Case study: assistant professor Patrick Holiday and Mr. Alex Pappadopoulos.

Abstract

Professor Holiday is an assistant professor that engages in dialog with one of his students in his lecture, Alex Pappadopoulos, which leads to a verbal blunder. While the blunder is retracted, the story develops into some fundamental questions that a professor may face in the classroom. Such questions that developed are: 1) How does a professor deal with an overzealous student? and, 2) Should assistant professors be held to strict professional standards, or can they, like others, be allowed to make mistakes? The case study consists of three sections--Case A, B, and C. To increase student participation three discussion questions are introduced, followed by a teaching note that addresses each question. Finally, a teaching note and guidelines are offered to prospective professors.

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Professor Holiday felt fatigued after a long week of lectures and student advising. It was Friday and time for the last course of that week. The Professor took pride in being one step ahead of himself. However, his best intentions failed one day; he had made a comment regarding a student named Alex Pappadopoulos that could lead to his demise as an aspiring tenured professor.

Professor Holiday taught at a small liberal arts college in the inner city of Philadelphia. The school was renowned as a strict college that attempted to developed character, integrity, and discipline in its students. It also offered a common business curriculum that was in demand. Although students would learn liberal arts, many of them choose to major in business administration. The students came from various backgrounds and many were first-generation college attendees. Most students came from families where both parents worked, and the majority also found it necessary to have some type of employment while in college. After obtaining their degree, students would seek full-time employment in nearby cities.

Professor Holiday came from an area in south Philadelphia comprised mainly of middle-class families. His mother worked as an office manager at a nearby college, utilizing the skills she had acquired at a technical high school. The professor respected her for her diligence in maintaining harmony at home while working full-time. Professor Holiday's father worked at a printing company on a large six-color press. Ironically, in high school, he had been offered three wrestling scholarships to Ivy League schools but was drafted into military service at age 18. When his Army stint was over, he felt it was too late to go to college. Conversely, Professor Holiday had a deep thirst for knowledge. High school offered him opportunities for learning, but family strife diverted his focus from education during those years. Upon entering college, Professor Holiday was finally in a setting that satisfied his thirst for knowledge, and accordingly increased his self-esteem, thereby giving him the wherewithal to compete with whom he felt were more educated and sophisticated colleagues within his academic peer group.

Professor Holiday embraced the challenges of college. He marveled at people who lived in expansive estates with personal libraries, and he knew he wanted to aspire to their ranks. After college, he worked at an advertising firm as a clerical assistant of operations, later moving into a finance position as controller. He attended graduate school at night and earned his MBA in finance. "An MBA is a great credential," he thought, "but a professional must have a terminal degree"--so he enrolled in and ultimately completed a doctoral program in management. Earning his Ph.D., Professor Holiday felt a sense of pride and accomplishment for achieving a goal that at times seemed surreal. Holiday's first role model was his first business professor, who provided the direction and leadership. By the time Professor Holiday finished his doctoral studies, he felt eager to emulate the exemplary instructors he had learned from--shifting his aspiration from a business career to professor. His greatest desire was to academically develop the minds of young men and women so, after a 15-year career in advertising, Holiday accepted a tenure-track position at a college. He felt that both his professional and scholarly life--the very fabric of his existence--were derived from and inspired by his professors.

Case Study: The Blunder (A)

It was the first academic year for Professor Holiday and the first semester of the freshmen's first year. The course was nearing completion--about two-thirds into the semester. The students got to know each other well; however, there appeared to be differences in student camaraderie evident to Professor Holiday. Most students expressed a liking for the professor and the course, but some did not participate and appeared to lack motivation.

There was a student by the name of Alex Pappadopoulos who, through formal presentations and class participation, separated himself from the crowd as one who worked harder than the majority of the class. Alex was born and raised in Greece, then moved with his family to Philadelphia in his teens. His father became a successful restaurateur, and Alex was determined to acquire a college education and embark on a career in the financial industry. He was highly motivated to do as well in college as he had done in high school, having earned high marks in his classes. Alex's only obstacle was a slight disadvantage due to language difficulties. In one class, Alex orated a well-memorized speech but after approximately 20 minutes, Professor Holiday told Alex that he must begin to wrap up his presentation. In other observations by Professor Holiday, Alex did not work well within the team he was assigned. His fellow students complained to Professor Holiday that Alex was too controlling and wanted everyone to do more work than necessary, even threatening to do the extra work himself to ensure compliance. After a team presentation, his teammates did not want him to represent them again as the team speaker. During the next oral presentation, Alex waited for them to finish explaining their part of the case, and then he attempted to upstage his teammates by describing his view on how the case at hand related to the topics in the textbook and class lectures.

