Questions concerning grade disclosure, voluntary or not, elicited a great deal of response from those readers exposed to every facet of the issue. Opinion on the immediate issue of disclosure was evenly divided. But a third group was composed of readers favoring the disclosure only of grades providing some evidence of possible future success on the job. They raised the most provocative questions for all of us to continue to ponder.
Cheri Thomas led the opposition to disclosure, commenting, "Yikes, what an awful idea! . . . Grade disclosure would exacerbate it [grade grubbing] to an intolerable level." Erik Holmberg questions the spotlight that disclosure would place only on grades when he says: "I know many people who were academic superstars who are also the worst managers I have ever met . . . Disclosing grades would place a greater weight on grades than is necessary. . . ." Rakesh Seth, arguing that "at the MBA level there should not be any grading system," said, "whoever is admitted has already passed through certain filters, such as the GMAT . . . ." Sandi Edgar added, "The mere accomplishment of obtaining an MBA serves as a successful recruiting tool; disclosing the grades required to get there is not necessary."
On the other hand, many respondents believed that transparency in management should extend in some form to the educational process. In advocating grade disclosure, John Inman said, " . . . this [master's and doctoral work] is when we focus our passion, and this work should reflect our abilities in a chosen field." As Robert Downing put it, "I suspect that most employers do not use grades as their sole hiring criteria. However, grades might help distinguish between two otherwise apparently equal applicants." Anshu Vats expressed his enthusiasm by commenting, "If revealing the students' grades leads to an increasingly competitive classroom, great! Welcome to the meritocracy."
Others were more cautious, suggesting other challenges for educators, recruiters, and students. Manohar Kamath put it this way: "We need to extend transparency. If grades do not predict work performance, then there is a problem in the design of management education." Michael Robbins wrote, "We need schools to lead the way to valid indicators of executive performance. . . . Before revealing grades, academics should reveal the utility of grades!" Deepak Alse commented: "Accountability and transparency have no areas for exceptions. Real learning cannot happen in the absence of these two factors. However, current evaluation methods in B-schools are flawed because they fail to account for the fact that management is less about writing and analyzing and more about getting things done!"
What's the problem? Are grading methods broken? If so, what could be done to fix them? Or is any information about academic performance better than nothing in the hands of knowledgeable recruiters when it comes to transparency? And what is the net effect on the educational process of grade disclosure? What do you think? 