Case Competitions – Contacts and Intentions Spreadsheet
Assist first-year students in forming groups, align expectations, and hold teammates accountable.
Hearing about group conflicts in Case Competitions, GBC found several issues that prevent students from taking the most of the experience. Participants tend to group with friends and students from the same section, missing opportunities to make connections with other students. Furthermore, many conflicts are created and not properly addressed because participants usually do not align their expectations before joining a Case Competition.
The GBC wants to propose a simple solution to help the class minimize these issues. We suggest that every e-mail announcing a Case Competition contains a link to a Google Drive Spreadsheet where students interested in joining can fill their names, contact information and intentions. Participants will be able to refer to the spreadsheet when forming groups and connect with students who ideally have the same intentions towards that specific Case Competition.
Suggested intentions and meanings:
Win: participants want to win the case competition and are willing to dedicate 100% efforts to it, including abdicating of academics and hours of sleep
Network: participants want to deliver a quality presentation to cause a good impression to potential recruiters, they are willing to work hard and commit to group meetings, but will not abdicate from academics or spend nights working in a presentation
Learn: participants joined the Case Competition to explore and learn about a new industry. They want to have few and short group meetings to divide the work and will not abdicate from academics or work for too many hours in a presentation.
During orientation week the GBC will explain the spreadsheet dynamics and relevance to the income students. Hopefully, the system will help participants to have an honest dialogue with their Case Competition groups, facilitating dialogues, avoiding unproductive conflicts and enhancing the overall experience.
