A634.1.6.RB_MedinaM.

After reading the article “The Buck stops (and starts) at Business School” by Joel Podolny, I have to agree with the overall tone, approach, and point made in this article (Podolny, 2009). I, as well, believe that management education has contributed to the systematic failure of today’s leaders. During my first few years of college, I did believe that Business Administration and the MBA programs were just a means to gain high paying careers. At the time, it seemed like the only focus of the college I attended was to get students to that high paying position in the business world. It also seemed to encourage the view of not having to worry about the details of plans, as you were only there to provide the vision, create an agenda, and implement or outline the strategy for the set goals.

This view always left me to believe that other people would fill out the blanks and focus on the details while you mainly focused on the big picture. In actuality, I have even gained that same feeling in some of these leadership courses of the MSLD program. Teachers and students have all become involved in conversations that tell us that we need to focus on the big picture and not so much in the details. Some of the courses have also taught us that it is common and okay for CEOs or managers to not know the details or be experts in every field, as they will have other employees below them that will figure out the details of the goals. In contrast, I have also learned throughout this course that even though it is common for managers to not know everything, knowing as much as you can about the details can also be rewarding as it helps employees feel like you are part of the team. Then again, other courses take the view of empowering employees to make their own decisions, as this will help the CEO or manager cover the gaps of knowledge he or she doesn’t poses.

In order for business schools to best prepare future leaders to adopt a more well grounded and whole approach to business problems and ethical dilemmas, I think it is important for faculty staff and teachers to become more involved in dialogues about ethics and morals. Many times I witnessed teachers get into dialogues with students that only revolved around their field of knowledge. Every time there seemed to be some type of underlying ethical pattern, the problem would be looked at in a technical way where only one field, theory, or solution was applicable. In part, I think it was because my college was so diverse in students from different countries that instead of teachers having an in-depth ethics discussion, they will only touch the surface of the problem. Other times, teachers seemed to get a stand of “everyone is right and can have their own opinion”, which I agree but in order to gain knowledge on the different perspectives and views about ethics, the class should’ve been able to get into a more depth discussion about ethics. In my opinion, it seemed to me that these discussions took form around the conventional level of the moral principles stages. Everyone based their opinions about the cases discussed in terms of group loyalty, family loyalty, company loyalty, or loyalty for one’s nation.

            In reading the article “Shaping tomorrow’s business leaders”, I found that “It is important to consider not only the effect of a single course, but also the combination of courses and how ethics is integrated throughout to form a curriculum” (Shaping Tomorrow’s Business Leaders, 2007). In other words, if business schools only teach one class of ethics without integrating ethics into other courses, then the approach the business school is taking in dealing with business problems and ethical dilemmas are ineffective. “An ethics faculty member can positively affect the curriculum by encouraging students to raise ethical issues in other classes” (Shaping Tomorrow’s Business Leaders, 2007). Added to this notion of integrating ethics into other business courses, is the essential need to understand that culture and the community around the business school also plays a role in shaping better equip future leaders. The article continues on highlighting steps where courses, curriculum, and the community can help create better future leaders. Some of these steps or components an ethics course should have are:

1. “Designed to promote highly-engaged student participation through a variety of teaching tools and techniques such as small class size, outside speakers, experiential components, case studies, etc.;
2. Aimed at preparing students for understanding their roles as ethical leaders, managers, and followers.

Curriculum:

1. Ethics content should be equally weighted and valued with other disciplines through early semester introduction, required, graded content, the offering of ethics electives, etc.

Community:

1. Demonstrate commitment to ethical practices;
2. Support ethics programs through an active research process that produces leading-edge field research, practice aids, published works, and teaching materials” (Shaping Tomorrow's Business Leaders, 2007).

References:

Podolny, J. M. (2009). The Buck Stops (and Starts) at Business School. Harvard Business Review, 87(6), 62-67.

Shaping Tomorrow's Business Leaders: Principles and Practices for a Model Business Ethics Program. (2007) Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics. Retrieved June 6, 2014, from http://www.corporate-ethics.org/pdf/mbep.pdf