To do or not to do?

            Eighteen schools competed in the third annual Ethics Match sponsored by the Texas Independent College Foundation (TICF) on Nov. 17. The UMHB team earned first place winning $1,000.

Assistant Professor of Business Mr. Harry Sweet said he was pleased they did win because it shows UMHB has the ability to be winners academically and physically.

“If they don’t win that’s fine,” Sweet said. “It’s not about winning it’s about learning.”

He said having the experience and “getting your hands dirty” was “much more valuable than a textbook.”

            Most of the students under consideration have been in Mr. Sweet’s Ethics class and Associate Professor of Business Dr. Marty McMahone’s Christian Principles and Ethics in Business class. The professors perused the students they knew and finally pick two men and two women they think will represent the university well.

Sweet said, “It’s sort of a mix of maturity, academic achievement, GPA and our observation…”

            He also said they considered “how well they think on their feet.”

            Team members were Lauren Graber, Danny Jeans, Elaine Lipscomb and Ray Wilson.

Sweet said, “Our team this year, at no time did you hear emotion or righteous indignation over the cases that they were to discuss.”

He said there were emotions, but they came from a reasonable approach and were logically explained.

Two teams of four students sit quietly waiting for their situation. The dilemma is read and teams have two minutes to discuss the problem and five minutes to present their solution.

            The first team will give their opinion and the second team is given a chance to respond. Then they switch positions and the second set of circumstances is read.

Usually, the second team will agree with the first with only a few, minor adjustments. The campus team took a chance during the final rounds.

After listening to the University of Incarnate Word give their opinion they disagreed. The topic given is the common controversial issue of international globalization.

Dr. McMahone recalled the scene. Incarnate Word took the common view against it while UMHB took the other side.  They are very aware of the harm it can cause, but think with the proper direction and discretion it may be beneficial to more than one country.

Senior BCIS major Ray Wilson said, “This was the only opportunity to disagree.”

He said it is not the popular political idea, “but we agree with it.”

The first year of the competition the university placed fifth.  Last year they came in second.  Although this year brings a celebration, some say the real victory is in the experience.

Sweet said, “The main thing that we hope to accomplish is that students become associated with business leaders and learn from them the reality of business.”

The experience to be taught by others and past mistakes is key to making ethical descisions. Judges for the competition are prominent business leaders in Texas.  Many are CEOs or business executives. Even the Vice President of the Texas Rangers has judged these competitions.

            Wilson said, “I knew it would be an awesome opportunity to meet some really experiences business leaders from our area…and also, it’s a unique experience.”

            Sweet, McMahone and the students left Thursday afternoon and stayed in the Worthington Hotel provided by the TICF.

            Wilson said “just being part of a team was pretty cool.”

            He enjoyed meeting other people and found it interesting how familiar students are with what is and is not ethical.

            Although these competitions are fun to participate in, the overall plan is to help students use their experience and what they’ve learned in class and the competitions in their lives on a normal basis.

            McMahone said, “The main purpose is to get people thinking and talking about ethics outside of the classroom.”