Harvard Case Study - Abuse of an Agreement
Estie
Harvard Business School. Having agreed not to use the case study for
promotion, Landmark has, from the beginning, and to this day, broken this
agreement. Harvard originally used the case study in classes and sold it to
the public. Then sale was restricted to faculty of colleges and
universities.
Now you can't get it anywhere at Harvard. But Landmark continues to
describe
it on its website and send it out. Think Harvard is sorry it ever heard of
Landmark? Think Harvard was used?
- Estie
-------------------------------------------------------------
A HARVARD FORUM FOR SELF-PROMOTION?
Alex Beam, The Boston Globe, November 6, 1998
http://members.nbci.com/apostate/lecarchive/harvform.htm
The Harvard Business School seems to be out of the business of selling
$6,000
videotapes with Rosabeth Moss Kanter droning out platitudes like "Great
companies are focused in their approach to doing business." (They will,
however, sell you a $495, 30-minute video on "Managing Future Performance.")
Now the B-School has a brand-new bag: flacking for the "personal
development"
seminar known as The Forum.
The San Francisco-based Forum came into being when Werner Erhard (John Paul
Rosenberg to his parents) sold the "technology" for Erhard Seminars Training
-- est -- to his brother Harry. The Forum, formally known as the Landmark
Education Corp., has enjoyed considerable success with the
self-actualization
crowd, and with the Cambridge intelligentsia. That success is now chronicled
in an HBS
case study so sycophantic that Landmark has been using it -- improperly,
Harvard says -- as a promotional tool.
The document, originally written for classroom discussion, is also sold to
the
public. Last revised in April, it reads like a 22-page advertisement for
Landmark's "breakthrough in paradigm thinking." Authored by professor Karen
Hopper Wruck, the case breathlessly quotes Forum executives who compare
their
work to that of Galileo and Socrates(!). The study also quotes from a
Forum-sponsored Daniel Yankelovich survey of graduates. Surprise! All six
veterans of the Forum's weekend training quoted by Wruck loved it!
Wruck quickly dismisses critics who call the Forum a cult. The Forum is
listed
on the Internet FACTnet database of "cults, groups and individuals that are
alleged to be using coercive persuasion mind control techniques," but they
have sued people who call them a cult. In an appendix, she quotes at length
from
four experts who insist the Forum is not a cult, but cites no contrary
opinions.
Had Wruck been seeking to find anyone critical of the touchy-feely Forum she
needed only to cross the campus and chat with Radcliffe public policy fellow
Wendy Kaminer. The Forum is the subject of acidulous commentary in Kaminer's
best-selling book, "I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional." "If you
want to experience or 'process' New Age's heady combination of
pseudoscience,
religion, and money," writes Kaminer, "visit a session or two of The Forum,
the new incarnation of est."
In her defense, Wruck told me: "I understood that it was a controversial
company, but I wanted to study a company that directly addressed issues
around
human behavior. A case study is a pedagogical vehicle, not a position paper
or
an endorsement." Harvard has affixed an unprecedented disclaimer ("Please be
aware that...the school does not endorse this company or any other company")
to the document.
Mark Kamin, a Landmark spokesman, said his company ordered several thousand
copies of the document after it was published. He adds that Landmark signed
an
agreement with Harvard not to use the case for promotional purposes, "and
we've endeavored to keep that agreement." When I told him that a recent
seminar attendee said the case was being used to puff Landmark, Kamin said,
"I
can't guarantee that people who led seminars didn't say, 'Hey, there's this
case study.'"
-------------------------------------------------------
CASE IN POINT
Alex Beam, The Boston Globe, April 2, 1999
http://members.nbci.com/apostate/lecarchive/caseinpt.htm
How very unsurprising that the San Francisco-based Landmark Education Corp.,
widely known as the Forum, is still using the embarrassingly stupid and
one-sided Harvard Business School case study ''Landmark Education
Corporation:
Selling a Paradigm Shift'' to hawk its wares. Landmark is a Werner
Erhard/est spinoff that has found quite an audience with the
self-actualization crowd. Landmark also has clients in corporate America.
Even
after protests from the B-school about nonacademic use of the case, Landmark
still teases the study off the front page of its Web site,
http://www.landmark-education.com.
Since last year, however, Harvard has restricted sale of the case ''to
faculty
and staff of universities.'' Harvard and Landmark also say that the case
does
''not in any way constitute an endorsement or statement of official
position,
positive or negative, regarding their subject matter'' - a ludicrous
disclaimer
of a study that uncritically quotes Forum executives comparing themselves to
Socrates and Galileo.
The Harvard case has also surfaced in a debate in Grand Rapids, Mich., over
whether to hire the Gilmore Group, a consulting firm led by former Landmark
manager Elizabeth Gilmore, to help the city conduct a ''cultural
transformation'' of its municipal employees. (Gilmore worked for Landmark on
a
similar contract in Highland Park, Mich.) A city employee who sits on a
committee reviewing the proposed contract says the study was distributed
''to
give some background information as to what Landmark Education was all
about and to show that it was not a cult.''
Gilmore says she doesn't know why the case study was handed out in Grand
Rapids, and points out that she hasn't been affiliated with Landmark for the
past three years: ''Landmark technology is copyrighted and I'm not using it
in
any way.''
---------------------------------------------------------------
LANDMARK TRAINING 'COST ME MY JOB'
Peta Woodhouse and Marita Vandenberg, Contact,
Wellington, New Zealand, February 17, 2000
http://members.nbci.com/apostate/lecarchive/contact2.htm
A Landmark media spokesperson Sharon Spaulding ... responded to questions
about information supplied to intending course participants.
