07-15-2024
In 2019, PwC found that more CEOs are fired for ethical lapses than for financial performance or board struggles. In fact, most mornings, a quick scan of newspaper headlines or financial newscasts will highlight companies and their employees struggling to do the right thing. That on-going reality led to a question: How do we more effectively teach ethics at the undergraduate level?
In 2018 I became the principal investigator on an interdisciplinary team that sought and received internal funding to launch a study to tackle this big question. We launched in 2019 with a series of small studies looking at different interventions in the classroom and how those impact students’ approach to and understanding of ethics. As we analyzed those results and the ethics research that exists, we formulated the Daniels School of Business four-year Ethics Model. Why? Over the course of four years, students who attend Daniels will take a one-credit ethics course which gives them an ethics foundation.
Last year we began working closely with faculty in other courses, providing them with small micro-grants to incorporate uniform language into their courses. A survey of faculty found that most faculty teach ethics, but our students didn’t recognize it. Why? We all use slightly different language to describe ethics. It’s easy to do. Even philosophers will use different languages. Our ultimate goal is to pull ethics from the ivory tower into the routine decision-making framework in a context that is relevant and easy-to-use for students. Thinking about the ethical implications of a decision should be as routine as considering the people and financial impacts. One way to do that is to use language that is standardized so that students recognize how ethics apply in each context as well as helping faculty develop an application or assessment that makes sense in their course. Many already have one – when they do, we can assist in assessing the impact of that application on students’ ethical decision-making.
As I present our work at regional, national, and international conferences, I find a hunger among other schools to learn from what we are building, and that excites me because my ultimate goal is to create a model that can be easily replicated. Toward that end, this fall we are launching a longitudinal study and the one-credit required course. I’m excited for the students who will be equipped with an arsenal of tools to be ethical, impactful business leaders our world needs to confront the challenges of the future that we’ve only begun to image.
Cara Putman is a clinical associate professor in business law and ethics at Purdue’s Daniels School of Business. She serves as the Director of the Brock-Wilson Center for Women in Business and the Course Coordinator for MGMT 254 Legal Foundations of Business and MGMT 255 Foundations of Ethics. She has also served as the Assistant Area Head for Law, Communications, and Ethics since 2021. Professor Putman is an award-winning member of the faculty and Teaching Academy and an accomplished author of more than 40 novels. She is frequently asked to speak on topics including leadership, building culture, wellbeing, and others related to student development and confidence.
