The Art of the Difficult Discussion

When we teach students to engage in respectful debate on difficult topics, we prepare them to become leaders who can communicate clearly and appreciate different points of view.

By Noah Barsky • March 03, 2019
Illustration By The Heads of State

ALBERT EINSTEIN ONCE said, "Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of minds to think." Einstein's statement has never been truer than it is today, when students must absorb the growing number of controversial issues filling the business press. Here are just a few stories that made headlines over the last year:

The CEOs of Texas Instruments and Intel lost their jobs after their personal behavior violated their companies' codes of conduct.
Facebook fell under scrutiny for its inability to safeguard user data privacy.
Starbucks closed its stores to provide diversity and inclusion training to all employees in response to allegations of racial bias.
The National Football League dealt with debate over its players kneeling during America's national anthem, raising discussion about employee freedom of expression, social issues, and advertisers' reluctance to associate with controversy.
Celebrities were shunned or arrested for sexual harassment and assault.
Scandals even reached higher education, in the form of student academic integrity scandals; faculty research fabrication and fraud; and the sudden dismissal, resignation, or arrest of campus administrators.

Students freely talk about these incidents in hallways, dormitories, and cafeterias; but when they bring them up in the classroom, faculty often become evasive or offer only fiat-footed responses. It's as if there's a controversy about addressing controversy. But if faculty avoid tackling such topics, they cannot expect students to have the moral fortitude to act when faced with ethical challenges at work.

How can administrators encourage faculty to address controversial topics in their classrooms? They can start by examining the problem to better understand the existing barriers and challenges their faculty face. They can make clear that when faculty discuss controversial issues in the classroom, they help students develop critical thinking, ethical decision making, and leadership skills.

Most important, they must provide faculty with frameworks, resources, and training to help them lead difficult classroom discussions effectively. With this support, faculty and students will be empowered to promote cultures of respect, dignity, and intellectual dialogue—factors crucial to healthy debate.

CONNECTING TO THE MISSION

Even the most innovative faculty might be reluctant to discuss controversial topics—perhaps they lack the confidence to delve into unresolved topics, such as breaking news or ongoing litigation, instead preferring to teach from a structured syllabus. But once the barriers are well understood, administrators can help their faculty overcome them.

For example, administrators can communicate how classroom debate ties to the institution's mission. Likewise, AACSB International's accreditation standards emphasize the importance of developing ethical business leaders. Teaching students to respond to controversy is a big part of that objective.

More important, faculty who embrace controversy in their teaching will be fulfilling the grand purpose of business education, which is to prepare students for leadership roles. The professors who are most valued and remembered are those who guide students in how to think, not those who dogmatically impose on them what to think.

PREPARING FACULTY

It is essential for business schools to provide resources that guide faculty on how to best and most consistently lead controversial discussions. At some institutions, teaching and learning institutes host web sites that provide guidelines, motivation, and warnings. (See "Guidance for Teachers" below.) Schools also can deliver workshops or use frameworks provided by professional firms.

There are many ways faculty can inspire insightful classroom debates:

Use case studies. Case studies present neutral scenarios that are disconnected from students' daily lives. As a result, any arguments among students will be less intense, giving students more space to express dissenting points of view without fear. For example, at the Villanova University School of Business in Pennsylvania, executive MBAs debate issues such as executive compensation and living wage via cases centered on recent company proxies, while MBA students in our Social Enterprise Consulting Practicum apply strategic and ethical theories to challenges facing local nonprofit organizations.

Turn to online resources. Professors can tap tools online that provide common readings, timely video content, expert perspectives, and questions for students to consider. (See the sidebar below "Suggestions for Smarter Conversations.")

Present ethical reasoning models. Students often are aware of controversies in news but lack the skill to justify their positions on those issues. By presenting ethics models—such as Kohlberg's theory of moral reasoning—faculty can guide students to go beyond what is wrong in an issue to explore what could go right with sound decisions.

As students develop their positions on controversial topics, how can faculty make sure they avoid the pitfalls posed by fake and sensationalized news coverage? The SAGE Business & Management editorial team offers these suggestions:

ESTABLISH THE CONTEXT

Ask the big questions. What are the main themes and key business-oriented takeaways of this issue? Why does this issue matter?

Weigh the issues. What are the specific questions? Why are they important?

Look back. What figures and milestones created this issue?

Look ahead. How might the issue play out in a few years’ time?

Show the data. What trends do the data show? What do the data predict?

Provide a 360-degree view. What do the experts from all sides—from academia, government, and business—say on the issue?

