Building Ethical Sensitivity Before Ethical Action
“Before you act, listen.
Before you react, think.
Before you spend, earn.
Before you criticize, wait.
Before you pray, forgive.
Before you quit, try.”
—Ernst Hemingway1
Keywords
Business education, higher education, professionalism, foundation in ethics, ethical leadership, ethical sensitivity, ethical judgment, ethical motivation, ethical action, Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning
Introduction
Calls for developing reflective skills by business students have been made by many scholars.2 Most definitions or descriptions of professionalism have an underlying message, namely that the very nature of professional work requires the ability to be able to place themselves in the “shoes” of the other. Often this requires one to imagine oneself in the position of the other and to see situations through their eyes. The manner by which educators can accomplish this is often elusive and challenging, especially when economic pressures and academic capitalism may work against the reflection that is needed. Where Durkheim and Larson considered the rise of a professional class to be a necessary response to industrialization, others, a century later, are beginning to call on professionalism in response to corporate and governmental powers.3 Whatever the motivation, many agree that developing professionals has become an increasingly urgent task. Our view is that business educators need to situate the important concept of professionalism at the core of the mission for business education. To do so, educators need to better understand the critical importance of developing autonomous, reflective professionals. Business professionals are the captains of industry in society and their decisions influence every organization, every home, and every person. The 2008 financial crisis bears witness to this. But the danger to society does not always occur due to economic cycles and political pressures. As Brint stated, it is in the rise of the “expert” class and mass population of technicians, who fail to consider the influence of their decisions on society.4 In contrast, sociologists have always envisioned a class of reflective, autonomous professionals to be a powerful strata working to balance and negotiate corporate and government interest and society.
In the last chapter, we discussed the importance of teaching the fundamentals of ethics using a foundational course on ethics. In this chapter, we explore the AACSB approach of integrating ethics in every sub-discipline in the business curriculum, and suggest an approach to make this process more effective. We agree with the AACSB approach that weaving of ethics into the business subject, such as marketing, accounting, and finance, allows for repetition and comprehension. We also believe that this approach, implemented as suggested in this chapter, improves students’ ability to arrive at ethical decisions and actions more frequently.
The current approach to ethics in the business curriculum is often presented in the form of case studies or ethical scenarios, along with a description of the current laws applying to the specific discipline. This is a good approach, but may lack the deeper discussion about the precursors to and elements of ethical behavior in the cases/scenarios. The work of Rest is crucial in understanding that ethical action has its roots in ethical sensitivity, ethical judgment, and ethical motivation.5 The previous chapter described the process of developing ethical judgment; this chapter will focus on the other three elements. The emphasis on ethical sensitivity and motivation should, in most cases, prepare students to engage in ethical action, which we will show through examples in this chapter. Because these steps, as well as Rest’s comprehensive approach are so important, we strongly recommend that business educators become familiar with the ideas below, as steps in developing students’ professionalism.
Using the Ethical Model in the Classroom
Narvaez and Endicott, Narvaez and Bock, Narvaez and Lies wrote four books—the EthEx Series—detailing the four main psychological processes involved in behaving ethically.6 We use their books to help explain these elements as shown in Figure 5.1. They suggest that their material is not a curriculum that is taught in a separate class, but a method all educators can adopt in their courses. This is consistent with the AACSB approach of weaving ethics in the curriculum of business education. In their introduction, they use an example to describe the process of ethical action. We have adapted their process, using our own examples.
Figure 5.1 Ethical Process Model
Imagine a sales and marketing executive who is working on a multi-million dollar product sale to a key customer. The executive is aware of several product deficiencies. He has not mentioned them to the customer, in fear of losing the sale. It is quarter-end and the executive is trying to meet his financial goals that are tied to other teams’ goals and other executives as well. What should the executive do?
It is essential that the executive knows what ethical behavior is, which in this case is to disclose product deficiencies to the customer. It is always helpful to visualize ethical failure, prior to thinking about ethical behavior. For example, think of the possibility of the customer learning about the deficiencies from other sources. The result would no doubt be to lose the customer permanently. To get to this point likely means that there were ethical misjudgments along the way. First, the executive may recognize the dissatisfaction from the customer or the customer could be asking several questions around the deficiencies. The executive may have felt the need to disclose the problems before, but decided not to several times. He may have been concerned and spent hours in the night worrying about the nondisclosure. He may have gone through an analysis of what actions might be taken and what outcomes might occur. But, then the executive must reason through the choices and decide on the possible actions. Next, the executive would prioritize the chosen ethical action over other needs and motives. For example, the executive may need to let his team down and give up his anticipated bonus. Then he would need to persevere until the action is completed, which may mean conflicts with his boss or team members. It is obvious that there are many places, where ethical misjudgment may occur.
