The ultimate test of the students in an outstanding business program is a “community test” of their ability to complete a real-life consulting project, unstructured in nature, meeting both a set deadline and the client’s expectations. This is the essence of the Action Learning course for undergraduates at the Weatherhead School of Management.
Through their consulting projects with organizational clients, our students who have completed the core curriculum are given the opportunity to work with theories in practice, testing and adjusting their skills and knowledge to solve challenging business problems.
Since 2005, undergraduate Weatherhead Action Learning teams have been demonstrating to the marketplace how well they can apply their critical thinking skills to real-life projects. They have completed projects in a broad range of strategic and functional areas, many of which are for repeat clients.
Interested in working with our students to solve your challenging business problems? Fill out the project proposal form. For additional information, please contact Heidi Bocan at hdd@case.edu.
Program Features
A Brief Introduction to the Action Learning Program
Action Learning gives each student team exposure to a real-life business project, meeting both a set deadline and client expectations. The program enhances the educational experience of our students, allowing them to put theories into practice, testing and adjusting their skills and knowledge. Action Learning is a senior capstone course for our undergraduate business students. Student teams are assigned to projects, which address business problems such as process improvement, business growth and planning, organizational development, management control and reporting, or organizational communications. The nature of the projects depends on the interests and needs of the participating organizations.
During the semester the students participate in intensive seminars to learn strategies for organizing the projects and for working effectively with their client organizations. Experienced faculty coaches assist the student teams through regular ongoing coaching sessions. Action Learning spans one academic semester (15 weeks). Student teams are comprised of three to four members, with each student working approximately five to 10 hours per week on the project.
Action Learning teams are comprised of highly qualified students who are up-to-date with the newest business tools and theories. They may, however, be limited in their experience with a particular industry. We encourage project liaisons to be open to student suggestions based on theory, but to also challenge them based on practice knowledge and experience.
By participating in this program, your organization has an opportunity to affect the way we train tomorrow’s leaders. In return, our students will help with a specific business problem using the latest problem solving techniques and business tools available.
Project Guidelines and Processes
Guidelines for Organizing Your Project Proposal:
- Identify a business problem or opportunity within your organization with which you would like help from a student team.
- Contact Heidi Bocan at hdd@case.edu should you have any questions prior to completing the project proposal form.
- Identify the person in your organization who will be working with the student team. The project liaison serves as the primary contact, meeting with the team on a regular basis to scope the project, provide relevant information, and monitor progress. The liaison ensures the team is given the necessary resources to complete the project and arranges a final meeting at which time the student team will present its findings to members of your organization’s management group. At the end of the project the client liaison participates in the grading process by submitting a team evaluation form.
- Complete project proposal form.
- After submitting your proposal, you will be contacted by a member of the Action Learning Program Team to review your proposal and to discuss next steps.
Recent Action Learning Consulting Projects
Below are some examples of recent Action Learning consulting projects which may assist your organization in identifying a project. Action Learning projects can cover a variety of organizational problems or opportunities that involve internal and/or external analysis.
- Web Site Redesign: The team evaluated the existing web site for clarity and usability, compared it to competing web sites, and reviewed web site best practices before recommending a redesign plan.
- New Recruiting Process: The team defined a campus recruiting process, evaluated target campuses for organizational fit, and outlined an orientation and development approach for new campus hires.
- Pay for Performance Compensation Approach: The team researched pay for performance approaches in the client’s industry, reviewed client strategic priorities, and suggested modifications to the existing compensation plan.
- Retail Marketing Plan: The team evaluated the business growth plans of an entrepreneurial retail establishment, as well as the surrounding market place, and developed a marketing plan to support business growth.
- Employee Engagement Practices: The team researched best practices in employee engagement and designed an approach to acting upon feedback collected in annual employee surveys.
- Fee for Service Model: The team evaluated the feasibility for an organization’s training department to migrate to a fee for service model for training and development activities.
- Process to Evaluate New Business Opportunities: The team designed a process and supporting tools to document and evaluate new business opportunities and to streamline executive decision making.
- Social Media Marketing Strategy: The team evaluated various social media marketing platforms, evaluated the pros and cons of each platform and recommended a strategy for how the client could use social media platforms to achieve the organization’s overall marketing objectives.
