MBA student reflecting online about ethics in business schools. Poor confused student, destined for ethical challenges elaborating on a new academic consortium trying to get ethics back in business schools. The Wall Street Journal ran an article on such on February 7, “Does an “A’ in Ethics Have Any Value?”
Not again with the
academic ethics whiners. Yes, yes, we have had the Milkens,
the Keatings, the Skillings, the Leesons, the
Scrushys, the London Whales, and on it goes. Each time
another Madoff hits, the academy pledges to do more business ethics. Yet
the scandals continue with shorter lag times. We were on a decade
schedule, but we didn’t make it five years out from Sarbanes-Oxley before we had
to face Dodd-Frank. The academy misses key points:
1. The topics of diversity, sustainability, and human rights dominate business ethics texts and curricula. How about if we stop accounting fraud first and then work up to saving the
world?
2. Business ethics is business history – there are no new sins; the old ones just need more publicity. Ezekiel (22:29) had his arms around the notion of laddering long before the investment banks used the tool in the 1920s, which was no different from 2008 when those same banks had been taking positions against what they were selling to their own
customers.
3. Incentives and maximizing shareholder value are great theories, but, if not grounded in the understanding that, fundamentally, markets operate on trust, lead many a good soul astray. At the heart of trust is ethics. Not regulation.
I don’t teach business ethics with the hope of becoming a noisy conscience that will encourage our graduates to want to do the “right†thing so as to feel warm and fuzzy. I teach business history, finance, and economics to help awaken in the students what is missing in their other courses – trust matters in markets. Adam Smith noted 17 years
before he wrote “Wealth of Nations†that morality is a prerequisite
for efficient free markets. The Colorado Consortium has missed
these points with yet another misguided academic effort. Back in
five years, or less, for another round.
About mmjdiary
Professor Marianne Jennings is an emeritus professor of legal and ethical studies from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, retiring in 2011 after 35 years of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in ethics and the legal environment of business. During her tenure at ASU, she served as director of the Joan and David Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics from 1995-1999. In 2006, she was appointed faculty director for the W.P. Carey Executive MBA Program. She has done consulting work for businesses and professional groups including AICPA, Boeing, Dial Corporation, Edward Jones, Mattel, Motorola, CFA Institute, Southern California Edison, the Institute of Internal Auditors, AIMR, DuPont, AES, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Motorola, Hy-Vee Foods, IBM, Bell Helicopter, Amgen, Raytheon, and VIAD.
The sixth edition of her textbook, Case Studies in Business Ethics, was published in February 2011. The ninth edition of her textbook, Business: lts Legal, Ethical and Global Environment was published in January 2011. The 23rd edition of her book, Business Law: Principles and Cases, will be published in January 2013. The tenth edition of her book, Real Estate Law, will also be published in January 2013. Her book, A Business Tale: A Story of Ethics, Choices, Success, and a Very Large Rabbit, a fable about business ethics, was chosen by Library Journal in 2004 as its business book of the year. A Business Tale was also a finalist for two other literary awards for 2004. In 2000 her book on corporate governance was published by the New York Times MBA Pocket Series. Her book on long-term success, Building a Business Through Good Times and Bad: Lessons from Fifteen Companies, Each With a Century of Dividends, was published in October 2002 and has been used by Booz, Allen, Hamilton for its work on business longevity. Her latest book, The Seven Signs of Ethical Collapse was published by St. Martin’s Press in July 2006 and has been a finalist for two book awards.
Her weekly columns are syndicated around the country, and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, Washington Post, and the Reader's Digest. A collection of her essays, Nobody Fixes Real Carrot Sticks Anymore, first published in 1994 is still being published. She has been a commentator on business issues on All Things Considered for National Public Radio.
She has served on four boards of directors, including Arizona Public Service (1987-2000), Zealous Capital Corporation, and the Center for Children with Chronic Illness and Disability at the University of Minnesota. She was appointed to the board of advisors for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operators in 2004 and served on the board of trustees for Think Arizona, a public policy think tank. She has appeared on CNBC, CBS This Morning, the Today Show, and CBS Evening News.
In 2010 she was named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Business Ethics by Trust Across America. Her books have been translated into four different languages. She received the British Emerald award for authoring one of their top 50 articles in management publications, chosen from over 15,000 articles.
Personal: Married since 1976 to Terry H. Jennings, Maricopa County Attorney’s Office Deputy County Attorney; five children: Sarah, Sam, and John, and the late Claire and Hannah Jennings.
