The case method

Title

The case method

Creator

Orendain, Teresita E.

Identifier

Dr. Stephen Faller

Language

English

Source

February 11, 1970

Year

1970

Subject

Case method (Teaching)

Teaching methods

Educators

School administrators

Asian Institute of Management

Fuller, Stephen H.

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

Dr. Stephen Fidler The Case Method By Teresita E. Orendain When last August we received a formally err graved invitation to witness the installation of the first President of the newly created Asian Institute of Management, Dr. Stephen Fuller, we determined to get him for an interview before his term of office expired. (The Institute is a result of a merger bet ween the graduate schools of business of De La Salle College and the Ateneo de Manila University and is being supported by the Eugenio Lopez Foundation, Ford Foundation, the United States Agency for ln~ ternational Development and a number of business houses and businessmen, among them The San Mi guel Corporation, Ayala Corporation, the account' ing offices of Sycip, Gorres and Velayo, Caltex (Phil) Inc. and many more.) Nearly six months to the day he was installed, (together with a friend who did the Introductions) we found Dr. Fuller one Sunday afternoon relaxing in his favorite haunt, the sala of his rambling one level Dasmarinas Village residence with his wife, the former Frances Mulhearn, and a just completed huge jigsaw puzzle of a painting of an English countryside. Tall, almost over six feet, bouncy and ebullient, with blue steady gazed-eyes behind horn-rlmmed glasses, clad In well pressed blue pants and beautiful barong tagalog (that hang well on him) silver haired where it still grew, he could passed for a mestizo. He is half English and half Irish and is a Catholic. Photo shows the installation of Dr. Stephen H. Ful- cip, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Asian Insler as first president of the Asian Institute of Ma- titute of Management and Bro. Gabriel Connon, nagement. From left are Dr. Stephen H. Fuller, F. S. C. president. De La Salle College. President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Washington Z. SyTwinkle-eyed, full of Irish warmth and good humor, Dr. Ful ler who turned fifty six days ago, looks like a kindly, doting grand father or like jolly old Santa Claus (depending on the mood you meet him) rather than the astute aca demician or tough business con sultant and the head of such a prestigious educational institu tion whose lofty goal is the educa tion and training of future busi ness leaders in this part of the world. Apart from developing future business Midases, he has authored a book on labor relations — Prob lems In Labor Relations — pub lished by McGraw-Hill in 1964. Un til his appointment as associate dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, he taught courses in Labor Rela tions and Human Relations, Busi ness Responsibilities in American Society and Business Policy. The teaching staff of the University of Ohio (where he obtained his ba chelor of arts degree) has also availed of his services. He has served as consultant in various business and industry In his own country, Europe, Canada and Asia. He has been very active in helping to establish development pro grams within individual companies which has taken him to teach in programs in Switzerland, Japan, Spain, Italy, Pakistan, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia, Canada, and most often here. (As proof of his outstanding contributions to man agement education here, the Ste phen Fuller Chair in Business Ad ministration was created at the State University in 1968.) “I like the Philippines," Dr. Ful ler told us. "I like being here. I like Manila and I hate people with whom I talk to, who raise eyebrows and commiserate with me when they learn that I am going to stay here for sometime. They have mis taken impressions of the country. I always set them straight (very straight in fact) about conditions here." The romance between Dr. Ful ler and the Philippines began over 20 years ago when he first came here as a soldier in the US Army towards the end of World War II. Since then he has been in and out of the country for more than 15 times with long periods of stay in connection with his lecture tours. He was a member of the faculty of Dr. STEPHEN H. FULLER the first ETIOP Advance Manage ment Courses in Baguio City. When the final decision as to where the AIM was going to be si tuated was being made, Dr. Fuller promptly suggested Manila be the site. Not only because of the prac tical side of the question — there won’t be any language barrier — but also some sentimental reasons. “The decision was made here,” he said patting his breast. To our incredulous ‘Oh’ he elaborated. "I couldn’t bring my other two sons anywhere else, could I? They would sorely miss the country of their birth so much.” Later on, we found out who were the two sons he was referring to. They were his two adopted Filipino boys, Teofilo and Rogelio who now live with him and his wife and who bear his surname. His other two natural sons are Mark and Joseph Fuller who are both in Boston. Both Dr. Fuller and his wife Frances (she gave up a teaching post at Radcliffe where she grad uated) are deeply involve in edu cation. “I’m stuck with it” he proudly informed us with an en gaging grin. We urged the good doctor to fill us in on what he is stuck with and he told us about the main con cerns of the Institute, his views on the teaching method and the Fili pino students as a whole compared to its American counterpart, and his views on the economy of the country (very bright he said) and various things that were purely personal opinions that they need not be mentioned here. (We liked his candid, personal opinions, though.) A keen advocate of the case method of teaching, he has a spec tacular disbelief in the lecture me thod both from the standpoint of personal discretion and of ‘Chris tian charity towards his audience’. “I firmly believe that the best way to capture the interest of a stu dent is not to feed him with a lot of words (which he takes down as siduously and then memorize) but to make him think. The case me thod does this. The student’s mind is made to grapple with the actual, everyday problems encountered by businessmen here (we asked them to write down their problems in business). The solutions then come from each and everyone in the class. In this way too, the more timid are encourage to disagree (Continued on page 6) Page 4 Herald Mid-Week Magazine Wednesday, February 11, 1970 Timeless Music There is a very special kiutd of music which I hope vuil find a great if not a fjdal appeal to