Professor Holiday did not know how to deal with Alex. He was increasingly irritating the other students by appearing to curry favor from the Professor. Holiday wondered how to handle this over-eager student and the backlash that so often follows from other class members in response to this type of behavior. There were 35 students in the class separated into six teams. Professor Holiday taught using the Socratic method, PowerPoint slides, real-life business experiences, and, most importantly, case analyses, as a means to encourage student discussion and interaction. Most cases came directly from the text except for some Harvard Business School Cases. Holiday usually had to call on students to participate except for Alex, who would willingly volunteer his thoughts and impressions more often than any other student in the class. Professor Holiday thought Alex's class participation was refreshing and insightful, and as the course built its own particular momentum, Holiday would call on Alex when the class was stumped, knowing that he would have the answer. The professor was not sure how to relate to a class with so much disparity--some students were apathetic while others really wanted to do well.

During one session toward the end of the semester, Professor Holiday used a case study called the "Analyst Dilemma." This case was based on an ethical situation in which the protagonist, named Amy, had to make a very tough choice between betraying her friend by releasing information and keeping a secret. Amy worked for a prestigious investment bank. Her friend and roommate, Jane, worked for a large commercial bank. One night, Amy came home from work to find Jane crying, saying she had just lost her job. Amy consoled Jane by staying up late with her. Jane told Amy that her bank would not be honoring a financial contract that just happened to be an important deal the company Amy worked for was engaged in with the bank Jane was just terminated from. With the faltering deal out in the open, Amy had an important decision to make--tell her boss and expose Jane or say nothing and watch her company lose a large capital investment.

Professor Holiday asked three main questions pertaining to the case, and the only student initiating answers was Alex. When Professor Holiday asked the question, "Does Amy have a fiduciary responsibility to her firm?" Alex answered, "Yes: Amy works at a prestigious investment bank and it is her responsibility to tell her boss about this recent information even if her friend told her that information in confidence." Furthermore, Alex explained that "If I worked at a prestigious bank like the one Amy works for, I would have an excellent entry on my resume, so I think Amy owed it to her company to tell." The professor was amazed at the accuracy of Alex's eloquent answers and said, "You're right," then proceeded to say to the class, "He is good--shoot him!" Blood rushed to the professor's face as he realized, "Oh, no! I just said something very inappropriate." The class became silent, then one student repeated the words "shoot him?" with a quizzical look on his face. Professor Holiday answered that student by replying, "I was only kidding;" nonetheless, he felt terrible, and then wondered, "What should I do now?" Question: What should Professor Holiday do in the next 2 minutes, 15 minutes, or any time after this occurrence?

Case Study: Assistant Professor Patrick Holiday and Mr. Alex Pappadopoulos (B) Professor Holiday could see the expression on Alex's face. It appeared as if Alex's face turned red with anger and embarrassment. He did not participate for the rest of the class session. The other students did not express further concern about the remark, but Holiday felt terrible about his faux pas and what it seemed to imply. The Professor wondered if he was going to be sitting across from the dean explaining what had happened--"I am not sure where that comment came from; I realize these are my students and I must provide a professional learning environment; it will not happen again." Holiday wondered if this problem could affect his tenure. Acquiring tenure was comprised of political campaigning, publication requirements, college service, and--most importantly for a small college--student evaluations of professors. This particular class session was ended a few minutes early as a result of the episode.

When class was dismissed, Professor Holiday approached Alex and said, "I hope you're not upset by my comment. I meant to say that your answers were very accurate and students should aspire to answer questions the way that you do." It did not matter much, though--the damage was done. The unintentional blunder that had slipped out could not just be forgotten, and the reverberation of the comment remained foremost on the professor's conscience. It could be interpreted as discriminatory, unruly, inappropriate, and unprofessional, not to mention that, at the time, shootings such as those at Columbine High School were still fresh in everyone's memory. The conversation continued: Alex: "I hope no one will take you seriously." Professor: "Don't worry, no one took me seriously. It's over; I made a mistake; I am terribly sorry." Alex finally left and Professor Holiday felt terrible. He remembers saying to himself, "Teaching is not as easy as I thought it would be--my first semester has been somewhat taxing. I teach seven classes and this is my first full-time position as an assistant professor. I hope he doesn't go to the dean because I cannot deny what I said. I could be in deep trouble if he goes to the dean."

Suddenly, Alex reappeared in the empty classroom again: Alex: "Professor, those were strong words you said." Professor: "I realize I hurt and embarrassed you. If you want, I will tell the class that I should not have said that." Alex: "Yes, I want my colleagues to know you were not serious. Those were strong words." Professor Holiday suspected that Alex might have spoken to someone immediately after class, and he hoped it was not the dean. Question: Should Professor Holiday apologize to the class or just move on to the next lecture and let it go?

