Overview
Research, teaching materials, writings, speeches, administrative records, audio recordings and other papers of Harvard Business School professor C. Roland Christensen.
Dates
- Creation: 1931-1998
Creator
Language of Materials
Materials entirely in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Materials stored offsite; access requires advance notice. This collection requires a secondary registration form. For more information on access procedures and reproduction services, please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu.
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives (BLSCA) staff extracted digital materials from storage media when possible. Staff surveyed files and screened them for privacy and confidentiality concerns. Following internal policy, staff did not retain deleted files, operating system and program files, or unallocated space data. The original storage media have been deaccessioned.
Users can request access to digital materials for use in the de Gaspé Beaubien Reading Room. To request access please contact specialcollectionsref@hbs.edu prior to visiting the library.
Extent
33.8 linear feet (81 boxes)11 Megabytes (376 born-digital files in multiple formats)
The collection consists of annotated cases, teaching notes and other course materials, case development files, correspondence, speeches, administrative records, audio recordings, writings and drafts of publications related to teaching. The annotated cases and supporting course materials such as course outlines, reading lists, memoranda, seating charts, rosters and transcripts of presentations, illustrate Christensen's approach to teaching as well as his questioning, discussion and course management techniques. Specific HBS courses represented are Field Studies(1964-1984), Administrative Policy (1947-1953) and Business Policy (1951-1979).Christensen's case development activities are illustrated through the Nike, Inc. Case Development Files, which include handwritten notes and questions as well as a transcript of an interview with Nike co-founder Philip Knight. The records relating to the Colloquium on Teaching by the Case Method held in 1984 provide a number of perspectives expressed by various speakers concerning the case method and its effectiveness.
Materials relating to Christensen's efforts to improve the teaching skills ofuniversity professors by Developing Discussion Leadership Skills and Teaching By the Case Method courses include annotated cases developed by Christensen, Dr. Abby J.Hansen and others specifically for these courses. Other teaching and seminar planning materials include topical notes, discussion questions, correspondence, teaching plans, memoranda, agendas, schedules, programs and catalogs of seminar participants. Also included are topical notes, personal reflections, periodical clippings, cartoons and quotations assembled by Christensen that provide insight into his personal teaching philosophy. Other records include materials related to Christensen's books Teaching and the Case Methodand Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership, publications not authored by Christensen and other materials. Also included are digital drafts of Teaching and the Case Method and other draft material on teaching and class discussion used in Christensen's books and seminars.
Research materials include a group of articles maintained by Christensen as "Article Files." Speeches made by Christensen between 1963 and 1996 elucidate Christensen'sthoughts on the nature of teaching and on various methods of instruction.
Christensen's administrative activities are represented by correspondence, handwritten notes, memos, guidelines, course outlines, reports, exams, course evaluations and other materials related to Administrative Policy and Business Policy courses. Christensen's MBA Review Committee records (a committee assembled with the purpose of creating a strategic plan for the MBA program at HBS), include memos, reports, notes and related documents from 1959-1961.
Audiovisual records include an audio recording and transcription of a 1997 interview between Christensen and Albert Bartovics and Carole Foster about the development of Business Policy cases and their use in HBS courses. Also included are audio recordings of Christensen speaking at the Cotting Library in 1982, a 1988 interview with Bob Eccles, and a video recording entitled Case Video to Accompany Business Policy Text and Cases, which contains video segments of a number of instructors, including Christensen, to accompany Business Policy: Text and Cases, 7th Ed, a book that Christensen co-authored.
Biographical / Historical
Carl Roland Christensen was born in Tyler, Minnesota, in 1919, the son of teachers. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa in 1941 and aMaster of Business Administration and Doctor of Commercial Science degree from Harvard Business School in 1943 and 1953, respectively. During and immediately following World War II he served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps,1943-1946.
