Spring Break
How Likely are HBS Students to Take a Stand?
Issue date: 2/19/08 Section: News
We recently polled RC students to see how they might react in three hypothetical situations where other HBS students might be behaving inappropriately. What respondents were not told, and what most did not know, was that these situations were based on real-life events from HBS's past. Comparing what students said they would do (in the poll) to actual observed behavior paints a sobering picture.
As an integral part of the HBS experience, the case study is designed to let students place themselves in the shoes of a protagonist facing a challenging situation or a difficult decision. However, our exposure to case studies is almost exclusively in an academic context, focusing on some core principle of strategy or elucidating a particularly complex financial concept. Even in the context of LEAD or LCA, case studies tend to focus on extraordinary situations that we may face five or ten years after graduation. As a result, HBS students are rarely asked to consider situations that we might face in our daily lives on campus.
We recently polled RC students to see how they might react in three hypothetical situations where other HBS students might be behaving inappropriately (see sidebar on page 4). What respondents were not told, and what most did not know, was that these situations were based on real-life events from HBS's past. If you believe that actions speak louder than words, comparing what students said they would do (in the poll) to actual observed behavior paints a sobering picture. HBS students, it seems, are less likely to stand up against inappropriate behavior by their peers than they believe they will.
One scenario described an incident where a group of HBS students attending a black-tie event at the New England Aquarium enter the penguin enclosure. A 1998 Inc Magazine article reports that such an incident did occur in the class of 1992, when students "decided to jump into the penguin pool." Fully half of the students polled indicated they would ask the students to stop or call security. While details on the actual incident are hard to come by given that it occurred some sixteen years ago, New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse confirms that the incident did occur, and that students either were ineffective at stopping their peers from engaging in such behavior, or did not choose to intervene at all.
As an integral part of the HBS experience, the case study is designed to let students place themselves in the shoes of a protagonist facing a challenging situation or a difficult decision. However, our exposure to case studies is almost exclusively in an academic context, focusing on some core principle of strategy or elucidating a particularly complex financial concept. Even in the context of LEAD or LCA, case studies tend to focus on extraordinary situations that we may face five or ten years after graduation. As a result, HBS students are rarely asked to consider situations that we might face in our daily lives on campus.
We recently polled RC students to see how they might react in three hypothetical situations where other HBS students might be behaving inappropriately (see sidebar on page 4). What respondents were not told, and what most did not know, was that these situations were based on real-life events from HBS's past. If you believe that actions speak louder than words, comparing what students said they would do (in the poll) to actual observed behavior paints a sobering picture. HBS students, it seems, are less likely to stand up against inappropriate behavior by their peers than they believe they will.
One scenario described an incident where a group of HBS students attending a black-tie event at the New England Aquarium enter the penguin enclosure. A 1998 Inc Magazine article reports that such an incident did occur in the class of 1992, when students "decided to jump into the penguin pool." Fully half of the students polled indicated they would ask the students to stop or call security. While details on the actual incident are hard to come by given that it occurred some sixteen years ago, New England Aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse confirms that the incident did occur, and that students either were ineffective at stopping their peers from engaging in such behavior, or did not choose to intervene at all.
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Paul Shafer -- HBS '79
posted 2/19/08 @ 7:59 PM EST
These findings are, in one respect, so unfortunate, but in another, useful in their forewarning to MBA candidates of what awaits them. Few times in a career will we meet a true leader who firmly upholds standards of a type that sustain an organization and respect others' humanity. (Continued…)
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