The effects of successful versus failure-based cases on argumentation while solving decision-making problems

Abstract

Solving complex, ill-structured problems may be effectively supported by case-based reasoning through case libraries that provide just-in-time domain-specific principles in the form of stories. The cases not only articulate previous experiences of practitioners, but also serve as problem-solving narratives from which learners can acquire meaning. The current study investigated the effects of different case-types (success, failures) on analogical transfer to similar problems. In the first week, undergraduate sales management students (N = 36) were assigned to different case library treatments (success, failure) and asked to construct a multifaceted argument (initial argument, counterargument, rebuttal) to resolve an ill-structured, decision-making hiring problem. In the following week, students constructed an argument to solve a novel case without the support of the case library. Data analysis revealed the failure-based case library condition produced significantly higher scores on measurements of counterarguments and holistic argumentation scores on both tasks. A discussion of the implications for pedagogy and instructional design are also presented.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Initial task

Nick stepped into work Monday morning with his boss, Sheila. She scheduled this meeting to discuss a series of applicants that were being considered to fill a medical device sales position left open after someone recently left to pursue another opportunity at another company.

“Nick”, she begins, “we need to stop having to fill this position. It is killing us in terms of time and money to have to hire and train a new person every 6 months. We’ve had a lot of turnover in this medical sales position that needs to be stopped. As you know, we’ve missed on some of the previous hires. The three people we have had come in and out have cost us $90,000 over the last year in terms of revenue and training. That’s $30,000 per person! The last individual hired for the position seemed pretty good in terms of technical expertise, but it was pretty clear that the sales aspect of the job wasn’t a great fit. Let’s go through some of these together and see if we can find someone with that right mix between technical expertise and social skills”.

After going through the applicants, it becomes evident that it was difficult to find a great deal of qualified applicants.

“Oh man,” Nick exclaims. “I didn’t realize it would be this hard to find one person to fill a position. A lot of these people look really good on paper, but they just don’t have the sales experience needed. They have decent schooling, but I want to make sure we bring in the right people. We could try to retry posting a job ad in the St. Louis newspaper, but that costs us about $1,500 per month. It’s a risk shelling out all that money, but I think it’s worth it if we get the right person rather than continuing to lose market share and have to constantly train new people. How about that list you have in front of you? Do you see any resumes that you like in particular?”

Sheila thumbs through some applicants. “Actually, here is one that seems pretty interesting. This individual, Lewis, has a decent GPA. It is about a 3.1 overall, but a 3.8 in classes related to his major. He also has somewhat related experience when he worked as a marketing intern for a children’s hospital. Another option is try to try to promote from within. That might only cost us $15,000 to train a new person. I’ve heard great things about one employee in particular. This one employee, Terry, gets great telemarketing numbers in one of the worst territories for selling smaller medical devices. Plus, I know the supervisor in that department raves about Terry’s character and leadership in that role. Although the experience isn’t totally equivalent, it sounds like Terry has a chance to connecting with customers face-to-face.”

Nick quickly peruses the resume. “Terry is interesting, but I really like Lewis’ resume. I see there’s a lot of activity in some service fraternities and showed some leadership qualities there. I just love the experience in the medical field. If the references check out, why don’t we setup an interview? If not, a better bet might be to just draft a posting for a newspaper advertisement.”

Nick takes the time to contact Lewis’ references. Each are previous supervisors for whom he has worked within the last 5 years. They all speak positively about his experience and determination in the workforce. They also raved about how Lewis fit in so well within various work cultures. Nick decides to move forward with the interview at headquarters. However, in doing the background check, Nick discovers that Lewis has had an incident with an underage DUI. This is problematic because the company has a policy that does not allow individuals with moving violations to be eligible for sales positions that require a company car. However, Nick decides to still pursue the interview.

During the interview, Nick is impressed with Lewis’ demeanor and knowledge of the field. As the interview is wrapping up, Nick says “I enjoyed our meeting. I have to be honest with you. I did a background check and your DUI came up. Our policy says that we are not allowed to hire you except for special exceptions. We have a lot of expensive medical equipment and this a big burden for our insurance. If we were to hire you, our insurance would go up even more. What do you think I should do?”

Lewis says, “I know that. I probably should have detailed that on the online application, but I didn’t want to be excluded right away. To be honest, that was something that happened a long time ago. I realize it was a learning experience for me and I did all that the court required of me. Now that I’m 25, I feel as though I have taken those life lessons and will be a better employee for you because I appreciate the opportunity more. This is a dream job for me and I will be willing to do whatever it takes. You could start me off at a smaller job to demonstrate my trustworthiness. In fact, you can even take out any additional liability cost out of my paycheck until it is no longer an issue”.

Nick pauses for a minute. “I am going to have to reflect on this a bit more. I will call you in a week to tell you our decision”.

Assignment

Construct an argument (2 pages double spaced) detailing why Nick should or should not hire Lewis. The argument should include three different components: initial argument, counterargument, and rebuttal.

1. The initial argument provides a stance and supporting evidence for an initial position.2. The counterargument consists of a position and evidence that others might suggest that undermine your theory made in the initial argument.3. Finally, propose a rebuttal will answer and/or respond to the evidence proposed by the counterargument. Rather that restate the initial argument, the rebuttal should reconcile the arguments made in the argument and counterargument. For instance, the rebuttal might (a) try to challenge the validity of the stance made in the counterclaim (b) suggest a solution that offers a compromise between the initial argument and counterargument or (c) argue that one side is stronger and more influential to the argument.

