to develop solutions
for real-life problems
Program asks teams
to develop solutions
for real-life problems
BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY DAVE BENJAMIN Howell High School students review their strategy prior to taking part in the Team Challenge event in Freehold Township.
They have teamwork, creativity, critical thinking skills and heads filled with business sense. That is the best way to describe the high school students from Allentown High School, Colts Neck High School, Freehold Borough High School, Freehold Township High School, Howell High School, Manalapan High School and Marlboro High School who participated in the Team Challenge 2004, An Ethics Initiative for Tomorrow’s Leaders, on April 27 in Freehold Township.
"This is the team challenge program and the whole focus is on the ethical decision making process," said William F. Bladel, chairman, Mid Atlantic Resource Group. "Each school has a different business problem with a certain ethical dilemma that has been taken from case studies in the Harvard Business Review. We fictionalized them and developed a corporate scenario that [the students] would have to go through, [or] different things that an organization would face in making decisions for their shareholders, employees or communities."
Bladel said each team had a different ethical dilemma to consider, which gave the students the benefit of working on a problem and also listening to the presentations of other student groups and finding out how they dealt with their dilemma.
The students made their presentations before a panel of judges that included Monmouth County First Assistant Prosecutor Robert A. Honecker; Webster B. Trammell, vice president planning, development, and government relations, Brookdale Community College; Dr. Benjamin Weinstein, senior vice president and medical director, CentraState Healthcare System; and Abe Weiss, director, Center for Management Development, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.
Mel Crystal, one of the sponsors of the 2004 Team Challenge program, congratulates a member of the winning Howell High School team.
Certified Public Accountant Mel Crystal, one of several sponsors for the program, was selected to be the timekeeper. Other sponsors were Brookdale Community College, JCP&L, Sovereign Bank, Norkus Foodtown and Paul=Mark Printing, in conjunction with the Western Monmouth Chamber of Commerce Education Committee. Brookdale’s Western Monmouth Higher Education Center, Route 9, hosted the event.
After each team’s presentation, a brief period was set aside for questions from the judges or members of the audience.
The Howell High School team, known as National Motors, dealt with the issue of whether an employer should move the company, which would benefit the company economically, or have a larger responsibility to the employees and community by remaining and preventing major layoffs.
Colts Neck High School students, known as the Baby Fresh Food Corporation, had to deal with the ethical problem of finding out that sugar water was being used in its baby food products. The students had to decide whether to come clean or continue to dupe the public.
Howell High School 2004 Team Challenge students and teachers hold the award they won at the event that asked the young adults to consider ethical problems in business.
The Allentown High School team, known as Uniglobe, had to deal with the ethical problem of a merger that would involve laying off 1,500 workers. The Allentown team decided to lay off the 1,500 employees or face the possibility of having all of the employees lose their jobs and the company go out of business. With job placement and training, it was felt that some or most of the 1,500 people who were laid off would find other jobs.
Marlboro High School students, known as the Universal Feet Company, had to decide whether to have all of its footwear manufactured in Asia or keep the manufacturing portion of the business in the United States. After checking out other companies such as Nike and Reebok, the group members decided to lower the cost of manufacturing and increase the profit by moving abroad. All other activities, advertising, and so forth, would remain in the United States.
The students also believe their decision would improve the standards in Asia, since the company would pay 10 percent more than the standard of living. They also indicated that they would not create what are often referred to as "sweat shops." As one team member put it, "You have to be economically responsible before you can be philanthropically responsible."
The Manalapan High School team, known as Tyron International, dealt with the ethical problem of a whistle-blower who discovered a faulty product. The question was whether that person should remain silent and keep his job and a promotion. The team decided to tell all since it was a life and death matter and they said life prevails over all else.
Freehold Borough High School students, known as Music and Mores, dealt with the ethical problem facing a chain restaurant which advertised on a children’s show that allowed violence to be broadcast. The question was whether the company should continue to advertise on the program or withdraw. The team decided to honor the existing contracts. They aimed to place the responsibility on the parents to monitor what their children watch on television.
Freehold Township High School, known as RX International, dealt with medical research and the ethical problem of whether they should they continue doing research with AIDS or move into areas which dealt with non-fatal diseases and bring in more money.
After the presentations, the judges critiqued each team individually, calculated scores and announced the winning team — Howell High School. The Howell team members were Katie Cook, Mariam Hamid, Sean Nelson, Brittany Levendusky, Brittany Pickell, Kristy Prybylski, Mike Rourke, Joe Tedeschi and Mike DeRienzo.
Students from Howell attend the six schools in the Freehold Regional High School District.