¿Qué son los casos de estudio?

Within a research project, a case study is considered to be a research approach involving the in-depth study of a real-life entity or context having clearly outlined and definitive boundaries. A case study can use a range of research methods and sources in order to gather its information. Equally, it may involve qualitative and quantitative data. Typically (although, of course, not always) a case study will have the following layout: an introduction; background history leading up to the contemporary period or moment; the current situation and the focal issues or problems that are to be considered (this may or may not involve the development of a hypothesis or hypotheses to be answered); analysis of the issues; proposed solutions (Yin, 2002, 2011).

The use of case studies in business and management teaching and learning is a common practice. In particular, ‘ready-made’ case studies from textbooks, or case study archives, are well known to students on both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It is common practice to use a financial ratio analysis on the accounts or numbers contained in the case accompanied by a written commentary on the wider issues of the case. Indeed, in the early years, following the introduction of Master of Business Administration (MBA) programmes, it was a popular criticism that students on these courses tended to spend too much time working on case studies at the expense of direct experiential learning in organizational settings.

If electing to use case studies as part of your research, you may decide to develop data for a single case study or, alternatively, you may develop multiple case studies. Within the single case study, the intention is to carry out a detailed exploration of the issues, themes and patterns that occur within it and make comparisons between these in order to derive findings for analysis. In the case of a piece of research using multiple case studies, more usually than not, the researcher's intention is to develop insights by making comparisons and contrasts between the situations identified in the different case studies. This could follow myriad possibilities but, for example, it could involve research into several different companies to analyse how they have, each in their own way, implemented a latest quality initiative.

Stokes, P. (2011). Case Study. In Palgrave Key Concepts: Key Concepts in Business and Management Research Methods. Macmillan. https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6MzkzMTIyMw==.

Si te causa curiosidad, puedes ver un vídeo del Sage Research Methods como ejemplo de lo que puede ser un caso de estudio relacionado a los recursos humanos. El profesor Tad Foster de Indiana State University nos muestra cómo llevó a cabo un caso de estudio que le solicitaron en su práctica de consultoría.

¿Qué es la diversidad en el empleo?

"Diversity in the workplace is defined as the similarities and differences among employees in terms of age, cultural background, physical abilities and disabilities, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation. Until lately, diversity in the workplace has meant the ongoing interaction between employees and employers with different cultural, ethnic, and racial backgrounds that have significant influences on the operations and management of an organization. However, recently, diversity has been broadly redefined as the collective differences and similarities of different dimensions. For example, diversity issues related to demographic characteristics of employees are different from those related to diverse functional issues such as marketing, research, manufacturing, finances, and so on within an organization. Thus, demography and organizational functions of the employees are two different dimensions of diversity. Understanding the complex multidimensional diversity issues involving workers and management is essential in today's business environment. A historical background of diversity in the workplace is reviewed next, followed by the characterizations of employees in the workforce and strategies for their success. Finally, the diversity issues of the management and organizational functions are considered".

Roy, M. (2018). Diversity in the Workplace. In R. Kolb (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Sage Publications.             https://search.credoreference.com/articles/Qm9va0FydGljbGU6NjU5OTM1.

Te comparto el siguiente vídeo para que veas un caso real de discrimen y cómo se resolvió por la Corte Suprema de los Estados Unidos de América. No lo tienes que ver si no lo deseas, pero si te apasiona este tema, te resultará muy interesante. Te copio el resumen que se incluye en la base de datos de videos Alexander Street que tenemos en el Sistema de Bibliotecas. Te invito a verlo. Pero si estás fuera del recinto, debes autenticarte en la página del Sistema de Bibliotecas. Solo tienes que escribir tu apellido y los últimos cuatro (4) dígitos de tu número de estudiante.

Abstract

How does a person with three strikes against her rise to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court? How did this happen despite closed doors and legal and social barriers facing Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the 1950’s? Who made this possible? What personal, social and political forces intersected to make this happen? The film tells the improbable story of how Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who couldn’t get a job despite graduating at the top of her law school class and making Law Review at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It reveals both the public and private sides of a resilient, resourceful woman who survived the hostility of the male universe of government and law to become a revered Justice and icon for gender equality and human rights.

Cuando necesitas localizar casos de estudio en un libro, tenemos algunas opciones que puedes consultar. En el siguiente vídeo te vamos a presentar una de las bases de datos con libros electrónicos que tenemos disponible para ti desde la BAE y el Sistema de Bibliotecas. 

Existen otras bases de datos donde puedes localizar libros electrónicos e identificar casos de estudio. Una de ellas es Ebook Central. En el ejercicio de práctica vas a utilizar un libro de esta base de datos. 

Además de libros que contienen casos de estudio, existen bases de datos que tienen este tipo de material. Aquí te presentaremos las estrategias para localizarlos. En los ejemplos vamos a estar trabajando con el tema de diversidad en el empleo, pero existen casos sobre diversos temas. Comenzamos con la base de datos Business Insight Global.

La otra base de datos en la que puedes encontrar casos de estudio es Emerald Insights. No te pierdas el siguiente vídeo para que veas cómo localizar casos de estudio del tema que intereses.