Ethics, one of those soft words that few people believe business really cares about, is suddenly a growth industry.
The study of behavior -- right and wrong -- has become the focus of curricula at leading business schools around the country and a source of full employment for lawyers and business consultants in the wake of legislation that followed the corporate scandals of two years ago.
It would be a stretch, of course, to say that virtue will shine in every corporate boardroom as a result of these efforts. And it's easy for cynics to dismiss much of what is being taught as little more than platitudes. But programs in social responsibility, ethics and legal compliance are so widespread that attitudes about what is proper in business could, in fact, change for the better.
Doing good to do well is the theme from coast to coast.
The Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley was urged by Levi Strauss & Co. (itself accused by two former employees of accounting irregularities -- charges it denies), Hewlett-Packard Co. and other prominent firms to start a Center for Responsible Business.
"Executives backing the program said they never got ethical training when they studied for their MBAs," says professor Kellie McElhaney, who heads the center.
Columbia University's School of Business in New York is opening the Center for Business Ethics with backing from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., a Wall Street research firm often held out as a model of probity in an industry better known for attracting federal probes.
The University of Michigan Business School is launching a Global Citizenship Initiative with support from General Electric Co. and Procter & Gamble Co., each of which is delegating a senior executive to work directly with the students on a part-time basis.
Yes, such programs are partly a reaction to the Enron Corp. debacle and other scandals. "But it's deeper than that," says professor Noel Tichy, who heads the Michigan program. These new courses stressing corporate responsibility "can raise expectations and try to instill a code of conduct that global companies can use" with employees, suppliers and customers in places far and wide.
Indeed, the worldwide marketplace has complicated the arena of law and ethics for Americans doing business. In other countries, people "might challenge us with: 'Is it ethical that you have monopolies? You are gouging us,' " says Randolph Westerfield, dean of the Marshall School of Business at USC. The Marshall program therefore makes sure to send its students overseas to grapple with such thorny issues.
