Christensen, University Professor, Dies at 80

September 16, 1999

SEARCH THE GAZETTE

HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

C. Roland (Chris) Christensen, Robert Walmsley University Professor Emeritus , one of the founders of the field of business strategy, and the world’s leading authority on case-method teaching, died on Saturday, Aug. 28, in Nashville, Tenn. He was 80 years old.

Christensen joined the Harvard Business School (HBS) faculty in 1946, and although he formally retired in 1990, he continued to write, teach, and offer seminars on case-method teaching until the last months of his life.

Beloved by generations of HBS students, Christensen regarded himself first and foremost as a teacher. "What an opportunity it is," he reflected in an interview several years ago, "to have the privilege of being a teacher, the greatest of all vocations, for it keeps us anchored in the world of youth, ideas, and research.’’

"Chris Christensen personified the mission of the Harvard Business School," said Dean Kim B. Clark. "He was a pioneer in turning the classroom into a transformational experience and in preparing leaders for both business and society. As a researcher, his work on the development and implementation of corporate strategy paved the way for an area of study that has long been a cornerstone of the School’s curriculum. As an extraordinary teacher and human being, he made an indelible mark on the history of this institution."

President Neil L. Rudenstine added, "Chris Christensen was in a class by himself. He was one of Harvard’s, and the world’s, rare human beings: kind – but not less demanding for all his kindness, patient, astute, alert, and always capable of guiding discussions, courses, or institutions with craftsmanlike skill and the kind of ingenuity that is born of deep knowledge and experience. His contributions to the development of the case method, to research and teaching, to the charting of the wise course of the Harvard Business School and the University at large were immense. His loss is great. The memory of his presence and his achievements is equally so."

As a young assistant professor at Harvard Business School in 1956, Christensen, along with several colleagues, played a major role in developing the concept of corporate strategy as the organizing principle for a revised version of the School’s Business Policy course. Designed to give students the strategic perspective they would need as general managers, Business Policy became a jewel in the HBS curriculum and a source of many pioneering case studies.

In the classroom, Christensen was a true artist, moving his arms gracefully, like the conductor of a symphony orchestra, as he posed questions to students, listened carefully to their replies, and then responded – all within the rapid give-and-take context of an energetic and rigorous discussion.

Christensen was named a full professor in 1958 and the first George F. Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration in 1963. In 1968, Dean George P. Baker asked him to co-chair a program to help other HBS professors improve their teaching capabilities. Dedicated to the belief that "good teachers are made, not born," Christensen and several other faculty members responded by writing numerous cases that reflected a broad range of classroom situations.

Another request for help came from President Derek Bok in the mid-1970s regarding the quality of teaching throughout the University. Building on his work at HBS, Christensen responded by creating two influential seminars, Developing Discussion Leadership Skills, attended primarily by doctoral candidates and young instructors, and Teaching by the Case Method, which attracted professors from all of the Harvard faculties.

In recognition of his contributions to the entire Harvard teaching community, Bok named Christensen to a university professorship in 1984.

Christensen later went on to become an important figure at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Beyond Harvard, he served as a visiting professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, the University of South Africa (Pretoria), and the Iran Center for Management (Teheran). In the mid- 1950s, he was part of a team of HBS professors whose advice to the top executives of Nestlé S.A. led to the creation of IMEDE (now IMD), the European management school in Switzerland. This outreach was a major step in the globalization of the Business School.

Carl Roland Christensen was born Aug. 17, 1919, in Tyler, Minn. He grew up in Iowa City, where his father was a professor of history at the University of Iowa. His mother taught at a small college in Des Moines.

A 1941 graduate of the University of Iowa, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Christensen received an MBA from Harvard in 1943. After serving as a captain in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps from 1943 to 1946, he followed the advice of an HBS assistant dean and returned to the Business School to continue his education and to teach. Christensen earned his doctorate in commercial science from the Business School in 1953.

The recipient of numerous awards, Christensen received the Business School’s highest accolade, the Distinguished Service Award, in 1993. He held honorary degrees from Babson College and the University of Montreal. The Academy of Management’s Business Policy and Planning Division bestowed on him its first Outstanding Educator Award in 1987, citing Christensen’s seminal work in the field of business strategy.

In 1988, on the occasion of its Twenty-Fifth Reunion, the Harvard MBA Class of 1963 honored Christensen by establishing a professorship in his name. Next year, the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah will open the C. Roland Christensen Center.

Christensen was the author or co-author of numerous case studies and books, including Teaching and the Case Method; Education for Judgment: The Artistry of Discussion Leadership; Business Policy: Text and Cases; Policy Formulation and Administration; Problems in General Management; The Motivation, Productivity, and Satisfaction of Workers; and Management Succession in Small and Growing Enterprises.

Christensen leaves his wife of more than 55 years, Dorothy (Smith); two sons, Philip R. Christensen of Pretoria, South Africa, and S. Eric Christensen of Palatka, Fla.; two daughters, Ann Christensen-Badger of Wilmette, Ill., and Joan Beck of Nashville, Tenn.; and four grandchildren.

Plans for a memorial service at Harvard will be announced at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to the Fund for Compassionate Support, in care of Elizabeth Bolyn, Teele Hall 312, Harvard Business School, Boston, MA 02163.

A memorial service will be held at the Memorial Church in Harvard Yard on Friday, Nov. 5, at 2 p.m.