Many of the
organizations that I am in involved in, such as the Society of Women in
business and my sorority, have anywhere from 100-200 members. This makes it difficult for the executive
board or other authoritative leadership role to check for attendance. At many of these events, sign-in sheets are
placed on a desk or table, and members are asked to sign in and participate in
said event once they arrive. In such a
large group setting, it would be so easy to simply sign in and leave
undetected. However, I have never done
this before.
One of my
close friends recently “attended” the Career Fair by simply swiping in at the
ARC, walking around the gym for three minutes and leaving. They measure attendance at Career Fairs by
swiping our I-Cards at the entrance of the fair, and employers receive
information about attendance and as does the Career Center. I understand why she did this; she wanted to
receive credit for attending without actually having to talk to employers, but in the
long run, I’d argue that her actions were not actually opportunistic. Many students receive valuable information at
the Career Fair by speaking with employers, and she did not receive this benefit. Additionally, some students also receive
interviews and job and internship offers due to Career Fair interactions, and
she did not receive this benefit either.
In terms of
opportunity costs within organizations, such as the Society of Women in
Business and my sorority, signing in and leaving immediately afterwards would be
opportunistic. I would receive
recognition for attending the event (since participation is not a factor and is
not recorded) and I would be able to complete other coursework or participate
in other activities during the event’s allotted time. I suppose not acting opportunistically in
these situations would make me “responsible,” as that is what we decided that
the antonym to opportunism was in class on Thursday.
I would
agree with the concept that responsibility is the opposite of opportunism. Personally, I like to take ownership for my
actions, and I participate in organizations because I enjoy the events that they
hold and I genuinely like to be involved in these organizations. I would feel as though I was cheating if I
acted opportunistically and didn’t actually attend events. It would be as if I received credit for
something that I didn’t actually do, and I would feel a guilty feeling similar to one that I would have if I had cheated on a test or homework, which that wouldn’t sit well with me. I like to hold myself to a higher standard, that
is that I should act responsibly, honestly and kindly in my daily life, and
frankly, acting opportunistically doesn’t align with my morals.
Therefore, I think one's ability to act opportunistically is somewhat a reflection on one's self. I don't think it is possible for everyone to take advantage of opportunism. Some people refuse to better themselves at the cost of others. I'm sure that studies have been conducted asking individuals if they would cheat or lie if it resulted in personal benefit and no one would find out about it, and I'd be interested to see these results.
Before getting to the economics, a simple question for you, since you wrote twice "the Society of Women in Business and my sorority" and I didn't understand what you said. Is this two different sororities or only one? Put a different way, what is "any my sorority" conveying here? The meaning is not clear to me.
ReplyDeleteNext, the Career Fair example with attendance taking I understood. The Sorority meeting attendance taking I didn't understand at all. Suppose somebody missed. What difference does that make? And would it matter if they just blew it off or if they had something else to do (like have a doctor's appointment)? This is one of those cases where the answer may be obvious to you, but I don't understand the circumstances so I need more background.
One of the issues in whether the behavior is opportunistic or not is if it harms others. On the faking attendance issue, which happens in the classroom too and where perhaps there it is easier to understand that it is opportunism, one should ask who gets hurt by it.
And one should do that without assuming the answer ahead of time. You may be personally offended by such behavior when you see it in your friends, because as you said the behavior goes against your morals. But is that harm in the way and economist would think about it?
Put a different way, if there are cases where a white lie is truly benign, e.g., my mom, fishing for a compliment asks, don't I look nice? I respond, of course you do, and that would be my response irrespective of how she looked. I also would say it without her prompting me with a question. So, getting back to the analysis, what I'm asking is where does the white lie boundary occur and do people understand if they've crossed the line or not? That would go a long way toward determining whether the behavior is opportunistic or not.
Hi Professor Arvan,
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting on my post. To answer your first question, I listed the Society of Women in Business and my sorority as examples because both are large organizations that I am involved in.
In terms of taking attendance at sorority events, there is a member of the executive board in charge of making sure members are accounted for and in certain cases, for example at our weekly Monday night meetings, this executive board member goes through roll call and takes attendance. If one has a valid excuse to miss this weekly meeting, such as a doctor's appointment, a test or work, they must email the executive board member 24 hours before, and if this isn't done and someone simply skips for no reason, the member is fined and can also be further disciplined.
I see what you are saying with the opportunistic behavior. I definitely agree that I may have let my morals dictate my view of opportunism, but I also think that the behavior I described about faking attendance does oftentimes encompass opportunism. When a group such as the Society of Women in Business holds an event, it is expected that if a member attends, she stays for the entire event. In the Society of Women in Business, we oftentimes have professional events in which a company, such as Deloitte or Capital One, comes to campus and speaks to the organization. By signing in for the event and then leaving, not only does the member lose the benefits of attending, but I'd argue that this also harms the Society of Women in Business as an organization. Through poor attendance, the organization portrays itself poorly towards companies and as a result, it may not attract companies in the future.
I think this example better explains how I see opportunism in my daily life and I'd be interested to see what you think about it.