Roll Case analysis 2 (Group no.

C10)
Name
No
Hargunjot Singh p42126
Neepa Agrawal p42135
Rishabh Choudhary p42147
Samar Singh p42152
Saransh Agnihotri p42155

Assistant Professor Graham and Ms. Macomber (A)

A. The overall judgment of Prof. Graham’s behaviour in the class, and then
predict how Janet and other students might experience it?
Ans. Professor Charles Graham is a faculty of Dominion in Quantitative Analysis and
Operations Management (QAOM). His teaching style is assertive and has a unique
aspect as he takes the help of case study to teach his students which shows his
passion towards teaching. He expects his students to approach the case with the right
method and in particular direction. But in today's class he was disappointed because
all of his 80 intelligent students were missing the main point in the case. He also
showed cautious behaviour when he pointed out the clock about the time spent on
the case. But as a professor it was his duty to guide the class in some directions if
the case is going nowhere. He was not able to maintain the class decorum and
discipline if he would have been able to do so Ms. Janet Macomber would have
been able to put her point early in the class. But after he found that Ms. Janet was
able to see the right approach he tries to showcase students the thought process of
Ms. Macomber by asking the right questions and doesn't put his views onto that
which may hinder other students' confidence. But as he did not conclude the class
this may also lead to a dilemma among the students which might lead to students re-
evaluating all options again and end up wasting a lot of time and still unable to get
the answer. Which might result in dissatisfaction and chaos among students about
their thought process.

B. How does this situation appear to Prof. Graham?

Ans. To Assistant Professor Graham, the situation in the class appears to be like he
was at the
wrong side for once because he felt that no one was going to crack the case as the
lecture was going to finish in 10 minutes and no one could crack the case. He had
committed to follow the case discussion teaching methodology which he thought was
not working. When Janet cracked the
case and explained the way she adapted to crack the case, he showed himself as not
amazed as he wanted others to think and get the case. He does not even comment
over Macomber’s analysis so the case could be left open ended so that students can
think for themselves upon the remarks made by Macomber. While leaving the class
he feels ecstatic as he was satisfied with the result of his teaching methodology and
found the process more fun than lecturing
C. How well did Prof. Graham handle the questioning and response with Janet?
Ans. Janet raised her hand during the last few minutes of the class. She looked
nervous and when she started speaking softly someone from the class interrupted her
to speak loudly. This added to her nervousness. Janet’s response was short and one
liner. As soon as Prof. Graham listened to Janet's response of multiplying Exhibit 1
with Exhibit 2, he was quick to realize that Janet had found the right answer. The
follow-up questions asked by Prof. Graham seemed personal and made Janet
uncomfortable but they were needed to bring the most out of Janet. The responses
given by Janet were constructive for case solving and gave class discussion the right
kind of direction. This would have been impossible without the quality of questions
asked by Prof. Graham. The long list of Questions and in-depth analysis also gave
authenticity to Janet’s response. Her classmates realized it and after the class a group
got clustered around Janet Macomber’s top row seat. At last, after listening to all the
answers given by Janet, Prof. Graham could have appreciated Janet for analysing the
case correctly. It would boost the confidence of Janet and encourage her to give a
full response in future without feeling shy and nervous. But this might bring down
the confidence of her classmates and create a sense of jealousy. So, the way Prof.
Graham wrapped up the class and ended discussion with Janet was justifiable.

D. At the end of the interchange, Prof. Graham says, “Well, well!” What do you
think of this response? What will be the effect of this response? How else
might he have responded?
Ans. This response of professor Graham is rather confusing and does not clearly state
what he thinks about the response by Ms Macomber. But it also triggers the
participant's minds to think about different prospects, like Ms. Macomber’s analysis of
the case. It prompts the students to ponder about the discussion that just happened
and think of both the possibilities of Ms. Macomber’s approach of multiplying
Exhibit 1 with Exhibit 2 and making a matrix of the dollar-volume flow between
departments, being right or wrong. But from his response, it doesn’t seem clear
whether he is convinced with Ms Macomber’s analysis or not.

Yes, there was time constraint and class were already two minutes overtime however
Rather than putting it completely open-ended, he could have given them some
direction and could have asked the students to analyse Ms. Macomber’s solution and
ask their view about the same.

E. Should Prof. Graham have dropped by the group around Janet’s desk?
Ans. No, the professor should not stop by Ms. Janet's desk. He doesn't want to give
the closure of the case to students as he refrains to provide judgment on the case and
wants students to think more about the case. So, if Prof Gram stops by Ms. Janet's
desk, he might get a clue of the class environment for Ms. Janet but the class will
have closure and could restrain other students' thinking more.
When Ms. Janet was answering the questions of the professor she was nervous and
now more questions from the student's side can demotivate her to take part in further
case analysis, so he should take a motivation session for her.