Opportunism
When I think of opportunism, I generally think of people taking advantage of what lies in front of them. I think that our morals play a large role in our inability to completely take advantage of some opportunities. Even if morals do not stop some people, the fear of being judged based on how other people may see your choice of action also contributes. Basically, we all adhere to some basic societal norms which prevents us from fully taking advantage of some opportunities. The most basic example of this is finding a $100 bill in a busy city. When I was 10, I found a $100 bill on the ground in Chicago, and although I know I wanted to keep it, my mom immediately made me ask around if it was anyone’s and someone claimed it was theirs. I do not know if that was their money, but I would like to think that no one would take a $100 bill as their own.
In my blog last week, I talked about how my high school cross-country coach owned a shoe store and prioritized runners who bought shoes from his store when deciding who to put in certain races. This is an example of opportunism: he is taking advantage by increasing the number of people who will buy from his store. He knows that if athletes know their likelihood to compete increases when buying, they will buy from him, which results in a profit for his store. This is not ethical, yet it works.
As career fairs and applications for internships continue to open, I think that a lot of students on campus are stressed about finding an internship. Whether it is to be in a Big Four company, get a position of choice, or anything in between, everyone is trying to put themselves in the best light for recruiters. In the spring career fair, I know someone who was offered a co-op to a Big Four company for Spring 2020. Excited, he accepted the offer. However, it is important to note that he only accepted the offer for the name, and did not think about what doing a co-op means with regard to graduating on time and being off campus for a semester. At the time, it seemed like the best option. After realizing he would not be able to graduate after doing the co-op, he declined in a very last-minute, unprofessional manner. The company asked why he would not be able to participate in the co-op, and knowing that these big companies tend to blacklist people who back out in this manner, he lied about the reason. At the time, this was opportunistic. It may not have been ethical, but in his best interest, it seemed like the best option. Recently, he tried to reapply to the same company for an internship, and they instantaneously declined him. The same thing happened with other companies. Whether it is ethical or not, these big companies blacklist people who seem unreliable and not like good workers for their company. It may not be ethical to blacklist people, but if they provide evidence for being a bad potential candidate, they will act in a manner that promotes their own revenues.
In some ways , this relates to credible commitment. If students provide evidence to not be credible potential workers, then companies have no incentive to hire them. If students are willing to cheat the system, then companies will also blacklist students. At the same time, blacklisting young students can be inefficient. College is often a time when people say they learn a lot, so over time, students may learn how to be better potential employees. This complexity of the development of college students and how recruiters view them is very complex, and it can cause inefficiencies in the market. This may be why certain companies have unfilled internship positions, and some interns can successfully avoid the blacklisting and obtain multiple offers in an unethical way.
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ReplyDeleteThe content of your post was appropriate for the prompt, as you did give examples of unethical behavior. In the case of the coach, I'm surprised that a parent who didn't want to fork up money for the more expensive running shoes didn't complain to the principal of the school. In a similar manner, if a professor has written a textbook for the course the professor teaches, is fine to profit on the sales of the textbook when used at other universities, but on campus the professor should give access to the book for free. Sometimes that is not done. It's very vulgar behavior.
What you didn't have in your post, and I hope you reflect about it in your comment on my comment, as a time (other than that $100 bill incident) when you might have acted opportunistically but didn't. Perhaps you didn't lie where you could have. Sometimes that's called taking your medicine. What prevented you from taking the easy way out? Understanding this in ourselves should offer clues in how opportunism might be prevented in others.
I think that I wrapped the text now. I opened a preview and it seems to look the way it should, sorry about the difficulty in reading the post.
DeleteI agree, it is surprising that no one stepped up. However, I am also guilty of that. I participated in the running program at my high school for four years and did not. I think it just seems like the easy way out, even though it may not be morally correct. When reflecting on the economics statistics courses I took, I realize that I did purchase the professor's workbook. Yes, it was optional and not required, yet if a student did not purchase the book, they did not have access to the practice exams. These practice exams were almost the same as our actual exams, so without them, one it is at a big disadvantage. This may not be considered fair: students are forced to purchase the professors' specific workbook in order to be successful in some ways.
Last year when applying for internships, I applied for many positions. I accepted the offer of a non-profit company, but later on, I got offered a higher paying position for a different company. Since I had already accepted the previous offer, I felt obligated to decline the better position. However, I know that non-profits are not in contact with big companies. I could have lied and gotten away with declining the offer when I should not have to make more money. These would have created more opportunities: a bigger company on my resume, and more money to use during the school year.