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35 BizEd July/August 2014 Experiential Ethics BY NITISH SINGH AND THOMAS BUSSEN N ow that the likes of Bernie Madoff, Enron, and WorldCom have dominated headlines, the secret is out—white-collar crime could be anywhere, at any time. Pub- lic outrage at the billions stolen has fed politicians' appetites for stronger penalties, for both individuals and the companies employing them. The most well-known iteration of this legislative upheaval is the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO). Post-Enron amendments to the FSGO reward organizations for good behaviors and punish for bad behaviors. In addition, organizations now are being held accountable not just for their compliance programs, but also for their ethical cultures. In response to this trend, we recently offered for the first time "Reclaiming the Human Spirit: Prison Experience and Learning from White Collar Offenders," a semesterlong MBA elective at Saint Louis University's John Cook School of Business. The course educates students about corporate fraud issues and heightens their eth- ical awareness. It combines online training, class discussion, and field immersions that take students out of the classroom and into the world of white-collar crime. The course goes beyond teaching MBA students about the causes and nature of white-collar crime. It gives them a newfound appreciation for the reali- ties of life during and after prison. Course Structure The course was made possible by support from Douglas W. Burris, Chief U.S. Probation Officer of The Eastern District of Missouri–St. Louis and the Federal Probation Office in St. Louis. The probation office allowed students firsthand looks into the way the federal cor- rectional system works, from the first charges against offenders, through their sentencing and incar- ceration, to their probation and unsupervised release. Coordinating site visits required a small class size—our first class had only eight students, including an accountant, insurance broker, banker, management analyst, a JD/ MBA, a healthcare/MBA, and two full-time MBA students. The group was diverse, but they all recognized how prominently regulation, ethics, and compliance will feature in their professional lives. We were able to support the fluid structure of the course by using a "flipped" format. Students learned the fundamentals of the course on their own time by watch- ing previously recorded videos on business ethics, international ethics, and fraud prevention. Class time was devoted largely to discussion, and our field immersions brought students experiences that no in- class or online lecture ever could. Students completed two papers, a quiz, and a presentation, and they were graded on their ability to con- nect the lessons of their site visits and classroom experiences to the learning goals of the class. Class Discussion We asked students to explore white-collar crime from an orga- nizational perspective. Class dis- cussion centered on the so-called "fraud triangle," which holds that three factors must be present for most white-collar crimes to occur: the pressure to break the law, the opportunity to do so, and the rationalization of the wrongdoer to justify the behavior. Students learned about common pressures that precede employees' bad behavior, such as decreases in pay or work hours, the perception of mistreatment, or ethically com- placent organizational cultures. Stu- dents then learned ways to reduce the opportunity for wrongdoing by better identifying, preventing, and responding to violations. Students also gained a more nuanced view of the U.S. justice sys- tem. Classroom discussion focused on the sheer number of imprisoned individuals—nearly 1 percent of the U.S. population is currently in prison. Students wrestled with difficult ethical questions: How should punishments differ for dif- ferent crimes? Is financial crime less dangerous than violent crime? Does prison deter white-collar offenders more than other criminals? They explored the role of rehabilitation and the ethical implications of pun- ishing one offender to prevent oth- ers from committing similar acts. The Prison Immersion A highlight of the course was the tour of Greenville Federal Prison in Illinois. As students walked the prison grounds, many were struck by the fact that white-collar offend- ers, once imprisoned, are treated no differently than violent offend- ers. Student and insurance broker Karl Steinage said that he thought "the best way to deter white-collar crime would be for more people to tour prisons and see the conse- quences of corporate malfeasance." Despite the real dangers of life inside a federal prison, students were almost uniformly impressed by the rehabilitative facilities at Green- ville. Students saw the football-field- sized manufacturing plant where men are paid to make U.S. military uniforms. The students toured the building where the men make cabinetry for Habitat for Human- ity and learned that these offenders earn carpentry degrees that vastly