In order for the right ethical process to occur, one needs to understand the components of ethical action well. We start by dissecting ethical sensitivity and ethical motivation, in order to understand these elements further. In the previous chapter, we covered “ethical judgment.” All three elements should occur prior to ethical action. We feel that in order to follow the AACSB approach of integrating ethics in all courses, business faculty need to be fully versed in these components, and how to weave them into the case studies incorporated in their disciplines.
Ethical Sensitivity
Ethical sensitivity is the recognition of an ethical problem or dilemma. It is the ability to notice cues of a moral situation at hand and feel conflict because of it. To be ethically sensitive, one needs to interpret the situation and then: feel compelled to act; determine who is involved; what actions must be taken; and what possible reaction and outcomes might occur. Following is an outline of necessary skills to become proficient at this task:7
ES-1: Reading and Expressing Emotion
This is a very important skill for business students and one that is often ignored in the teaching of ethical action. This skill requires the ability to feel and read surrounding emotions of others, when a situation happens. It also requires the identification with the needs and feelings of self and others.
ES-2: Taking the Perspectives of Others
This task requires extensive practice and experience. Once presenting students with a case, an educator needs to walk students through the process of taking others’ perspectives in the situation. Students need to practice taking the perspective of someone in their own culture as well as someone outside of their culture. This builds empathy, tolerance, as well as motivation to execute ethical action.
ES-3: Connecting to Others
This skill involves expanding one’s sense of concern to include others, both locally and globally. This connection to others compels one to think of their own actions in terms of its effect on a broader group beyond the self. This sense of connection encourages a person to show care and concern for others. Students need to learn how to connect positively to others, show friendship, and feel the rewards of this behavior.
There is a significant effort in higher education to expose students to diverse cultures and groups. This cultural awareness can also help to develop students’ ethical sensitivity. When students work with different groups, they learn and understand how cultural differences can lead to conflicts and misunderstandings. This develops students’ appreciation and skills in dealing with such conflicts. It also helps them shift using one culture code to another to resolve misunderstandings. While culture is often applied to large entities, educators need to help students think of culture in a narrow sense, such as “school culture,” “business culture,” or “college culture.”
ES-5: Controlling Social Bias
This is another skill that faculty need to practice with students while discussing appropriate case studies. Social bias is part of human nature and people are more comfortable with familiar groups, similar ways of thinking, and similar social groups. To counter one’s social bias is a skill that requires effort, awareness, and mindful processes that when applied recognize and control prejudice. This skill stimulates the rethinking of personal habits, shaping one’s judgments and actions into more respectful ways of interacting in society.
ES-6: Interpreting Situations
This involves developing the creative skills to generate multiple interpretations of a situation to reach deeper understanding of it. It also allows for developing multiple alternatives to solve a problem at hand, thus avoiding the pitfalls of inter-social interpretation. Being able to generate different ways to solve a problem helps individuals avoid the repeat of their mistakes. This element facilitates the reexamination of an issue from different angles, generating both interpretation of perspectives and possible solutions.
ES-7: Communicating Well
These skills will not be effective without the enhancement of written, spoken, listening, and nonverbal communication. Faculty can emphasize the development of these skills as they guide students in solving, discussing, and writing out solutions to case studies. It is also important for faculty to stress the social context of communication and where and how different types of communication (e.g., one-on-one, small group, large group, etc.) are more appropriate than others.
Following is a case study that we borrow from Johnson’s text Organizational Ethicsto illustrate how to guide students through the process of practicing ethical sensitivity.
This is a terrific case to discuss how ethical sensitivity is important to reach some conclusions on the case. Without using the platform of ethical sensitivity, students may resort only to judge based on the local laws in region or state, but using all the components above, students start to appreciate how culture plays a role in the laws in different places in the world. It is also worthwhile to explain to the students that ethical sensitivity is about one’s ability to examine and reexamine an issue from multiple angles, get closer to the problem and not disregard it, feel it as if you were in the situation, and then judge with an ethical eye.