Find relevance. How does this issue translate into the current business world?

Dig deeper. What is the chronology of the issue? Who are the stakeholders involved? Which parties hold the strongest and weakest positions?

ENCOURAGE HEALTHY SKEPTICISM

Ask students to use common sense. Does the information seem logical when viewed impartially and critically? Can the facts be verified?

Guide them to look for red flags. Make students aware that the first search results aren’t always the most reliable, and that when a website’s domain name is out of the ordinary (such as those that end in “.com.co” or “.lo”) that website might be tracking in “fake news.” Teach students to check the site’s “About” section to determine if it follows acceptable editorial standards.

Advise them to question the author. Does the source have high standards for accuracy, balance, and fairness? Is the article bylined? What does an online search of the author’s name reveal about his or her qualifications and trustworthiness? Encourage students to ask: Why should I believe this information?

This is especially true for blogs and politically driven publications. Students should learn to be wary of bloggers who lack expertise or don’t follow editorial standards, and to check bloggers’ posts against mainstream media coverage.

Advise them to look into quoted sources. Are the article’s quoted sources qualified to speak on the subject? A lack of quotes from qualified sources can signal that the article lacks balance, depth, context, and authority—and that it might simply reflect the writer’s opinion.

Educate them to look for bias. They should watch for bias among media personalities, whether liberal or conservative, especially on cable news shows. Are these personalities fair and impartial, or are they promoting their own views or those of a political party, pressure group, or other entity? Are a news story’s quoted sources qualified to speak on the topic?

Show them how to follow the money. Students should be aware that many studies, think tank reports, and opinion articles are funded by corporations, foundations, or advocacy groups with ideological agendas. Make sure they ask the right questions: How might funding have influenced the content? Is the article labeled “sponsored content,” and if so, what entity sponsored it?

Let them use reasonable doubt as their guide. Make clear that they shouldn’t use information in an assignment or share it on social media in a way that implies it’s true if they suspect that it is not. After all, nothing will kill “fake news” and flawed logic faster than healthy skepticism and a commitment to quality research.

SETTING EXPECTATIONS

It's important that students know the ground rules for respectful dialogue from the beginning of their programs and courses. These rules can be presented as formal codes of conduct—some professors even ask their students to develop classroom guidelines as their first assignment. In many cases, students develop more rigorous codes of conduct than those their instructors would write, covering matters such as mobile phone use, respectful language, tone of voice, and common professional courtesy. When students create the rules, they are more likely to abide by them to create safe and respectful forums for open discussion.

Students, too, can play critical roles in establishing the cultural and content expectations for classroom debate. Administrators can learn students' perspectives by holding periodic meetings with student groups and recent alumni, asking them to provide examples of effective topics and elements of meaningful discussion. They also can invite students to come to faculty training seminars to share how classroom discussion shaped their thinking.

WORTH THE EFFORT

These steps should be combined with an articulated strategy and unambiguous support from campus leaders. But the result is worth the effort—classroom debates of controversial topics heighten student interest and provide students with lifelong tools to think critically, act boldly, and lead with credibility.

No change is easy. But the cost of encouraging difficult discussions in our classrooms is far less than the cost of inaction in the face of controversial situations in business. What's certain is that controversy abounds in today's business world. As business school administrators and faculty, we have the obligation, not merely the opportunity, to embrace it. As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands at times of challenge and controversy. "

GUIDANCE FOR TEACHERS

Centers for teaching and learning at many universities have created webpages that offer tips for managing classroom conversations about controversial issues. The following pages, developed by centers at Indiana University, the University of Michigan, and Yale University, provide good starting points:

"Managing Difficult Classroom Discussions"

"Guidelines for Discussing Difficult or Controversial Topics"

"Teaching Controversial Topics"

These web sites offer guidance not only for managing difficult discussions, but also for ending them if they become too heated. In that case, professors might plan a follow-up discussion or assignment once students have had time to reflect.

As IU's center advises, "Be certain to explain the purpose of this deferral, and give students some resource or assignment that will help them prepare to discuss the topic in a more meaningful way within the context of the course and discipline:' The objective, the text continues, is for faculty to be neutral and detached facilitators of the conversation, to give space for students to share and develop their own responses.

Noah P. Barsky is an associate professor at Villanova University School of Business in Pennsylvania and an author and editorial board member for SAGE Publishing's Business Case Series.

This article originally appeared in BizEd's March/April 2019 issue. Please send questions, comments, or letters to the editor to bized.editors@aacsb.edu.