Spring 2007 Issue - NIU College of Business - Northern Illinois ...

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The Business of Aristotleby Michelle De JeanCraig Smallish/Photodisc Green/Getty ImagesAristotle defined moral principles in terms of the ethicsof leadership; many cite his work NicomacheanEthics as evidence of this. Had Aristotle been a businessleader, he would have fostered an environment for growthand provided opportunity for all members to realize theirpotential for the good of the whole. What could be bothmore ethical and more business-oriented? From an ethicsstandpoint, promoting the common good translates intobenefits to society . . . a concept many also believe to bethe central tenant of free-market capitalism.“Ethics has always been included in business curricula,”said Denise Schoenbachler, dean of the NIU Collegeof Business. “Three years ago, the college’s Board ofExecutive Advisors took it a step further. Working withthe college’s Strategic Planning Council, the executiveschallenged the college to reframe the approach to ethics inthe classroom … from a discussion of ethics in the abstractto treating ethics as a business fundamental.”In response, the NIU College of Business formed an EthicsTask Force to do just that. Co-created in 2004 by thecollege’s Strategic Planning Council and its CurriculumCommittee, the Ethics Task Force initiative is a crossfunctionaleffort reporting to the college’s CurriculumCommittee. Task Force members include faculty from eachof the college’s business disciplines and staff. Input andfeedback are provided by business executives, many ofwhom serve on the college’s Board of Executive Advisorsor are themselves compliance experts. The creation ofthe college’s Ethics Task Force parallels related efforts bythe Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business(AACSB), which mandates that “ethical understanding andreasoning abilities” be included in business curricula. Howsuch topics are incorporated into the curriculum is up toindividual schools.“We made a deliberate choice to approach ethics from apragmatic standpoint,” said Terry Bishop, managementprofessor and Ethics Task Force member. “You can builda stand-alone class in ethics and make it required for allstudents, but such a class focuses on philosophy and not onpractical day-to-day applications. The approach we opted forintegrates ethics across the curriculum. This places ethics inthe context of each business discipline. Students then seeethics in a very pragmatic framework, with tools they can usebefore and after graduation.”One of those tools is a 30-page handbook, Building EthicalLeaders Using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF).The handbook was written by NIU Task Force members TerryBishop, management professor, Bill Cummings, accountancyprofessor, and Pam Smith, KPMG accountancy professor.The accompanying bank of test questions was written by theco-authors and the full Task Force membership.“The purpose of the BELIEF handbook is to help studentsunderstand why ethics are important, increase theirawareness of ethical situations, and provide a frameworkfrom which to evaluate the situation so they can make adecision or take an action,” said Pam Smith. “BELIEF hasthe philosophy of ethics as its foundational core, with a focuson how ethics manifest themselves in business, irrespectiveof the business field. In this way, the BELIEF handbookprovides a consistent framework and a common vocabularywith which to talk of ethics. The learning outcome we want toachieve as a college is to create increased awareness in allbusiness students of the importance of ethics.”Ethics Task Force MembersJohn Banko, Finance*Terry Bishop, ManagementBill Cummings, AccountancyCarol DeMoranville, Marketing**Kim Judson, Marketing***Brian Mackie, OM&ISJoan Petros, UBUS Cross-Functional TeamDenise Schoenbachler, Dean***Pam Smith, AccountancyWilliam Tallon, Interim Dean**Jay Wagle, Marketing**Sally Wakefield, Assistant to the Dean for AssessmentDan Wunsch, Interim Associate Dean****2004-06 **2004-05 ***2005-06 | NIU College of Business www.cob.niu.eduWhere the Classroom Meets the Business World
“The Ethics Handbook, developed by the Northern IllinoisUniversity College of Business … presents a useful guidefor management educators and employers who seek todevelop ethical standards and instructional materials.”