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Can Business Ethics Be Taught?
May 27, 2009
By Ann Higgins
There was a terrific article in The Christian Science Monitor recently by G. Jeffrey MacDonald titled, "Can business ethics be taught?"
McDonald noted a significant increase in ethics programs at business schools in his article, among which:
• One-in-three programs require coursework in ethics, sustainability, and corporate social responsibility.
• The number of stand-alone ethics courses in MBA curricula has increased by 500 percent since 1988.
• Thirty-nine of the 50 schools have a center dedicated to ethics, corporate social responsibility, or sustainability.
While I agree there needs to be a focus on ethics in business schools, I believe classroom training is not an indicator of behavioral change.
I believe a combination of formal classroom training must be accompanied by in-situation training when graduates enter the world of business. The organizations they work for must reinforce their classroom training with workplace training that shows how ethical thinking can be incorporated into their day-to-day functions. Yet few companies have found a way to successfully do this.
In fact, based on recent reports in my own industry (public relations), academics and professionals are establishing stronger partnerships in response to the realization that the academic underpinnings of our craft need to be supported with more on-the-job training if we are to have young professionals who are better prepared to take on the rigors of a career in PR.
It's no different for the ethical training of other young practitioners. According to executive coach and psychologist Kevin Fleming (quoted in the article), "Managers can learn ethical behavior, but not from courses that teach what you should do. Instead, they need to embrace feedback from colleagues and advisors in order to understand the values inside you that would determine what you would do in a sticky situation."
That's why my colleague, Dr. Carol Orsborn, co-author of "Trust Inc.," developed our Values Based Leadership Workshop for PR professionals to include role-playing scenarios based on common ethical dilemmas arising from workplace case studies.
These "live fire" case scenarios have the greatest impact during our training sessions. While many practitioners are intrigued by the overview on legal and compliance issues, they are left wondering how it applies to their day-to-day activities. This interactive portion of the training takes it one step further by giving them real world scenarios to explore with fellow professionals that make a lasting impact.
Many companies offer rudimentary professional development sessions on regulatory and compliance issues to their staff, but few take it a step further to showcase how individuals can apply this information during the course of a routine business day. This experiential gap is what, I believe, can make an ethics training program truly worthwhile and effective.
Ann Higgins is president and CEO of Utopia Communications, Inc., an ethics-focused public relations agency based in Red Bank, NJ.
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