Grumbling may be heard this fall around the Jacobs Management Center as UB's Masters of Business Administration students mutter curses about the likes of John Rigas, Martha Stewart and Dennis Kozlowski.
Fall 2005 is the target date for the beginning of a new, mandatory course in business ethics currently being developed by the School of Management's MBA program, mainly as a response to the business scandals that have cropped up in the news recently.
"It comes out of this round of corporate problems, harking back to Enron as sort of the initial blow-out," said David Frasier, assistant dean of the business school and its director of MBA programs.
There are no requirements for the business school to have an ethics course, but Frasier believes the current headlines have demonstrated the need for one.
"My personal opinion is that if we have adequate depth in personal ethics, then there is no need for corporate ethics. But, unfortunately, the personal ethics are lacking and therefore we have to put rules and laws into effect," he said.
A teacher and curriculum have yet to be established for the course, Frasier said. But, the idea of instituting one and making it a requirement for the 300-plus MBA students has been approved by the school's advisory board.
Frasier added that having an ethical perspective will be beneficial for students in many ways, not the least of which being the difference between legality and ethics.
"What is important, and what a lot of people miss, is the fact that ethical conduct may well go beyond legal conduct," he observed. "Some people believe that just because something is not against the law, it's okay. I disagree with that philosophy."
Frasier said he also believes ethics will have the more practical application of keeping business people out of trouble as courts become more strict in applying laws to corporate conduct and in sentencing.
"We're moving into a period where courts are not going to give slaps on the wrist anymore, which has happened all too frequently in white collar crime," he said.
John M. Thomas, the dean of the business school, said that while the new course will be the first to concentrate solely on ethics, the subject has always been important to the school.
"Ethics training is a critical component inherent in many of the classes that our students take in the School of Management," Thomas said. "We send a strong message, from the moment that our students arrive here, that this is a topic we take very seriously."
As a first step in strengthening the SOM's ethical commitment, Frasier initiated a mandatory, all-day seminar in ethics in fall 2003 for all MBA candidates. The seminar is run by the Institute for Global Ethics and has received positive responses from students, according to Frasier.
"It helps them develop a framework for reaching ethical decisions," he said. "There is some teaching, some training, and some workshops."
He believes students have benefited from the seminar and will gain even more from the ethics course.
"I think it will make a difference. It's important for us to raise their awareness of the issues," he said. "They learn how to infuse an ethical environment and an ethical culture in their organizations."
Frasier believes values and ethics must be established from the top of an organization, a view echoed by UB professor William Baumer, who has been teaching a business ethics course in the philosophy department for over 20 years. He said he tries to go beyond what current topics are in the news and give a more generalist approach.
"There are a lot of issues to be covered," he said. "You need to talk about things like lying and deception. You need to talk about affirmative action and equal opportunity. You need to talk about whistle blowing and whether business has a social responsibility."
Currently, two courses at UB specifically address business ethics: Baumer's course and a course titled Jewish Business Ethics, taught by Rabbi Avrohom Gurary. Both are being offered in the fall semester of 2004.
Baumer said while many of his students are seeking business degrees, he gets students from throughout the UB community, and feels that is a good thing.
"I'm trying to cover what I think are major issues that people may encounter," he said. "I don't care what sort of business you're going to be in, you're going to hit these problems in not-for-profit charitable organizations, you're going to hit them in government, as well as in for-profit stock selling corporations."
He said he doesn't believe one semester will necessarily make a person more ethical, but thinks that business majors, and others, will be able to benefit from an ethics course.
"I think it can be useful in terms of alerting them to problems and alerting them to what needs to be done to address them," Baumer said. "What I can do is give those who are already committed a better understanding, a better ability to do these things in a company."
Before the current scandals happened, there were plenty of other scandals, according to Baumer. They involved such things as sexual harassment charges and racial issues, so he doesn't just address the hottest topic in the headlines.
Baumer said he is sure there will be a constant supply of material for his course.
"I'm not going to run out of issues," he said. "Not any time soon."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
