UT philosophy professor Bob Solomon is joining business leaders and other college faculty from across the country to form a new ethics center with the goal of restoring public confidence in American businesses.
The center, called the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics, will receive $2.7 million from the Business Roundtable, an association of 150 chief executive officers from the nation's top companies.
"[We] have been outraged by the kinds of accusations that have been made and the actual evidence of wrongdoing that we've seen in certain instances in corporate America," said Frank Raines, co-chairman of the Roundtable, at a Jan. 15 news conference. "Our overall goal is to help restore the trust of the American people and American investors in business corporations."
The center, which will be located at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration, will conduct research, create curriculums for business students and lead seminars on business ethics for corporate executives. The first two seminars will take place this year.
Solomon said he was asked to be a part of the center because of his extensive background in business ethics research.
"I've long argued for the importance of ethics in business and the meaning of integrity," Solomon said. "More attention must be paid to employees, to the community, and to the environment. Otherwise, almost all the emphasis is on maximizing profits and efficiency. They need to bring the human element back."
Ethics should be incorporated in the entire business curriculum, Solomon said.
"I think a better way to go is not to just have isolated courses, but to actually integrate business ethics into all existing business courses," he said.
The University's McCombs School of Business currently has no ethics requirement for undergraduate students, but it is considering creating one, said Steve Salbu, the school's associate dean for graduate Programs.
The only business graduate program that requires an ethics course is the Plus Program, a series of seminars meant to enhance traditional classes.
Barclay Nelson, a graduate business student, attended a mandatory five-day ethics workshop through the Plus Program. The students discussed ethical scenarios and specific corporate whistleblowers.
"I think it's something students should be exposed to," Nelson said. "It's useful to be discussing it and to be fleshing out what your views are and developing your own set of values."
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