A ChatGPT3 Passed a Wharton Operations Exam. A Professor Reviews the Implications on the MBA Degree.

ChatGPT3 has been all over the news recently. In the past few weeks, researchers have announced that it performed within passing range on the three components of the U.S. Medical Licensing Exam, and a recently published paper claimed that it received a B/B- grade on a Wharton MBA-level operations exam. 

The fact that the bot passed the exam is not overly surprising, but some of the findings in Wharton Professor Christian Terwiesch’s paper titled, “Would Chat GPT Get a Wharton MBA? A Prediction Based on its Performance in the Operations Management Course,” are. While the bot handled basic operations management and process analysis questions extremely well, Terwiesch emphasized that the bot made some fairly simple calculation errors within the exam. 

“Chat GPT at times makes surprising mistakes in relatively simple calculations at the level of 6th grade Math,” he wrote. He continued on to note that these errors can become, “massive in magnitude.” Additionally, he noted that the current version of the ChatGPT3 could not handle more advanced process analysis questions, such as those that include multiple products or demand variability, and that having “a human in the loop” proved meaningful. When a human expert provided a hint, not only was the bot adept at correcting itself, but it was able to learn so that the hint was not necessary in later iterations. 

Professor Terwiesch also provided his view of the implications that the technology may have on the MBA degree itself. Rather than expressing concern, he thinks the bot could afford students and professors an additional learning resource, specifically in developing necessary leadership skills in critical evaluation and the assessment of alternatives. 

“MBA students are preparing for leadership positions, in which they will have to make managerial decisions based upon actions brought to them by ‘consultants, co-workers, and direct reports.’ Using the bot to generate plausible, well-presented (although possibly incorrect) alternatives in response to a scenario can provide students with meaningful experience in evaluating alternatives,” he said.  

Read the whole paper, including the additional implications, here.

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• Trends in Business: MBA Programs Prepare Students for Leadership Roles in Technology

Trends in Business School: Happiness, Purpose, and Self-Awareness

MIT Sloan recently announced that it will offer their MBA students a course on happiness. It’s good timing. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2022 report found that only 21 percent of employees feel engaged at work and, while just a third of employees reported to be thriving, a full 19 percent said they were “miserable.” MIT’s course, titled Pursuing Happiness and a Meaningful Life, will explore research findings on happiness and purpose, and provide students with self-assessment surveys, introspective weekly exercises, and guest speakers. Robert Pozen, MIT Sloan Senior Lecturer, says it will teach students to, “enhance their own happiness by changing their behaviors.”

MIT is the latest among prestigious MBA programs to offer courses focused on soft skills and emotional-awareness. Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal published a profile of Harvard’s in-demand course offering titled Leadership and Happiness. The course, pitched and designed by Arthur Brooks, an HBS Professor, social scientist, and writer behind The Atlantic’s “How to Build a Life” series, contends that happiness is a byproduct of decision-making, not of chance. That good leaders must know how to cultivate happiness for themselves and their teams. His ideas resonate. Although the class has doubled in size from its original 72 students over the past two years, it still has a waiting list.  

At Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, students can take Organizational Behavior 374: Interpersonal Dynamics, better known as “touchy feely.” The course focuses on self-awareness as a key to effective and productive communications and relationships. Yale’s School of Management offers students a course titled Mastering Influence and Persuasion, which provides them with the means to more authentically persuade and motivate others. University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School allows students to apply for a six-week program, “P3: Purpose Passion and Principles,” in which participants take a structured approach to considering and defining what success and happiness looks like for them. 

The wide-spread existence of these courses within the most prestigious MBA programs is a clear indication that the business world’s valuation of soft skills and emotional intelligence is increasing. There is real value in learning to find purpose and joy, and helping others to find it too.