Teaching ‘Business Ethics' as a Sequitur

Abstract

The goal of this review is to survey and assess the utility of recent ethical research, offer a model for analysis, and using the pertinent study findings recommend potentially fresh approaches to increase the likelihood that we will favorably modify our own behaviors and, consequently, ethical behaviors in the workplace. I first review the breadth of ethical lapses, attendant consequences, skepticism that surrounds training for ethical conduct, relative import of ethical behavior, and need for a change in approach through an examination of several notable ethical debacles. I examine research that identifies methods we use to paint ourselves as moral champions, despite facts to the contrary; potent conscious and subconscious processes contribute to our ability to delude others and ourselves. Using a graphic designed to simplify how we analyze methods through which we justify our ethical flaws, and by way of an examination of a personal anecdote and recent ethical blunders that have come to light, the thesis propounded is that we can ameliorate current standards of principled conduct using a comprehensive approach that takes into account the extensive research on our imperfect ethical proclivities and any counter-balancing science that offers psychological, organizational, and sociological techniques to offset our natural, or acquired, predispositions. Opportunities for further research are set forth.