Category: business ethics

What Do Our College Students Learn?

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I wrote a three part series (part 1) (part 2) (part 3) on the latest study showing that college students are not learning critical thinking skills. I pointed out that the study was another in a series of little publicized media events. In truth, the public, the colleges and the business world have little desire for critical thinking.  

But what do students learn in college?

A faculty member once had a class of students who were not wealthy, not even close. Not all of the students in his class were able to afford textbooks. So, given a choice of textbooks for the next year’s class, he chose one that cost about seventy dollars. The next year, all of his students had the textbook. The very next semester the price of the textbook rose to one hundred and ten dollars. And then two more years slid by and it went up to one hundred and fifty dollars.

This is not an unusual situation with textbook prices. It is, in fact, the common, everyday experience of teachers and students in colleges and universities all over the United States.

Students may not be learning as much critical thinking as some would like, they may not get that much cultural literacy, and they may have only the vaguest concept of the term “civic duty”, but they do know about pricing. I get it in class essays, “You charge as much as you can get.” To them, it is an ethical rule – You must pursue the highest return possible under any circumstance. The students don’t know any other rule. The deeper philosophical concepts of just price and two thousand years of contrary philosophy are not factors here.

I believe I am a good teacher but there is no amount of teaching skill that can equal the cutting edge of another textbook price increase every year. They may not grasp the “statute of frauds” in my business law class but they understand the phrase, “what the market will bear” with perfect clarity.

What are we teaching our students?  Is there any lesson more naked about the nature of the American idea of free enterprise than what students endure each year at the bookstore?

James Pilant

Pastor Calls 911 To Remove People From Church

On By southwerkIn business ethics

From the Salisbury Post –  (These events appear to have occurred in or around Salisbury, North Carolina.)

The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call from the Rev. Corey Barr at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Boyden Quarters, 1765 White Road, Sunday around 1 p.m.

Barr told dispatchers several people needed to be removed from a meeting/service in the sanctuary, and that “non-members (were) there disrupting a religious service,” the dispatcher’s report stated.

When two deputies arrived, they found about 100 people in the sanctuary divided into groups, shouting at each other, but no physical fighting.

Barr requested officers to remove about 20 people from the service who he said were not members of the church, the report said. The report said deputies were told the church was in a battle over by-laws and other issues.

The report said the associate pastor and two church elders told the officers not to remove anyone, and that Barr was wrong.

Barr has not returned calls from the Post.

According to the report, the meeting appeared to be out of hand, with no order or control by church administrators. Several people were videotaping the incident, it appeared.

A third deputy arrived, and the deputies “kindly advised” leaders of both parties it would be a good idea to dismiss the meeting before it became “more violent than it was,” the report said.

The meeting was dismissed and the last deputy left the scene at 2:12 p.m.

This was the second time the sheriff’s office has had to respond to the church following a 911 call from Barr.  (Read More)

I want you to go read the article in full. If you read the rest you will find out what happened after the last 911 call, the story of who has been hiring deputies. And there are some other interesting details.

What are the business ethics here?

We could debate whether or not a church is a business. We could also argue over whether or not the Sheriff’s department could be considered a business. This is a grey area between the public and the private.

However, when you read the article you will discover that Pastor Barr has been hiring deputies at $20 an hour and deploying them in church. This moves at least part of the Sheriff’s department into the “for profit” zone.

Generally speaking, it is not common for churches to hire armed deputies but certainly there are circumstances that would merit such an action. However, church meetings have never to my knowledge required armed supervision.

Were you aware that the fictional town of Mayberry, the setting for the Andy Griffith Show, is south of this area. This would have made a good episode.

I hope everything works out for the church and parishoners.

James Pilant

As Ever, The Media Behind with the News (via Thriven’s Blog)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

“Thriven” (Adrian Bailey) takes a cynical look at newspapers and their purpose. While written from a Northern European point of view, I challenge you to find anything different here.

