Case Writing

We use a variety of teaching methods, from lecturing to simulations, at the Southern Africa (SoAfr) School of Project Management but we are particularly devoted to the case method. Unlike other teaching methods, the case method requires that trainers and lecturers refrain from providing their own opinions about the decisions in question. Rather, the educator’s primary task is to ask students to devise, describe, and defend solutions to the problems presented by each case.

The case method uses teaching business case studies, which is a description of an actual situation, commonly involving a decision, a challenge, an opportunity, a problem or an issue faced by a person (or persons) in an organisation. A case allows students to step figuratively into the position of a particular decision-maker. The strength of the case method of teaching is that students have to apply management principles to the issues raised and defend their recommended course of action to their fellow students. Students analyse situations, develop alternatives, choose plans of action and implementation, and communicate and defend their findings in small teams and in class. Cases are used to test the understanding of theory, to connect theory with application, and to develop theoretical insight.

The majority of teaching cases available are based on organisations and people outside of Africa, drawing on case research that may not be relevant to the national contexts in which our school functions. SoAfrSPM is committed to writing teaching case studies about organisations and people in Southern Africa and using them to train the next generation of project managers in Southern Africa.

We are convinced that case studies allow our students to walk away from our classroom better prepared to be practitioners and better equipped to solve complex problems.

We are always in search of interesting cases to write featuring people, projects and organisations in Southern Africa. Please suggest ideas for a case study or allow us to feature you in a case study. You can also volunteer as a case writer if you are interested in honing your writing skills and project management knowledge.