Representing the BBA Program

When you’re meeting people, you may not realize it but you represent groups that you’re affiliated with. The other day this point was made to me when I received a very nice email from the Dean’s executive assistant (Audra Asher) that relayed a conversation she had with the Dean. Here’s the background.

The Management & Organizations (M&O for those of us at Ross) core course for juniors had an assignment in which student groups were to investigate an organization from several viewpoints. One particular group wanted to interview the Dean. They sent an invitation to him a couple of weeks early and asked for 30 minutes of his time. They arrived on time, conducted the interview with several students taking turns leading the interview, told him when their 30 minutes was over, wrapped up the interview, and sent a thank you note the next day.

The note that I received from Audra was effusive in her praise for the group and thanked me for helping prep them for the meeting. Well, let me tell you that I had nothing to do with prepping them. They did it all themselves. From my way of looking at things, this was just BBAs being BBAs. I have the utmost confidence in the ability of BBAs to act appropriately in these professional situations.

The Dean doesn’t have much time or many opportunities to meet with small groups of BBAs in the course of his day. When he does, it’s probably because of some issue that has come up and needs to be addressed. This doesn’t leave him much of an opportunity to have a reasoned, thoughtful exchange of ideas with the students. This was one such opportunity and he and Audra came away extremely impressed with this group of students. Better, he also left the interview feeling pretty darned good about BBAs and the BBA Program. The Dean represents all of the students and programs at Ross (BBA, Day MBA, Evening MBA, Global MBA, Executive MBA, MAcc, Exec Ed and, soon, Masters of Supply Chain) to a wide variety of audiences. The more good stories that he can tell (and this is definitely one), the better he can sell the benefits of hiring or working with the BBAs.

The students went into this meeting with the goal of getting some information for a group project for a core course. I’m guessing that they didn’t give a second thought to these ancillary effects when they were in the meeting. Of course, that doesn’t mean they don’t exist. And that’s just the point that I’m making. Any particular student isn’t just one person — he or she represents the BBA Program, Ross, and the University of Michigan (among other groups). If that person does well (or poorly), he or she is affecting his or her own reputation and that of the other groups with which he or she is affiliated.

This happens whether or not the student realizes it. It happens when students are at a hotel participating in the BBA Formal; it happens during job interviews; it happens during a student’s group projects in his or her LS&A classes; it happens when the student is working with a company during a class project. All of these affect the reputation of the BBA Program and Ross. All of our students are our ambassadors. We professors take this role seriously; we staff members try to admit students who will represent us well. We all try to instill in these students the pride that we feel in working at Ross. It does all BBAs good when a single BBA conducts him or herself professionally or takes pride in a job well-done. I continue to take pride in my association with BBAs. It’s an easy thing to do.