Yes, to some degree an employee does what the boss says.
On the other hand, sometimes the boss is really supposed to be a
facilitator for the employees. And, one would sure hope the boss and
the employees share the same goal.
In higher education, the shared goal is supposed to be providing a good
education. The front line is the faculty. The administration and other
support staff are there to help the faculty get the job done. Of course
part helping the faculty involves bringing in grants, gifts, and
students. And part of bringing those things in involves creating an
image for the institution.
Where ethics gets tricky is when the administration becomes so focused
on image and other PR matters that the educational process actually
suffers rather than benefits.
In this particular case, if the classroom technology grant money were
used more wisely, we could have a pretty nice system in every classroom
on campus. As it is, approximately one-fourth the classrooms got
equipped. Today some faculty get stuck in rooms with nothing but an
overhead projector, whereas other faculty are driving the Rolls Royce.
In order to showcase a few extraordinary rooms, we have other rooms that
are behind the times.
Yes, building things idiot proof is a good idea. But I have two
comments on that. (1) What I observe is that the technologically
backwards faculty (the idiots in this case) can't punch the right
buttons on the $24,000 systems with any more success than they use the
remotes on their TVs and VCRs and DVDs at home (which they admit they
can't do... they have their kids do it). (2) I believe I could have
made a system nearly as idiot proof as they did, at one fourth the cost.
Mine, for example, would have been in a relay rack rather than a
custom-built wood cabinet. I would not have used custom programmed
switches, but would have used off the shelf components designed for home
theatre systems.
The problems were (a) the people in charge got too caught up in the
pizazz and lost sight of the goal (maximizing education), and (b) I was
not 50 miles away from here, so I was not an expert. The people who
designed and installed the systems came from about 100 miles away, and
they specialize in home theater systems for the wealthy. They probably
smile both ways of their trip everytime they come here.
Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D.
Professor of Physics and Chemistry
Bluffton University
Bluffton, OH 45817
(419)-358-3270
edmiston@bluffton.edu
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