Bringing ethics back
November 20, 2009
By Jamie Hanlon
Sharon Ryan
By Jamie Hanlon
Students in Marketing 488 are mad as hell and they're not going to take it anymore. Ponzi schemes, bonuses paid to executives of bailed out companies and candy manufacturers profiting from blood chocolates are but a few ethical lapses that have led them to an important and novel decision.
They want to raise peoples' awareness of the importance of ethics and integrity in business.
The idea started as a discussion at the class level that has led them to a project that includes hosting an ethics awareness day and developing an oath of integrity they hope will make its way to classrooms and boardrooms everywhere.
The students, 34 in all, will voluntarily take the pledge next Thursday as part of their Business Ethics Awareness Day. Students will also have displays on various ethical issues in business and marketing. All work devoted to putting on this event, and developing the pledge, was done on the students' own time and of their own initiative.
The idea for a pledge germinated from the one of the first discussions marketing professor Sharon Ryan had with them on the idea of moral responsibility: a person has a level of accountability for actions that cause harm to others, directly or indirectly, no matter how far removed they are from the situation.
It could be said that the lesson was bittersweet.
"I brought in some chocolate and was passing them around. As I was explaining to the students the facts of chocolate slavery, you could hear the sound of the chocolate wrappers being opened diminishing into silence," said Sharon.
Sharon noted that, as the semester continued, the students' awareness grew into a desire to effect change. It was from this that the idea of another, one of integrity-an ethics pledge for business students-was formed. The idea of an ethics pledge is not a new one; the University of Western Ontario's Ivey School has had one since 2004, and Harvard recently created an MBA oath. What is different-and quite promising-about this pledge is that it is student-driven, and one that they want to share with decision-makers in all areas of business and at all levels.
While it is important for leaders to take responsibility-Member of Parliament Laurie Hawn and St. Albert Mayor Nolan Crouse have already taken the oath-Sharon notes that a person's status in the company should have no bearing on their ability or their desire to become more aware of the implications their decisions may have on others. Taking the oath will not transform them into purely ethical beings, Sharon says, but she hopes that taking the pledge will raise corporate consciousness.
"A lot of people hide behind the cloak of the corporation, thinking they're not responsible and that, if they make a mistake, nobody's going to point the finger at them. This pledge makes them think very deeply about their direct responsibility in their decisions."
The oath, and the day, are all part of the students' commitment to live up to their moral responsibilities as future business leaders. By using viral marketing strategies, they are hoping that their pledge will spread and be taken by businesses and schools around the world.
"These students feel passionately that they have a moral responsibility to try to stop ethical injustices, and this is how we can do that," she said "We believe it's all about a lack of education and we have the power through viral marketing to educate people."
For more information, contact:
Jamieson (Jamie) Hanlon
Public Affairs Associate, Media
University of Alberta
780.492.9214
jamie.hanlon@ualberta.ca
Monica Wegner
Communications Strategist
Alberta School of Business, University of Alberta
780.492.7996
monica.wegner@ualberta.ca