Title: A pedagogy of the repressed? Critical management education and the teaching case study

Authors: Adam Rostis, Jean Helms Mills

Addresses: Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada. ' Sobey School of Business, Saint Mary's University Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3, Canada

Abstract: This paper describes our experience in developing a teaching case study in organisational behaviour using a postpositivist approach. We problematise the perception that the teaching case is a positivist method, and instead argue that they are well-suited to a critical management education. We believe that case studies accomplish four tasks relevant to critical management education: they facilitate a critical understanding of relevant theory; illustrate the power and potential of organisational theory to explain and understand organisational failures; they encourage students to understand the limitations of the managerial perspectives on organisational and social problems; and demonstrate the connections between people, organisations and the broader context of society.

Keywords: case study; critical management education; post positivism; business school pedagogy; Hurricane Katrina; organisational behaviour; extreme stress; organisational structure; decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2010.034881

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2010 Vol.4 No.2, pp.212 - 223

Published online: 26 Aug 2010 *

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