Ethics

Keeping Your Colleagues Honest

Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 8:00 am

Mary C. Gentile put together a great piece on how to challenge unethical behavior at work in the March issue of the Harvard Business Review: Keeping Your Colleagues Honest. She starts with four rationalizations for staying silent when encountering an ethical problem: It’s standard practice. It’s not a big deal. It’s not my responsibility. I want to be loyal. The...
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Global Ethics Summit 2010

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 8:00 am

Today I will be in New York attending the Global Ethics Summit 2010, hosted by Dow Jones and Ethisphere. Assuming I can get an internet connection and power, I will be live-blogging from the summit. If not live, I will try to get my notes published later tonight on the train ride home. Here is the...
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Ethics of Congressional Stock Ownership

Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 11:00 am

The Washington Post published a story using Congressman John Dinghell as an example of the ethics issues involved when you have an investor lawmaker: Dingells and GM illustrate limits of congressional conflict-of-interest rules. Kimberly Kindy and Robert E. O’Harrow Jr. use Congressman Dinghell because of his financial connection with General Motors. This connection was...
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Ethics of Oreos in the Minibar

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010 at 7:00 am

Is it ethical to replenish the items in your hotel’s minibar to avoid being charged for consumption? Randy Cohen tackled this issue in last week’s The Ethicist. David Lat, publisher of the legal tabloid Above the Law, posed the question after eating a box of Oreos from his minibar and then later replacing them. Mr. Cohen...
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Global Ethics Summit

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 7:00 am

Dow Jones and Ethisphere Institute are teaming up to present the 2010 Global Ethics Summit on February 23-24, 2010 at the Grand Hyatt New York City. I just confirmed that I will be attending, thanks to an offer from the event’s organizers. “In an effort to help companies deal with anti-corruption compliance and other significant issues,...
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FTC Guidelines Are In Effect

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009 at 3:07 pm

Today is a the day. The FTC’s recent updates to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising are now in affect. To comply with the Guides, individuals (bloggers, users of social media) must disclose every “material connection” or relationship they have with an advertiser. How to comply with the changes? Disclose whenever...
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A View of the MBA Ethics Oath by the Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 10:56 am

A hilarious view on the MBA Ethics Oath by Jon Stewart and Jon Oliver on The Daily Show. There is a great Scared Straight piece with some MBA Students. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
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New Massachusetts Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying Law

Friday, July 17th, 2009 at 7:00 am

After the well-publicized scandals with Salvatore DiMasi and Dianne Wilkerson, the lawmakers on Beacon Hill passed ethics legislation yesterday banning politicians from accepting gifts and upping the consequences for ethical violations. The Governor had threatened to veto a sales tax increase unless this act was passed, along with reforms in the pension system and the...
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Ethics and the Sales Relationship in World-Class Bull

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 7:00 am

The May issue of the Harvard Business Review offers up an ethics problem in its monthly case study: World-Class Bull (subscription required for full article). The three commentaries offer very different reactions to the facts presented in the case study’s fact pattern. John Humphreys, Zafar U. Ahmed, and Mildred Pryor penned the fact pattern. The...
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New MBAs and Their Code of Ethics

Monday, June 1st, 2009 at 7:00 am

I respect the ambition of a group of recently graduated Harvard Business School MBA’s to promulgate a code of ethics. A story in the New York Times publicized this initiative. “When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new...
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