On October 13, 2007, approximately 85 students and faculty from Loyola’s Evening MBA and MBA Fellows programs traveled to Gettysburg to gain an understanding of what a “battle” implementing a strategic plan can be.

The Field Study exercise, led by management and international business instructor John Everett, was intended to teach students something about business in the context of history. Specifically, it focused on the business/military parallels associated with the implementation of a strategic plan.

According to Everett, “If you understand that General Lee's strategy was to invade the North to accomplish a sizable list of objectives, then the Battle of Gettysburg was a phase of his implementation of that plan. Business strategists understand that no plan can afford to remain static.”

Everett goes on to explain that the environment assumed when any plan is formed is always subject to change during implementation; as a result, any plan must always be evaluated for the need to adjust the plan due to the changes. General Lee experienced a number of critical "environmental changes" during implementation, but never changed the strategy. The students were asked to investigate why Lee made no changes and decided to stay and fight at Gettysburg for three days.

Students were required to read Michael Shaara’s Killer Angels and to answer two questions: 1) given the changes in the environment, why did General Lee stay and fight; and 2) what lessons are there for business in Lee's thought processes? Licensed Park Service Battlefield Guides were hired and prepped to assist the students in their investigative questions during the tour of the battlefield; focusing their remarks on Lee’s day-to-day decision making.

The students gathered at the end of the day to debrief and their thoughts and observations will be summarized and published. Everett is enthusiastic about the Field Study and believes it demonstrates Loyola’s commitment to providing a rich, diverse educational experience.

“This exercise required students to go beyond a ‘nice day out’ to making an intellectual leap between the facts of history and the reality of today’s business,” he says. “It’s a good example of the power of the creative thinking technique of taking students out of their normal context to afford a new view of old concepts.”