Ethics in Business: Is Compliance the Best We Can Expect?

Recent evidence of criminal corporate behavior seems to indicate that efforts to develop more ethical business leaders by requiring courses on ethics in business schools has not worked. The creation and use of corporate ethics codes and “codes of conduct” has provided companies with a way to publicly demonstrate their commitment to good ethics, but by focusing their efforts on simply ensuring corporate “compliance” with such codes, the larger issues of right and wrong are often ignored. An example of the limitations of mere “compliance” is offered, along with a call for the academy to do more to develop future business leaders with more acceptable ethical values