James Pilant

As Ever, The Media Behind with the News Let”s take a cynical view. Newspapers exist to deliver readers to advertisers. They only survive commercially s far as they reflect back the readers’ interests. Nobody likes to be challenged first thing in the morning so you’re going to read what you’ve already got. This includes the ‘highbrow’ papers, those with a ‘liberal’ agenda. Look at the advertisements in these and you’ll see who the ideal reader is. Look at the lifestyle sections, look a … Read More

via Thriven’s Blog

Religious Discrimination Law Suit Settled for $10,000

On By southwerkIn business ethics
Saturn - the Inspiration for Saturday.

 I don’t understand why this was a problem? Religions using Saturday as their day of rest, etc. are relatively common. Did the company just decide to be stubborn?

Usually in these cases, there are other factors such as personalities, and company infighting that can range from the CEO’s office down to the mail room.

It’s hard to tell what the situation was in any detail. A quick internet search yieled little more than the press release below.

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission press release –

A Durham, N.C.-based educational testing company will pay $110,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today.

The EEOC had charged that Measurement Incorporated discriminated against Jacqueline Dukes when it fired her for refusing to work on her Sabbath. Dukes is a member of a Christian denomination called Children of Yisrael which prohibits its members from working on the Sabbath, from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employers from discriminating against employees and applicants because of their religion and requires employers to reasonably accommodate an employee’s sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer.

In addition to the $110,000 in back pay and compensatory damages, the three-year consent decree resolving the case (EEOC v. Measurement, Inc., Civil Action No. 1:10-cv-00623 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina) includes injunctive relief enjoining Measurement Incorporated from engaging in further religious discrimination and requiring anti-discrimination training; the posting of a notice about the EEOC and its lawsuit against the company; and regular reporting by the company on its handling of religious accommodation requests .

“Some employers still need to be educated that they are required by law to explore reasonable accommodations to solve situations like this,” said Lynette A. Barnes, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Charlotte District, which includes the EEOC’s Raleigh Area Office, where the charge was filed. “No person should be forced to choose between her religion and her job when the company can provide an accommodation without suffering an undue hardship .”

This seems like a very simple case which makes me wonder about it. I can’t imagine letting it go to court. If you know something about this case that casts some kind of light on what happened, let me know.

James Pilant

The True Grit Era

On By southwerkIn business ethics

This is from a Frank Rich column analyzing America in the light of the two True Grit films –

That kind of legal and moral cost-accounting seems as distant as a tintype now. The new “True Grit” lands in an America that’s still not recovered from a crash where many of the reckless perpetrators of economic mayhem deflected any accountability and merely moved on to the next bubble, gamble or ethically dubious backroom deal. When Americans think of the law these days, they often think of a system that can easily be gamed by the rich and the powerful, starting with those who pillaged Lehman Brothers, A.I.G. and Citigroup and left taxpayers, shareholders and pensioners in the dust. A virtuous soul like Mattie would be crushed in a contemporary gold rush even if (or especially if) she fought back with the kind of civil action so prized by the 19th-century Mattie.

Frontier justice. That would send the Wall Street gamblers packing, wouldn’t it? Of course, right now, I’d take just about any kind of justice. The current situation in the finance world if analogous to a movie would be Heaven’s Gate. In that film the villains after a murderous spree are tracked down by a posse from the local people and rescued by the cavalry on direct orders of the governor. That’s about the situations we have here.

James Pilant

Casino Banking

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

For most of American history, banking was a vital part of economic growth. Bank loans provided the capital for small businesses and government to build factories, stores, highways and other public works. This is no longer the bank’s major function. While bank lending is still a critical part of the function of banks as far as the welfare of the nation is concerned, the profits are elsewhere.

It is hardcore speculation, casino capitalism, where the real money is made. This is not wealth creation, it is more similar to the board game, monopoly, you try to make money speculating on property although in the modern sense this is more likely stocks, mutual funds, derivatives, etc. This is not a benefit to the economy. It is a drag and a danger to the larger economy. When the financial sector loses, the taxpayer picks up the losses, while taxpayers share nothing in the winnings. This is because the nation insures deposits and because changes in the law in 1999 allows banks to speculate with these federally insured funds – Corporate welfare on a scale of trillions of dollars.

This gambling has far reaching societal effects. Those who benefit from this no way to lose game make more and more money while those who insure them against loss make less and less.

