Wow! A lot of material covered in the two classes I took this term in the MMC program.
In assessing what we learned in MMC 640 Ethics and Decision Making, I think we did a good job of meeting the objectives stated in the beginning of the course. I was impressed with the Seven Layers book despite having a built-in bias against the publisher, AuthorHouse (their evil! Ask me about it later). The book did a good job explaining the layers and illustrating how they can occassionally come into conflict with one another. Thus, every ethical dilemma is not always black and white. I'm curious as to how you discovered the book, Professor Artz.
I enjoyed watching the two films, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Insider. Both films took different approaches, but did a great job of illustrating ethical conflicts in the real world. Incorporating films like these into the classroom is a great way to facilitate the learning process. Education dressed up as entertainment! A spoon full of sugar helps the point come across!
I thought Judgement in Managerial Decision Making did a good job of pointing out some of the biases that heavily influence our decision-making process, but they are so engrained that we often are not even aware of them. The strategies presented to counteract some of these should prove valuable. Since I touched on publishing a bit in the second paragraph, I'll include a note on book design here. I remember when I first paged through this book. I was a bit intimidated because the text was so dense. I think the book would read better if the text were a bit bigger and allowed to breathe more. Of course that would likely increase the size and thus the cost of the book, which as a student I'm firmly against!
All in all, I enjoyed the class and felt like I learned a few things! Can't ask for much more than that.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Staying Awake and Aware
Having completed the reading assignments for Judgement in Managerial Decision Making, I come away with the thought that in order to make sound judgements we must be aware of the issues and biases that may cloud our perceptions.
The early chapters in the book served as a reminder of the different ways of thinking which can cloud our judgements. Being aware of these issues is half the battle. Once we become aware of these issues, we can take steps to combat them. We can devise tests to look for contridictions to the conclusions we anticipate.
Later in the book we learned strategies that will help us battle these assumptions and biases including debiasing one's judgements and developing decision analysis tools.
Implementing the lessons from Judgement in Managerial Decision Making can be difficult. It has to be done with concious intent before it becomes second nature.
Just to lighten up the mood a bit: http://deadspin.com/5477230/nyu-business-school-professor-has-mastered-the-art-of-email-flaming
The early chapters in the book served as a reminder of the different ways of thinking which can cloud our judgements. Being aware of these issues is half the battle. Once we become aware of these issues, we can take steps to combat them. We can devise tests to look for contridictions to the conclusions we anticipate.
Later in the book we learned strategies that will help us battle these assumptions and biases including debiasing one's judgements and developing decision analysis tools.
Implementing the lessons from Judgement in Managerial Decision Making can be difficult. It has to be done with concious intent before it becomes second nature.
Just to lighten up the mood a bit: http://deadspin.com/5477230/nyu-business-school-professor-has-mastered-the-art-of-email-flaming
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Notes on Ethics Class
While each of us weighs ethical decisions every day, ethics is not something many of us think about on a daily basis — at least not consciously. Over the first few weeks of this class, the things that stand out to me are the two films that we watched, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and The Insider.
For me, the Enron film served to solidify opinions that I already held about that scandal, that it exemplified an almost total lack of ethics. The upped management was all about doing whatever it took to make as much money for themselves as possible and they had no concern whatsoever for their customers and front-line employees.
I wonder if corruption and ethical lapses are more likely when dealing with something as intangible as energy commodities? Is corruption more likely in the banking and insurance industries more so than in, say, the auto industry? In the auto industry at the end of the day, you have to have a car, a tangible product. Obviously, all those industries have had their problems of late, but I am of the opinion that these intangible products lend themselves to chicanery.
With The Insider, a saw more shades of gray, more examples of the seven layers coming into conflict with one another. With both films, I saw how much we have invested in our jobs and our employers. Do we rely too much on them for things like health insurance and retirement funds? Does that grant employers too much power over our lives? Or should we expect more from our jobs and our employers? Should they mirror our own ethics? Do they already? Lots of questions!
For me, the Enron film served to solidify opinions that I already held about that scandal, that it exemplified an almost total lack of ethics. The upped management was all about doing whatever it took to make as much money for themselves as possible and they had no concern whatsoever for their customers and front-line employees.
I wonder if corruption and ethical lapses are more likely when dealing with something as intangible as energy commodities? Is corruption more likely in the banking and insurance industries more so than in, say, the auto industry? In the auto industry at the end of the day, you have to have a car, a tangible product. Obviously, all those industries have had their problems of late, but I am of the opinion that these intangible products lend themselves to chicanery.
With The Insider, a saw more shades of gray, more examples of the seven layers coming into conflict with one another. With both films, I saw how much we have invested in our jobs and our employers. Do we rely too much on them for things like health insurance and retirement funds? Does that grant employers too much power over our lives? Or should we expect more from our jobs and our employers? Should they mirror our own ethics? Do they already? Lots of questions!
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