The genre system of the Harvard case method

Focusing on the case write-up within the Harvard case method of instruction , this study provides historical and empirical er,evidence for the theory o f genre systems. The Harvard case literature and interviews at a case-based business school in the Harvard tradition shore that the purpose of this la rgely ignored written genre is to prepare students to participate in the pr imary genre oral classroom discussion of the case. The case genre system pr ovides highly conventionalized conductor-choreographer roles for instructor s and blunt, detached consultant roles for student writers/speakers who rep eatedly enact decisive, adversarial personae affirming practices and values of the business school.