Christensen became a Research Assistant in Business Administration at HarvardBusiness School in 1946 and an Instructor in Business Administration in 1947. He was promoted to Assistant Professor (1948) and Associate Professor (1954), becoming a full Professor of Business Administration in 1958, and the George F. Baker, Jr.Professor of Business Administration in 1963. Appointed as the Robert Walmsey University Professor by Harvard president Derek Bok in 1984, Christensen was the first Harvard Business School faculty member to become a University Professor. In fact, Christensen played a major role in the development of the Derek Bok Center, established in 1975 to heighten the quality of undergraduate instruction at Harvard. Within the Harvard community, Christensen taught at the Harvard Law School, the Harvard Medical School, the Graduate School of Education and the School of Public Health. His teaching activities outside of the Harvard community included teachingat IMEDE, an international school of management in Laussane, Switzerland, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Business Policy, case method instruction and developing discussion leadership skills were Christensen's major areas of teaching, study and research throughout hiscareer. In addition, as the director of many businesses, Christensen observed various problems associated with the decision-making process and the effective functioning of boards of directors. His research interests included investigations into ways of improving the operation of such boards.
Christensen is widely recognized as one of the leading experts on the art of teaching by discussion and on the effective use of the case method and field studies in education. His teaching methods were designed to promote the active involvement of students, encouraging them to express, share, and compare ideas by using classroom techniques that are sensitive to the needs of individual students without surrendering control of the instructional process. The case method at HBS confronts students with problems encountered by managers and uses the problems as a basis forexploring theoretical concepts as well as practical issues. At the request of Derek Bok in the mid 1970s, Christensen built on these concepts and developed two influential seminars designed to improve the quality of teaching: Developing Discussion Leadership Skills and Teaching By the Case Method. For over twenty years, Christensen organized and co-taught classes for university faculty members, both within and beyond the Harvard community, enabling them to hone their skills at leading discussions and molding their abilities to question, listen, and respond. Infact, although formally retired in 1990, Christensen was actively engaged inteaching seminars on discussion and case method teaching until shortly before his death.
Christensen passed away on August 28, 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
This collection contains digital material. You may need specialized software to access, render, or use these files. Baker Library Special Collections and Archives can provide software that will render a majority of file types on a computer in the de Gaspé Beaubien Reading Room.
Physical Location
ARCFA
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of C. Roland Christensen, 1985, 1990, 1997, 1998, 2007.
Separated Materials
The following items have been removed from the collection and have been separately cataloged:
- Barnes, Louis B. et al. Teaching andthe Case Method: Text, Cases and Readings, (3rd Ed.). Boston:Harvard Business School Press, 1994.
- Barnes, Louis B. et al. Teaching andthe Case Method: Instructor's Guide, (3rd Ed.). Boston: HarvardBusiness School Press, 1994.
- Christensen, C. Roland et al. Instructor's Manual to Accompany Policy Formulation andAdministration, (9th Ed.). Homewood, IL: R. D. Irwin, 1985.
- Gullette, Margaret M. (Ed.). The Artand Craft of Teaching. Cambridge, MA: Harvard-Danforth Center forTeaching and Learning, 1982.
Processing Information
Processed: August 1998
By: Jeffery Mifflin; revised Dominique Tremblay, April 2008; revised Laura Williams, May 2009.
Born-digital material processed: October 2023
By: Benjamin Johnson
Processing Information
Audiocasettes 001347577_AT_0013, 001347577_AT_0014 and optical discs 001347577_OD_0001 and 001347577_OD_0002 were reviewed and deacessioned in July 2023. 001347577_AT_0013 and 001347577_AT_0014 are exact duplicates of 001347577_AT_0011 and 001347577_AT_0012. 001347577_OD_0001 and 001347577_OD_0002 are partial copies of 001347577_AT_0011 and 001347577_AT_0012.
Born-digital materials 001347577_FD_0008, 001347577_FD_0013, 001347577_FD_0018 were reviewed and deaccessioned in October 2023.
Processing Information
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives (BLSCA) staff extracted digital materials from storage media when possible. Staff surveyed files and screened them for privacy and confidentiality concerns. Following internal policy, BLSCA staff did not retain deleted files, operating system and program files, or unallocated space data. The original storage media have been deaccessioned.
Creator
- Author
- Baker Library
- Date
- October 2023
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- bak00012
Repository Details
Part of the Baker Library Special Collections and Archives, Harvard Business School Repository
Baker Library Special Collections and Archives holds unique resources that focus on the evolution of business and industry, as well as the records of the Harvard Business School, documenting the institution's development over the last century. These rich and varied collections support research in a diverse range of fields such as business, economic, social and cultural history as well as the history of science and technology.
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