The Program aims to bring together physicians who are in administrative positions in academic health centers, who are not chairs of clinical departments, and an interdisciplinary faculty for two weeks of intensive and systematic study of some of the critical leadership and management issues which face physicians in administrative positions and academic health centers. Objectives The Program's objective is to enhance and develop participants' leadership abilities and effectiveness. The principal method of instruction in the Program is the case method, a technique pioneered and refined at the Harvard Business School. Most of the cases present actual problem situations familiar to physicians in administrative positions at academic health centers. The case method confronts the participant with an actual management problem, halted at a point where decisions must be made, and forces the participant to choose a course of action.
Participants go through a three-step study process.
First, participants study each case independently. Then they meet in small discussion groups to test their individual analysis against those of their peers. Finally, the entire class discusses the case, with the professor as catalyst and guide. Assigned readings and guest lecturers supplement and augment the use of cases. In addition, an important part of the learning process occurs during the informal exchange of insights and experience among participants and faculty.