It's not all about the bottom line
| Saturday, Apr 25 2009 06:04 PM
Last Updated Saturday, Apr 25 2009 06:04 PM
It doesn't quite rise to the level of oxymoron -- think "military intelligence" -- but the concept of business ethics has taken on new dimensions over the past year.
With accused Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff serving as the poster boy, corporate America is suffering through a rough patch in terms of public image. A well-deserved rough patch. We've got remorseless AIG execs feeling refreshed from that $23,000 group spa treatment, Morgan Stanley managers rechristening their politically indefensible million-dollar bonuses as "retention awards," and credit card companies jacking up rates even as they downsize the type of the fine print -- outrages that we'll all eventually pay for, courtesy of the government's bailout largess.
Has the world gone mad?
Maybe, but that conclusion lets too many people off the hook. Save some of the blame for schools and universities, especially schools of business, that give the subject of business ethics perfunctory attention -- typically just a required course during freshman year -- before they get on with the more important lessons of wealth building.
Thank goodness for occasional glimpses of light amid the darkening gloom. One small, hopeful glimmer from the local landscape: Cal State Bakersfield's business ethics team, which recently placed sixth in a field of 24 semifinalists at Loyola Marymount University's 11th annual National Intercollegiate Business Ethics Competition.
"It's true -- we're surrounded by millions of examples of ethical failure," said team member Briana Tucker, a Ridgeview graduate. "Too many businesses have forgotten it's not just about profitability, it's about customer service, it's about doing right by everybody."
Right is right and wrong is wrong -- isn't that so? Not necessarily.
"You've got stockholder issues, employee issues, vendor issues," said teammate Amber Newsom. "You've got to think about how you're affecting the environment, how you're affecting others in the world. Some things are obviously unethical, but some answers aren't always easy."
"I think it's the reason we're in this big financial mess," said Lauren Jacobs, the third member of marketing professor Jeana Jaymes' team. "People miss the big picture. They fail to say, 'We can't just look short term.' This is what happens."
The folly of focusing on short-term gain was very much a part of the CSUB team's presentation at the LMU competition. "Renewable Energy: The Impact of Corn Subsidies in the United States and Abroad" looked at the consequences of focusing on corn-based ethanol as a fuel alternative to gasoline: corn prices rose, food costs increased worldwide and ethanol's viability became dependent on high oil prices. The fallout didn't stem from willfully unethical behavior so much as -- and this is a key distinction -- a failure to fully consider all ethical implications.
That failure was very different from the more blatant ethical lapses we've seen elsewhere in recent months. Therein lies the problem: Most ethical dilemmas are so subtle they may not present themselves as dilemmas at all. That's why ethical considerations need to be thoroughly integrated into business-school curricula, not relegated to a single classroom experience.
In a society built on capitalism, such quandaries are inevitable.
"Some of our worst abuses have resulted from unfettered capitalism -- children working in mines and sweatshops, ag laborers with short-handled hoes and no bathrooms, and, of course, the world's Bernie Madoffs," said Christopher Meyers, director of CSUB's Kegley Institute of Ethics (and a newly elected member of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics' executive committee).
"... Even Adam Smith insisted capital enterprise has to be guided by a basic moral sense, a compassion for others."
Those considerations sometimes run counter to the bottom line. It's gratifying to see that local students are learning there's more to success than that.
Reach Robert Price at rprice@bakersfield.com or www.stubblebuzz.com.
