Teaching business ethics

In the past few years, numerous organizations (and their shareholders) have suffered significant losses because of ethical lapses within an organization. As a result, business ethics has received a significant amount of attention in classrooms across the United States. Many approaches have been used, but the goal is simple: Make sure our students know that they will confront difficult situations during their careers and give them the ability to make the "right" choices.

This fall, we began an ambitious and comprehensive approach to teaching business ethics. Rather than devote a single course to this topic (either within Mays or outside of Mays), we have dedicated a week to ethical issues in each of our core business courses. We felt this approach would continually reinforce the importance of ethical decision making to our students and let them know that ethical issues cut across all business disciplines. When they reflect on their education at Mays, our students will recall that "we covered ethics in every class."

I had the pleasure of being a test case. In my Principles of Accounting class, we studied the WorldCom fraud. One particularly impactful reading discussed the plight of an accountant at WorldCom who was asked by her supervisor to make "one journal entry." As you know, that one journal entry turned into the largest fraud in the history of the United States, costing shareholders billions of dollars and possibly resulting in a prison sentence for the accountant. After the semester, I felt confident that my students were aware of the consequences of doing something "just this once" and would not make this mistake in their lives.

I hope you enjoy this issue of Mays Business Online. In future issues, other faculty will discuss their experiences with integrating business ethics throughout the curriculum. Please stay in touch and have a wonderful summer!

Best regards,

Jerry Strawser '83
Dean



	Teaching business ethics In the past few years, numerous organizations (and their shareholders) have suffered significant losses because of ethical lapses within an organization. As a result, business ethics has received a significant amount of attention in classrooms across the United States. Many approaches have been used, but the goal is simple: Make sure our students know that they will confront difficult situations during their careers and give them the ability to make the "right" choices. This fall, we began an ambitious and comprehensive approach to teaching business ethics. Rather than devote a single course to this topic (either within Mays or outside of Mays), we have dedicated a week to ethical issues in each of our core business courses. We felt this approach would continually reinforce the importance of ethical decision making to our students and let them know that ethical issues cut across all business disciplines. When they reflect on their education at Mays, our students will recall that "we covered ethics in every class." I had the pleasure of being a test case. In my Principles of Accounting class, we studied the WorldCom fraud. One particularly impactful reading discussed the plight of an accountant at WorldCom who was asked by her supervisor to make "one journal entry." As you know, that one journal entry turned into the largest fraud in the history of the United States, costing shareholders billions of dollars and possibly resulting in a prison sentence for the accountant. After the semester, I felt confident that my students were aware of the consequences of doing something "just this once" and would not make this mistake in their lives. I hope you enjoy this issue of Mays Business Online. In future issues, other faculty will discuss their experiences with integrating business ethics throughout the curriculum. Please stay in touch and have a wonderful summer! Best regards, Jerry Strawser '83 Dean