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JanFeb2013

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our courses, for instance, we ask students to explore the ways that being a victim of sexual harassment can lead to stress, trauma, and poor health behaviors. We also integrate examples from outside the business world���and outside the ethics classroom���by including doctors, psychologists, and social workers who offer firsthand accounts of how their patients have been damaged because of unethical acts at work. In fact, these individuals have been among our most effective guest speakers. Finally, we���ve encouraged professors from other business disciplines to discuss the effects of unethical behavior at work. Organizational behavior professors cover issues such as abusive supervision; human resources professors highlight gender-based inequities in compensation; and marketing professors link moral principles to controversial behaviors such as advertising unhealthy foods to children. Within these disciplinespecific contexts, students acquire an even better understanding of why it is critical for them to behave ethically at work. The Payoff Why should an ethics class take an approach that emphasizes individual well-being? After all, some might say, we���re teaching business, not medicine. Nevertheless, we believe this perspective offers four advantages: ��� It enables students to view ethics in very personal terms. They learn about the human costs of unethical decisions, which will prompt them to consider their actions more carefully if they encounter bad behavior in the workplace���as they probably will. When they do, they will imme26 January/February 2013 BizEd Students learn about the human costs of unethical decisions, which will prompt them to consider their actions more carefully if they encounter bad behavior in the workplace���as they probably will. diately understand the personal impact of such behavior. They���ll realize the damage isn���t done to some amorphous bottom line, but to their own well-being���and that of their co-workers, friends, and family members. ��� It motivates students to behave ethically for reasons that go beyond moral codes. Certainly, we would like students to behave ethically because it is the right thing to do. But the truth is that some people engage in ethical behavior primarily to prevent the loss of money or reputation. If such students know that they and those around them can be harmed by bad behavior, they have another incentive to act morally. ��� It corresponds to topics taught in other business disciplines that focus on well-being. Work stress, for example, has long been an area of interest in management research, and more recently neuroscience has found its way into both marketing and management studies. Thus, making individual well-being a centerpiece of business ethics education enables faculty to incorporate cutting-edge research into their teaching. ��� It opens up new avenues for schools seeking financial support for scholarship. The focus on well-being creates possibilities that extend far beyond traditional social science research. For example, organizations like the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Mental Health may be receptive to business management research that ordinarily would fall outside their domains. It���s equally important to note that a focus on well-being is interdisciplinary; it enables business faculty to collaborate with their counterparts in psychology, public health, and medicine to develop interesting and innovative methods to ameliorate the damage of unethical behavior. While making the connection between ethics and well-being can be a fruitful endeavor for business schools, understanding that connection is an essential skill for business students on their way to becoming global leaders. As students begin to see that unethical behavior can make them sick, or make others sick, new motives for ethical and socially responsible behavior will emerge. And perhaps in the future, when professors ask why Ford should have fixed its Pinto, more students will say, ���Because human lives were at stake.��� Mark D. Promislo is an assistant pro�� fessor in the department of manage�� ment at Rider University���s College of Business Administration in Lawrence�� ville, New Jersey. Robert A. Giacalone is a professor in the department of human resource management at Tem�� ple University���s Fox School of Busi�� ness in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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