English version
Methodology
The business environment presents many problems that do not have only one solution. To make a diagnosis, identify and evaluate all the possibilities, take up one of them and sell it to the team, is, in simple terms, the essence of management work. How do we develop this capability? By achieving a comprehension of the consequences of the decisions made in each area of an organization and their implementation.
The case method consists in placing the students in the role of the management in charge of solving problems of real companies; problems that will be analyzed with other students and professors. The problems are represented in a complex and un-structured way.
Learning by the case method, a practical and highly attractive way of approaching business reality, was a method developed at Harvard. Nowadays, it is, undoubtedly, one of the key points of the ESE programs.
This method makes possible the acquisition of intellectual and ethical rigor in setting forth problems and solutions. A case is the description of a situation that a manager has faced at a given moment. Though names, places, brands and other facts are some times modified at the request of those involved, in almost all the cases situations and persons are real. The students place themselves in the situation of those who have the responsibility of making the decision, making an analysis and diagnosis of the problem and elaborating a plan of action, all of which contributes to develop the manager’s judgment in the decision making process. The participants develop interfunctional skills and acquire an integrating vision applied to management, in order to:
- Make decisions in a more complex context.
- Improve management capabilities and managing style.
- Acquire intellectual rigor in posing problems and solutions.
This results in an experience that transcends widely the acquisition of techniques and tools, while both professors and participants carry out jointly the learning process, elaborating analysis, diagnosis, and plans of action. The correct use of cases includes three stages.
Individual preparation for group meeting. Data interpretation takes up most of the time. The student must look for relevant data to interpret facts, reason and evaluate possible courses of action. The cases are, besides, an excellent occasion to get information about the way some companies and markets work.
Discussion in small groups is a basic part in the learning process. The end is not necessarily the achievement of consensus or the change of the individual vision of each participant, but the enrichment of it with other points of view.
In the general session, multiple visions and interpretations of an only solution and different courses of action emerge. An essential part of this method is that as many as possible participants submit their points of view and defend their positions, listening attentively in order to understand and discuss others’ positions. The method makes it possible to perform in an environment different from the usual one, to learn to listen and communicate. Learning is usually proportional to class participation.
Though other complementary methods are also used in class, like conferences and simulations, studying by the case method is the central approach used by the ESE faculty.
