Kind of supports what I've been asserting for years:  Positive law is
the ethic of our time.  See 25 J. Business Ethics 115 and 33 Business
Horizons 28.
                 Bruce Fisher

-----Original Message-----
From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Virginia G Maurer
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 8:50 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: ethics in business schools on daily show

This was just fascinating. And I thought the stuff with Larry the Con
was in fact good. It was hysterical that a bad guy would quickly fall in
with MBA's proposed fraud when he thought there was money to be made.
Turns out that Larry the Con and the Harvard MBAs are kindred souls who
fear only being caught. I will definitely use this video in my classes
because it nails the issue of who you really are as a human being. I see
no point in a lot of pollyanna ethics teaching. 
 
Anyway, rarely ever do managers engage in unethical behavior for the
benefit of their shareholders. They engage in unethical behavior for
their own self-interest. I cannot think of a single example in the past
30 years when it was otherwise. Maybe others can, and that would be a
good discussion topic. 
 
Ginny

________________________________

From: Academy of Legal Studies in Business (ALSB) Talk on behalf of
Robert Bird
Sent: Thu 8/13/2009 8:09 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: ethics in business schools on daily show



The second segment of the 8/12/09 episode of the daily show focuses on
business schools.  There's a ironic segment where a Columbia ethics
professor notes that ethics has been taught for decades and given
current crises, it hasn't really worked.  Then five Harvard/MIT students
are interviewed who refused to sign a pledge to be ethical issued by
Harvard.  In fact most of the MBA students apparently refused to sign
the pledge.  The segment quickly loses its ironic punch and devolves
into unhelpful comedy, but the first few minutes are deliciously funny.

 

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/240953/wed-august-12-2009-jeff
-sharlet

 

Best,

 

Robert C. Bird

Assistant Professor & Ackerman Scholar

Department of Marketing and Law

University of Connecticut

email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> 

View my research on my SSRN Author page: 
http://ssrn.com/author=56987 <http://ssrn.com/author=56987>