Brooks Mitchell's editorial "Ethics, character can't be taught in classroom" in the August Wyoming Business Report offered opinions on a range of subjects related to teaching ethics.  Offended by a spam invitation to attend a workshop on entrepreneurial ethics, he thunders "What the hell do they mean, 'Entrepreneurial Ethics?' Why would ethics for an entrepreneur be any different from any other segment of society?" Excellent questions, most readers will agree, to which we will return.

From this narrowly focused beginning, however, Dr. Mitchell complains about the study of ethics, institutions and instructors teaching ethics, and - if he is to be taken literally - the futility of doing so. Examples:

"Character and ethics cannot be taught and academicians know it. So, they spend countless hours sanctimoniously exploring (academic codespeak for "talking about") it.

 "Educational institutions have become increasingly obsessed with the topic of ethics."

 "It makes me wonder what kind of guilt they are exorcising (or hiding) to devote so much of their resources to this subject."

"I just don't understand all this interest in trying to teach ethics and character. You either have it, or you don't."

These are strongly expressed opinions which deserve comment. First and perhaps most importantly, hearing that "character and ethics cannot be taught and academicians know it" would certainly surprise Socrates, who defined the subject and how to teach it over 2,400 years ago; and Aristotle, who subsequently taught that - regardless of an individual's upbringing - ethics need to be learned and continually practiced; and their intellectual descendants whose works are the foundation of western culture.   

That "educational institutions are increasingly obsessed with the topic of ethics" might be true, but only very recently in historical terms (the last 25 years or so). From the time of Socrates until the dawn of the industrial age, ethics was one of a very small number of educational disciplines. From then to the present, there has been a continuing explosion of other knowledge, a proliferation of educational disciplines, and specialization among educators. In the process some crucially important disciplines (e.g., reading, writing, ciphering) have been neglected by educators. The same can be said of ethics, if the growing number of corporate, government and individual scandals in recent decades is any evidence. If educational institutions are indeed becoming "obsessed with the topic of ethics," it may be from realizing that they had forgotten its fundamental importance. It is a needed educational obsession in modern society and culture.

The assertion that "you either have it (ethics and character), or you don't" may be true. If true, however, it is an insufficient and risky premise to use in staffing an organization of any size and managing ethical risk within it. There is no doubt that family and upbringing instill ethical standards in individuals. Ethical standards vary from person to person, however, and no family or community can fully prepare a young person to identify and resolve the unforeseeable ethical ambiguities he or she will face in a working life as a stock broker, quality control inspector, human resources executive, business owner, or member of a board of directors. An individual in an organization needs to be consciously aware of his or her own ethical makeup, and be able to discern differences between himself and others:  supervisors, peers, and direct reports. A manager or entrepreneur who chooses to assume that each member of his team shares his own (hopefully) high ethical standards puts himself and team in a vulnerable position. Awareness of one's own ethical makeup, discerning differences between one's own ethical makeup and that of others, identifying individual ethical dilemmas and how to resolve them - analytically rather than by gut feel - all these are things that can be effectively taught in business ethics.

Just as every individual has a unique ethical makeup, every organization of individuals - large or small - has a unique culture. Among other things, an organization's culture can operate to encourage ethical decision making among its members, or discourage it. An organization that seeks highly ethical employees, but whose incentive systems unintentionally encourage unethical decision making, is unlikely to remain an ethical organization for long. Ethical decision making is a major risk area in every business organization (just ask the former board members and shareholders of Tyco, or Computer Associates, or the current board members and shareholders of Siemens). The same is true in government (ask the New Yorkers who elected Eliot Spitzer). The same is true on college campuses (compare the incidence of academic dishonesty among students in institutions with honor codes, and in those without). Assessing whether an organization's culture encourages ethical decision making or discourages it - and how - is an essential function of management. It is one of the fundamental things taught in business ethics.  

An organization's culture can be managed so as to encourage ethical decision-making and discourage unethical decision-making. Proven methods exist for doing so.  On certain college campuses (my alma mater, for example) and in the military academies, there are explicit honor systems governed by students themselves which have been in place and effective for many decades. West Point, for example, stresses competence AND character:  not just "winning," but "winning the right way," according to its superintendant. Many corporations (both taxable and tax-exempt) have explicit statements of principles, codes of conduct, and classroom training programs that are effectively implemented throughout the organization, with determined support from the board and senior management. These can be particularly important among young employees: reinforcing the already-formed character of those wanting to behave ethically, and providing legitimate standards for eliminating those not so inclined. Designing programs tailored to the operating realities and ethical risks in individual companies is taught in business ethics.

Of course no ethics program, regardless of how effectively implemented, can prevent a determined individual from behaving badly at some point in time. Unethical behavior is like knapweed in your pasture. No matter how hard you fight it, there is always going to be at least a little of it out there. No less than Warren Buffett admitted as much in 2005 when he said "Right now we know that there are misdeeds going on somewhere in our company. We just hope it is small and we find it." Keeping it small and finding it is a management imperative. As the former CEO of Dial Corporation (Herbert Baum) observed: "... if you're a leader - or want to be - and you aren't contributing to a values-based business culture that encourages your organization to operate with integrity, your company is as vulnerable as a baby chick in a pit of rattlesnakes."

Likewise, no "Business Ethics" course by itself is going to turn a determinedly unethical person into a highly ethical one. But then, Dr. Mitchell would agree that no "entrepreneurship" course by itself is likely to make an introverted, risk-averse individual into an effective company builder and leader. This is no reason to argue against teaching entrepreneurship.    

All of the above having been said, one cannot disagree with two of Dr. Mitchell's conclusions.  First, and certainly, ethics for an entrepreneur should be no different from any other segment of society. In fact, entrepreneurs are often strong ethical leaders and good role models. But entrepreneurs themselves must take concrete steps as their organizations grow to preserve their founding principles and culture, lest these wither and be lost. And second, Dr. Mitchell uses Will Rogers' definition (can anyone argue with Will Rogers?) for how to behave ethically: "So live that you wouldn't be ashamed to sell the family parrot to the town gossip."  Agreed.  But a teacher of ethics working several centuries before Will Rogers put it even more plainly: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  In other words, think hard about the effects of your actions on others, and how others will treat you as a result, both now and in the future.  This concept - especially the importance of the long term over the short term - is an important message to individuals whose time horizons may not extend much beyond the coming weekend.

We teach these things in business ethics too.



Richard McGinity is Bill Daniels Chair of Business Ethics at the University of Wyoming. This article has benefitted from the comments of numerous colleagues.