Monday, August 18, 2008

Comments for my future doctoral thesis

I'll start with explaining the title - I have no intention of doing a doctorate at this point in my life. However, I can't really turn off my sociologist view of the world. The interactions of my class and the things said in my classroom are enough to be the base of not just one, but several theses. I started writing a document i named "After thoughts", but I thought it would be much more interesting to share those thoughts with you.

I had a class today called "Foundations in Leadership" in which we were presented a story about a guy named Chad. Chad, an office-supplies salesman, was approached by Jerry who said he would buy a large quantity of office supplies if he were given a Rolex watch. The story gets a bit more complex, with Chad's BF, his Banker, his Boss and the Boss' secretary as additional characters. The assignment was to create a hierarchy of the characters, ranking them according to their morality (or lack there of). I, like many of the international students, had Jerry as least moral. Most of the Americans had Chad as least moral.
In this libertarian country, founded by a group of Protestants, it's all about choice and personal responsibility. Chad was the least moral because he made a conscious choice to bribe Jerry.

3 comments:

Kalugny said...

I don't get it.
Didn't Jerry offer the watch to Chad?
Is Chad not moral because he accepted (if he indeed accept)?

What you're saying is that offering a bribe is a standard business maneuver, but accepting one is immoral?

Anonymous said...

Do you know I've only recently realized that you're in fact doing an M.Ba, a two-year degree, and not a five-year doctorate? I figured you had years and years in the frozen wasteland.

Anyway, keeping up with the blog, sounds like lots of fun so far (and a beautiful place to live in). Good luck with the studies!

mouse with holes said...

not related to this post,. but respect on your journey to ithaca :)
http://ninaalvarez.net/2007/05/03/poem-of-the-day-49/