Benchmark – ethical behavior of business students at bo diddley tech

During the global recession of 2008 and 2009, there were many accusations of unethical behavior by Wall Street executives, financial managers, and other corporate officers. At that time, an article appeared that suggested that part of the reason for such unethical business behavior may have stemmed from the fact that cheating had become more prevalent among business students, according to a February 10, 2009, article in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The article reported that 56% of business students admitted to cheating at some time during their academic career as compared to 47% of nonbusiness students.

Cheating has been a concern of the dean of the college of business at Bo Diddley Tech (BDT) for several years. Some faculty members in the college believe that cheating is more widespread at BDT than at other universities, whereas other faculty members think that cheating is not a major problem in the college. To resolve some of these issues, the dean commissioned a study to assess the current ethical behavior of business students at BDT. As a former college athlete herself, the dean believed that the spirit of fair play students develop as part of participating in athletics would make them less likely to cheat. As part of this study, an anonymous exit survey was administered to a sample of 240 students from this year’s graduating class, half of whom were business students and half of whom were not. The survey asked various questions, including the student’s college and if the student was an athlete or not. Responses of the various questions were fed into a computer algorithm that made a quantitative determination as to whether the student should be considered a “cheater” or not. The results are in the attached Excel spreadsheet, “Benchmark –  Bo Diddley Tech Data Set.” 

Prepare a managerial report as part of your submission to the dean of the college that summarizes your assessment of the nature of cheating at BDT. Be sure to include the following items in your written report.

Utilize the data set provided by the instructor in the Excel spreadsheet, “Benchmark – Bo Diddley Tech Data Set” (60 records per student).

Submit the Excel data calculations (Alpha 0.05).

1. Make a pivot table with: Business Student (Rows), Athlete (Rows), Cheated (Columns), and Cheated (Summed Value).
2. Create a bar chart showing cheating by athletes and business students.
3. Determine if there is a statistical difference between nonathlete BDT business students and the national average for business students as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
4. Determine if there is a statistical difference between athlete BDT business students and the national average for business students as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
5. Determine if there is a statistical difference between BDT business students and the national average for business students as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.
6. Determine if there is a statistical difference between BDT nonbusiness students and the national average for nonbusiness students as reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Utilizing the data you have analyzed, write a managerial report of 500-800 words for the dean. The managerial report needs to include an introduction, analysis, conclusion, and a minimum of three supporting references.

1. Introduction (Define): Explain, in your own words, why you are providing this report and the problem(s) you are trying to solve.
2. Collect: Describe the data set you used.
3. Organize: Describe your pivot table.
4. Visualize: Include and describe your bar chart.
5. Analyze: Provide a summary of your conclusions based on the four population proportion hypothesis tests.
6. Ethical Summary: The dean has expressed a concern related to the amount of cheating currently taking place at BDT and has strongly suggested that you “tweak” the statistical data such that they favor the image of the university. Discuss the potential use of unethical manipulation of statistical data to provide a biased outcome as well as the ethical counter proposal you would offer the dean in this scenario.
7. Conclusion: What advice would you give to the dean based upon your analysis of the data?

You are required to submit your Excel data analysis along with your written report.

Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style