“And increasedawareness of the toolsto evaluate ethicaldilemma,” addedBill Cummings. “TheBELIEF handbookoutlines a decisionmakingguide. Theguide identifiesspecific actionsused in the ethical decision making process. We includethe decision-making guide in the handbook itself and alsoprinted it onto a card that fits in a wallet. Other tools listed inthe handbook include professional codes within industry, thecompany codes of firms sponsoring this project, and the NIUbusiness school Code of Ethics, which was written by and forour students.”The BELIEF handbook and the decision-making card weredistributed to all NIU business students in fall 2006. Studentsalso have online access to the material, including the testquestions component which each student is required tosuccessfully complete.Even before its rollout, the BELIEF handbook wasenthusiastically received by both the academic andprofessional communities. NIU business faculty presentedthe BELIEF Initiative as part of a practice sharing sessionduring the August 2006 American Accounting AssociationNational Conference, at which time the faculty fieldedmultiple requests from fellow attendees who asked for copiesof the handbook. The work of the NIU Ethics Task Force wasfavorably mentioned by John Fernandes, AACSB presidentand CEO, during a 2005 AACSB Ethics Conference.Afterwards, faculty from universities throughout the U.S.and around the world contacted the college seeking copiesof the handbook for use in their classes. In summer 2006,AACSB requested an early draft of the BELIEF handbook forthe AACSB Ethics Education web pages, where it continuesto be posted (www.aacsb.edu/resource_centers/EthicsEdu/resources-articles.asp).That the AACSB website introduces the BELIEF handbookas “…a useful guide for management educators andemployers who seek to develop ethical standards andinstructional materials…” comes as no surprise to thosefirms currently sponsoring the work: Caterpillar, Experian,KPMG, McDonald’s, and Target. These firms view the workas important and as hitting the mark, in terms of providing aframework for business students to know and keep values… to have the ability to enact those values as part of whothey are now and as part of who they will be as leaders inorganizations.With corporate sponsorship, the college intends to build onthe work of the NIU Ethics Task Force. Initially, corporatesponsorship ensured the printing of the handbook andthe decision-making cards so that every NIU businessstudent received the material. It also provided for specialevents, such as the October 18 NIU College of Businessethics awareness event, or “Ethics Day.” In the near future,corporate sponsorship dollars will allow faculty to attendworkshops on how to teach ethics. And down the road, theCover Focus | The Honor Codemonies will providethe means for thecollege to explorehiring an in-houseBELIEF coordinator,an expert in thefield who wouldcoordinate theethics initiative,build in assessmentactivities, and teach classes on compliance and ethics.AACSB Ethics Education Resource Center web pagewww.aacsb.edu/resource_centers/EthicsEdu/resources-articles.aspThe common good, in terms of both ethics and free-marketcapitalism, stumbled with the avalanche of corporatescandals over the last three decades: Exxon Valdez, Milkenjunk bonds, WorldCom, ADM price fixing, MCI, Enron,and Tyco, to name a few. With or without these corporatescandals, the conversation of ethics – begun long ago byAristotle and other great philosophers – still stands. Butthe tenor of that conversation has changed. As businessschools promote the common good of the free-marketsystem and infuse ethics into the curriculum, the discussionof ethics in the abstract shifts. And the intent to make ethicseveryone’s business – for the good of the whole – remains.Ethics HandbookBuilding Ethical LeadersNortherN IllINoIs UNIversItyCollege of BusinessWhere the Classroom Meets the Business WorldEth-ic \’eth-ik\ n1: the disciplinedealing withwhat is good andbad and withmoral duty andobligation2 a: a set ofmoral principlesor values b: atheory or systemof moral values c:the principles ofconduct governingan individual ora group- WebstersEth-ic \’eth-ik\ n1: the disciplinedealing withwhat is good andbad and withmoral duty andobligation2 a: a set of moralprinciples orvalues b: a theoryor system of moralvalues c: the principlesof conductgoverning an individualor a group- WebstersEth-ic \’eth-ik\ n1: the disciplinedealing withwhat is good andbad and withmoral duty andobligation2 a: a set ofmoral principlesor values b: atheory or systemof moral values c:the principles ofconduct governingan individual ora group- WebstersEth-ic \’eth-ik\ n1: the disciplinedealing withwhat is good andbad and withmoral duty andobligation2 a: a set of moralprinciples orvalues b: a theoryor system of moralvalues c: the principlesof conductgoverning an individualor a group- WebstersEth-ic \’eth-ik\ n1: the disciplinedealing withwhat is good andbad and withBusiness Network 2007 |
Page 4 and 5: Heart&Souland the Honor Codeby Mich
Page 6 and 7: ecognition to help others less fort
Page 10 and 11: Principles in PracticeCaterpillar,
Page 12 and 13: Organizational Good Will . . . Hunt
Page 14 and 15: Feature | Headliners2006 Distinguis
Page 16 and 17: Feature | PerspectivesYashuhide Fum
Page 18: Briefly NotedBusinessWeek Ranks NIU
Page 21 and 22: Persons, Places | FacultyFaculty an
Page 23 and 24: Department of FinanceTed C. Moorman
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Page 27 and 28: Help Outstanding NIU Business Stude
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Page 31 and 32: Alumni Updates1960Paul E. Luckett (
Page 33 and 34: Alumni | UpdatesVirginia E. Kliebha
Page 36: 20 Ways to Make an ImpactIn NIU’s
Page 39 and 40: Northern Illinois University Colleg

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