in which students demonstrate their skill level through interviews with simulated clients. The final assignment, a transcription and analysis of segments of the interview demonstrating the advanced complex practice behaviors, is discussed in individual student–instructor interviews. Opportunities, challenges, and implications for social work education are presented.

Leadership in a crisis

ABSTRACTThis case study explores the leadership of Admiral Thad Allen who was deployed to coordinate the federal response following Hurricane Katrina and the oil spill following the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon off-shore oil drilling platform. The teaching note suggests how instructors might guide a classroom discussion of the leadership skills employed by Admiral Allen.

Case Article—Baseball Analytics: Advancing to Prescriptive Analytics in the Major League Baseball Front Office

This case uses player evaluation and personnel decision making in Major League Baseball (MLB) to introduce many of the key steps of data analytics projects. The data analytics process is a unique combination of art and science, and teaching the art of data analytics is challenging to do in a standard classroom setting with small data sets. The goal of this case is to move beyond the simple “cookie cutter” data sets and introduce students to the challenges of dealing with real data to answer important questions, as well as introduce or reinforce multiple data-mining/machine-learning methods. The case builds on a very rich data set collected by the authors, which allows for students or groups of students to arrive at different answers to the same question. An extensive teaching note with sample questions and the associated R code and output are at https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2018.0201ca .

Quick start guide: how to review teaching cases

Theoretical basis Metacognition, learning how to learn, peer feedback and peer review. Research methodology Essay based on experience as a reviewer and editor and best practices. Case overview/synopsis This quick start guide provides a tutorial on how to review teaching cases and the associated instructor’s manual or teaching note. The purpose of this guide is to help develop the confidence and skill of novice reviewers and refresh and refocus experienced reviewers. Case writers may also use this guide to anticipate peer reviewer feedback and assess or refine their cases before submitting them to a journal. Reviewing is essential to the Academy – without peer reviews there would be no peer reviewed journal articles, a pillar of the tenure process. Reviewing is also a valuable way to learn, to keep current in a field and to be a good citizen – contributing to one’s professional community. This guide will help scholars become even more effective reviewers, writers and contributors to the Academy. Complexity academic level For academics interested in developing their case reviewing skills.

Case study of Agroindustrias La Granja

The following document is a case study of the company Agroindustrias La Granja, located in Honduras, Central America, dedicated to the production and sales of the non-traditional agriculture crop, mushroom of Paris. All its production is demanded by Tegucigalpa city. The case was developed with the objective that undergraduate and graduate students can find the problems and situations that a small and medium family firms could face. The student will be able to use several recommended analysis tools, such as SWOT analysis, analysis of optimal marketing mix (Kotler 5 P´s), cash flow, analysis of financial indicators and cost effectiveness indicators. The results are in the Teaching Note, which will be the teacher´s guide for the resolution of the case. Then, there will be a discussion of the case where the students will participate in order to find results and looking for the better solution of the case. In order to realize the case analysis, the students should follow the ‘Harvard Business School’ model. Finally, a framework will be handed to the students for the recognition of the data pursuing to get an action plan linked to a competitiveness strategy for the studied company.

Krazy Kimmy's: A Case in Fraud Examination

AbstractThis two‐part case allows for maximum student engagement through preparation, in‐class discussion, and through a Part B case that is part of the Teaching Note. Through this case, students work to identify possible fraud schemes, plan an investigation, and perform horizontal analysis calculations. Students will learn about the concept of ethical hacking, red flag identification, internal control weaknesses, and investigation considerations for fraud schemes. Further, in‐class planning for next steps and investigation can occur, providing an opportunity for group work and in‐depth learning. This case offers flexibility for instructors in that it can be covered over one class or multiple classes, or can be assigned as an independent or group assignment. This teaching note provides an overview of the case along with guidance for teaching this case.

Applications for Teaching Sustainability: An Interdisciplinary, Service Learning, Study Abroad Course

This teaching note delineates the broad understanding of sustainability and environmental justice as it relates to social work practice and social work education. The curricular applications of sustainability and environmental justice through an undergraduate, service learning, interdisciplinary, 12-day study abroad course to India are described. The teaching note includes the conceptualization of the course co-taught by faculty members from social work and chemistry as well as pretrip, trip, and posttrip learning activities.

Case Article—Converting Zip Code Data into Distances: A Case Study for Teaching Business Analytics

In this case study, we demonstrate how to convert a column of zip code data into approximate distances from a default zip code using only standard Microsoft (MS) Excel functions and a free zip code database available online. We illustrate one example of analytics that may be applied to these distances with real data. The Case Article discusses our experiences in teaching the case and highlights the positive aspects of it. In the Case Study, we develop a hypothetical scenario in order to convey the value of being able to convert standard zip code data into distances to the students reading the case. Finally, the Case Teaching Note provides guidance regarding classroom discussion as well as specific instructions for developing the MS Excel spreadsheet. The Case Teaching Note and final product example are available at https://www.informs.org/Publications/Subscribe/Access-Restricted-Materials .

