Business Ethics:
A View From The Trenches
By:
Rebecca Cessac, Nancy Roach, Mary
Avants, William Worack, Brian Hall
Overview
• 30 recent Harvard
MBA graduates
• Felt strong pressures
to do unethical things.
• Ethics programs,
Codes of Conduct,
mission statements,
hotlines offered little
or no help
Ethical Issues
• Felt Executives Were:
– Out of touch
– Too busy
– Sought to avoid
responsibility
• Issue Solved By:
– Largely by personal
reflection
– Individual values
– Not corporate credos
or company loyalty
Demographics
•
•
•
•
Two-thirds were men
One-third were women
Four were African American
Half were working for commercial or
investment banks, or consulting,
accounting, or advertising firms.
Just Do It
• Experience was
traumatic
• Important tests of
character
• Optimistic views
Four Commandments
1. Performance is what really
counts, so make your
numbers.
2. Be loyal and show us that
you’re a team player.
3. Don’t break the law
4. Don’t over-invest in
ethical behavior.
Feckless Ethics Program
• Half of interviewees worked in companies
with some sort of ethics program
• “Total Hypocrisy”
• Not creative at all
Out of Touch Senior Executives
• “Don’t break the law,
rock the boat, or fail
to make your
numbers.”
• Forgot what it was
like in the trenches
Sleep Test
• “Can I look myself in
the mirror in the
morning?”
• “Gut feel”
• “Golden Rule”
Resilience, Confidence, and Mobility
• Difficult experiences
• Cutting corners gets
proved to be valuable
easier with ties and
age
• “Being able to take a
stand and walk away.” • “very few companies
embodied values
consistent with those
they hoped to live by”
Implications
• More commitment means strong pressures
to choose the easier wrong rather than the
tougher right
Conclusion & Questions