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Help
in Distressing Times
- Dec 17 2001 16:47:20
by Della
Bradshaw
For most
business schools non-degree executive education courses are the way to
make money. But such was the emotional impact of the events of September
11 that one business school, at the University of Michigan, decided to
develop and present a three-day programme at cost price.
Earlier this month 43 managers from as far afield as California converged
in Ann Arbor to deal with some of the issues raised by the events. Michigan
decided to offer the course as a public service, charging just Dollars
600 for the three-day programme to cover costs. The three faculty members
involved delivered the programme free.
Difficult
Times
One other
big difference between this course, "Leading in Difficult Times",
and others related to the September terrorist attacks was that the faculty
at Michigan focused on the personal leadership issues involved in guiding
companies through such distressing times, as well as issues such as strategic
planning.
The programme was developed in six weeks, rather than the six months it
usually takes, according to Anjan Thakor, professor of banking and finance
and one of the three faculty members involved. He estimates that up to
30 per cent of the mat-erial used was developed specifically in response
to September 11, including all the case studies.
"(The
participants) were coming with agendas that were bigger than normal,"
says Prof Thakor. "Every single session, we tried to get them to
open their minds.
"Somehow,"
he adds, "The magic happened."
Michigan
was able to put the programme together with such speed because of the
expertise of one faculty member, Jane Dutton, professor of business administration
and associate professor of psychology and an expert in the integration
of business with personal issues. Robert Dolan, the newly appointed dean,
called upon her on September 11 to help the faculty and staff at Michigan
through the crisis. Her presentation to them was on September 12.
That led
to the setting up of a website for Michigan executive education contacts,
with 13 essays posted on the website by the school. Alumni responded with
thousands of e-mails to the executive education faculty at Michigan, says
Lucy Chin, director of executive education. On analysis they were found
to fall into three categories, she says: personal, organisational and
business issues. The course was structured to handle all three.
This will
certainly not be the last course Michigan offers to deal with the relationship
between business and compassion. But with numbers down 25 per cent for
its open enrolment courses, it may well be the last course it offers so
cheaply.
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Excerpts
from Newspaper Articles |
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Interview
with Jane Dutton on the Todd Mundt Show, National Public Radio, September
17, 2001 |
CompassionLab
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