MOR 534 - Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Business

The material that was presented in the first few weeks is incredibly important and I found that to be useful. However, teaching and introducing heavy topics and discussion over the course of a single class period feels rushed. The topics covered are rarely if ever talked about in any of our other classes and are critical for future leaders in business. However, I feel like the execution of the "hands-on" portion of the class makes little sense and can be improved upon. We have not spent minimal class time talking about best practices, which makes the "hands-on" piece feel like we're making things up as we go. Much of the learning is from other classmates' ideas and perspectives, and I think it would be valuable to encourage sharing and structure it more productively. I think that Dr. Harper is able to create a space where marginalized folks feel comfortable sharing their experiences and opinions, but my peers who are not from marginalized groups seem less likely to participate. I am overall glad I took this class, it's the most valuable class I've taken at Marshall thus far, but I do think there is room for improvement.

This course is essential to the MBA program and to becoming a future leader ready to lead diverse teams regardless of industry designation. This subject matter is tough to discuss and pushes people outside their comfort zone. It is an excellent opportunity to educate students and professionals about the value of diverse individuals, perspectives and livelihoods. This course addresses and provides instruction regarding the types of equity, diversity, and inclusion in detail. Each topic discussed has key takeaways and well developed presentations to go along with lecture. As a topic, EDI can be uncomfortable especially for people who are ignorant regarding the topic. However, this is positive and reflective of the changing nature of many businesses developing and succeeding today. Dr. Harper is absolutely the best professor that USC has to teach this course. He encourages all students to speak out and provide their thoughts to learn more about working together. and leading diverse teams. Dr. Harper employs the use of videos, lectures, cases, group work, in class exercises and guest speakers to teach material. He also pushes people outside of their comfort zone to work in teams that are not homogenous. This is the first class at USC where people who are diverse can feel safe sharing perspectives without fragile individuals downplaying the value of their voice and intelligence. The workload is very light. The class sessions could be dividied up better some weeks as discussions can run long. There is also room for more breaks to be integrated. The initial weeks were intense and full of content, so there could be a better transition between the first 4-5 weeks and the case group work.

I was very much looking forward to this class, but was extremely disappointed by the execution and extremely poor faciliation. If this class is being offered by a different professor in the future, then I would recommend it because I think this is an important topic to study and discuss. However, if Shaun Harper continues to teach this class, your time is better spent elsewhere. Dr. Harper does a poor job of creating a space where everyone can share their opinions and more importantly, does not provide any tools on how to affect change in the area of EDI as future business leaders.

The idea behind this course is very necessary in our education experience but the execution of it by Shaun does not use our in-class time wisely to benefit our learning. I would prefer to learn more from the Professor about best practices so that we can have a toolbox when we encounter them as future leaders, rather than the full-class discussion every time which never culminates in key takeaways.

By far the class I was most excited for and by far the class I have been most disappointed in. Class time is mostly comprised of listening to the professor talk about himself, inciting arguments/divisiveness between students, and not really providing any real tools on how to work through these topics as an employee or future leader. The intent and topics covered have so much promise, I've appreciated being able to hear my classmates stories, but overall the execution has fallen so short.