Taking An Ethics Class With That MBA

Most MBA degrees now require at least one ethics class to graduate, some several more. This radical change is obviously due to the anti-Wall Street motif and "Occupy the Park" protester groups which emerged due to the 2008 economic crash blamed on run-away greed on Wall Street. Of course, it wasn't really that simple and one could say that the government had a big hand in what transpired too, along with real estate speculators. Nevertheless, business schools have responded with ethics classes, and most would say; it's about time.
There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal on February 7, 2013 titled; "Does an 'A' in Ethics Have Any Value? B-Schools Step Up Efforts to Tie Moral Principles to Their Business Programs, But Quantifying Those Virtues Is Tough," by Melissa Koran. Now then, one has to wonder if a student with straight A average in their ethics classes is going to go to work in a corporation purposely looking around and snooping for problems to the point of being a vigilante-type whistle blower before they even understand the ends and outs of the business.

After all, corporations want people to do what they are told, not to think and tell them what to do, at least not until they've become acclimated to the company culture and moved up the ladder a bit to an executive decision making position. See that point? Ethics activists can be dangerous without experience and knowledge, especially if they bring with them any more than a smidgen of academic anti-capitalism mind set with them. There is nothing unethical about making money or making a profit, as our free-market is where buyers and sellers freely partake.

Now then, this brings me to another question, a philosophical one. If corporations want ethical employees so they don't steal or commit fraud, that makes sense, but I doubt they want them doing too much second guessing of the leadership. So maybe the MBA schools should first teach personal ethics to the students, and corporate pragmatism (within reason) to them before they graduate.

How about a case in point? Remember that kid working for the military who downloaded information to Wiki Leaks? Well, he thought he was doing what he believed to be ethical, but he disobeyed his orders and jeopardized confidential sources. The amount of damage done and operational type intelligence lost was unforgivable.

Now then, I ask if our left-leaning academia in all their agenda driven exploits understands the realities here, and if the corporations or even the government or military really want "holier than now" vigilantes amongst their ranks, new up-and-coming employees who still may be a little naive.

Ethics - Do They Really Matter in Today's Business World?

There is a pervasive belief, in the world today, that to get ahead in politics and business a person can't have principles. Some people have high moral fiber in their home life. They might even be pillars in the church. Yet, when it comes to business, they are unrecognizable as the same people. I have had managers tell me, that ethics don't add to the bottom line. I have even been told to stop being childish, everyone compromises their ethics, sometimes.

There are many opportunities in business today where we will be in a position to make a choice. In business, and in life, there are many forks on the road. It may appear to be the faster road to success, but to take the road to do something, we know in our hearts, is not right.

I believe that particular road is built on sand. It may feel solid at first, but as trials and tribulations happen the road quickly begins to disintegrate and success is lost. In leadership, it is even more important to have principles. When we teach and lead people, they will do as we do, not as we say. We would quickly become a leader of unprincipled people who will do anything unethical to succeed. This behavior, eventually, opens up the business to legal and regulator issues. Most of all, to the disappointment and distrust of the customers. This is very evident in the business of politics, today. Who can we trust and believe in?

In business, a reputation is everything. Not only will customers, eventually, mistrust and avoid an unethical company, but people talk. Word of mouth is a powerful thing. It can make, or break a company. It is said that when someone is happy with a product or service they will, on average, tell five other people. If they are unhappy with how they have been treated, they will tell eleven to sixteen people. Those eleven to sixteen people will, not only not do business with that company or person, they will tell others. It doesn't take long to ruin a reputation. Soon the business is gone.

We have to strive to be right, in our ethics, as well as our customer service, 100% of the time. When you are a leader of people, those people are putting it on the line for your company and you every single day. They are assuming, you know what is right and in their best interest. We have to know from the very beginning what is right and wrong. Our lives depend on it.