Institutions of Higher Education: Cornerstones in Building Ethical Organizations

Abstract

Ethical organizations have a competitiveadvantage in the marketplace. The merepresence of a statement of ethics isinadequate. Deeds and actions are alsonecessary. A critical component in building anethical culture in organizations is therecruitment and retention of ethical employees. The best and most readily available sources ofsuch personnel are higher educationinstitutions that have strong ethical culturesand skilled graduates. This paper addresses indicators of highereducation institutions having strong ethicalcultures. The paper discusses the concepts ofpraxis and contrast experience and their role in education. The importance of andopportunities for service learning areconsidered to be a central theme in developingethical graduates. We conclude thatinstitutions of higher education that live theethics and values contained in their missionstatements produce graduates who are highlyvalued and sought by ethical organizations.