“Education without values, as useful as it is,
seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”
Well, we are back to stomp and grind of a new semester; week one and I am already overwhelmed of getting back to the swing of things. I have to constantly remind myself…it is all about balance…work, school, what is left for a life…getting focused back on my physical and mental health…but wow what a week it has been. This class, although I know it will be VERY challenging for me has already shown how much thought and discussion is going to take place and I can’t wait to keep deep diving on many of our topics so far!
For example, this week we have already discussed and worked
on cases like our Train Dilemma. I thought I was doing fine until it asked me
if I would sacrifice my own child to save 5 others…but ultimately, if my
thought process eliminated and proved there truly was no other viable
alternatives, I thought it may be easier to digest the sacrifice of one for the
good of the many.
As I posted in our discussion forum this week, in order for us
“to make better choices, we must become aware of our options and the relevant
background information…” (LaFollette, 2007, p. 85) . As emerging
leaders, we now know that the more we practice, the more information we will be
able to obtain and will be able to make better decisions to act upon in a more
prudent and analytical manner that can assist us in preventing us from blindly
pursuing our own agendas (LaFollette, 2007, p. 85) .
We also
discovered that “…a person's
ability to deal with moral issues is not formed all at once…there are stages of
growth…, the ability to think morally also develops in stages” (Andre & Velasquez, 2014) . We have to
critically think and take pause to consider all options, other than our own
immediate gratification or agendas, which is why thinking more abstractly and
about multiple alternatives is required to ensure we minimize bias during our
decision making process.
When it comes to the belief regarding
the systematic failure of today’s leaders and how B-Schools are the ultimate
producers of this dysfunction, we also learned that there are several examples
and benchmarks that can be identified in preparing future leaders to embrace
and promote a holistic approach to business problems and ethical dilemmas.
I can remember when I first registered
for college many years ago, I had to take art, philosophy, sociology,
psychology, blah blah blah…and when I asked why I HAD to take these to get my
degree, I was told that it was to help me develop into becoming a well-rounded
contributor to society and a more worldly person. As we found in our article
this week, there is still the school of thought that believes the same way
today, some twenty years later (Podolny, 2009, p. 63) .
Additionally, I recall
that when I was completing my undergrad work, in order to apply to certain master
level programs, I actually had to have worked within my profession for a
certain number of hours in order to apply and be considered for specific
graduate level degree seeking programs. At first I thought this was crazy, but I
can see the logic; how on earth can someone master something if they have yet
to hold a professional job for a minimal reasonable amount of time. I also
encountered program applications that stated I had to have graduated and worked
professionally within my area for a minimum of 2 years in order for my
application to be considered…even though I previously had over 15 years of
relevant experience prior to graduating with my undergrad work.
That being said, our article
specifically notes that part of the economic crisis we have encountered is
largely because of “…the inattention to ethics and values-based leadership in
business schools” (Podolny, 2009, p. 63) , “…the disciplinary silos
in which business schools teach management” (Podolny, 2009, p. 63) , and the lack of
accountability on the school and faculty of the business schools that “…haven’t
done enough to equip students to make good judgments…” (Podolny, 2009, p. 63) .
To counterbalance some of the
widespread problems “…afflicting management education…that people…believe…are
harmful to society…” (Podolny, 2009, p. 63) include asking deans
and faculty how they can help students uncover what they can and want to do “…to
change the world for the better…” (Podolny, 2009, p. 65) and provide them
with “…the skills, tools and values to bring that bout in a responsible manner”
(Podolny, 2009, p. 65) .
Moreover, because MBA’s are seen as
those whom “…occupy positions with enormous responsibility that have a huge
impact to society…” (Podolny, 2009, p. 66) , dealing with a lack
of trust and a schools that are not embracing or reinforcing what society
values as far as teaching “…principles, ethics, and attention to detail…” (Podolny,
2009, p. 66)
as the cornerstone and foundation of leadership (Podolny, 2009, p. 66) , we are only
perpetuating generations of MBA’s that are unable to change “…student’
mind-sets…” and help them uncover both the “…hard and soft disciplines…” (Podolny,
2009, p. 66)
that will allow students “…a more holistic understanding of business problems
and their solutions” (Podolny, 2009, p. 66) .
Benchmarks that will allow us to show
that we are shaping future MBA’s in a better direction would include monumental
changes of epic proportions at this point. For example, as our article
suggests, it would require B-Schools to introduce curriculum that reflects components
of what society currently values regarding ethics. It would also look to embark
coursework with “teaching teams” where more than one expert can participate and
share collaborative ideas in one subject area to avoid silo teaching (Podolny,
2009, p. 66) .
Changes should also “encourage qualitative research” that requires the growth
of eclectic backgrounds from faculty experts (Podolny, 2009, p. 67) , as well as stopping
incentives that encourage academia to compete for rankings and stifle advertising
communications in which potential applicants can earn more money by earning a
degree from them versus other institutions (Podolny, 2009, p. 67) . The
last ultra-aggressive solution suggested setting up a governing body to monitor
and police MBA’s for infractions and violations to the code of conduct that could
end up punishing the MBA up to and including the revocation of their degree
should the committee see fit of those graduates whom “…break the code” (Podolny,
2009, p. 67) .
In conclusion, I am all for positive
and insightful change. Although I may not agree with every aspect of the
article, I do agree that unless B-Schools “…reinvent themselves…” (Podolny,
2009, p. 67) ,
they are certainly not going to be able to change the perception of MBA’s and
their roles in forming our corporations or the societal impacts they have been
held accountable for in the eyes of our author.
Until we blog again!
References
Andre, C., & Velasquez, M. (2014). Can Ethics
be Taught? Retrieved June 02, 2015, from Santa Clara University:
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/iie/v1n1/taught.html
LaFollette, H. (2007). The Practice of Ethics.
Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
Podolny, J. (2009). The Buck Stops (and Starts) at
Business School. Harvard Business Review, 63-67.
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