Laurel Austin, an adjunct research professor in Management Science at Ivey, won the award in the Economics, Politics and Business Environment category in the Case Centre Awards and Competitions 2017. The Awards recognize outstanding case writers and teachers from across the globe. Awards are presented to those outstanding cases that have been used in the largest number of organizations in the past year.
Austin said she is honoured her case, USCD: A cancer cluster in the literature building?, was recognized. She also won the Case Centre’s Outstanding New Case Writer Competition in 2015 for the same case.
The case looks at the decision-making process following concerns about a possible cancer cluster among faculty and staff at a university. It addresses the importance of understanding how people perceive information selectively, and the impact selective perception can have in the real world.
The case’s main protagonist is the female president of a large university. Since few cases involve women at that level of leadership, Austin said she’s proud her case focuses on a high-level female leader.
“This award is a validation that my time was well spent, and the case provides valuable materials, and perhaps teaching inspiration, to other university educators,” she said.
Austin said she was drawn to Ivey for its case-based learning style, the inspiring faculty, and the level of engagement in the students. She said she enjoys Ivey’s culture as it allows her to apply cases in the classroom, and focus on a variety of important issues in any given class.
“I love how Ivey students study in advance, prepare for a case, and are willing to contribute their thoughts,” she said. “The real-life emotions expressed in my case, by faculty and staff, regarding concerns for their health helps students understand that decision-making in organizations is not just an analytical process. In the case they see the ways in which we are all prone to perceive information around us selectively, and the ways it can impact decision-making and risk management.”
Austin is currently working on new cases focused on decision-making processes.
