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Business schools usher in ethics studies

By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator

Dallas, TX – Business schools are scrambling to add ethics studies into their curriculum - most definitely a move in the right direction. But what took 'em so long? I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.

On the day when ex-Tyco chairman and CEO Dennis Koslowski goes to trial, I thought it would be fitting to discuss what our future M.B.A.'s might look like. Koslowski's lifestyle is the epitome of what some - not all - students enter business school for. Eager business school graduates of the 80's and 90's wanted what he had: lavish homes, shower curtains worth $6,000, and what better way to show your wife you love her - throw a multimillion-dollar birthday party for her on the island of Sardinia, and charge it all to the company!

Harvard Business School would like you to know that back in 1915, they were the first to offer a course on business ethics, "Social Factors in Business Enterprise." As I was reading this from the Wall Street Journal Online, I got the feeling they haven't added another ethics class since - until recently, that is. And Harvard, of all business schools, needs to do as much as they can to mend their reputation. A respondent of a public-opinion survey on how companies can turn around their own reputations offered a somewhat cynical suggestion: "get rid of the Harvard M.B.A.'s." Both ex-Enron executives Skilling and Fastow have an M.B.A. degree from Harvard.

So besides adding a few, I would hope, mandatory ethics classes, many schools are expressing distrust of their potential students from the get-go. To verify accuracy, background checks are being made of applications. And if you're applying to Harvard, be prepared to answer an essay question on how you would handle an ethical dilemma. Money, honesty, honesty, money - such a hard choice!

Then there's Notre Dame, who's Institute for Ethical Business Worldwide and Center for Ethics and Religious Values have been standing long before Enron. But it's a positive start for Harvard and other business schools, and one of the few cases where education is actually growing and moving forward. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.

Marketplace Midday Reports air on KERA 90.1 Monday - Friday at 1:04 p.m.

Email Maxine Shapiro about this story.