NEW OR SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED PAGES SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER:

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• (11/23/11) Here is the set of power points on Kohlberg's moral development stages including data from our class.


• (11/9/11) As I announced in class, one of the following questions will be on the test. Nothing else re ethics will be asked: 1. Discuss various reasons that ethical decisions are often complex, plus some suggestions about how to deal with this complexity. 2. Critique the thesis that corporations should concentrate almost exclusively on their fiduciary responsibility to maximize returns to their stockholders. 3. Discuss some of the complexities in trying to deal simultaneously with ethical, legal, and social considerations, in addition to economic and self-interest factors, when making important decisions.


• (11/7/11) Here is the link to the second part of the Cuban case that we will discuss Wednesday.


• (10/17/11) I have been looking for relevant film clips and will show some when applicable. Here is a table with links, which I will update as more are added; there is also a link to the table on our class page. If you have/find any good clips, please send me the links.


• (9/30/11) Here is an example of a good (not perfect) report on Case 3


• (9/28/11) Here is a summary of the feedback on the class data collected last Monday; we will discuss it today.

GENERAL NOTES & REMINDERS:

• Some of the reading/preparation assignments are items on my web site. You can access them from the alphabetic menu list on the Mgt. 458 Class Page.


• Some individuals struggle about what to write for journal pieces. If this is true for you, I encourage you to reread the syllabus section about the journal assignment, reprinted here for convenience, then the added comments below.
  5. Journal. Any management and behavioral concepts tend to be sterile and boring unless you apply them to situations you understand and care about. Therefore, one of the important course requirements is to maintain a journal (with roughly weekly entries, not hand- written) in which you apply some of the decision-making concepts we consider in the course to decisions that are of importance to you right now. The decision(s) or decision components you think through and write about in your journal can be from your work and/or other aspects of your life, but should deal with things that matter to you.
  You should write these entries for your benefit, not to describe something to the reader. The key question/principle to hold in your mind as you work in your journal is HOW CAN I MAKE THIS WRITING CONTRIBUTE TO MY LEARNING ABOUT DECISION MAKING AND/OR CREATIVITY? As contra-examples, merely describing a decision you made or describing what you learned at that time from a decision last year would not contribute to your learning now. You would have gained that past learning already and do not have to write about it to learn. On the other hand, if thinking and writing about a past situation brings new insights and understanding about decision making, then that could be a useful journal entry.
  You will turn in a copy of your first two to three journal entries early in the semester, which will receive feedback, but not be graded. At the end of the semester you will turn in the complete journal, which should contain at least 12 entries and will be evaluated relative to (a) its evidence of relevant exploration and learning for you, and (b) its depth of thinking and range of learning topics. You should be writing entries roughly each week, not waiting until you have to turn it in and then trying to simulate learning during the course!
  
  Now, what else can I say that might be helpful. I believe the most important thing may be to reiterate the criterion given in all-caps in the first paragraph, i.e., as I read journal entries I will be asking, DOES THIS SEEM TO BE SOMETHING THAT CONTRIBUTED TO THIS INDIVIDUAL'S LEARNING ABOUT DECISION MAKING AND/OR CREATIVITY? I'm looking for indications that you applied some concept(s) from this class to some aspect of your life outside the class. Some examples are: (a) applying a concept from your reading or a class discussion/exercise to some aspect of a current decision, (b) applying a concept from your reading or a class discussion/exercise to plan how you will handle a future decision, (c) continuing/extending a class exercise to gain new insights about factors that may be hindering your creativity or decision making, (d) applying one of von Oech's mental locks or one of Williams' blocks to you by identifying some specific examples where this lock/block has affected your effectiveness and making plans to reduce its interference in the future.
  
  Examples of entries that would not seem to be contributing to your learning about decision making and/or creativity are: (a) telling me how wonderfully you handled a decision situation last January, (b) telling me how you handled a decision situation well last week, but making no connection to things you encountered in the course, (c) telling me how capable you are and how you don't suffer from any of von Oech's mental locks, (d) describing something interesting that happened at work or in your life without any analysis and connection to concepts from the course. The journal is not a diary, where you merely describe something that happened, nor is it to impress the reader with your decision making skill - it is intended to be a place where you think, analyze, plan, and work with concepts from the course to make them useful in your present and future life. I'll be happy to look at and give you feedback on one or more journal entries, if you just come to my office.