Case Study 13.1
The Right to be Forgotten8
Individual privacy is a fundamental right in both the United States and Europe. However, the two regions define this right very differently. In the United States, privacy is “the right to be left alone” and free press and free speech rights often supersede this right. This view of privacy was illustrated by a California Supreme Court ruling that journalists could publicize the sexual orientation of a gay man who stopped an assassination attempt on former President Gerald Ford. The hero repeatedly asked the press not to reveal this information, which was hidden from his family, but the court ruled that helping to protect the president had made him a public figure. In Europe, dignity underlies privacy concerns. According to Zurich law professor Rolf Weber, Europeans consider “dignity, honor and the right to private life: the most fundamental rights.” There is the “right for the [moral and legal] integrity of a person not to be infringed and for a sphere of privacy to be maintained and distinguished.”a The European Court of Human Rights ruled, for example, that German papers had violated Princess Caroline of Monaco’s privacy rights by publishing photographs of her and her family. The tribunal noted that the pictures were taken in “a climate of continual harassment” and involved “a very strong sense of intrusion into their private life.”b
The European Court of Justice applied the European conception of privacy to the Internet when it ruled that its citizens have the “right to be forgotten.” A Spaniard petitioned the court to force Google to remove information about the auction sale of his repossessed home. He argued that this reference was irrelevant because the matter had been resolved years earlier. He asked Google to remove the pages and to ensure that news of the auction no longer appeared in search results. The Court of Justice agreed, declaring that individuals have a limited right to ask search engines to remove links with personal information if the information is “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant or excessive.”c This judgment applies to all current or future Internet providers operating in Europe.
In response to the ruling, Google, which handles an estimated 85 percent of Europe’s web traffic, set up a system to handle data removal requests. Applicants fill out an online form that is submitted to a team within Google’s legal department, which weighs the request against the public interest. If the request is approved, the search engine then removes the web link within the 28 nations of the European Union as well as in Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein (The link would still be visible outside the region). Country data-protection regulators will decide in cases where individuals dispute Google’s decision. Initially 70,000 requests came in to remove personal information. Several links to stories in The Guardiannewspaper, including articles about a disgraced soccer referee and the ouster of former Merrill Lynch CEO Stanley O’Neill, were among the first to be removed. Google later restored several of these links after free speech advocates and journalists complained. However, opponents of the right to be forgotten worry that prominent people and corporations will use the system to delete unfavorable information about them.
The European Parliament is expected to pass digital privacy legislation that would expand the right to be forgotten to social media providers like Facebook as well as to e-commerce sites. Some U.S. observers argue that American citizens should have the same right to maintain their electronic dignity as Europeans. They then could petition Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other providers to take down embarrassing personal photos, criminal convictions and mug shots, old bankruptcy filings, caustic blog posts, and other items they would like to leave in their pasts.
Discussion Probes
1. What does the right to privacy mean to you? The right to be left alone or the right to maintain your dignity?
2. What should take precedence—the right of privacy or the right of free speech?
3. What do you think constitutes “inaccurate, inadequate, irrelevant, or excessive” information on the Internet? Can you think of any examples?
4. Should American citizens “have the right to be forgotten”?
5. What information should never be deleted from the Internet?
Recommended Approach
We recommend the use of small groups for discussion first to make students comfortable in sharing. Afterwards, educators can ask students to share best responses with the entire class.
1. Give examples of the individuals or groups who are being harmed because of privacy laws in their region? Explore the rights of these individuals or groups. Ask students to share their own privacy stories on social media or other.
Learning point: Students may then identify with the gay man who saved President Gerald Ford’s life, the individual who lost his house in foreclosure, Princess Caroline of Monaco and her family, and others from the case. It is important that the educator explores why are these people being harmed and how students identify with their needs of privacy. Students at this point may recount their own privacy violation stories from social media or other contexts and explain how they experienced and identified with individuals in the case study. Remember ethical sensitivity starts by the empathic interpretation of a situation. Ask students to weigh in on privacy needs relative to the importance of free speech.
2. Ask students to compare privacy laws in Europe and the U.S., and then ask them to discuss the merits of the laws in each country.
