Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: Building Better Businesses: Modern Ethics for Employers

By Sharon Schweitzer, J.D. for Huffington Post
From Volkswagen’s “diesel dupe” to United Airline’s passenger scandal, several big businesses have recently come under fire for violating ethical codes of conduct. Not only has this forced customers to reevaluate their patronage of popular services, such as Uber rideshare and Wells Fargo banking, millennials are also taking notice and taking action. In a recent study by Bentley University, 86% of students entering the workforce affirmed that working for a socially responsible and ethical company is a top priority, while another survey found that 55% of consumers are ready to pay extra for ethically produced goods. Read more

By Jamie Oppenheim for SF State News
A scan of headlines from the past few months shows that the workplace issues women experienced 40 years ago haven’t gone away. There’s been a recent deluge of sexual harassment claims against leading executives and TV personalities and well-documented complaints related to equity and diversity in the tech industry. These are all reasons why San Francisco State University’s annual Business Ethics Week is so important, says SF State Associate Professor of Management Denise Kleinrichert. “There are still disturbing discussions about the workplace that you would have heard in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. We’re well into the 2010s and we’re still wrestling with the same issues,” she said. Read more

By Nishant Mohan for The Argonaut
When people don’t trust each other, it becomes very hard to work together, said Kristy Grant-Hart. Grant-Hart, international compliance and ethics expert, presented on the economics of ethics in business at the annual ethics seminar by the Allen/Deloitte Ethics and Leadership Initiative and UI titled “The Economics of Ethics and Integrity: What’s It REALLY Worth?” Read more

By Bruce Weinstein for Forbes
The principles of ethics that help us solve ethical dilemmas in everyday life are the same principles that provide guidance in business, health care, law, and education:

1. Do No Harm
2. Make Things Better
3. Respect Others
4. Be Fair
5. Care

Generally speaking, for example, it’s wrong to lie. That applies in every kind of relationship there is: friend/friend, manager/direct report, physician/patient, attorney/client, teacher/student. Read more