whoever I cks it. All for the better for everyone as we shall see. I refer to the oldest kind of music, and also the most modern. It is, how ever, not contemporary: tne Past and the Future find it more common. It is the music for and of the Wingless and the Super** birds. It is Timeless Music. In the most primitive communi ties in Africa, Australia, and Asia, music plays the’ vital function of providing the most suitable form of communication among the peo ple themselves and of course rmong the mortals and the spirits. The religious rite always basically accompanied by some sort of chanting. Even in the archaic ci vilizations, as in India, songs (in cuarter — and smaller tones) and instrumental improvisations were never absent. In our time, music has become quite complicated and noisy. It is not anymore solely sacred music that we have but also the profane. The traditional JEREMY FLINT’S BRIDGE CLASS * Note the singleton JOHN. TARINS VIEW. TO’ OPEN THE SECOND SUIT, Of AMOMDS INTO ACCOUNT THE POSITION OF YOUR SINGLETON. IT IS A MISTAKE. IN MV church chants have become in fested by folksongs and the like. Profane music such as jazz, pop and rock, and even "serious con temporary" has battered our lives. Nevertheless, in all these instan ces, music serves the function of communication — the expression of the striving of man for a mean ingful way of lifa And yet, all music pieces ever produced so far are imperfections. The symphonies of Beethoven and the contrapuntally correct fugues of Bach are imperfections. Their music does not at all compare with the Timeless Music. In fact, the music of the composers we call “masters” are merely mimics, like clowns which have the pecu liarity of being funny and pathetic at the same time. The Evoica Sym phony becomes a valiant struggle and a courageous affirmation of the dignity of what man is. Great. But why were the String Quartets composed after this symphony: do not these Quartets look into the future? Are these not visionary? These music masters' paradise must lie somewhere else since they never cease their search. They look back-and-forward, think there-ana-later. Where is the Ideal? The early troubadours thought it was found in their poetic lyri cism, so .hey sang to hearts over brimming. Palestrina thought thorough voice leading would do RESPONDS TWO HEARTS, AS SUE VERY WEU. MAY, YOU WILL BE FORCED TO RE-BID YOUR MOTH-SATfN SPADES, BECAUSE A BID OF THREE DIAMONDS WOULD DENOTE A VERY MUCH STRONGER By Jorge A. Carreon it. Bach added homophony. Mozart emphasized line and form. Beetho ven combined everything. The Ro mantics flooded themselves with their own tears. Stravinsky thought he had hit the pot with his “Rites of Spring” only to tread again la ter on the old battlegrounds of the Ciassicists. Anton Webern concen trated on microcosmic forms and emaciated harmony. Stockhausen uses electronics. The hippies, sti mulants and sex. It takes a lot of courage to com pose music. It also takes much brain and patience. But it takes all these and much more to appre ciate the Timeless Music, and es pecially to go into it. One must be honestly prepared and willing to do it. One must have grace from the Wingless and the Superbirds. Man has always striven for things absolute. He will always be striving for things absolute. It seems that Life for him is an allor-nothing proposition, even as he is well aware that perfection here on earth can only be but poorly approximated. Man has just got to keep on and plough through. He can not do otherwise. Well, actually he can do other wise one thing, the only one. He can write the Timeless Music — the music not of notes but of rests. He can Die . . . Which reminds me of Kanakruschti, who said, "Si lence like the Wingless Dove it flew — motionless. And Timeless in Peace was the Universe.” TUE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT WE HAVE A &INGLSTOM SPAPS Of A SINGLETON HEART. HERE IT IS EMINENTLY CORRECT TO OPEN THE BIDDING IRRESPECTIVE OF PARTNER’S RESPONSE. YOU CAN CONFIDENTLY INTRODUCE YOUR MAKING A MARGINAL 0PEWIM6BID, MOTE WHERE THE SINGLETON IS AND WHETHER OR The Case Method (Continued, from page 4) with the professors.” Asked whether there is much difference between the Filipino students and American students he said not much as long as they are given the same educational opportunity. “But this I found. The Filipino student respects authority and grey hairs more, so that he tends to take what his professors say hook, line and sinker. But this is true everywhere in Asia, I think.” AIM’s aim is three-fold. To pro vide highly competent and care: fully selected candidates, without regard to their financial ability to pay their education, the opportu nity to receive professional, grad uate level, full-time training in managerial leadership. Since not everyone who wants to further their studies can be admitted to the Harvard Business School ab road (only 750 students are admit ted each year to the school, and 10 per cent of said total is allotted to foreign students) AIM intends to give the same training to Aslan students with the same curricu lum, same courses and same teach ing method — the case method. “We do not need valedictorians but students who have leadership (they are iwo quite different thing). True we are tough in the admission office, but afterwards, when they have hurdled the ex aminations we are generous to them. The work load is heavy, about 70 hours a week. That is why we do not accept working stu dents. But we do our level best to get students who have been admit ted, to graduate them. So far out of the 96 students admitted this school year, only four dropped the course for reason of health. If the future of the school depends on the students, then I can proudly say that it will be a success.” We asked Dr. Fuller how things are going financially for both the students (when they finally are graduated) and for the teaching staff. “Great on both counts. Already some of our students are being eyed by a number of business con cerns. As for the teaching staff, we had some difficulties in keep ing them after they return from training in Harvard. Some of our would be faculty members wind up in the offices of several business houses in Makati. But now we have the problem licked. We raised their pay. The average AIM professor’s pay is way, way above those of fered by other schools or business establishments. Still, we have to admonish the businessmen not to ‘cut down the tree but to take the fruits which we will <renerously offer n clone.’ Page 6 Herald Mid-Week Mogozine Wednesday, February 11, 1970

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4+

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