Today is a the day. The FTC’s recent updates to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising are now in affect. To comply with the Guides, individuals (bloggers, users of social media) must disclose every “material connection” or relationship they have with an advertiser. How to comply with the changes? Disclose … Read more »
Category: Ethics
A View of the MBA Ethics Oath by the Daily Show with Jon Stewart
A hilarious view on the MBA Ethics Oath by Jon Stewart and Jon Oliver on The Daily Show. There is a great Scared Straight piece with some MBA Students. The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c Read more »
New Massachusetts Campaign Finance, Ethics and Lobbying Law
After the well-publicized scandals with Salvatore DiMasi and Dianne Wilkerson, the lawmakers on Beacon Hill passed ethics legislation yesterday banning politicians from accepting gifts and upping the consequences for ethical violations. The Governor had threatened to veto a sales tax increase unless this act was passed, along with reforms in the pension system and the … Read more »
Ethics and the Sales Relationship in World-Class Bull
The May issue of the Harvard Business Review offers up an ethics problem in its monthly case study: World-Class Bull (subscription required for full article). The three commentaries offer very different reactions to the facts presented in the case study’s fact pattern. John Humphreys, Zafar U. Ahmed, and Mildred Pryor penned the fact pattern. The … Read more »
New MBAs and Their Code of Ethics
I respect the ambition of a group of recently graduated Harvard Business School MBA’s to promulgate a code of ethics. A story in the New York Times publicized this initiative. “When a new crop of future business leaders graduates from the Harvard Business School next week, many of them will be taking a new oath … Read more »
Why We Think it’s Okay to Cheat and Steal (Sometimes)
Behavioral economist Dan Ariely studies the bugs in our moral code: the hidden reasons we think it’s OK to cheat or steal (sometimes). In this presentation at the February 2009 TED Talks he summarizes some of his studies on cheating. It sounds like he has conducted some fascinating research on cheating. I think it provides … Read more »
Facing Conflicts of Interest in Troubled Times
As the recession continues, conflicts and ethics are likely to increase. Morrison & Foerster LLP and The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics put together a webinar: Facing Conflicts of Interest in Troubled Times. These are my notes. James Balassone, Executive in Residence, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, started by talking about the environment in which … Read more »
Swine Flu and Ethics
The Swine Flu has spread in the United States with about 100 confirmed cases in over 10 states. There has even been one confirmed death. These are still very small numbers. Keep in mind that the CDC estimated that about 36,000 people died of flu-related causes each year, on average, during the 1990s in the … Read more »
Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience
In the world of compliance, you may sometimes wonder if that code of ethics really works. Lisa L. Shu, Francesca Gino, and Max H. Bazerman presented their research that a code of ethics really can reduce bad behavior: Dishonest Deed, Clear Conscience: Self-Preservation through Moral Disengagement and Motivated Forgetting. Their studies provided evidence that morality … Read more »
It’s Tax Day – Are You Tempted to Cheat on Your Taxes?
The American tax system is a good test case for cheating. We know it’s good to pay taxes because the government does lots of good things for us. At the same time, we have a selfish desire to pay as little in taxes as possible. Our tax returns are self-reporting for our income and characterization … Read more »