How have the recent corporate scandals changed the attitude toward business ethics?
The recent scandals have raised awareness that if students see their jobs as managers as simply making technically correct decisions divorced from the broader ethical context, then they are not acting as ethical leaders (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/6/2006, “Ken Lay’s Dark, Ironic Legacy”). One of COLE’s messages to students, then, is that if they’re not going to be ethical leaders as well as technically excellent analysts and managers, then they’re really not going to fulfill their potential and could lead their organizations astray. What are some of the challenges for students learning ethics and how does COLE help students face those challenges? The biggest challenge for students is resisting the temptation to back off from difficult and sometimes ambiguous challenges of ethics leadership dilemmas. At COLE, we develop a support network of students who understand the difficulty in facing ethical dilemmas so that together, they have the courage and the fortitude to be able to tackle issues
