When chance turns to disaster: Parts A, B, and C.
Armandi, Barry ; Sherman, Herbert ; Rowley, Daniel J. 等
PART A
Introduction
"Houston, we have a problem!" Professor Reynolds may not
have uttered those exact words to himself, but he certainly thought them
as he perused the two plagiarized group case term papers from his
Business Strategy classes. The case analyses he perused were
professionally done and identical to what was in the instructor's
manual of the textbook. This would seem to be an open and shut case, but
there was far more here than meets the eye--far more than anyone could
ever imagine.
In the Beginning ...
It was bright and early Monday morning and Professor Reynolds sat
in his office preparing an accreditation report for the Dean of the
School of Business of Central State College. The phone rang, and he
answered "Dr. Reynolds." "Bob, we have a problem,"
said Jen Thomas, secretary to the Dean of the School of Business at
Caladon University, a local private college where Professor Reynolds
sometimes worked as an adjunct. "Oh, hi, Jen, what's the
problem?" asked Reynolds. Jen continued "Well, remember that
full-time person we hired, Dr. Chance, to teach those Policy courses you
sometimes teach for us? Things aren't working out. He has been out
for the last two weeks, claiming he is not feeling well. In that time,
about fifty of his seventy students came over and complained. Their
complaints were: that he was absent most of the time; he didn't
cover a lot of material; they didn't use the book, which had cost
them around $180; he only graded about 50% of the midterms and out of
that only 20% got grades; on another assignment, he only gave about 10%
of the class feedback and grades; and some students said he was grading
them using graduate standards, but they are only undergraduates. They
even showed the Dean and me an email indicating that he was using those
standards. It's a mess and we have only four weeks left in the
semester; less than 1/4 of the class time left!"
Reynolds said "What a shame! What can I do to help?" Jen
quickly came back with a request, "Dean Barrett was wondering and
hoping that you might be able to take over Dr. Chance's
courses?" "You mean for the next few classes until he gets
well" Reynolds responded. "No, for the rest of the semester,
and perhaps even next semester. We are really stuck. Anything you can do
would be better than what has been going on." replied Jen. Reynolds
thought a moment and asked about class schedules, which didn't
conflict with his own teaching schedule at Central. Dr. Reynolds had
three courses of his own and luckily was not teaching an overload; he
normally taught four courses. "OK, Jen," replied Reynolds.
"I'll check with my Dean, but I don't envision a problem
as long as this is a temporary fix and an emergency." "Great!
Dr. Barrett would like to see you tomorrow, Tuesday, for lunch.
I'll have the book and instructor's manual as well as any
other material you may need. Also, we'll prepare any
transparencies, slides, or copies. Whatever you need, we'll get it
done ASAP," said Jen.
Reynolds Meets Barrett
The next day Reynolds met Dr. Barrett and Jen for lunch. They
recounted in far greater detail what Jen had told Reynolds over the
phone the previous day. Barrett was very appreciative and told Reynolds
that Dr. Chance would never teach in his school again. He also informed
Reynolds that besides the academic complaints, there were charges of
sexual harassment from a female student and racial discrimination by two
black students against Dr. Chance. Barrett felt that anything Reynolds
would do now, with only four weeks left in the semester, would be better
that what had been previously done.
Preparing for the Takeover
The weekend came and Reynolds started to review the material.
Having a background in the area of strategy and policy, he recognized
the approach used by Dr. Chance. Although Reynolds preferred to use a
simulation, Dr. Chance used the typical case approach. Reynolds had just
completed a policy book with two of his colleagues and his text used a
similar approach. Reynolds knew the assigned text for these new classes
well and also knew that the cases in the book were comprehensive and
were typical policy cases about various organizations such as Apple
Computer, United Airlines, Enron and other high profile companies. He
checked his computer, and the overheads they prepared for the book were
still there. He looked at the calendar and decided to work backwards
from the final exam date to the next class on Monday. "Not much
time," he muttered. He continued speaking out loud,
"Let's see. It would be unfair to give them an exam, so
I'll have to use the last day for them to hand in reports.
They'll have to do group presentations of a comprehensive case
(each of the three classes had an enrollment of around 25 students), so
that will take at least four classes for the day classes; two for the
evening class. That only leaves me with four classes for the day classes
or two nights for the evening class to present the students with some
material. Since I don't know what they do know, I'll give them
some introductory material and then move on to external environment and
internal environment analyses. Then, I'll put it altogether for
them in an overall SWOT analysis. I should also have them do a mini-case
at the end of one chapter. So let's see what I have." Reynolds
constructed the following grade point distribution:
Mini-case Analysis 25%
Group Case Presentation 25%
Group Case Report 50%
Under the circumstances, he felt that these requirements were fair.
