Students were challenged with complex ethical dilemmas they are likely to face in today's corporate world.
Four Martha and Spencer Love School of Business students represented Elon University in the 2016 Ethics in Action Case Competition sponsored by Scotiabank and hosted by Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, Nov. 4-5.
The Elon team was comprised of Meghan Greene ’17, a marketing and finance double major from Hickory, N.C.; Ariel Mittleman ’18, an accounting major from Leawood, Kansas; Matt Snow ‘18, a finance major from Hudson, Massachusetts; and Victor Solar-Sala III ‘18, a finance and marketing double major from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Lecturer in Management Pat Bell served as the team’s faculty coach.
The annual Ethics in Action competition focuses on making complex business decisions while adhering to ethical principles. Teams presented analyses and recommendations for two cases to a panel of judges.
The first case, which teams were given the documents for 10 days prior to the competition, involved a fictional nonprofit organization providing basic accounting, legal and human resources counseling to assist “at-risk” individuals – those with prior criminal records – to “bridge” the gap between unemployment and a part-time or full-time job.
Teams were given the second case on the second day of the competition. They were sequestered in a room with no Internet access, and had three hours to analyze the case, suggest alternatives, decide on a solution, propose how their chosen course of action would be implemented, and build a PowerPoint presentation. Teams defended their solutions in a 12-minute presentation followed by a question-and-answer session with the panel of judges.
“We were surrounded by teams with a multitude of approaches to the cases, so it was nice getting exposed to business processes and practices that differed from ours,” Soler-Sola said.
The participating teams at the undergraduate level were University of New Brunswick Saint John, Acadia University, University of Guelph-Humber, Saint Francis Xavier University, University of Prince Edward Island, MacEwan University, Concordia University, University of Calgary, and University of Alberta School of Business.
“I was able to pull from a variety of different courses while analyzing the cases given to the team to come up with the most logical proposal,” Greene said. “This case paired with Dr. Buechler’s Case Analysis class has helped me develop a further confidence while presenting that I severely lacked in the past. Having the opportunity to apply my education in a dynamic way and collaborate with other Elon students was my favorite part of this whole experience.”
Half of the Elon team is currently enrolled in the “Advanced Case Analysis” course taught by Scott Buechler, associate professor of business communications and associate dean of the Martha and Spencer Love School of Business, while the other half successfully completed it last year. Throughout the course, students analyze complex business cases involving strategy and ethics, and present the type of recommendations expected of consultants.
“As I evaluate cases, I look at being ethical and moral, and how decisions affect a multitude of people,” Mittleman said. “I have learned to use this same decision making in my everyday life.”