From the New York Times Article – Scrutinizing the Elite, Whether They Like It or Not –

Olivier Godechot, a French academic on the sociology panel, presented research that quantified just how skewed the increase in wealth at the very top has become. Mr. Godechot, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research in France, said that two professions — finance and business services — accounted for almost all of the increase in income inequality.

Professor Godechot has put his finger on it. Our society has focused, fixated on finance as the only mode of economic growth. Everything else from services to manufacturing are poor relations whose share in the wealth and even the concern of the government continues to dwindle.

Because of these changes we have an enormous inequality of income in the United States. From wikipedia –

Americans have the highest income inequality in the rich world and over the past 20–30 years Americans have also experienced the greatest increase in income inequality among rich nations. The more detailed the data we can use to observe this change, the more skewed the change appears to be… the majority of large gains are indeed at the top of the distribution.

The big incomes in America are strongly aligned with the world of finance. So, many of the great incomes in the United States are associated with a socially negative activity that not only produces no value to the large economy but actively endangers the economy through its taxpayer guaranteed bets.

It this wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of thousands of graduates from the most expensive and prestigious universities in the United States pursue careers in this field often starting at a quarter of a million dollars in annual salary, a massive diversion of talent from every other field of endeavor. So, our focus on finance weakens the nation and diverts its future leadership into the same unproductive path resulting in further devastating losses to society as a whole.

What can be done? Well, we could consider making things. We could make actual products in this country, televisions, stereos, building materials, etc. We could base our economy on things of value. We could rise in morality and ethics to a point where the idea of making money by financial speculation becomes an abomination to any upright citizen with even a smattering of civic conscience.

We will do it. Either by choice or by necessity.

You see, the financial way of making money, this casino capitalism, when applied to a society like ours is a disaster that unfolds over the years. It hollows out our country diverting the money that would have built manufacturing and countless other useful investment, diverting the young from useful and productive enterprise and diverting the attention of society away from the important endeavors of life and nation building and into a life of profit based on speculation. Why work, when you can gamble with other people’s money?

When this cardboard edifice falls, once again we will find virtue in the making of value.

James Pilant

(This is a revised version of an earlier post.)

Do you want to pay more for internet? (via yourkeyed)

On By southwerkIn business ethics

I have been appalled at the FCC’s decision making on the matter of net neutrality. Essentially they have abandoned it. The way is open for a corporate division of the internet. It should not be long before web sites will have to pay money for fast service while those unable to pay will sink into obscurity and then disappear. Consumers will (as always) bear the costs of these changes. Your use of the internet will become something like the cable industry with their multiple packages of different channel combinations. You will pay more for certain kinds of services, in particular, a fast internet connection.

The fight over net neutrality continues. Some sites like yourkeyed are still slugging. I like this web site’s spirit and appreciate its call to action.

I hope you hear that call and want to take part.

James Pilant

Do you want to pay more for internet? [Alright folks, I’ve been mentally hoarding my entries all month, I was going to talk about KSW programming this season, Vancouver, underground networks, gender politics, more things about desire and drive and human existence, yada yada yada., all those juicy things… but it all might be futile when no one will be able to afford the internet:] Do you want to PAY MORE for Internet?  Do you want the telecommunication companies, that already rip yo … Read More

via yourkeyed

Poverty and its negative effects, and means of eliminating it in Islam (via Islam: Message of Peace)

On By southwerkIn business ethics3 Comments
 

 

 

Islam by country

 I have a special list of web sites, one set of favorites I check on every day. There are only a handful of web sites listed. It is the beginning of my search for relevant subjects each day. Islam: Message of Peace is one of those web sites.

 

Poverty is a matter of business ethics since in the developed world, poverty is closely related to business practices and also related to business philosophies that have worked their way into the political spectrum. Islam: Message of Peace addresses these kinds of issues through religious texts and commentaries. The approach is often very different from the academic, political and religious ideas of the Western world. I find that both refreshing and a possible source of potent ideas.

