Monday, October 20, 2003
Integrated Wisdom and Effective Action in UGBA 196
By Gabriel Ng, Undergraduate Editor
When students graduate from the Haas School of Business,
they will undoubtedly be equipped with the technical knowledge required
to succeed over the course of their careers. However, the real world
is not a collection of textbook idioms or financial statements. In the
greater context of human interaction, the actions of one can
affect many. Accompanying these critical decisions is the human
ability to impact the greater environment around us with a power
that no other organism can match. Developing
our integral decision-making wisdom to meet this power should be one
of our primary goals.
This spring, Professor Jack Phillips will encourage Berkeley
students to deeply consider their individual and collective possibilities
by offering Business Ethics for the 21st Century (UGBA 196). However,
though the name may imply that this course will merely focus on the
“right” and “wrong” answers to business decisions, Professor Phillips
stresses that the emphasis will in fact concentrate not only on a greater
analysis of the consequences of human thought on a macro level, but
on how our thoughts and actions can be encouraged to evolve.
During a recent meeting with Professor Phillips, I was
directed to two particularly interesting examples of the type of reading
that the class will examine. The readings, by Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, exult the
idea that the environment in which humans live, and which, in fact,
created them, is dynamic and ever changing.
Over the span of billions of years, the
course of evolution, operating on cosmological and biological levels,
has been out of the hands of the human race. Now, however, as the human
race enters the twenty-first century, all this is changing. With the
rise of technological advances and global population, human decisions
are altering the entire course of human, non-human, and planetary existence.
As John Donne wrote, “No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Analyzing such massive ideas and presenting them within
a business course is Professor Phillips’ method of conveying to students
that the world inside and outside of the school is full of future-determinative
decisions that should be made consciously. Every choice, every conclusion,
large or small, will inherently have its consequences in shaping who
we are and the world around us, and should be made with the highest
capacities we have available. The goal of UGBA 196 is not to judge the
“correctness” of such decisions within a singular value system, but
to guide students to think critically, completely, and creatively and
to have the ability to maintain a focus and ethical center throughout
the wide spectrum of ideas and challenges that are presented every moment
of our existence.
The wide array of reading material presented will force
students to utilize all of their experience
and capabilities, not only those that are learned at Haas. In
many ways, Professor Phillips views this class as bringing, with other
courses, a critical developmental “breadth” to Haas. Though familiar
sources include Business Week, The Economist, and Harvard business cases,
resources drawing from the sciences, psychology, philosophy, sociology,
and everyday situations are pooled together to present a wide scope
of instruction and experience.
While the development of Ethics at Haas has been a gradual
process, the recent reforms and decisions made by the Haas administration
have demonstrated a desire to promote the subject at the Undergraduate
level of the business school. Currently, one-third of UGBA 107 (The
Social, Political, and Ethical Environment of Business), a core requirement
of the Undergraduate program, is dedicated to the study of Ethics. Business
Ethics for the 21st Century has been offered once per year since 2000.
Current plans contemplate the expansion of the Ethics elective, as both
faculty and administration have demonstrated enthusiasm for the continued
promotion of this area. At this time, it is student awareness and demonstrated
interest that will determine the growth of the course. However, the
prospect of increasing the availability of an elective as rich and diverse
as the Business Ethics class is extremely enticing. Faculty and administration
will be watching with interest to see if student demand for this course
grows for the upcoming semesters.
Prior semesters of offering Business Ethics have been met
with highly positive responses. Student comments have praised the course
as being “critical to undergraduate education” and “changing the way
of approaching decisions.” In fact, Professor Phillips is optimistic
about the upcoming spring semester and has volunteered
to teach a second section of the
course. As Professor Phillips explains, the twenty-first century “is
a pivotal moment in human history where wisdom is capable of catching
up with power.” It is whether or not we foster the development of wisdom--through
courses like Business Ethics--that will ultimately dictate
the direction in which our part of the universe moves. In fact,
the idea that human beings, with their god-like powers, are acting as
co-creators for the present and future is something that has become
a tangible reality. No longer can we, as Berkeley students, among potential
leaders, stand idle and remain unconscious or inactive to the greater
internal and external world we are moment-by-moment helping to create.
Within a greater context of decision-making is the prospect of two devastating
dangers: first
is the possibility that humans remain largely
unconscious of their critically co-creative role for themselves
and the world around them; second is the potential for misguided actions
when we fall back on reaction instead of cultivating a creative response
to the difficulties that arise. UGBA 196 addresses these risks by attacking
them head-on.
Though students may be intimidated by the scope of this
course, Professor Phillips addresses this concern by explaining that
no prerequisite is expected. However, coming to the course with an open
mind and a willingness to participate and think critically is expected.
Students who keep up with the required readings and participate openly
in class will be well prepared to succeed.
Students are encouraged to visit the course website at
http://faculty.haas.berkeley.edu/phillips/
to read for themselves the details of the class. Professor Phillips
is also open to receiving emails from interested students at phillips@haas.berkeley.edu.
The course meets once a week for 2 hours and will be offered during
the spring 2004 semester on both Wednesdays (2-4pm) and Thursdays (4-6pm).
With the rise of political turmoil, global conflicts, and
corporate crime, the need for creative positive change has never been
more pressing. As Mohandas Gandhi said, “We must ourselves become the
change we seek in the world.” What better way for students to prepare
themselves to implement, and in fact become part of, such changes than
by taking Business Ethics for the 21st Century. |