Learning point: In this step, students learn to appreciate diversity of cultures and what it means to live in one country versus another. Respecting U.S. laws meant that a gay man had to publicly declare his sexual identity. Living in Europe meant that the public might not find out about the ouster of Merrill Lynch CEO. Have students identify the pros and cons of the two approaches to privacy. Given that privacy laws are a “work in progress” in many countries, students are more likely to feel like engaged citizens whose participation in the political process can help benefit their lives and the lives of others.
3. Have students think about the individuals in the case such as the gay man, the Princess of Monaco, or the Spaniard with the foreclosed home. Ask students whether the contextual details of these individuals matter?
Learning point: This discussion helps students discuss social biases, and how to factor them. Also, what it means to forget to factor social biases in their ethical judgment. Students appreciate the need for the gay man to have his privacy, as well as the Princess of Monaco’s right to live a normal life away from the public eye. Students also may discuss how the Spaniard may be living in a community where it is a shame to lose one’s home. Considering these peculiarities expands students’ thinking beyond their own social bubble.
4. Also, ask the students to discuss the questions that are already included in the case since they are helpful in going through the ethical process with its four components.
5. Have students write a two-page summary responding to the question in the case, “should American citizens have the right to be forgotten?”
Learning point: Students do their most reflective thinking when writing papers. They also learn to communicate their thoughts as they are organizing, collecting their deepest frames of thinking and summarizing. This is an important exercise to help students think about the issues, summarize, and communicate.
This type of case encourages students to reflect on the contextual facts in the case. This expands students’ judgment and their reasoning ability. Students learn to develop different interpretations of the same problem and problem-solve in multiple ways. This case is perfectly suited for a marketing or management class, but regardless of the discipline, the business educator has to learn the approach to expose the key points and stimulate the needed discussion.
Ethical Judgment
Ethical judgment is the ability to reason through problems, understand them, use different judgment criteria to evaluate them, understand the consequences of one’s actions related to the problem, and reflect and cope through the process. In the previous chapter, we detailed the elements that advance students’ capacities for ethical judgment. This entailed learning the foundation of ethics including using decision-making formats.
Ethical Motivation
Ethical motivation refers to the personal decision one makes to prioritize ethical action over personal motivations, loyalties, and goals. To do so requires both ethical sensitivity and ethical judgment, so one must have developed these skills in order to develop ethical motivation. This is the main reason that we emphasize building ethical sensitivity in the classroom and through social agency in community activities, which will be discussed in a later chapter.
EM-1: Respecting Others
Respecting others and their views is a sign of civility and a core societal value. Educators using examples and case studies can show that others have rights and responsibilities toward us as we do them. Also, educators must show students how respecting differences is an important value that builds tolerance and appreciation of others and otherness.
EM-2: Cultivating Conscience
To cultivate one’s conscience is the ability to have self-command and patience in difficult situations, especially when one recognizes his or her ability to inflict harm on others. Managing one’s ability to control impulses and manage power is an important skill in cultivating conscience. Educators can have students list things they have power over and whether they have the cultivated conscience not to abuse them.
EM-3: Acting Responsibly
This is one’s desire to uphold his or her responsibilities in meeting obligations. It is also being a good steward of one’s talents and assets, and acting as a responsible global citizen. Educators can provide many examples of responsible citizenship or corporate duty to society.
EM-4: Being a Community Member
Ethical motivation is fostered by active membership in the community. One must recognize and act on the opportunities to help in their societal circle or community. This requires skills of cooperation and thoughtfulness while being a part of a group.
EM-5: Finding Meaning in Life
Educators, through case studies and examples, can show students the rewards of commitment, dedication, and active citizenship. Finding meaning in life can be cultivated by focusing attention and energies around commitments that shape students’ worthy goals. This is an important element whereby educators can help students define their long-term goals, as well as their higher purpose in life. Using a writing exercise, as was explained in the prior chapter, can support this. Another sub-element of this component is to help students appreciate beauty in life beyond materialistic possessions.
EM-6: Valuing Traditions and Institutions
In order to cultivate ethical motivations, educators must help students appreciate traditions and institutions in their society. If students have positive feelings toward the laws, practices, and organizations of society, they are more likely to participate in community decision making. Active citizenship leads to motivation to help others and participate in a democratic society.