Case Study: Assistant Professor Patrick Holiday and Mr. Alex Pappadopoulos (C) Professor Holiday realized that a comment like the one he had made must be acknowledged as a mistake and be publicly retracted in front of his class. He began his class the following Tuesday by saying, "Before I start today's lecture, I would like to apologize to Alex for a comment I made during last Friday's class. I said that `He is good--shoot him.' Alex is a very bright student, and his classmates should aspire to be like him." Alex smiled from ear to ear. Most of the students momentarily looked puzzled, and then gave Alex disparaging looks. Professor Holiday concluded with, "When a manager or professor makes a mistake that involves a statement made publicly about a person, then that manager or professor should apologize in public." One of the students replied, "Good man, Professor Holiday!" Questions: 1) How does a professor deal with an overzealous student? 2) How does a professor retract a statement that he or she realizes was inappropriate for the class setting? 3) Should assistant professors be held to strict professional standards, or can they, like others, be allowed to make mistakes? In what ways should they rectify errors in knowledge, content, or manner?

Teaching Note: Assistant Professor Patrick Holiday and Mr. Alex Pappadopoulos

Pedagogical Objectives. Suggested audience for this case is both undergraduate and graduate students from many disciplines within the business and education disciplines. The primary pedagogical objective is for students to learn how do deal with over-jealous students and also how a professor deals with both the over-jealous student and his or her classroom actions. It can be used to evaluate leadership decision-making regarding classroom issues. Class discussion should be 50 minutes if read in class and 30 minutes if Case A is assigned for homework. Case B and C should be read in class.

Answers to Discussion Questions. 1) How does a professor deal with an overzealous student? Student responses will vary regarding this question. Some may feel that competition is fierce in college while others will think it is more important to be yourself as a student and not be cut throat. It may be helpful to assign overzealous students, like Alex, with some leadership responsibilities in the classroom to sublimate some of their needs for persuasion and power. The professor may decide to speak to the overzealous student individually after class to comment them of their achievements thus far. If the student's behavior is motivated by insecurity, this discussion may be reassuring enough to reduce some of their overeager responses in class. After all, it appears that overzealous students are motivated to impress the professor, not his fellow classmates.

2) How does a professor retract a statement that he or she realizes was inappropriate for the class setting? Addressing the inappropriateness of the statement immediately after it is spoken will send a swift message of regret and sincerity to the individual student that is affected by the comment. Acknowledging the mistake as unintentional will prevent students from reforming a negative opinion of the professor. Unless a student brings up the inappropriate comment at a later time, no further mention of it is needed. If a student does mention the incident again, the professor could offer to speak to the student during his or her office hours. Additional time taken out to discuss this incident only draws further attention to it and distracts the professor and the class from resuming their class lectures.

3) Should assistant professors be held to strict professional standards, or can they, like others, be allowed to make mistakes? In what ways should they rectify errors in knowledge, or manner? It is likely that the students, who may be identifying with Mr. Pappadopoulous, will agree that professors should be held to strict professional standards. However, this question can lead to an interesting debate on ethics. Students may decide to bring up this issue with the department head or the dean of the college--as Dr. Holiday had feared. What will this accomplish? Whether the mistake is in knowledge or manner, it should be acknowledged immediately. A humble professor is a characteristic of powerful and charismatic leaders.

Teaching Suggestions. Students may benefit on a discussion or debate regarding professional ethics in the workplace and how this relates to the classroom setting. What are the similarities; how are they different? How has cultural diversity in the workplace affected today's ethical standards? What would have happened if the situation was reversed and a student made the inappropriate comment to the professor? How would the situation be different? Should a student who makes an inappropriate statement be held to apologizing in public such as Professor Holiday did? Or will a direct apology to the professor suffice? What Happened? The Dean never approached Professor Holiday concerning his potentially flammable remark and has renewed his yearly contract. Alex earned a final grade of `A' and the student's rating for that course was above average.

Conclusion

This case provides insight into how a professor may handle an inappropriate blunder along with dealing with over-jealous students. Some guidelines are offered to direct professors:

* Address a verbal mistake immediately by letting students realize you made the mistake. By acknowledging your mistake you will appear real and honest.

* Develop a teaching style that directs your attention away from the over-jealous student. Call on as many different students as possible so the over-jealous student does not dominate the class lecture.

* Maintain an even balance between your scholarly achievements, teaching load, and committee assignments. Make sure you are addressing all of your responsibilities so that one area is not neglected and therefore negatively affecting your potential tenure promotion.

Dr. Provitera is an Assistant Professor of Management. His teaching-research agenda includes organizational behavior, strategic management, and marketing strategy. The author would like to acknowledge editorial assistance from Dr. Louis B. Barnes of Harvard Business School. While the case is based on data supplied by the participants involved, all names and some peripheral facts have been disguised.