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Weighing Tough Decisions
Making ethical business decisions isn't as simple as Hollywood movies make it seem. In the real world, executives often must make difficult choices not between right and wrong but between right and right - or the lesser of two evils. For example, no organization could function without the loyalty and support of its workers. Yet, at some point, society expects workers to disregard the demands of company loyalty in order to expose improper practices within their organizations. How does one decide when societal needs outweigh the tugs of loyalty? This is the type of question that we struggle through with our students at Kenan-Flagler. Despite the difficulties of providing clear answers, we need to send a strong signal to students that ethics are important. We want our students to be successful in business and to do that not only within the letter of the law but also within the lines of a strong code of ethics. These lines may be blurry, but they do exist. Unfortunately, business schools sometimes send mixed signals. An Aspen Institute study examined students' attitudes three times while they were working toward their MBAs: on entering, at the end of the first year and upon graduating. Those who believed that maximizing shareholder values was the prime responsibility of a corporation increased from 68 percent upon entrance to 82 percent by the end of the first year. This study illustrates a critical challenge: Without undermining the importance of attending to shareholder needs, business schools must remind their students that shareholders are not the only stakeholders in the business enterprise. At Kenan-Flagler, we look beyond the mood of the moment - whether it is fury at corporate wrongdoing or uncritical approval of all market outcomes - to instill a sense of ethical duty and social commitment in our graduates. We have had a decades-long history of requiring all MBA students to take a business ethics course that challenges them to think critically about the multitude of ethics-laden issues that they will face in their careers. On this point, we feel a measure of pride: Only about a third of the nation's business schools require such courses. Identifying and analyzing ethical challenges improves students' sensitivities and sharpens their critical-thinking skills. People develop their values throughout their lives, shaped by their experiences and by people who are influential in their lives. Business schools have the duty to put students in situations, through case studies and discussion, that give them an opportunity to practice making tough decisions and, in the process, to clarify and strengthen their personal code of ethics. Bringing ethics to the forefront - in thought and action - prepares them to make decisions they might have to make quickly, under duress or in situations of crisis, and it may give them greater confidence to make a courageous decision. We want our graduates to be successful and to prosper. Requiring students to take an ethics course sends a strong message that business schools care not only about whether their graduates do well in the business world but also about how they achieve success. Robert S. Adler is associate dean of the MBA Program and a management professor who teaches ethics. Contact him at (919) 962-3156, . |
he recent outpouring of news about corrupt business practices at Enron, Andersen, Adelphia, WorldCom and other major corporations points to the need to assess whether business schools are doing all they should to encourage ethical business practices among their graduates.