She said there was no formal prospectus outlining exactly what would happen
during the course or details about the qualifications and backgrounds of the
trainers. But a great deal of literature was made available including a
study
from Harvard University, she said.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Special report: Friends land state consultant jobs
By Rebecca Griffin, Eagle-Tribune Writer, Sunday, October 15, 2000
http://best.prospect.com/best/eagle1.htm
...
Landmark Education
Another connection among some DOE [Massachusetts Department of Education]
technology employees is the California-based Landmark Education Corporation.
Landmark Education is an employee-owned company that, for a fee, offers a
four-part "Curriculum For Living." Its basic program is called The Landmark
Forum, a weekend seminar that Landmark describes as "a philosophical inquiry
which deals with the fundamental questions and issues which are key to
shaping
and determining people's effectiveness, creativity and satisfaction. "Mr.
Nadeau and Deputy Education Commissioner Safran said they have been through
Landmark's courses. In 1998, the DOE paid $700 to send two consultants who
work for Mr. Nadeau to The Landmark Forum seminar. Another DOE technology
consultant, Alex Jackl, is a former Landmark trainer, according to Mr.
Nadeau,
who said he believes his classmate Mr. Rodgers met Mr. Jackl through The
Landmark Forum. Landmark Education was founded in 1991 when Werner Erhard,
creator of the controversial "est" self-help seminars, sold the "technology"
behind the seminars to his employees, according to a 1998 Time magazine
article provided by Landmark Education. Est offered personal enlightenment
through a 60-hour seminar that was criticized as grueling and regimented
and,
according to the Time article, included "barf bags for the weak of mind and
stomach." The Time article says Landmark offers a "kinder, gentler and
lucrative version" of Mr. Erhard's self-help seminars. It also cites critics
who call Landmark "an elaborate marketing game." Landmark itself cites
glowing
testimonials from clients who include police officers, psychiatrists and
clergy members who have participated in The Landmark Forum and found it
rewarding. Both Mr. Safran and Mr. Nadeau said they found the Landmark
sessions helpful in fostering leadership. Mr. Nadeau said the DOE paid to
send
two consultants to The Landmark Forum because "I saw potential in both of
them
to become managers, and I believed this was a course that would make a real
difference for them." Mr. Safran said companies like Boeing and Reebok send
employees to Landmark's courses. "We think that's pretty good evidence it's
effective," Mr. Safran said. He also cited a Harvard Business School case
study of Landmark Education that he said "suggested it's one of the most
effective leadership programs in the country." Loretto Crane, executive
director of communications at Harvard Business School Publishing, said the
case study examined how Landmark made money, not the effectiveness of its
training." It was a discussion of Landmark's business," Ms. Crane said. "It
was not an endorsement of its practices or an endorsement of Landmark's
message. It is not a validation of Landmark's business at all." Ms. Crane
also
said the study is no longer available to anyone, including Harvard
professors.
Landmark sent a copy of the Harvard study to The Eagle-Tribune, but included
a
cover letter that said the study is not an endorsement by Harvard and warned
that no portion of the copyrighted study could be reprinted without
Harvard's
permission.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Pay Money, Be Happy
BY VANESSA GRIGORIADIS, New York Magazine, July 9, 2001
http://www.nymag.com/page.cfm?page_id=4932
Landmark often justifies the value of its courses by citing a 1997 Harvard
Business School case study, "Landmark Education Corporation: Selling a
Paradigm Shift," which outlines the company's business practices and
underlying message in glowing terms but doesn't cover the psychological
aspects or effectiveness of Landmark's programs. As of this year, Harvard is
no
longer printing the study, teaching from it in courses, or keeping it in its
library. "Landmark ordered 75,000 copies of the study," says a source at the
school. "That's when we knew we had a problem." (Landmark's spokesman, Mark
Kamin, calls this figure "grossly inaccurate.")
----------------------------------------------------------
July 7, 2001
Landmark's website
http://www.landmarkeducation.com
"Case studies on Landmark's programs for individuals and corporations from
the
University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and Harvard
Business School"
clicking on the above link reveals the following information:
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
published a case study, titled
"Landmark Education
Corporation: Selling a
Paradigm Shift", that
focuses on Landmark
Education Corporation.
Harvard Business School
prepares cases to serve as
a basis for classroom
discussion rather than to
illustrate effective or
ineffective handling of an
administrative setting.
The case study was
conducted by Harvard
Business School and taught
in their business curriculum
to their MBA students. The
case study covered
Landmark Education's
company history, its unique
form of education and its
relevant application to both
individuals and corporations.
Harvard Case study
researchers stated: "LEC's
programs teach applied
philosophy to large groups in
a way that allows
participants to use it in
creating fulfilling lives."
These cases do not in any
way constitute an
endorsement or statement
of official position, positive
or negative, regarding their
subject matter. The case
study is copyrighted by the
President and Fellows of
Harvard College and is not
currently available for
purchase.
computeruser
computeruser
Estie <Es...@MailAndNews.com> wrote in message
news:3B5C...@MailAndNews.com...
David
were their findings in a nutshell? Thanks.
Dave
"Estie" <Es...@MailAndNews.com> wrote in message
news:3B5C...@MailAndNews.com...
Estie
>I have heard of the study numerous times in this ng at and LE itself. What
>were their findings in a nutshell? Thanks.
>
>Dave
They found that Landmark lies. :)
- Estie