He prepared his lecture notes and printed out the transparencies. He was
ready for Monday's classes.
Reynolds Meets the Classes
There were three classes in undergraduate strategic management and
policy: two in the day and one at night. The day classes met at 9 and 11
AM Mondays and Wednesdays for one hour and forty minutes. The evening
class met at 6 PM on Mondays for three hours and twenty minutes. The
students had been told via emails and phone calls over the weekend by
Jen that a new professor would be in to cover the courses for the next
four weeks until the end of the semester and that he would be grading
them.
In each of the classes, Dr. Reynolds introduced himself and asked
the students to tell him about what went on previously. He said this
would be the only time that he would ask since they had limited time and
allot of material to cover. The students recited a litany of complaints
most of which Reynolds had heard from Jen and Dr. Barrett. Other
complaints were that Dr. Chance liked females more than males and was
kinder to them in class. After hearing the students' comments,
Reynolds proceeded to explain to the class the requirements for the
remainder of the semester, writing his grade distribution on the board.
He explained the mini-case analyses and the comprehensive cases from the
book. Over the weekend, he identified the cases he wanted the class to
do in their presentations. He found out that Dr. Chance had constructed
groups, but they did not contain the same number of students. He
discovered that in each of the classes some groups had three students,
while others had six. When asked about group formation, the students
responded, "Dr. Chance let us do it ourselves." The students
had met in their groups many times during the semester, always in class.
Some students raised the issue of previous work that had been done.
Some had their work graded. Others had some feedback--but no grades.
Others never received their work back, and others felt that they were
not given the chance that other students had to revise and resubmit
their work. Reynolds indicated for those who had grades on work from Dr.
Chance, if the grade was a B or better, they would receive extra credit.
He explained that he didn't have copies of the cases, didn't
know about Dr. Chance's expectations or grading scheme, and
didn't know about deadlines, revisions, or other qualitative
feedback given by Dr. Chance. Some students protested and started to
literally cry. All of their hard work was for nothing.
Reynolds felt his stomach tie in knots. He did not expect such a
response from the students and really had not prepared for such an
outcry. How can he deal with the students' needs for fair treatment
balanced by what Reynolds perceived as a 'botched' job by Dr.
Chance. What was Reynolds to do now?
WHEN CHANCE TURNS TO DISASTER: PART B
Dr. Reynolds sympathized and asked the students to understand how
difficult, if not impossible, it was to evaluate fairly the entire
class' performance, given such little information and obvious
problems caused by Dr. Chance's inconsistent grading of their prior
work. A large majority of students understood and told the other
students that this was better than what they had before and that they
were finally going to learn something. Afterwards, some students came to
Reynolds and said that they were not in a group. All of them were Asian
students. Reynolds asked how this could have happened. He was told that
"Dr. Chance had a policy that if you showed up late for class, you
had to work alone and not in a group." Reynolds assigned these
students to other groups.
The Conversation with the Provost
The next day, Tuesday, Reynolds received a call from Barrett, who
asked him to call the Provost to discuss compensation (under these
special circumstances the Provost was trying to obtain permission from
the College's V.P. for Finance for full adjunct pay for Dr.
Reynolds rather than the traditional pro-rated compensation rate) and to
give the Provost a briefing on the feedback from the classes. Reynolds
called immediately. The Provost thanked him for helping, told him he was
going to get his full pay, even though there was only a month left in
the semester, and asked how the classes went. Reynolds explained the
issues that had arisen in class and how he handled them. He told the
Provost of his requirements and grading. He then mentioned the problem
of previous work. He wanted the Provost to know that he may hear from
some unhappy students. The Provost said he would have Dr. Chance grade
all the work and give the grades to Reynolds. Reynolds said that Dr.
Chance's grading may open up a can of worms, since some students
felt they were unfairly graded, others felt that their grades were too
low, and others felt that they were not given the chance that other
students had to revise and resubmit their work. Reynolds told the
Provost that there were only a handful of students who complained, and
for those he would give extra credit for grades of B or better, that the
process of Chance's continued grading of papers would be too
cumbersome and perhaps not timely. The Provost agreed and went along
with Reynolds' suggestions.
Lectures and Presentations
Over the course of the next two weeks, Reynolds lectured on
introductory material, external and internal analyses, and culminated
with a comprehensive SWOT analysis. He showed the class how to do an
overall problem identification and analysis and how to quantify a SWOT
analysis. He introduced theories from Michael Porter and Miles and Snow,
as well as other strategy theorists. During his presentation, he
referred to examples of corporations and small businesses. A number of
students came to him after class and said they had learned more in those
four weeks of classes then the previous twelve weeks of classes held by
Dr. Chance.
