Ethics

Articles
http://www.bnet.com/search?q=ethics&tag=content%3Bsearch-sort&t=16

Can You Teach Ethics to MBAs?

Articles | October 19, 2009 12:00am PDT

Maybe, but research suggests they need a lot of practice. Take our quiz and see how your moral compass measures up.

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http://www.bnet.com/search?q=ethics

• Why We Act Unethically Without Knowing It

Many of us do unethical things even as we believe we are acting in the right. The consequences can ruin lives.

• Can Leaders Demand Decency--and Profits?

decency not only is compatible with great results--but helps drive profits. You be the judge.

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VS: Regret ca blogger.com amesteca textul! Stii un site de blogging mai bun? Top 14 Financial Frauds of All Time BNET http://www.bnet.com/photos/top-14-financial-frauds-of-all-time/6195447 ...History is full of scams and frauds that removed billions of dollars from the pockets of investors and destroyed entire economies. This post contains some of the most memorable. There is one huge difference, though, between the Great Wall Street Ripoff and the all the rest of these history-making scams. See if you can figure it out, before you get to the end of the gallery. 　 The Sale of the Roman Empire (193 A.D.) 1 of 14 During unrest in the Roman Empire, the Praetorian Guard (a special army supposedly loyal to the emperor), killed the current emperor and offered the empire to the highest bidder. The "winner" was Julianus, who came up with a truly astronomical price: 250 gold pieces for every member of the army, which comes out to somewhere around $1 billion in today's money. Unfortunately, the guards had sold something that didn't belong to them, a classic, if simple, financial fraud. The new "emperor" was never recognized as such and was quickly deposed. Fun fact: 　 The Mississippi Scheme (1719) 2 of 14 When Scottish financial genius John Law started a company to develop the then-wilderness Louisiana, he saw nothing wrong with hyping the possibilties rather than the reality. He convinced investors (including the French government) to back his development scheme. Shares in his company skyrocketed and French currency increased in value, since it was widely believed France would gain a mountain of gold and silver from what was then only a swampy backwater. When investors actually received what Louisiana was like, shared plummeted. Law narrowly avoided being lynched, escaping only by disguising himself as a beggar. He died in poverty nine years later. Fun fact: 　  The Diamond Necklace Hoax (1785) 3 of 14 It's been said that few creatures on this earth are more gullible than a horny priest. That was certainly the case with Cardinal Prince de Rohan, who was so convinced that he was having an affair with Queen Marie Antoinette (pictured), that he arranged for her to purchase, on her line of credit, a diamond necklace worth six million livres. Unfortunately, Rohan was, unbeknownst to him, actually having an affair with a prostitute dressed up as the Queen, a ruse conducted by his (former) mistress, courtesan/countess Jeanne de la Motte, who hoped to make away with the necklace herself. When caught, de la Motte was sentenced to be stripped naked in public and branded with a hot iron. Fun fact: 　 The Wright Panic (1900) 4 of 14 Never underestimate the power of social pressure. Financier Whitaker Wright put pretigious figurehead names -- lords and ladies, mostly -- on the boards of directors of his companies. As a result, investing his firms became quite the social norm among the well-heeled. Unfortunately, while his companies looked solvent on paper, they were really only lending money to one another in order to balance the books. When the scheme became public, shares collapsed, leaving many of his posh pals penniless. Fun fact: 　 ... ********** Top 10 Lies Politicians Tell About Business - BNET Lie #1 We want to balance the budget. 1 of 10 Who Tells It:　 Lie #2 The gender pay gap is real 2 of 10Who Tells It: Liberals pander to the feminists by insisting that men are paid more than women. But here's the truth: when you factor out the time that women spend having children and caring for them, and then compare apples to apples (i.e. same job, same start date), the gender pay gap shrinks to statistical insignificance. This lie is pernicious because it distracts people from looking at the REAL pay gap, which is insane accumulation of wealth and earnings among the super-rich. As long as politicians can keep middle-class men and women squabbling over table scraps, nobody will notice that ALL of the economic gains of the past three decades have gone to those who were already obscenely wealthy.　 Lie #3 The U.S. has high corporate tax rates 3 of 10Who Tells It: While it's true that the U.S. tax rates (on the books) is among the highest in the world, there are so many tax breaks available to businesses (especially large ones) that the ACTUAL tax rate is lower than many third world countries. The only companies that pay the full tax rate are small businesses that can't pay accountants to squirrel away money overseas and can't pay politicians to enact preferential treatment and special breaks. The result is a huge advantage for large companies, even though they employ a tiny (and declining) fraction of American workers.　 　 