- Order Completion Improvement: The team helped the client solve a challenging business problem—how to minimize the numbers of customer calls to a call center that did not result in an order. The team researched the calls that did not become orders, quantified the opportunity in terms of lost revenue and provided specific, actionable recommendations to the client that would improve revenue.
- Student Loan Services: The team evaluated potential new products and financial services targeted to university students. The team made recommendations for how the client could expand their customer base and reduce attrition.
The Role of Student and Faculty
Faculty Coach Role
The faculty coach works as a senior partner helping behind the scenes. The coach develops an understanding of the client’s project requirements, monitors and guides team progress, and attends the team’s final client presentation. Coaches typically meet with the student team twice a month to provide mentoring and guidance and ensure the team is on track to meet project deadlines. In the unlikely event that the client and student team cannot reach an agreement about the direction or scope of the project, the faculty coach will help to resolve any issues.
Benefits of Action Learning for Students
The Action Learning projects provide the best opportunity for students who have completed coursework in functional disciplines to integrate their knowledge.
Students also obtain valuable networking contacts through their action learning project managers. In some cases, students have been offered positions in the company for which they completed an Action Learning project.
Student Responsibilities
Action Learning Teams work as student consultants to your corporation on a no-fee basis. Together with the project liaison they scope the project so it becomes solvable and adds value. At the end of the project the student team will provide the client and the Weatherhead School of Management with a final report and presentation.
Client Experience
The Value of Participating as an Action Learning Client Organization
By participating in this program, your company has an opportunity to affect ways we train tomorrow’s leaders. In return, our students will help you to find a solution to a specific business problem using the latest problem solving techniques and business tools available. Recent clients include both corporations and non-profit organizations in northeast Ohio.
Weatherhead Action Learning Teams can provide your business with:
- An in-depth analysis with recommendations, delivered in a short time frame—at no charge!
- A fresh look at a business problem through the eyes of an unbiased team!
Client Liaison Responsibility
The project liaison serves as the primary contact for the student team, meeting with them on a regular basis to scope the project, provide relevant information and monitor progress. The liaison ensures the team is given the necessary resources to complete the project and arranges a final meeting at which time the student team will present its findings to members of your organization’s management group. At the end of the project the client liaison participates in the grading of the student team by submitting a team evaluation form.
Feedback from some of our satisfied clients:
We’ve found the interaction with Case students through the Action Learning Program to be engaging, stimulating, professional, and extremely valuable to our business. The projects have been critical to helping us establish the correct framework to think about the future of our business. The pace of change and innovation has been greatly accelerated due to the thought leadership provided by the teams. We hope to continue leveraging this valuable resource in the years ahead.
— Kevin O’Toole
Vice President
PNC Financial Services
Matrix is a software company focused on the justice system. We have used several Action Learning teams to assist in market research that has helped shape our product roadmap and pricing strategy. With our limited resources this support has been invaluable and has allowed us to accelerate our growth and market position. We can’t thank the folks at Weatherhead enough for all of their help and look forward to working with the program in the future.
— Joe Whang
Chief Executive Officer
Matrix Pointe Software
We are truly grateful for the Action for Learning program offered through CWRU. Last year we worked with 4 students from this program. We knew we needed help getting up to speed on all the aspects of our web-site—what the components are (blogging, twitter, pay per click, etc.) the areas to focus on, how to increase optimization, and so much more. The students made sure they understood our goals then set about working to logically break down all the facets.
They did a great job outlining all the issues then taking us through step-by-step to understand what they recommended we start with first and why. They also went through all the other areas, explained them and then outlined the pros and cons of each.
— Jeannie Radcliff
Vice President
Home Instead Senior Care
[The student team] brought energy and enthusiasm each time we met. They were flexible with meeting schedules to accommodate our staff. Additionally, the data collected and presented helped to further develop and structure the E Prep to College department.
— Michelle E. Williams
Alumni Counselor
Cleveland Entrepreneurship Preparatory School, A Zealous School
The Action Learning Program gave us the opportunity to collaborate with bright and energetic students who brought a new perspective to our social media project. The team actively listened to our needs and posed thoughtful and informed questions. The final deliverable from the team was well-crafted and demonstrated a strong understanding of both our business and the social media space. We have since implemented many of the team’s recommendations and are recognizing value from our collaboration. We would definitely work with the Action Learning Program again.
— Bronwyn Monroe
Director of Marketing
NineSigma, Inc.
Interested in working with our students to solve your challenging business problems?