Interesting times in Ethics class today. We have a professor with a brilliant mind but one who freely admitted today that he has precious little real-world experience (though he was at one time a consultant for Arthur Andersen).
Aside from the interesting question of "what is the objective of an ethics class in an MBA program?" our professor's admitted lack of practical experience in the business world has put a spin on this class that is making me question its lasting value. Is this class just an exercise by MBA program leadership to blanket us with a foundation in something resembling ethics in the wake of scandals at Duke and other MBA programs? A checkbox, as it were?
Our discussions have ranged much more broadly than in other classes. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if we were operating from a shared framework, some agreed-upon method for analyzing or structuring arguments, but we don't have anything like this. In fact we have fewer textbooks this semester than any other semester to date. We have fat binders full of photocopied materials, including more than a reasonable amount of content generated by the professors themselves, but no foundational elements. A base text in ethics would be useful, as would a book on rhetoric. Lacking these, we have the oddest and meandering discussions about everything from dwarf tossing to the state of the auto industry. I look at the notes I end up taking in each session, and there's little more than the date and a few scribbles.
I question whether this class is giving us much that will be of value to us in 10 years, as we move on to manage companies of our own and as we face ethical dilemmas alone from the comfort of (perhaps) a corner office. Without substantive notes to reflect on, and without a lasting framework to use to analyze our situations, what will we have?
One final and rather humorous spin on the ethics class today: the other class this semester is on venture capital/startup businesses, and today the professor from that class lectured at length about the duplicitous methods he has used during his time as a VC and business owner to surreptitiously survey customers, have his employees shadowed by detective agencies, and lie to customers about true pricing.
What implications are we to draw from having both classes in succession on the same day?
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Your reflections on the 'anchor-less' courses this semester (other than Finance)really resonated with me. I just hadn't quick recognized it so succinctly. Could be that I was just reflecting in the shower (don't go there)that I had no idea what would be worth preparing for the Ethics final. If your factory burns down, don't fire anyone, but don't keep them around either? Or is it just: sleep well, either choice will get you vilified.
There must be some truth to us leaving with lower ethical standards then when we arrived. Despite a couple of econ classes as an undergrad, I'd never heard the Adam Smith position that unrestrained self-interest has collateral benefits to society. So my only real take away from Ethics class is don't worry about stakeholders, they are just whiny. Now I know my pre-CEMBA self would consider that a change in ethical frame.
*sigh*
Perhaps if my own family needs didn't prevent more beer with classmates I'd feel better about it..
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