In the daily grind of business, people focus most of their attention on the bottom line.  Everyone is clear in understanding that business is a goal oriented activity.   In fact, even in their early business education, students are told over and over that their jobs will be to maximize return under highly competitive conditions.  Too often, however, people may deviate from organizational values, and moral, legal, and ethical behavior in order to gain a competitive advantage, achieve their business objective, and deliver against their “bottom-line” commitments.  Failure to attend to the legal and moral rules can have devastating consequences for a business.

Recent legislation such as Sarbanes-Oxley may help in compliance with legal rules and may prevent some damaging behavior.  But many problems arise because people have only a weak understanding of the ethical requirements on business.  While most can grasp the explicit legal standards, many are paralyzed when confronted by ethical questions.  Often, they express confusion or skepticism about how to address ethical dilemmas.  There is, however, a long tradition which provides methods for the systematic, consistent and analytic exploration of ethical questions.  That tradition provides needed conceptual tools which allow for greater confidence in addressing ethics and for a greater possibility of reaching consensus in circumstances of conflict.

This seminar will provide senior corporate executives with exposure to those traditional conceptual tools of moral analysis to help make moral deliberation more systematic.  The result of this process will go beyond “mushy moralizing” to enhanced ethical decision-making.

(Team taught with John J. McCall, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy and author of several books on Business Ethics)