For example, the course in financial analysis and control does not aim to develop expert accountants or to provide accounting skills, per se. 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 chairs of clinical departments. Special case materials based on field studies of specific issues faced by service chiefs have been and continue to be prepared by the faculty. 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 analyses 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.