Using Homemade, Short, Fictional Cases for Teaching the Theory of Constraints

For our undergraduate Operations Management course, a lack of case studies meeting our specific needs, coupled with our reluctance to reuse cases too frequently, inspired development of a collection of "homemade" cases. These cases, which focus on application of the Theory of Constraints, are fictional (of necessity) and short (by design); however, we have found that these two characteristics have not limited the effectiveness of the case assignments: They are consistently meeting our pedagogical objectives, including eliciting deliberation and varied responses from students. This paper discusses the motivation for developing homemade cases, the nature of the cases (short, fictional) and associated implications, advice for development and implementation, and feedback from students. Keywords: cases * fictional cases * short cases * theory of constraints * constraint management * teaching production/operations management * teaching service operations management * teaching with cases