The case presentations, scheduled for the last four sessions of the
day classes, and the last two sessions of the evening class, went well.
Reynolds had reviewed the cases before each class and checked the
instructor's manual. Two of the presentations in different classes
and on different cases looked familiar, but he didn't think much of
it at the time.
When the semester ended and Reynolds had collected the group case
reports, he settled in his office and started to read and grade them. He
came to the reports of those presentations that previously seemed
familiar to him. After reading them he became curious. They were
professionally done and their analyses looked too good for
undergraduates--especially since students made a continued point of
complaining that they really had not learned much at all from their
previous instructor. Becoming increasingly suspicious, he checked the
instructor's manual. In both cases, the reports were identical to
the analysis in the manual, even down to the typos! He sat back, and
shook his head in disbelief and frustration.
Reynolds knew that these were not normal conditions, and there were
numerous mitigating circumstances. He had substituted for a professor
who, for whatever reason, seemed both incompetent and incapable of
finishing the instruction of his classes. This was the capstone course,
the final course that students took in business to graduate and to
integrate their business education, and, clearly, it had been bungled
from day one. Students had done prior work, and that work would no
longer count towards a grade in the course. Dr. Chance had even been
accused of favoritism and sexual harassment.
"What do I do now? Fail them, given the circumstances? Bring
them up on charges? Just let it go? I need to be both fair and
equitable, yet I cannot let plagiarism go without some form of
punishment or at least acknowledgement." Reynolds had to do
something, but what would do, at this point, escaped him.
Reynolds went to the Dean Barrett and explained the situation. The
Dean was stunned after reviewing the evidence. He suggested that they
call the groups in and see each member individually. After the
questioning, the students waited in a separate room. Reynolds concurred
with the suggested solution and the groups were notified.
During the meetings, the students readily admitted that they had
used the instructor's manual. However, when questioned how they
acquired the manual, the groups unanimously indicated that Dr. Chance
gave them the manual. It seemed that the students had gone to ask him
about doing a case analysis and report and asked if he had some
examples. Being a new professor at the school, the professor told them
that he didn't. They pleaded with him to give them some help, and
Chance had finally relented and told them to follow the guide in the
instructor's manual and handed it to one student whom he considered
to be responsible. The following week, the student gave the manual back
to Chance and thanked him. Unbeknownst to him, the student had
photocopied the entire manual, distributed copies out to his classmates,
and, subsequently, this material was used in their reports (without
footnoting or indicating the source of their information).
Dean Barrett and Dr. Reynolds had a tough decision to make.
Students had clearly and admittedly plagiarizing material from an
instructor's manual that they obtained from their instructor; could
they be held accountable for their actions even though a faculty member
was an unknowing "accomplice?"
WHEN CHANCE TURNS TO DISASTER: PART C
After meeting with each student, Barrett and Reynolds decided to
officially withdraw each student from the course since plagiarism
(regardless of Chance's involvement) in and of itself was
inexcusable. Since the students needed this course for graduation, the
withdrawal would mean that they would not graduate for another semester.
Barrett and Reynolds figured this would be apt punishment for their
actions. Under the circumstances and realizing that the alternatives
could be failure or expulsion (either one would leave a permanent mark
on their transcript), the students quite reluctantly agreed.
Barrett decided to also notify the Provost. The Provost stated that
the resolution was appropriate. He informed Barrett that he would
discuss the matter with Chance. Barrett said adamantly, "I
don't want him back teaching in my school." The Provost
assured him that he would handle it quickly and decisively.
The Provost met with Chance the next day and confronted him with
the situation. At first, Chance hesitated but realized that he had made
a mistake. Chance confessed but said, in his defense, that he was new to
classroom teaching, and that he had spent the last few years doing one
on one and Internet teaching. He normally showed students the manual so
he wouldn't have to waste time explaining it. The Provost asked for
his resignation. Chance refused, indicating that he had a two-year
contract and that he expected the University to honor it.
The Provost told him he was going to contact the University lawyers
and once it was in their hands, he could not help Dr. Chance. The stigma
would follow him in the industry. Chance told him to go to hell and
stormed out of the office. The Provost wondered what his next steps
should be in light of Chance's refusal to resign.
Barry Armandi, SUNY @ Old Westbury (deceased)
Herbert Sherman, Long Island University--Brooklyn Campus
Daniel J. Rowley, University of Northern Colorado