Editorial

You have finished writing your case and instructor's manual and have decided to pursue the publication of your case in an appropriate academic journal [¹]. What's next in this journey? Hold off any temptation to send it in without completing the steps below. Your chances of publication substantially increase when you take these extra steps to prepare the case for submission! Here are the first three steps for getting your case (traditional or compact) ready for submission to TCJ.

Step 1: Test your case in the classroom. This step provides an important test of the effectiveness of the case as a teaching and learning tool. Plan to use the case in one of the classes identified as the target audience for the case. If you don't have a class available to “experiment on,” consider asking a friend or a colleague to use your case in their classes. If you are teaching your case, consider asking a colleague to sit in on your class to take notes during the discussion. If this is not possible, consider recording the discussion (ask the students for permission to record first!). Notes or a recording will capture feedback that you should address in revising the case and instructor's manual. Use your phone to take a picture of any board work that has taken place during the discussion.

Teach the case using the teaching strategy you have described in the instructor's manual. You will learn whether your proposed teaching strategy works to achieve the learning objectives and whether the timing is adequate. Discussions seldom proceed in the logical fashion that we anticipate. Students will digress, struggle at times or become confused. Try to remember all the detours, awkward silences or requests for clarification (generally, it is best to make notes on these immediately after you finish the class, so you don't forget). Use notes or the recording to uncover any additions or explanations you may have made during the discussion. As educators, we often step in to help confused students by adding additional background information that might not have been contained in the case. After all, we conducted the research and have developed expertise in the case situation. When students look confused, we jump in to help. We want to incorporate these explanations and clarifications into the case so that adopting instructors can teach the case as well as we can. We will also want to note novel interpretations and creative solutions that students will propose to add to the discussion question answers in the IM.

The goal is to gauge student response to the case. Were students confused by anything in the case? Were they engaged in the case? Did the discussion proceed as you thought it would, or were there digressions where background information was supplied before the discussion moved forward? Did the students reach the key points that were necessary to achieve the learning objectives?

Ask the students to provide feedback on the case at the end of the class. Ask them to identify any sections or topics that were difficult or unclear. Review the case exhibits with them and ask if any other information would have been helpful. Ask them to point out misspellings or typos that should be corrected.

Step 2: Revise the case and instructor's manual to incorporate feedback. Make any changes to the case that are necessary to incorporate feedback from the classroom test. Adjust the instructor's manual to incorporate anything you learned in teaching the case. Although it is not required, many adopting instructors appreciate any teaching tips you can share from your experience with the case in the classroom. These teaching tips might include things like icebreaker questions, video clips you used to introduce the case, summary slides that you used to debrief the case discussion and so forth. Add a statement to the Research Methodology section of the IM to indicate that the case has been classroom-tested (indicate the course and student level used in conducting the test). If the changes to either the case or instructor's manual are extensive, you may wish to classroom test the case again to see if the changes you have made addressed the problematic issues. To gain better insight into the effectiveness of your changes, ask a colleague to teach the case the second time. Revise the case and the instructor's manual to include any new feedback you receive.

Step 3: Present your case at a case conference. One of the best ways to tune up your case before submitting it to a journal is to present it at a case conference. There are many case conferences held in the United States (and abroad) on an annual basis. Exhibit 1 lists some of the most prominent ones. Most of these events feature a case writing roundtable format that can be invaluable to both new and experienced case writers hungering for validation and formative feedback.

Participants receive the cases and IMs of the five to six cases presented in the case writing roundtable. Each participant must read the cases and IMs to prepare written feedback (sometimes just marking up the case and the IM) to share with the case writer during the roundtable session. Typically, participants discuss each case in a 30–50-minute session led by the facilitator (usually an experienced case writer). The case writer is invited to briefly introduce the case in five minutes or less, focusing on what motivated them to write that particular case and the case's target audience (usually in terms of the courses and levels where it will be used). Case writers are also encouraged to indicate areas where the group's help would be appreciated. Participants are then invited to share their feedback and suggestions with the group. A scribe takes notes for the case writer so that they may focus on and respond to what is being said without worrying about capturing all the details. The facilitator will assist in moving the discussion along and keeping it constructive. If time remains, participants sometimes share suggestions for effectively teaching the case. At the end of the discussion, the case writer receives actionable feedback for revising and improving the case and IM before submitting it for publication.

Case writers (especially first-timers) receive the following benefits in bringing a case to a case writing workshop:

• Peer-to-peer learning of case writing conventions and effective case pedagogy. I acquired much of what I know about case writing through participation in case writing workshops. Experienced case writers often join the roundtable to share their expertise and interact with newcomers.

• Actionable feedback designed to improve the case before submission to a journal. A first-time case writer's chance of receiving a favorable review in the first round is far better after the case is revised following a workshop than it would be if submitted directly to the journal.

• Energy and new ideas for effectively writing and teaching with cases. I always come away from a case workshop eager to teach the cases we discussed and try out new approaches shared at the roundtable. The discussion of the cases of others often triggers new ideas for structuring or developing my cases. At the end of the conference, I feel tired but recharged to do more.

• Affirmation, affiliation and overwhelming support from case writers. The case writing community is a small but welcoming group of colleagues, many of whom have known each other for twenty or more years. The group embraces all newcomers and does their best to help newbies along their journey to publication. After my first case workshop, I knew that the case writing community provided a fun, warm and friendly community of scholars that I wanted to join.

Of course, the value of presenting your case at a case conference only accrues if you make the revisions to the case and the instructor's manual based on the feedback from the roundtable. Reviewers and editors are often disappointed to see cases known to have been presented in a case roundtable containing the same errors and problems they did before the case conference. The case writing community is a small one. It is not uncommon for a conference reviewer or roundtable participant to be assigned as a reviewer of the same case during the journal review process. Take the time to make the revisions before submitting them to the journal.

Disclaimer. This case is intended to be used as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a management situation. The case was compiled from published sources.

Reviewers will appreciate a more polished case and IM. Your chances of receiving an “ACCEPT” decision increase significantly if you follow these three steps prior to submitting your case. The case writing community will welcome you with open arms!

This issue includes seven cases (Table 1) focused on a wide variety of companies, locations and issues. Each case has a strong IM providing effective teaching strategies, theoretical linkages and complete answers and analysis to all discussion questions. TCJ IMs have been rigorously peer reviewed to ensure that adopting faculty can teach these cases as well as the authors. Enjoy!