Concept of an Academic Institution - Case Study Example

Prof’s Crisis Management: UNC and Fraudulent s Introduction The of North Carolina was caught in a scandal which questioned the very basic concept of an academic institution. In an effort to provide athletes an opportunity to get through their coursework and remaining in good academic standing, the University created fake courses so that students could pass through so that players could retain an eligible GPA as well as obtain a degree in exchange for their playing rather than academic achievements. The bad behavior of the university in terms of their prioritizing athletics over academic integrity caused a public relations scandal that had to be addressed by the university. Background Paul Barrett determined that they were several specific points on which the scandal at University of North Carolina could be best described. The first point was that the deceit was spread throughout the campus faculty and administration and that it was in existence for 18 years where 3100 students took courses that were nothing but classes on paper and where there was no oversight by faculty or actual class attendance. More than half the students are athletes and many were directed to these courses by academic counselors. Counselors were encouraging academic fraud in order to keep members of the teams playing either basketball or football. The fraudulent courses were hosted by the black studies department under the title African and Afro-American studies were hundreds of their regular courses were offered to the students. Although red flags were evident, no faculty member questioned the courses. The courses were overseen by the ex-chairman Julius Nyang’oro and the top administrative aide, Deborah Crowder. Barrett finds this corruption particularly offensive because the athletic ranks of the UNC sports teams were disproportionately African-American where the students have come to get a real education rather than one that was fraudulent. UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt gave an apology to the students because they violated the trust that the students have given in terms of getting an education (Barrett). Federal prosecutor Kenneth Wainstein led the investigation where for employees were fired and five more disciplined in terms of the roles they played in this fraud. The investigation found that the scandal was much deeper than just fake courses and that there was an intentional system through which athletes were pushed through the academic portion of their college career. Gerald Gurney, the president of the Drake Group, commented that this was one of the worst scandals in the NCAA history and that it involved a depth of counselors, academic administrators, coaches, athletic administrators and faculty that had not been seen previously. A previously stellar reputation by UNC where it appeared that athletics and academics were both held to high standards is now tarnished (Ganim and Sayers). Managing the Crisis Managing the crisis can be conducted through the conflict management lifecycle approach. In this conflict management process, the lifecycle of a problem is tracked through different phases which begin with the proactive phase, moving into the strategic phase, then the reactive phase and finally the recovery phase. During the proactive phase people who are involved in the crisis work towards preventing the situation from getting out of hand. The strategic phase exists when the conflict has emerged and there is action by public relations professionals in order to create strategies through which to mitigate risk three broad strategies can be identified during this stage which includes risk communication, conflict positioning, and preparation for the worst possible outcome (Kanda 209). As the issue reaches critical impact on an organization the reactive phase begins and the public relations professional must find ways in which to react to events in order to work with the crisis. This is the phase where litigation may occur, investigation may turn towards charges, but quite possibly conflict resolution techniques can be used in order to diminish the overall impact. In the recovery phase is the task for the public relations representative to try to repair the reputation that has been damaged by the crisis (Kanda 210). Proactive Phase During the proactive phase problems must be predicted and threats must be anticipated. The problems that the university could predict might occur would be that diplomas would be put into question, the athletics department could be sanctioned, and those who had been involved could face legal ramifications. The threats to the University include a threat to the lucrative athletics activities, to the reputation of the university, and to individuals in terms of losing their jobs, being fined, or even being sent to jail. At this stage the University needed to minimize any surprises that may have come along and resolve issues that could be resolved before they would contribute further to the impending crisis. If the university could have eliminated the threat and avoid the crisis that would have been optimal, but unfortunately that was not possible. The proactive stage occurs in a five step process. The first step is to identify the issue, which in this case was the existence of courses that have no value and were only on paper. The analysis of the issue would reveal that this had taken place and the scandal was likely unavoidable once the public knew about the situation. Strategy options included denial, avoidance, or acceptance and acknowledgment. The best strategy for the University once the facts revealed would be acceptance and acknowledgment. To deny or avoid the problem would only look suspicious in a situation that was already undeniable and unavoidable. The creation of an action plan would include legal issues, ethical issues, and addressing concerns of the various institutions involved. The evaluation of the plan would have to include risk management as well as strategies for placing responsibility on those who had actively participated. Conflict Positioning and Risk Communications During the strategic phase the university had to determine their position on the issue and how they would communicate with the public. At this point the university had to determine what the worst-case scenario was going to be and how they would address the consequences of this situation. In addition, management of risk had to be evaluated so that the consequences to the information that was being revealed during the investigation could be managed ahead of time so that outside authorities would have less leverage in terms of how to deal with the problems and where the problems came from within the University. This meant making the decision about whom to fire and how to establish disciplinary action once the investigation determined he was responsible. Strategy also meant defining the position of University on the issue and how much responsibility the university as a whole would take in comparison to that place on individuals. UNC Response The challenge that faces the NCAA is whether or not it should punish UNC. The University would like to avoid this punishment because of the far-reaching consequences to the institution. The first thing that could happen is that the 3000+ students who have degrees based on coursework in classes that did not exist could be affected and lose their status as a college graduate. The second thing that could happen is that the three national championships for college basketball could come into question and the 1993, 2005, and 2009 wins could be stripped from the university as a punishment. There was an observable spike in Olympic sport athletes entering into the University between 2003 and 2005 which indicates that his program may have attracted student felt they could use athletics in more than just a scholarship compensation situation. The scandal affects athletes throughout UNC and potential for backlash could be daunting. During this response phase the actions of the University are going to be critical in how they are able to eventually enter the recovery phase. At this point the university has to communicate with the public and establish how they intend to resolve the conflict and face the consequences of the actions that were taken. The best possible scenario is for an apology take place so that the University appears contrite and at the same time is able to place the blame on the individuals who were involved which disperses the appearance that the entire University was responsible for the actions that took place. While it is likely that the entire University had knowledge considering the blatant disregard for academic integrity that was taking place, in order to recover the university is going to have to make that responsibility much smaller so that the university appears to be almost a martyr in face of the poor decisions that were made by those involved in the academic scandal. In other words, the public needs to believe that the University would never have sanctioned these actions and that the consequences would be born out because they were taking responsibility not because the response as a whole. This will ingratiate the University to the public as they appear to be a responsible entity affected by irresponsible actions of individuals within the system. The university took corrective action by firing and sanctioning employees who were involved and through a public apology is intending to continue forming the consequences internally rather than being subject to external forces. Works Cited Barrett, Paul. M. “UNC Admits the Classes for Athletes Were Widespread: Four Blunt Points”. Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 22 October 2014. Web. 2 December 2014. Ganim, Sara and Devon M. Sayers. “UNC Report Finds 18 Years of Academic Fraud to Keep Athletes Playing”. CNN US, 25 October 2014. Web. 2 December 2014. Kanda, Arun. Project Management: A Life Cycle Approach. Aew Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited, 2011. Print. Read More