Guest column: Ethics education has a place, even in Sin City

For almost 15 years, I have taught the MBA course in law, regulation and ethics at UNLV.

When I tell people I teach this course, I almost always get one of three responses.

1. “We need more of that!” Yes, we do.

2. “Isn’t business ethics an oxymoron?” No, it is not.

3. “How do you teach ethics to adults?” This is the most interesting response.

When I tell people from other universities that I teach this course, the first question usually is: “In Las Vegas?”

Ethics is a part of philosophy. It can be defined as the study of interpersonal values and the rules of conduct that follow from those values. Business ethics simply is the application of ethics to business situations.

When most people think of Las Vegas, they think of hospitality, or more specifically, gaming. Those who work in the hospitality industry interact constantly with other people. Therefore, the study of values in dealing with others, and the ways these values affect behavior, is very much relevant to Las Vegas. Well over 500 MBA students have taken this course, many of whom now have professional positions in the Las Vegas community.

In the class, I don’t teach people what the ethical thing to do is in each circumstance of their professional lives. What I try to teach them consists of two basic messages.

The first is that some of their actions as managers have ethical implications, and they need to be aware of those. When a company announces layoffs, for example, its stock often rises immediately after the announcement. This implies a financial judgment that layoffs are good. The ethical component is this: The people laid off generally are harmed by the decision. As such, layoffs may be necessary and ethical, or not. In either case, managers need to be aware of the ethical component of such a decision.

The second thing I try to teach is the fact that some very impressive people have thought and written about ethics. The work of Aristotle and Plato, for instance, has been in print for more than 2,000 years. The ideas of these wise men and women can be helpful to managers struggling with difficult ethical decisions. In the class, we consider specific situations managers face in their work and discuss how the views of philosophers can help us think through the decisions to be made.

So yes, here at UNLV, we do teach ethics to our business students. And it makes perfectly good sense to do so.

Joseph Gilbert is an associate professor of management at UNLV’s Lee Business School.

Tags: The Sunday
Business

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