Including Adverse Childhood Experiences Content in the HBSE Course for BSW Students

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) negatively affect biopsychosocial development and functioning across the lifespan. Social workers in generalist practice are likely to serve individuals with a history of childhood adversity. Currently, there is no standard requirement for the topic of ACEs to be addressed in baccalaureate social work education. Our teaching note addresses this gap in the curriculum by establishing a need for baccalaureate social work students to receive trauma-specific education early in their academic careers. Human Behavior in the Social Environment is proposed as a course in which this content can be easily incorporated. Recommendations for future directions are provided.

Socially Responsible Investing: Data-Driven Decision Making

Socially responsible investing (SRI) is an investment process that screens investment opportunities based on ethical, social, corporate governance, or environmental. SRI has been growing rapidly; total U.S.-domiciled SRI-managed assets increased from $3.74 trillion in 2012 to $6.57 trillion in 2014. The growth of SRI puts it in a position to encourage sustainability as such firms have better access to capital markets. Unfortunately, while financial performance indicators have become standardized, social and environmental performance ratings have not. As the prominence of SRI grows, so does the number of metrics available to evaluate corporate social performance: there were 21 ratings in 2000 and that number grew to 108 by 2012. The complexity of environmental and social performance contributes to the proliferation of rating metrics. Different aspects of environmental performance might be important to different rating schemes. For instance, one rating could place emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions, while another rating could focus on water usage. The heterogeneity of such ratings creates a situation in which the results of an assessment of environmental performance can differ based on which criteria are used. This case examines this phenomenon. This case study examines 13 publicly traded chemical companies in order to understand the various measures and dimensions of corporate environmental performance. Students are presented with real-world data on corporate environmental performance (including pollutants released and third-party corporate social responsibility ratings) and asked to incorporate environmental and social performance into investing decisions. This case highlights some of the challenges of evaluating corporate environmental performance. This includes the positive correlation between environmental strengths and concerns. That is to say, firms that tend to have significant environmental issues, tend also to invest in sustainable practices. Thus looking only at environmental strengths might present a misleading picture of firm corporate environment performance. A companion teaching note is available upon request from the authors.

KHL: Consulting for Managing Sales Force Attrition (A)

Kalpak Healthcare Limited (KHL), a large pharmaceutical company in the southern part of India, once faced severe sales force turnover in its Life Branded Medications SBU, popularly called the Branded SBU (B-SBU). It became an issue of highest concern to the top management of KHL; so they appointed a team of consultants from a premier management school in the region to study the issue and recommend possible solutions and strategies. Over a period of 6 months, the consultants conducted extensive research—studying internal company records, analysing the industry and external environment, gathering qualitative data through in-depth interviews (DIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) among KHL employees and executing a division-wide quantitative survey labelled as Manpower Mood Meter (M3) among the field executives—and finally came up with recommendations. The case is organized as two independent, successive ones—A and B. Case (A) describes the consultants’ engagement with KHL and ends with them pondering over the types of analyses to be done with the huge volume of data they had collected. Case (B) details the kinds of analyses they actually do and the inferences they draw. The set of recommendations the consultants finally make to the KHL top management is given in the epilogue of the teaching note. The critical value of this case lies in its ability to open up the students’ minds to the dynamic interplay of multiple factors—individual, managerial, organizational, industrial-contextual and historical—that holistically affect a phenomenon like ‘attrition’ in organizations. This could perhaps also be one of those rare cases that makes use of the principles of System Dynamics in a real, applied and combined context of marketing and human resource (HR) management.

KHL: Consulting for Managing Sales Force Attrition (B)

Kalpak Healthcare Limited (KHL), a large pharmaceutical company in the southern part of India, was facing severe sales force turnover in its Life Branded Medications SBU, popularly called the Branded SBU (B-SBU). It became an issue of highest concern to the top management of KHL; so they appointed a team of consultants from a premier management school in the region to study the issue and to recommend possible solutions and strategies. Over a period of six months, the consultants conducted extensive research—studying internal company records, analysing the industry and external environment, gathering qualitative data through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions among KHL employees and executing a division wide quantitative survey labelled as Manpower Mood Meter (M3) among the field executives—to finally come up with recommendations. The Case is organized as two independent, successive ones—A and B. Case (A) describes the consultants’ engagement with KHL and ends with them pondering over the types of analyses to be done with the huge volume of data they had collected. Case (B) details the kinds of analyses they actually did and the inferences they drew. The set of recommendations that the consultants finally make to KHL top management is given in the epilogue of the teaching note. The critical value of this case lies in its ability to open up the students’ mind to the dynamic interplay of multiple factors—individual, managerial, organizational, industrial-contextual and historical—that holistically affect a phenomenon like ‘attrition’ in organizations. This could perhaps also be one of those rare cases that makes use of the principles of System Dynamics in a real, applied and combined contexts of marketing and human resource management.