EM-7: Developing Ethical Identity and Integrity
This is the goal of ethical motivation, which is to develop an ethical identity of oneself as an ethical agent. It also enables students to identify with ethical role models in order to create positive ethical identity. Ethical identity leads to ethical action since one’s acts reinforce his or her self-concept.
Following is a case study that we borrow from Johnson’s text Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadershipto illustrate how to guide students through the process of practicing ethical motivation.
Case Study 2.1
Bernie Madoff and the Biggest Swindle in History9, Also Show the Documentary: Frontline: The Madoff Affair10
For decades, Bernard (Bernie) Madoff was one of the most respected figures on Wall Street. He chaired the NASDAQ electronic trading system and the National Association of Securities Dealers, the regulatory body assigned to prevent investment fraud. He conducted business from a multistory office building in Manhattan and owned a penthouse in New York, a mansion in Florida, and a villa in France. Madoff ran an investment fund that consistently reported steady, high returns (10 percent to 12 percent) even during recessions. Potential clients eagerly sought the privilege of investing with him. All that changed, however, in December 2008, when Madoff confessed to running a pyramid or Ponzi scheme. Instead of making legitimate investments, Bernie used contributions from new victims to pay back old victims, underwrite losses in his legitimate brokerage business, and finance his lavish lifestyle. The financier cheated victims out of $65 billion, which likely makes this the largest swindle in history. While billions were funneled into his fund through U.S. and European banks and hedge funds, a number of Madoff’s friends and associates were also caught in the scam, along with many charities that trusted him with their money. Even Carl Shapiro, a close friend of Madoff who loaned him $250,000 to start his business, lost $1.7 million in the scheme.
The disgraced con artist pled guilty to a number of criminal charges. In his statement to the court, he said he was “deeply sorry and ashamed” for his acts.a Judge Denny Chin then sentenced Madoff to 150 years in prison, well in excess of what the parole board had recommended. He called Madoff’s scam “extraordinarily evil” after hearing victims describe how Bernie had destroyed their lives by stealing their life savings. He noted that the sentence was largely symbolic because Madoff (age 71 at the time of his sentencing) would die after only finishing a portion of his sentence. However, Chin argued that such symbolism was important because it would only serve as a form of retribution and deterrence, but the sentence itself would provide some measure of justice for victims.
It will take years for law enforcement officials, regulators, lawyers, victims, and others to sort through the wreckage Madoff left behind. To begin with, there are questions about how the fraud went on for so long without being detected, despite at least one whistle-blower’s repeated attempts to convince the Securities and Exchange Commission that Madoff was engaged in fraud (The head of the SEC division assigned to monitor money managers resigned after the scandal broke). Like Madoff, many victims were also driven by greed. They seemed all too willing to believe that the fund could consistently outperform the market no matter the economic climate. Prosecutors are also trying to determine if others participated in the deceit. Bank and Hedge fund officials who steered billions to Madoff through feeder funds may have suspected or known of the fraud but kept sending money in return for high fees. There are suspicions that at least some of the 200 employees of the fund knew what was going on. Further, the Madoffs appear to be a close-knit family. Some observers find it hard to believe that Bernie’s wife Ruth, his brother, and his sons (who worked in the firm’s legitimate brokerage division) did not know of his illegal activities. Nevertheless, Madoff claims to have acted alone, and his guilty plea means he doesn’t have to testify against anyone else.
Settling financial claims will be particularly difficult. The trustee appointed to shut down the business “unearthed a labyrinth of interrelated international funds, institutions, and entities of almost unparalleled complexity and breadth.”b Recovered assets will only cover a small portion of the claims, and victims can only expect limited reimbursement from the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. The trustee is also trying to recover money from those who withdrew their “profits” before the investment fund collapsed. According to an attorney assisting in this effort, Madoff clients need to “share the pain” and realize that they have got “somebody else’s money.”c Those fortunate enough to cash in before the collapse are naturally reluctant to reimburse other investors.
Many victimized by Madoff will probably never recover. Not only were they swindled out of their retirement and college savings; in many cases, they were betrayed by someone they trusted. Bernie continued to betray those closest to him until the very end. Just weeks before his arrest, he convinced a longtime friend, a recent widow, to invest her entire life savings in his fund.
