Corporate Universities:
The New Keepers of the
Ethical Flame?
Philip McGee
Clemson University
Behavior
VS.
Performance
Three Influencers of Behavior:
• Goals
• Needs
• Values
Goal
Need
Value
Ethics
Type into any Internet search engine the keyword unethical
behavior to find the following:
• Unethical Behavior of Pharmacists
• Real Estate
• Medical Schools
• Sports Agents Preying on Student-Athletes
• Accounting and Banking
For unethical companies…
• Employees are turning their backs on employers
who lack a sense of moral responsibility.
• It is estimated they lose almost $3 trillion dollars a
year in the U.S. alone.
For ethical companies…
• With good reputations tend to enhance their
brand image.
• Productivity and the quality of their products and
services improve.
• Companies with environmental management
systems substantially reduce their operating costs.
As teachers and trainers…
I believe that we have, and have
had, a tremendous amount of
influence upon the ethical behavior
displayed in our society. We are at
the same time, both part of the
problem, and part of the solution.
Business Relationships
Trust
Truth
How Work Was Viewed In
Ancient Times
(400 B.C. – 400 A.D.)
Both the Greeks and Romans used slaves in an
attempt to avoid work.
Plato
Saint Augustine
Education in
Ancient Times
How Was Work Viewed
During the Middle Ages?
(400– 1400)
The Search for Truth
During the Middle Ages
Peter Abelard (1079-1142)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Roger Bacon (1214 -1294)
Higher Education during
the Middle Ages
How Work Was Viewed
During the Renaissance?
(1400 – 1700)
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)
John Calvin (1509-1564)
The Search for Truth During
the Renaissance
Christopher Columbus (1451 - 1506)
Sir Thomas More (1478-1535)
Galileo Galilei (1564 -1642)
René Descartes (1596 -1650)
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679)
Robert Boyle (1627 -1691)
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
John Locke (1692-1704)
Higher Education During the
Renaissance
In American Harvard College is
founded in 1636
How Work Was Viewed
During the Age of Reason
(1700-1800)
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1780)
•“Work as if you were to live a hundred years,
pray as if you were to die tomorrow.
•Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man
healthy, wealthy, and wise.
•Well done is better than well said.
•Keep thy shop, and thy shop will keep thee.
He that hath a Trade hath an Estate
The Search for Truth
During the Age of
Reason (1700-1800)
Major philosophers of this period were:
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804)
David Hume (1711-76)
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-78)
Adam Smith (1723-1790)
Higher Education During the
Age of Reason (1700-1800)
American universities continue to be established.
Church Related:
Yale (1701) Congregationalist
Princeton (1746) Presbyterian
Columbia (1754) Episcopal
Rutgers (1766) Presbyterian
Brown (1764) Baptist
Dartmouth (1769) Congregationalist
State Universities:
University of North Carolina (1789)
How Work Was Viewed During the
Industrial Revolution (1800-1900)
The secularized work ethic rejected the
concept of a calling and replaced it with
the concept of public usefulness.
The Search for Truth During the
Industrial Revolution (1800-1900)
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)
John Stuart Mill (1806-73)
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844-1900)
Higher Education During
the Industrial Revolution
(1800-1900)
State Universities:
University of Georgia (1801)
University of South Carolina (1803)
Land Grant Universities:
As our nation grew, so did our need for people trained in
agriculture and engineering. To meet this need The Morrill
Land Grant Act of 1862 was passed and provided an open
door for the common man to earn a university degree. Because
these were state school that focused on “what worked” their
orientation and curriculums were pragmatic in nature.
How Work Was Viewed in the
20th Century
During the twentieth century work in
America shifted from manufacturing and
agriculture to knowledge and information
generating and manipulation. While the
twentieth century stated out in the industrial
age it closed out in the information age.
The Search for Truth in the
20th Century
William James (1842-1910)
John Dewey (1859-1952)
George Santayana (1863-1952)
Martin Heidegger (1889-1976)
Jean Paul Sartre (1905-80)
Higher Education During the 20th
Century
Higher education, driven by the information age, has gown
exponentially during the twentieth century. Sleepy tree lined
campuses have been turned into educational super-markets.
Most every community has at a minimum a community
college that offers both day and evening classes. If you can’t
attend a class in person, you can now go online with any
number of private, public, or for profit colleges and
universities who are more than eager to fulfill your
educational and training needs. In short, education has become
big business with at times, big business ethics.
What Will it Be Like to Work in the 21st
Century?
"Good" jobs--those offering health insurance and
a pension, along with a prospect for
advancement--are increasingly relics of the past.
Increase in the use of temporary employees.
Highly flexible organizational forms--often
called networked organizations or virtual
corporations—will become increasingly common
in the future.
Higher Education in the 21st Century
• Residential institutions of higher education at the
undergraduate level.
• Continued growth of community and technical
colleges.
• Introduction of corporate universities.
• Increased use of technology.
A Little History
Mid-Evil
Universities
Founded by
the Church
Scripture =
Truth
Universities
After the
Enlightenment
Founded by the
State
Experimental
Method = Truth
Jarvis, P. (2001). Universities and Corporate Universities. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing Inc.
Corporate
Universities
Founded by
Corporations
Pragmatism =
Truth
Corporate Values in the 21st Century
“In a business world still reeling from
corporate scandals, HR leaders – past
and present – from some of the
nation’s largest employers consider
HR’s new role in steering a company’s
legal and ethical activities from the top
down.”
Ricard F. Stolz
Stolz, R.F. (2003, January). What HR Will Stand For. Human Resource Executive. 20-28.
Major Philosophical Approaches
Relativism
Absolutism
Theoretical Normative
•Teleological Theories
•Deontological Theories
•Environmental Ethics
Four Basic Areas of
Corporate Social Responsibility
1. Human Resources: Development and Protection of
People.
2. Community, Cultural and Societal Involvement and
Philanthropy.
3. Environmental Protection, Waste Reduction and
Sustainability.
4. Product, Consumer, and Service Contributions and
Protections.
Adapted from: Hatcher, Tim. (2002). Ethics and HRD. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Publishing.
Let’s Do an Exercise
Strategic Plan
Ethical Goal
Policies and Guidelines
Rules and Procedures
Measure, Monitor and Evaluate
Let’s Share
Thanks for Coming!
A Post Conference Website for This
Session can be Found at:
http://people.clemson.edu/~pmcgee/Ethics/Ethics_Menu.html