The Muktangan story (Part A): an organizational study and The Muktangan story (Part B): winds of change

Subject area The subject areas are organizational management, organizational behaviour and human resource management. Study level/applicability The study is applicable for courses in human resource management and organizational behaviour as part of masters-level programmes in business administration and management, executive development programmes on organization design and development for middle/senior management. Case overview In 2003, Elizabeth and Sunil Mehta had founded a voluntary organization, “Muktangan”, focussed on child-centric education through innovative pedagogy for the community of the urban poor. Elizabeth, an educationist, and Sunil, a highly successful business person, joined hands to contribute to the well-being of urban poor to make a difference to their lives. Elizabeth and Sunil presented a proposal to impart education for “the children of the community, by the teachers drawn from the community” to the residents of the slums in central Mumbai. With a humble beginning of running a small pre-school, Muktangan now manages seven schools with 3,400 children and 500 teachers, and a teachers’ training centre with a capacity to train 100 teachers a year. Muktangan won acclaim for its unique pedagogy and a very effective child-to-teacher ratio. Over the years, Elizabeth and Sunil led Muktangan with a strong passion and a “hands-on” approach. Of late, Elizabeth and Sunil faced questions from their donors about the sustainability of Muktangan with respect to leadership and management succession. Elizabeth and Sunil had a vision for Muktangan for self-directed growth with an empowered team. Muktangan embarked on the journey to create a leadership for self-directed growth. Sunil, Elizabeth and team Muktangan conceptualized and implemented a change management intervention with help from an external consultant to build the desired organization. Expected learning outcomes Outcomes are understanding issues involved in the leadership, organization design and management of change, particularly of those organizations engaged in social change and development in developing societies. Supplementary materials The Muktangan Story: Part A – An Organizational Study; The Muktangan Story Part B – Winds of Change; Teaching Note;

Wockhardt Limited: will it rise from the ashes?

Synopsis The case provides an introduction to how currency mismatches create exposures, why and how companies hedge (or do not hedge) those exposures, alternate valuation models and the use of foreign currency convertibles in funding a global expansion program. The case highlights the ambitious growth strategy of Wockhardt, a global biopharmaceutical company. In a bid to dominate the biopharmaceutical market, Wockhardt grew aggressively by acquiring companies all over the world. This expansion was funded by a mix of secured loans (bank borrowings) and unsecured loans including foreign currency (US dollar denominated) convertible bonds (FCCBs). Due to deteriorating business and economic conditions, the company experienced a sharp decline in profitability and stock price resulting in a debt overhang. The company had to restructure its capital structure in March 2009 to escape bankruptcy. Since FCCB holders did not agree to restructure the terms of the instrument, the company had to turn to senior lenders to restructure debt. The company’s management is faced with several options to deal with financial distress. The case asks students to evaluate those options. The case can be used to teach hedging foreign currency exposures, design of capital structure in rapidly evolving industries and dangers of financing R&D intensive ventures with convertible debt denominated in foreign currencies. Research methodology The case is based on secondary data sources. Information statements filed with the Securities Exchange Board of India, the company’s website, press releases and security analyst reports formed the basis for this case. Supplementary information was gathered from the CAPITALINE database, and websites of the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India. Sources of information are documented appropriately in the case and teaching note. No names in the case have been disguised. The authors have no personal relationship with the company. Relevant courses and levels The case is suitable for courses in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, international financial management, corporate restructuring and valuation at the graduate level. It can also be used in executive education programs. Theoretical bases The case provides an introduction to how currency mismatches create exposures, why and how companies hedge (or do not hedge) those exposures, alternate valuation models, the use of foreign currency convertibles in funding a global expansion program and the alternatives in corporate restructuring. Suitable references are provided in the teaching note.

Podcasts in an Alternative High School

Teaching note on creating a podcast as a fresh final project for writing classes.

Teaching Note—Lessons Learned From Developing and Implementing a Dementia Caregiving Graduate-Level Service-Learning Course

ABSTRACTThis teaching note delineates seven lessons learned when designing and implementing a graduate-level dementia caregiving service-learning course. The course was designed during a 1-year faculty service-learning fellowship and implemented during the summer of 2015. The course used a person-in-environment framework to explain social work practice with family systems affected by dementia. It aimed to increase students’ knowledge about dementia and improve students’ attitudes toward working with people with dementia through respite visits with families affected by dementia. Three recommendations for future course offerings are described.

Teaching Note—Diversity and Difference Through a Rural Lens

ABSTRACTThis teaching note demonstrates how the PEN-3 cultural model provides an opportunity to address, embrace, and achieve cultural competence among social work programs. By facilitating a more complex and nuanced understanding of diversity and difference, the PEN-3 model allows social work students and practitioners alike to move beyond a historic understanding of diversity and difference to an awareness that truly addresses the intersectionality of the multiple dimensions of diversity, including place diversity. This teaching note particularly focuses on the importance of understanding how place diversity, or the unique social and environmental context where individuals, families, and communities are embedded, influences the interactions and individual experiences among rural individuals and their subsequent health outcomes.