1. What unhealthy motivations drove Madoff to defraud investors and betray his friends?
2. Was Madoff’s scheme “extraordinarily evil” as the judge claimed?
3. Was his punishment excessive? Will it deter other possible criminals?
4. Are the victims partially to blame for the success of this swindle?
5. Do you think Madoff acted alone, or did he have help from employees and/or family members?
6. Should clients who got their money out before the fund collapsed be forced to return these funds to help reimburse less fortunate investors?
7. What leadership and followership ethics lessons do you take from this case?
Recommended Approach
1. Who are the victims in the Bernie Madoff case? Share your personal stories of being cheated or swindled in purchasing a product or service.
Learning point: This is important to build ethical sensitivity for the victims in this case. Students will surely identify defrauded investors, but it is also important to identify Madoff’s friends and family whose lives may have been ruined by Madoff’s actions. Asking students to script their own stories of being deceived will help students develop more compassion for the people who were harmed in the case.
2. Enumerate the reasons for Bernie Madoff’s ethical failure? Go through steps of ethical judgment using the SAD Formula (e.g., situation, analysis, decision) approach as explained in Chapter 4.
Learning point: This helps students evaluate the consequences of bad decisions. It is important for students to visualize the consequences of their actions as they would as business managers.
3. Generate multiple interpretations of key employees’ and relatives’ behavior in this case. How did they rationalize their behavior assuming they must have known of the illegal activities?
Learning point: It is important for students to realize how living in conflict over hidden secrets related to Madoff’s operation most likely caused close friends and relatives to be unhappy, despite their affluent social status.
4. Analyze the ethical identity of Madoff, his employees, and his family members?
Learning point: Again students see that Madoff and his close aids may have had identity conflicts that caused them a lot of agony and tension, despite materialistic gains.
5. Discuss the questions that are already included in the case since they are helpful in going through the ethical process with its four components.
Learning point: Students practice reflection in case studies. This skill builds autonomy of judgment and social agency to society.
6. Put yourself in Madoff’s shoes, and benefitting from all the hindsight of this case, had Madoff considered the consequences from the beginning, would he have taken this path of living a lie, why or why not?
Learning point: Students should discuss what Madoff would have given up, had he been an honest financial advisor—the lavish life, material possession, financial security, which he had to give up later. This point of reflection stresses the importance of the evaluation of consequences, when making career decisions.
7. Write a two-page summary responding to this question: What are the rewards of ethical motivation and why did Bernie Madoff fail to see them?
Learning point: Students do their most reflective thinking when writing papers, and it is important to have students practice reflection in case studies. This skill builds autonomy of judgment and social agency to society.
In watching the documentary, students find out that Madoff’s family may also have been victims of this tragedy, since one of his sons ends up committing suicide at the aftermath of the scandal. Madoff and his wife became estranged, as well as other falling-outs with family and friends. This is an excellent case to discuss how failure of ethical judgment has resulted in ruining the lives of the people involved in this case, including Madoff and his family.
This type of case encourages students to reflect on finding meaning in life other than the materialistic view. This case is perfectly suited for a business ethics or a management class, but regardless of the discipline, the business educator has to be able to link to elements of ethical motivation.
We presented two sample case studies in this chapter aimed at helping students develop ethical sensitivity and motivation. Educators have to pick their cases selectively to nurture students’ needed skills. Understanding the goals of each case prior to teaching it in the class is an important piece of our approach. We recommend that an educator think through the “Ethical Process Model” as they prepare for discussion of case studies. We also recommend assessing the success of the stimulation of the ethical components at the end of each class, in order to address or uncover weaknesses of the course.
