The launch of Harvard Business School's FIELD programme has led, though not by HBS itself, to some thoughts that the days of the case study may be numbered. In fact HBS is building on the strengths of the case method by beefing up the student learning experience through a blend of cases (including those researched and written at its increasing number of overseas research centres) and the FIELD programme's immersive experiential learning.
That this could be taken to mean the end of the case method is a misunderstanding of what the case method is about. Working through a case is not a poor replica of real life, and is not intended to be. It is a different form of experience - rather like how watching sports or opera or the report of an international trade negotiation on television is different from being there, never mind experiencing it as a player, performer or diplomat. Different but, in many respects, better. On television I get better angles of view, expert analysis and commentary and a much clearer picture of what is going on and why one team loses or wins, or a performer moves us or a negotiation is lost - something that often the players themselves or, more often, the losing managers, don't always know themselves.
In the same way, a good case study provides the clarity and analytical rigour for which real life doesn't allow time. HBS is recognising this by retaining the mix of case study and experiential. Reminds me more of Executive education, than a New Orleans band marching us to the grave of the case method.
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