Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/57462
their own values conflict with what they are asked to do. the workplace. He actually lost his job shortly after speaking up, but he remained glad he had voiced his values. An international student, who had been very quiet in class until this point, told a story about the time she objected when her boss fired a middle-aged man who had just been diagnosed with cancer. Scully notes that sharing her experi- ence during this class period seemed to be a turning point for this student, who became much more outspoken during the rest of the course. Because the "Tale of Two Stories" exercise unfolded dur- the cases present protagonists who want to act on their val- ues and want to know how to do so. What should they say? To whom? At what time? Although the cases are inspired by actual experiences, they are disguised. This allows students to explore not only what did happen, but what could happen, depending on their choices. Values in the Classroom The Giving Voice to Values curriculum and approach have been or soon will be piloted in 20 sites, and many other schools and businesses are reviewing it. One popular exer- cise, called "A Tale of Two Stories," has students detail two ethically challenging situations, one in which they did speak up and one in which they did not. This module has been integrated into orientation sessions at some schools, turned into a standalone workshop, integrated into core courses, and used as an elective within some MBA programs. The unique nature of the GVV curriculum makes it easy for faculty to adapt it to a wide variety of needs. For example: n Maureen Scully, assistant professor in management at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, teaches "issue selling in organizations" in the core MBA course called Organiza- tional Analysis and Skills. Last year, she used the "Tale of Two Stories" exercise to get students thinking about strategic and political actions they could use in the workplace when they're trying to "sell" a values-driven position to management. Scully says that after one student described a situation in which she did not report a coach who was sexually harass- ing students, the class discussed what factors had combined to keep her silent and what she could have done differently. Another student described a time he challenged company management when homophobia was affecting employees in 44 BizEd JULY/AUGUST 2008 ing the ninth week of class, says Scully, the students had already built up a level of trust with each other and wanted to tell the stories in plenary sessions rather than in small groups. She feels the impact was extraordinary. "We realized we had given students analytical tools at a structural level and managerial skills at a team level, but we hadn't given them enough tangible leadership skills at the individual level," she says. "Because GVV grounds the discussion in the students' own experiences, the session is memorable and practical." The school has since decided to incorporate the same mate- rial across all ten sections of the course. n Last May, Minette Drumwright, associate professor at the University of Texas-Austin, also used "A Tale of Two Stories" as part of the ethics component of the EMBA pro- gram. In addition, she gave students an exercise from the "Scripts and Skills" module. Drumwright had students consider how the new manager of a highly productive sales group could deal with unethical sales practices. Several sales managers in the class shared both the firm policies and the individual approaches that could work in such a situation. Had this topic been posed as a typi- cal ethical dilemma, these same experienced students might have adopted a cynical "seen it all" stance. Instead, these stu- dents joined a class discussion that debated informed and sophisticated ways to handle the challenge. Drumwright's class was so successful that she is now pro- posing an elective course in which EMBA students would research and write caselets about situations where people did speak up about their values. They would develop the teach- ing notes—and then teach the cases to the next incoming cohort of EMBA students. n At the Yale School of Management, Ira Millstein and Anne Simpson invited the GVV initiative to develop custom- ized cases for their corporate governance course. The cases— "The Backdating Scandal" and "The Independent Director's Challenge"—place particular emphasis on voicing dissent in the corporate boardroom, often an environment rife with strong personal loyalties and complex group dynamics. riculum recognizes the fact that all managers encounter value conflicts in the workplace—instances when The Giving Voice to Values cur- AAGAMIA/GETTY IMAGES