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Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

October 19th, 2009 @ 3:10 pm

11 Comments

Categories: Leadership, Management, education

Tags: Ethics, Business Ethics, Leadership, Management, Christine Lee

The BNET feature “Can You Teach Ethics to MBAs?” explores new curriculum designed to get students to practice doing the right thing, even when it rubs up against company culture.

You can even test your own moral compass with our interactive quiz.

But are B-schools responsible for teaching ethics? If not, who is? Tell us how you really feel.

What's to blame for ethical lapses in corporate America?

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  •  
    1

    hlsii2@...

    10/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    There is of course a lot of complicated resons. But gest as law are there to keep us inline. The government must except its role in this matter. National Security's biggest breach is the faliure of government to enforce exiting regulations and laws on corprate America. instead of more troops we need more regulators and inspectors .theres 200,000 jobs that need to be filled yesterday. We lost that many government inspectors and regulators and more since Ronald Reagan. What do we expect when the exiting laws are being ignored buy the three branches that government..

  •  
    2

    Ian P

    10/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Do people really know right from wrong in today's society?
    There are so many 'ethical' points of view and society is in constant turmoil as another campaigning group develops ethical leadership on the environment, whaling, child rearing, social interaction, transport of animals or whatever they please.
    These groups then back up their points of view with their fists as they protest, usually violently, at what they call fascist attitudes. All in the real cause of self publicity.
    They get the press coverage and the kudos for their anti-social antics and leave the rest of us confused and bemused as our moral standards get turned on their heads.

    So how can we any of us understand what is right?
    When ethical leaders, including many from the church and peace movements get away with violence and bad behaviour, when social terrorists are held up as heroes and role models, why should bankers anmd businessmen be pilloried for creating wealth?

  •  
    3

    durantam

    10/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Re: The survey - What's to blame?
    I blame it on the parents (or whoever raised the child). Ethics grows out of good character. Parents are responsible for providing the moral compass and learning/growth opportunities for children. That's part of their job. (Didn't you ever watch The Andy Griffith Show?) You tell me how parents are doing? After that, it's up to the individual to make good decisions and try to live up to what she/he knows is right and wrong.

  •  
    4

    chimpempire

    10/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Government. Businesses are set up to make money. Competition pushes people to make decisions with profit in mind. If some companies let ethics guide their decisions, its possible and reasonable to assume that other profit driven companies will surpass them- this is what history has shown us to be the case most of the time. It then demands the intervention of an outside force, government, to make unethical decisions not just unethical but illegal, taking the advantage away from unethical businesses and forcing ethical decisions upon businesses.

  •  
    5

    sustainablevirtualteams

    10/21/09 | Report as spam

    General Motors Takes $40B Taxpayers Money Then Moves Jobs Overseas

    The story of General Motors will go down in capitalist history as yet another example of accelerating transfers of wealth from the United States into emerging markets. General Motors filed bankruptcy owing creditors over $80 billion, the U.S. government pledged sixty percent ownership about $50 billion of the failed company using taxpayer funded bailout money. And even after selling both Opel and Hummer units plus shutting down Saturn laying off more than 70,000 U.S. workers total - it still benefits from the largest U.S. taxpayer bailout in history. Despite it all, GM continues announcing huge investments in foreign markets outside of the United States.

  •  
    6

    Bouchart

    10/22/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Who cares who is responsible and who is not. Let's get down to what you can do to minimize your exposure to frauds, crooks, and cheats:

    1. Do not enter into agreements that you do not understand.
    2. Be on the lookout for loopholes in any proposals you receive. Someone might be trying to use you.
    3. Keep your resume up to date and send it out periodically to potential employers.
    4. Do not borrow money unless absolutely necessary.
    5. Understand basic financial concepts such as the present value of money, inflation, and various types of risk. Do not have all of your assets tied to the dollar.
    6. Someone is trying to rob you right now. Be especially wary of anyone who says he is acting in your best interest.
    7. Use an alias whenever possible.

  •  
    7

    Raj Sinha Roy

    10/26/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Ethics become recognizable and deliverable when there is an absolute holistic view to right & wrong. Like white and black, with no shades of gray in between.

    Ethics have to be practiced in totality, excluding nothing and it must be universally applied in individual, family, social & corporate lives. The blending have to be seamless.

    Ethics derivative should be from God's dictates, either from His Word or from what He places in our hearts. In both the cases it is there for us to implement, we are without excuse.

    So God enjoins our decision making abilities and brings them at par. Therefore corporate application of ethics, without impediment, displays the sum total of all individual ethos divinely provided.

    Raj

  •  
    8

    corporateresponsibility

    10/27/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Ethics and morality are basically the same but differ in their application. An ethic is a set of guiding principles (virtues) while morality is the degree of conformity to such a set of principles. So the question naturally arises,? Whose customs or principles do we adopt?" Naturally, in Aristotle?s and Plato?s time, the philosopher-king is the only one who knows the Good. In our time, it has been the Corporation.
    Aristotle had a more practical viewpoint. In his view, we balance reason (logos), virtue (ethos) and emotion (pathos) to arrive at good actions.

    ? Economics, Ecology and Ethics
    ? Economics
    ? Humans produce and distribute goods and services
    ? Ecology
    ? Ways living creatures interact with natural environment
    ? Ethics
    ? How humans ought to live their lives
    ? Etymologic Roots
    ? Eco = oikos = household
    ? Nomos = underlying principle or explanation
    ? Eco-nomos = Rules of the household
    ? Eco-logos = Underlying principles explaining the household
    ? Ethics = customs, practices and rules by which humans live their lives
    More recently, humanity has concerned itself with developing and enhancing various economic models, particularly capitalism ? first within geographic and national boundaries and now worldwide through the use of corporations. At first, corporations were created to organize people for a common goal of providing returns to shareholders. Oh, sure, they also provided employment for the ?industrial classes? (those of you from Land Grant universities will know what I mean) but mostly, they are legally charged with making a profit. And, to restate what Gordon Gecko said in the movie ?Wall Street? ? ?Greed is good!?
    In this country, corporations have even been given the same protected legal rights as individuals under the protection of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and are required by law to produce a profit.
    It's a huge field of thought, however, because sometimes (especially in today's environment) sometimes the best we can do is choose the lesser of two evils. To complicate the issue even more, we have to change the reigning business attitude that stresses making profit (Milton Friedman's principle that the only responsibility a business has is to its shareholders) over any other social responsibility. For more, go to http://corpsustainability.blogspot.com/.

  •  
    9

    carywod

    10/28/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    I'm not sure if this is a dumb question or one with double meaning.On the face of it, surely this official ensures that the corporation which employs him/her conducts business ethically?
    Cleanse ProX

  •  
    10

    TJC007

    10/28/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    I'm surprised to see how many people couldn't even answer this question correctly. It's ethics in "Corporate America" not ethics in Cultural America. Your parents and you as an individual are responsible for your actions at a cultural level... not corporate.

    The executives are responsible for setting the ethical standard of your company and holding employees to those standards. After all... that is part of leadership.

  •  
    11

    Raj Sinha Roy

    10/30/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Who's Responsible for Corporate Ethics?

    Ethics cannot be carried in double standard capsules, one for the individual applying in a social environment and the same individual using "corporate ethics" which may not have any resemblance to the ethics for social application {by the insinuation of the post above} . Ethics is universal and is linked to the worldview that has Scriptural support.

    Not two but one yard stick for all.

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