109 年 國立成功大學經營管理碩士班學位學程（AMBA）《管理實務》

Please read the two paragraphs below. Do you think that it is important to build an ethical career? In addition to the three-stage approach suggested below, is there anything else that one can do to be on the track of building an ethical career?

Most of us think of ourselves as good people. We set out to be ethical, and we hope that in pivotal moments we will rise to the occasion. But when it comes to building an ethical career, good intentions are insufficient. Decades' worth of research has identified social and psychological processes and biases that cloud people's moral judgment, leading them to violate their own values and often to create contorted, post hoc justifications for their behavior. So how can you ensure that from day to day and decade to decade you will do the right thing in your professional life?

The first step requires shifting to a mindset we term moral humility - the recognition that we all have the capacity to transgress if we're not vigilant. Moral humility pushes people to admit that temptations, rationalizations, and situations can lead even the best of us to misbehave, and it encourages them to think of ethics as not only avoiding the bad but also pursuing the good. It helps them see this sort of character development as a lifelong pursuit. We've been conducting research on morality and ethics in the workplace for more than a decade, and on the basis of our own and others' findings, we suggest that people who want to develop ethical careers should consider a three-stage approach: (1) Prepare in advance for moral challenges; (2) make good decisions in the moment; and (3) reflect on and learn from moral successes and failures.

Do you agree with the statement below? In your opinion, how can managers better align performance metrics with strategy?

Tying performance metrics to strategy has become an accepted best practice over the past few decades. Strategy is abstract by definition, but metrics give strategy form, allowing our minds to grasp it more readily. With metrics, Ford Motor Company's onetime strategy "Quality is job one" could be translated into Six Sigma performance standards. Apple's "Think different" and Samsung's "Create the future" could be linked to the amount of sales from new products. If strategy is the blueprint for building an organization, metrics are the concrete, wood, drywall, and bricks. But there's a hidden trap in this organizational architecture: A company can easily lose sight of its strategy and instead focus strictly on the metrics that are meant to represent it. For an extreme example of this problem, look to Wells Fargo, where employees opened 3.5 million deposit and credit card accounts without customers' consent in an effort to implement its now-infamous "cross-selling" strategy.

Please read the paragraphs below. Is (Are) there any other benefit(s) that you expect to have from obtaining an MBA but is (are) not mentioned in those paragraphs? Please prioritize the benefits that you aim to have, and explain why you prioritize them this way.

MBA programs offer three different types of benefits, all of which vary tremendously from one school to another:

Practical leadership and management skills. Management education has changed significantly over the last few decades. Previously it focused on quantitative analysis in areas such as finance and operations, with little emphasis on other aspects of organizational life. As a result MBAs were often seen as bean counters myopically focused on data and out of touch with the real-world challenges managers face.

MBA programs responded by expanding their offerings in areas such as strategy, organizational behavior, and leadership. B-school curricula are still intensely quantitative, but as GSB dean Garth Saloner told McKinsey, "The [quantitative] skills of finance and supply chain management and accounting and so on, I think those have become more standardized in management education, have become kind of what you think of as a hygiene factor: Everybody ought to know this."

Business schools have realized it's not sufficient to provide quantitative and analytical training, because within a few years of leaving school (or even immediately upon graduation), their alumni will add value more through their ability to lead and manage others than through their talents as individual contributors. And effectiveness in these more senior roles requires an entirely different interpersonal skill set. Saloner goes on to note that "the softer skill sets, the real leadership, the ability to work with others and through others, to execute, that is still in very scarce supply."

I'm not suggesting that the quantitative and technical skills that an MBA provides aren't useful - they absolutely are. But they're also increasingly available through other venues that individuals can access on their own at a much lower cost. The special advantage of an MBA program is the opportunity to develop leadership and interpersonal skills with a group of peers in a sequence of experiential courses informed by current research. So ask yourself:

• Do the MBA programs I'm considering provide practical leadership and management training?
• How well-established are these courses? How much support do they have from the school and from the surrounding community?
• What do alumni say about their experiences in these courses? How have they benefited from this training?
• What alternative means are available to me to develop these practical skills?

A credential that sends a signal to the marketplace. No career paths absolutely require an MBA - it's an optional degree and is nothing like a JD, an MD, or the other credentials that professions such as law and medicine make mandatory. There are many senior people in general management roles, in consulting, and even in financial services who don't have an MBA, so don't assume that the credential will necessarily serve a meaningful purpose in your chosen field.

In addition, the nature of the signal being sent depends on the specific MBA program's reputation, and this is not simply a matter of prestige. Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton routinely top lists of U.S. business schools, but they also have a reputation for entitlement and arrogance. Whereas some firms seek out graduates from elite schools, others avoid them out of a concern that they will be difficult to work with and disruptive to the established culture. So ask yourself:

• What market am I in now? What markets might I seek to enter in the future?
• Who's interested in my services? How might this change if I had an MBA?
• How are MBAs perceived and what signals does an MBA send in these markets? What stereotypes (both positive and negative) might I face as an MBA?
• What is the specific reputation of the MBA programs I'm considering? How are these schools and their alumni viewed within my desired markets?
• What alternative means are available to me to send the signals I desire to communicate?

Membership in a learning community and access to an alumni network. Business school emphasizes working in groups, and MBA students often learn as much from their peers as they do from faculty, so it's important to consider whom you'll be working alongside for two years. Those same people will become your fellow alumni, and access to that network is one of the most valuable benefits an MBA program can offer.

All this said, there's a misperception about the importance of socializing in business school as a means of cultivating these ties. Graduates feel a sense of obligation to help fellow alumni. And the fact that I can't pay back the many people who helped me is motivation to pay it forward by doing as much as I can to support recent alumni seeking help from me. So ask yourself:

• What do I know about the students at the MBA programs I'm considering? Are they like-minded peers? Do I see myself learning alongside them?
• What do I know about the alumni networks of these programs? How active are they? Are they concentrated in geographic areas and professional fields of interest to me?
• What support does a school provide to its alumni network and to individual alumni? Do alumni return frequently to participate in events and activities at the school?