Appendix 2: Sample success story

Case 1: Holly’s chance

After looking for 2 years, Jason finally found the right position that would allow him to transition from the factory floor to steel sales. In fact, he had always dreamed of working in steel sales after 10 years of making steel pipe. The move would require him to move from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, but he was ready to begin his sales career. After many years on the job market and frantic searches for new sales positions, this was finally the new opportunity Jason had been looking for. Although many of his friends had tried and failed to move from the blue-collar culture of manufacturing to the social-oriented sales career, Jason felt up for the task.

Across the country, the St. Louis distributor human resources were reviewing applicants and came across Jason’s resume. Initially, Holly discarded the resume. She had been around long enough to know that individuals did not transition well from moving to the sales side of the steel industry after so many years on the factory floor. Her colleagues did not know how to explain it. They called that missing trait the “it factor”. Holly knew that it was much more than that. She knew that those that failed did not have the social skills necessary to adapt to the new culture. She reasoned this was particularly important sales people that needed to relate with the blue-collar contractors. Finding an individual that had the technical aptitude to speak meaningfully about steel, but know how to communicate in an effective way was difficult to come by. This lack of social skills was unfortunate because the current sales personnel did not have the technical aptitude that could compare with those who actually made steel day-in and day-out.

As Holly looked more closely at Jason’s resume, she wondered if there was some additional work experience that may be applicable. Since Jason did not have many employers, he listed as many as he could on his application even if the positions did not always seem relevant. Despite the advice from his friends who insisted listing a minimum wage position at Ace Hardware was beneath the position he was applying for, Jason included the experience. Holly reasoned that maybe something as simple as listening and relating to customers everyday in this context would be provide Jason the experience needed to build and gain important social skills. Holly knew it wasn’t much, but she strongly believed it showed the aptitude to connect with customers.

Holly decided to take a chance on Jason and hire him. To the surprise of her colleagues, Jason was able to pick up the social aspect of the sale quickly. After 6 months on the job, Jason and Holly sat down to discuss lifting the initial probationary period for all new employees and possible addition of more customer territories. Whereas other individuals required additional training on relating to others or technical aspects of the steel pipe, Jason and Holly began discussing the next steps for his career.

Appendix 3: Sample failure story

Case 1: Holly’s chance

After looking for 2 years, Jason finally found the right position that would allow him to transition from the factory floor to steel sales. In fact, he had always dreamed of working in steel sales after 10 years of making steel pipe. The move would require him to move from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, but he was ready to begin his sales career. After many years on the job market and frantic searches for new sales positions, this was finally the new opportunity Jason had been looking for. Although many of his friends had tried and failed to move from the blue-collar culture of manufacturing to the social-oriented sales career, Jason felt up for the task.

The day of the interview came and the hiring staff really liked Jason’s experience. Although some questioned Holly as to whether Jason had applicable experience that would translate to the new position, she was confident in his skills to become a successful salesman. The job was offered and Jason needed little time to mull over the opportunity. In fact, he had reason to feel confident about his decision. He had a strong college degree in sales and later worked in sales for a mill for another 4 years.

Although Jason had 4 years experience working sales for a mill, he believed it would be a seamless transition as he learned how to be a salesman for a distributor. He soon realized that this position needed a different set of skillsets.

Jason came in on Monday to a meeting with his boss.

“Jason, please sit down” Holly began. “I just heard that we lost another big client last week. That is your third one in 7 months! What’s worse is that one of their executives just said that you yelled at her on a phone conference? What is going on?”

“Well, it’s not my fault. They were complaining about the product and it was clear they just weren’t understanding what it all entails. That’s on them, not me! They come to me complaining about the quality of the product. When I was selling at the mill, we were on a month-to-month commission to keep us moving. We didn’t focus up on all those tedious follow-up issues because we were focused on bringing in money. The way I see it, my job is to sell a product, not have to jump at every little thing they ask me for. You should see some of these things they send to me everyday. They are so trivial and they just drive me crazy all day. I focus on the big things of what I sell to your business, but it’s unreasonable for them to ask me to always hold their hand along the way. How am I making the company money if I’m always responding to every little complaint?”

“Well, that attitude has cost us a lot of money. You need to understand that this is a new culture and it’s not always the same between different industries. We focus on long-term relationship building, not a frenetic selling pace promoted by the mill. You have been so focused on the short-term sales because of your previous experience and now you have compromised our long-term sales strategies. I don’t know if you skillsets truly transferred. As a result of this oversight, I’m wondering if we need to reevaluate your future in this position.”

Appendix 4: Sample counterargument

“While the underage DUI on Lewis’ record can be attributed to childhood mistakes, the repercussions of such a mistake will impact whether he can be hired. With the recent trend of failed hires, costing the company about $30,000 per hire, selecting a candidate with a known risk that will increase the company’s liability jeopardizes the success of the sales team and potentially Nick’s job as a recruiter. With the masses of resumes piling in, Nick’s time is better spent locating a candidate with similar qualifications and no red flags that hiring Lewis and spending time trying to circumvent the costs associated with Lewis’ DUI. A thorough review of possible candidates could possibly save costs in the future associated with lost sales, extra training, etc.

“Promoting from within also boasts several benefits to the company as opposed to hiring outside the firm. Promoting an existing employee is less expensive (increase of $15,000), bypassing questions regarding fit with company culture. Terry, the existing employee, is also better understood by management, perhaps allowing the transition to the new position to be designed more efficiently, without overlap in training, growing pains from becoming acquainted with new people, etc. Management knows Terry’s strengths (face-to-face connections, character, leadership) and could adjust Terry’s responsibilities to her strengths and avoid her weaknesses. The act also serves as incentive for other employees to grow their own careers inside the company.”