Ethical Action and Giving Voice to Values Platform
Ethical action is the last, and most important, step in following through on a business or personal decision in a situation. If students, as preprofessionals, have a healthy sense of ethical sensitivity, it will be difficult for them to ignore or disregard an ethical problem around them. Ethical motivation allows them to process their personal goals and loyalties in a situation, and proceed to act based on a cultivated conscious and an ethical identity. Once students reach the ethical decision stage, educators need to reinforce students’ ability to act on their decisions successfully. Mary Gentile in Giving Voice to Values has outlined an excellent approach for professionals to act on their values, once they have reached an ethical decision stage that needs to be implemented.11 Her approach harnesses important points such as the following:
- Taking initiative and finding one’s voice in group conversations
- Cultivating one’s courage by scripting the argument and practicing it
- Collecting the relevant facts for the issue at hand
- Reframing the problem from different angles with different external views
- Enlisting allies prior to attempting to voice one’s concern
- Sequencing the audiences strategically to insure success
- Selecting the timing and the approach of arguing issues
All these steps contribute to the act of ethical action. Using Gentile’s approach in the classroom has facilitated ethical actions by students in our classroom. We attribute this success to the following reasons:
Gentile uses a common sense approach and makes ethics accessible to everyone without an in-depth knowledge of ethical philosophies. Her approach allows a protagonist to take an ethical situation where they have sensed inequity or unfairness (e.g., ethical sensitivity) and provides them with techniques to address it. Using the beginning assumptions in her book, students immediately feel that they share at least some of these enabling beliefs, which gives them a boost of courage. Also, her approach—asking the protagonists to start by knowing “what is the right thing to do in a situation”—calls on them to examine the case at hand, and address it with courage using the techniques provided. Gentile’s short case studies and her focus on “how to get the right thing done” enables students to view ethical positions as more feasible. In addition, her suggested approach to employ collaborative peer-coaching role play, rather than an adversarial one, creates more synergies in the classroom.
Gentile’s approach diverts from the practice of a “must learn ethical philosophies” approach to implement ethical action. In fact, she observed that what hinders people from acting in ethical situations is not their lack of knowledge of ethical philosophies, but rather the techniques for ethical action. In addition, Gentile notes that people underestimate their ability to script a good argument, obtain support from others in the workplace, or frame the situation to create different understanding of the problem.
It is important to note that Gentile’s method is an important component of the foundation course, as well as the integrative glue in other business courses. The AACSB noted that teaching students steps for ethical action and showing them an effective process for moral courage in the work place is a much-needed element in business practice.12 Our experience with Giving Voice to Values has been very positive with students. Like many others who have used GVV, student evaluations report a lasting influence from this component.
Reasons for Ethical Sensitivity before Ethical Action and Fink’s Model
Our approach for establishing a foundation of ethics requires understanding the four elements that encompass an ethical process: ethical sensitivity, ethical motivation, ethical judgment, and finally ethical action. We have stressed ethical sensitivity and motivation in this chapter, in part because many business faculties do focus on ethical action, especially relative to case studies. And there are excellent resources about ethical actions, notably Giving Voice to Values that we discussed above.
Pascarella and Terenzini suggested that the capacity for empathy with others represents a major factor in the development of individuals to reach higher moral levels.13 Rest, in his book Moral Development in the Profession, showed that business students in particular score lower on being empathetic relative to other college students.14 They suggest that business students may have less of an opportunity to engage in the emphatic prerequisite that is necessary for growth in moral judgment. To improve this, they recommend that adeliberate psychological education, which emphasizes social role taking, that can be employed in the classroom, but also as a purposeful tool to engage students in their communities. Social role taking is a method where students can be placed in real roles that require empathy and disciplined listening. It has shown that students can improve in their abilities of moral development.15
The focus on ethical action in business ethics texts is problematic, since students would be more likely to focus on the current laws that may apply without an examination of the issues. The long-term objective is to graduate professionals who examine, interpret, empathize, frame, and reframe situations, in order to arrive at the proper ethical action. The business discipline is naturally “expertise focused” and not “judgment focused.” It is different from law, social work, or psychology, where students by the nature of their discipline dig deeper below the surface to analyze issues. Yet, business students become business managers, who face ethical dilemmas needing decisions. Thus, it is imperative that students learn ethical sensitivity before moving to the other elements. Using Kohlberg’s and Rest’s models of ethical development—from preconventional, conventional, and postconventional phases—we would argue that ethical action is more likely if students have gone through and understood these phases. Otherwise, students may remain at the preconventional level, which the Rest model describes as being obedient to established laws in order to avoid punishment and to meet the person’s interest.16 However, if we as faculty in business schools attempt to develop students’ ethical sensitivity, judgment, and motivation, we then insure a higher success of ethical action. Rest and Narvaez also recommend using components of business courses to encourage students to be active in helping disadvantaged communities.17 This approach provides students with the experience of empathy, without giving up their hopes to become entrepreneurs and earn a profit. Another example is to have business students help nonprofits apply for grants and participate in the fund raising for organizations.