Since I value this kind of material, it should be obvious that I do not believe that the followers of Mohammed are all terrorists. I find much to praise in the religion of Islam and it is only fair to give people credit for the good and great things they do.  At the time of the Crusades, the follower of Islam had universities (Madrasa), and in those schools was the most advanced knowledge of medicine and mathematics in the world. It is through their libraries that Aristotle’s and other philosophers’ writings were rediscovered. Those potent ideas led to the Renaissance and the current civilization of the West. If you benefit from a doctor visit, value the ideas of the Ancient Greeks (like democracy), or balance a checkbook with Hindu-Arabic numerals, you can thank the civilization of Islam. If you as a civilized human seek intelligent answers to difficult questions, this is a good place to look.

Let’s look at what Islam has to say about ending poverty – (this is a portion of the article, please click on the link to read all of it)

 
Praise be to Allaah.   

Firstly: 
Poverty is one of the calamities that Allaah has decreed should happen, either to a specific person or a family or a society. Poverty has negative effects on people’s beliefs and conduct. Immoral behaviour becomes widespread to a large extent because of poverty, as a means of meeting people’s needs, so theft, murder, zina and sale of haraam things become widespread. 
Undoubtedly these things have a negative effect on individuals and societies. Allaah tells us that some of the mushrikeen used to kill their children, the apples of their eyes, either because of the poverty in which they were living or for fear of poverty that might befall them. Allaah says of the first case (interpretation of the meaning): 
“kill not your children because of poverty — We provide sustenance for you and for them”
[al-An’aam 6:151] 
And He says of the second case (interpretation of the meaning): 
“And kill not your children for fear of poverty. We shall provide for them as well as for you. Surely, the killing of them is a great sin”
[al-Isra’ 17:31] 
In al-Saheehayn there is narrated the story of a woman of the Children of Israel who, when she needed money and felt under pressure, she could not find anyone but her paternal cousin who wanted to have his way with her in return for giving her money. Then Allaah saved her from that after she reminded him of Allaah and told him to fear Him. 
Whatever the case, it is well known that poverty leads to crimes and corruption. Many nations suffer from it and are looking for solutions to this problem, but to no avail, and there is no solution except in Islam, which brought rulings for all people until the Hour begins. 
Secondly: 
The means that have been prescribed by Islam to solve the problem of poverty and combat it are as follows: 
1 – Teaching people to believe truly that provision comes from Allaah and that He is the Provider (al-Razzaaq), and every calamity that Allaah decrees is for a reason, and that the poor Muslim should be patient in bearing his calamity and strive to relieve himself and his family of poverty. 
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“Verily, Allaah is the All‑Provider, Owner of Power, the Most Strong”

Third Way Comments on Foreclosure Fraud Policy in the Post-Ibanez Landscape (via Rortybomb)

On By southwerkIn business ethics4 Comments

Once again another policy recommendation that would free the banks and their mortgage foreclosure lackeys for any responsibility for their acts. It never stops. It never will. A citizen would be found in contempt and thrown in jail for what they have done. A citizen would have been tried in court for selling property they did not own and covicted of fraud. And if a citizen went to court and said we don’t need any legal documents from the court house, we have a computer system, they would be laughed to scorn.

Read Rortybomb and get the full scope of these apologists’ recommendations.

James Pilant

You can tell that the landscape is changing.  Third Way has just released a memo titled Fixing “Foreclosure-gate” which details out a policy solution to the current foreclosure fraud crisis. That the post-Ibenez landscape is so drastically different that groups are mobilizing in a policy way should tell us that things may move in Congress, and we need to be ready. There’s been some fantastic writing on the memo that I’ll point you to – Yves Smith … Read More

via Rortybomb

HR and workplace bullying: A revealing online conversation (via Minding the Workplace)

On By southwerkIn business ethics1 Comment

Workplace bullying is not a big deal. That’s a ridiculous statement. I’ve seen workplace bullying and heard stories from others. It is a serious problem.

David Yamada talks about bullying deniers in this current post. Reading it I worked up some outrage. I think it is likely you will too.

James Pilant

In a recent blog article assessing the anti-bullying movement in 2010, I stated that we saw both breakthroughs and backlash during the past year. This post reports an example of the latter. I call to your attention a recent, revealing online exchange about workplace bullying, employers, and human resources that took place on the discussion board of Workforce Management (link here). Several self-identified HR folks suggested that: concerns about w … Read More

via Minding the Workplace