Business students were having trouble understanding labour relations, so their profs decided to lie to them, an exercise for which they’re now winning awards. Daphne Taras, a University of Calgary labour relations professor, teamed up with fellow professor Piers Steel to teach his students why people join unions and how management decisions matter to the employees under them.
    Steel stayed home from school while Taras entered his class and told students that their regular professor was suspended from the university and she was taking over. Furthermore, she said that his marking scheme was unfairly lenient, she was deducting four per cent from their grades and adding more material to the final exam. Angry students openly spoke out against her in class, and the majority of them joined a student club that vowed to fight for their rights.
    At that point, Taras told them that it was all a lie. The hoax was meant to show business students how seemingly minor decisions made by management can be outrageous for ordinary employees, and why they might choose to take collective action — such as forming a union — to fight back.
    Since the hoax, Taras and Steel have won awards and published an academic paper on the exercise. The students, meanwhile, have said that the lesson served its purpose and gave them a better understanding of the workplace.