Lie #4 We support small businesses 4 of 10Who Tells It: Politicians give lip service to small businesses, because small businesses actually comprise most of the economic activity in the United States. But small business have no political power and therefore no influence. A small business can't raise enough money to get on the radar screen of any one politician (except maybe the hometown congressman), which means that the interests of small businesses will always get short shrift. The problem is made worse by the fact that many small business owners foolishly believe that the CEOs of huge firms will influence politicians to become more "business-friendly". What they don't understand is that a business climate that's friendly to huge multinationals can easily be one that's toxic to small businesses.　 Lie #5 We have the best healthcare in the world 5 of 10Who Tells It: The way the Republicans talk about it, you'd think that any substantive change in the current healthcare system would bring American businesses to utter rack and ruin. But the truth is providing the current system in the United States is extraordinarily inefficient, with costs that are higher (relative to actual results) than anywhere else in the world. While the current system is great for two industries -- insurance and healthcare -- every other industry operates at a disadvantage in the United States because either they, or their workers, have to pay for the inefficiency of a system where expensive procedures are more profitable than keeping people healthy.　 Lie #6 Free trade creates jobs 6 of 10Who Tells It: Free trade creates jobs...in places where labor is cheap. In the United States, free trade has created massive outsourcing that has, in turn, gutted entire sectors of the economy. It's not just the manufacturing jobs that have gone away. There are hundreds of thousands of highly-trained engineers, for example, who are being put out of work by engineers abroad who will work for what in the United States would be minimum wage. The collapse of the American job market was hidden for years by a massive glut of borrowing and consumer spending, but now it's come home to roost, to the point where gaining back a tiny fraction of the jobs that were lost is considered a huge victory.　 Lie #7 Nobody is above the law 7 of 10Who Tells It: As my brilliant colleage, BNET blogger Alain Sherter pointed out in his post "Why the Feds Won't Prosecute Bankers", corporations that are deemed "too big to fail" are routinely given a free pass when they commit crimes. The executives who commit criminal acts are allowed to walk and the companies themselves given a nominal fine, in order to make certain that the company survives. As a result, executives at huge firms know that they can continue to commit crimes, because they know they will not be held accountable. Any attempt to regulate such firms so that they can't wriggle out is quickly squelched, primarily by Republicans, but aided and abetted by those Democrats who are also sucking at the corporate teat.　 Lie #8 What's good for big business is good for the country 8 of 10Who Tells It: It used to be that "What's good for GM is good for the country." But that was when large companies actually employed a a large number of American workers. Today, many huge companies are deployed so heavily overseas that they're not really American at all. Many multinationals are, for all intents and purposes, sovereign states. Some even have their own standing armies. Even so, U.S. politicians in both parties continue treat such corporations as if they were American entities, and are more than happy to accept their campaign contributions, even though this is tantamount to accepting money from a foreign country.　 Lie #9 We feel your pain 9 of 10Who Tells It: Politicians at the federal level, including Democrats, are so far removed from poverty, or even from the middle-class, that it's impossible for them to have any idea what it is actually like to try to survive in the current economic climate. Many members of congress are millionaries and multi-millionaires, as are most of the senators. Many come from families with inherited wealth. They are all highly paid, with the world's best health insurance, and lifetime job security as lobbyists or industry consultants. The idea that anyone in this position can "feel the pain" is sickeningly absurd.　 Lie #10 Supply side economics really works 10 of 10Who Tells It: It's been decades since George H.W. Bush gave Supply Side Economics the "Voodoo" sobriquet, and yet there are still politicians (Republicans mostly) who insist that this crack-brained idea is valid, even though there is not a single shred of evidence that this is the case. Why the persistent denial of reality? It's a classic case of wanting to have your cake and eat it, too, combined with a willingness to belief any old thing that makes you feel good. It's probably not a coincidence that the most vocal proponents of this particular brand of economic snake oil also hold other absurd beliefs contrary to history and observable reality. Show me a tried and true supply sider, and I'll show you somebody who believes that every word of the Bible is accurate, that global warming is fictional, and that Obama was born on the planet Mars.