Another final framework that supports our proposed approach of building a foundation of ethics is Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning, which is explained below.
Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning
Fink’s taxonomy of significant learning is another helpful framework that supports the suggested processes in the last two chapters.18 Since we are looking for significant change in building a foundation for an ethical process, we find that this model is helpful and consistent with our suggested approaches in Chapters 4 and 5. Significant learning occurs in a six-part taxonomy as follows:19
Foundational Knowledge
This part deals with acquiring the knowledge or the key concepts pertaining to a subject. For example, students acquire in-depth knowledge of important concepts in ethics. Note that this is the first component of “significant learning.”
Application
This part deals with applying foundational knowledge, and comparing and contrasting opposing positions to reach decisions about appropriate methods. For example, after students learn the foundational knowledge of ethics, then they begin to apply it in the cases included in the different subjects of business.
Integration
This part deals with connecting ideas and applying them in different contexts. For example, students will be able to frame ethical situations and apply different ethical philosophies to fit the situation at hand.
Human Dimension
This part deals with reflection on knowledge learned. Students will be able to use their team members for brainstorming and feedback, learning about themselves in the process. For example, discussing case studies in class shows different perspectives, thus influencing students’ opinions.
Caring
This part deals with developing new views, feelings, and values. Upon the integration of knowledge due to the steps above, students start to care enough to want to apply correct principles to life events. For example, once students understand the impact of pollution on the environment, they will care enough to select hybrid cars in their auto purchases. This is similar to ethical motivation in the Narvaez and Lies model.20
Learning How to Learn
This part deals with the continuing desire to learn about the topic, thus becoming a self-learner. For example, once students understand the impact of ethics on their professionalism, they will continue reading and researching about the topic.
Fink shows the process when significant student learning happens in the classroom. This model of “significant learning” has key importance in building and nurturing a foundation for ethical action in students. This is another confirmation that in order to influence ethical behavior of these preprofessionals, educators must follow a process.21
Fink highlights the notion that a foundational knowledge is important for “significant learning.”22 Also, the application of knowledge is another key element resulting in integration of knowledge and the application. We consider the teaching of ethics in different business courses as the “application and integration” step in Fink’s model. The fourth through sixth elements in Fink’s model are elements that we foresee happening in the classroom as educators discuss cases and ask students to engage with and listen to one another. The last element in the model “learning how to learn” is one of research and reflection. Educators should always give assignments asking students to research and reflect.
In the last two chapters, we presented what we believe are important methods for helping business students gain lasting knowledge of the ethical process. We hope that the AACSB, business schools, business deans, and educators make room in the business curriculum for such learning that will surely lead to increasing ethical actions.
Notes
1. Ward (1970).
2. Gentile (2010); Piper, Gentile and Parks (1993); Trank and Rynes (2003).
3. Khurana (2007); Schein (1972).
4. Brint (1996).
5. Rest (1984).
6. Narvaez and Endicott (2009); Narvaez and Bock (2009); Narvaez and Lies (2009).
7. Narvaez and Endicott (2009); Narvaez and Bock (2009); Narvaez and Lies (2009).
8. Johnson (2016), pp. 398–99.
9. Johnson (2013), pp. 71–73.
10. Smith Martin, The Madoff Affair (2009).
11. Gentile (2010).
12. AACSB (2003).
13. Pascarella and Terenzini (1991).
14. Rest and Narvaez (1994).
16. Rest (1984).
17. Rest (1994).
18. Fink (2013).
19. Fink (2013).
20. Narvaez and Lies (2009).
21. Fink (2013).
22. Fink (2013).
a Learning from Europe’s ‘right to be forgotten’ (2013).
b Learning from Europe’s ‘right to be forgotten’ (2013).
c Factsheet on the ‘Right to be Forgotten’ ruling. (2014, May 13). European Commission. Additional sources for this section are Google restores links to some news articles after outcry (2014); Scott (June 18, 2014; July 5, 2014); Spanier (2014).
a McCoy, K. (2009, July 10). Madoff won’t appeal sentence. USA Today, p. 3B.
b McCoy, Madoff won’t appeal sentence.
c McCoy, K. (2009, March 4). Madoff clients’ lawsuits look to others for recompense. USA Today, p. 1B.