Conference Welcome and Overview

As a leader in Chicago’s business and civic communities, Deb DeHaas understands the powerful role trust plays in building effective relationships and the impact a lack of professional responsibility can have on the reputations of an individual and organization. Because of the profound impact sound judgment and integrity have on business success, it’s critical for the private sector and academia to collaborate to help students understand ethical decision making before and after they enter the workforce. In her remarks, Deb will describe her personal career experiences, the business value of building a culture based on ethics, and action steps businesses and universities can take to collaborate to develop the next generation of responsible leaders and help them apply what they learn in the classroom to workplace situations.

Professional Responsibility at the University of Illinois: Business and Academic Perspectives in the Classroom, with Small Group Roundtable Discussion
Bottom-Up Professional Responsibility Education in Subsistence and Sustainability

Madhu Viswanathan, Diane and Steven N. Miller Professor in Business

This presentation will highlight the development of professional responsibility education from the ground up through engagement in subsistence contexts and environmental sustainability. It will draw from research, education, and social initiatives of the Subsistence Marketplaces Initiative at the University of Illinois. The presentation will cover a range of learning experiences at undergraduate, graduate and executive levels that blend professional responsibility into the fabric of course offerings.

Two Minute Challenges: From Cab Fares to Moral Snares

C.K. Gunsalus, Professor Emerita of Business Administration and Research Professor, Coordinated Science Laboratory,
Director, National Center for Professional and Research Ethics and Course Director, Business 101: An Introduction to Professional Responsibility and Business 301: Principles of Professional Responsibility

Research on effective instruction that improves ethical reasoning suggests that the use of relatively short case studies based on real experiences will emotionally resonate with the audience. These cases should be worked through interactively using multiple techniques, should provide strategies for effective responses, and should identify ways to help students label and categorize the conduct. This presentation and demonstration will show how professional responsibility challenges based on real business experiences are used in the classroom at undergraduate and graduate levels to present students with a range of experience and tools for professionally responsible conduct. Conference participants will have the chance to solve selected dilemmas together using the tools taught at the University of Illinois.

Giving Voice to Values: Academic Research Moves into the Corporate Classroom

Mary C. Gentile, PhD., Director, Giving Vice to Values, Babson College
Blair Marks, Director, Ethics Awareness and International Operations, Lockheed Martin
Cindy Moehring, Global Chief Ethics Officer, Walmart Stores, Inc.

Mary Gentile will share a brief introduction to "Giving Voice to Values" (GVV), an innovative pedagogy and curriculum for values-driven leadership development. GVV was created for use in management education classrooms and is now being used in hundreds of such settings around the globe. Corporate panelists will discuss both ways that GVV has been adapted and used in corporate settings as well as plans for future implementation.

Blair Marks will discuss Lockheed Martin's application of the GVV methodology to their ethics program, which now features annual employee training titled "Voicing our Values."

Cindy Moehring will talk about Walmart's values based culture of integrity and how the company is exploring the GVV approach as a tool to help empower associates to address issues early on.

The Challenge of Ethics and Compliance Management in Today’s Businesses: Business Based Research and Implications

Linda Treviño, Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior and Ethics, Smeal College of Business, The Pennsylvania State University Niki den Nieuwenboer, Assistant Professor of Management at Santa Clara University, California

Comments by Andy Milnes, BP Americas Head of Integrated Supply and Trading

Research (conducted with colleagues Glen Kreiner and Derron Bishop at Penn State) based upon interviews with 40 ethics and compliance officers suggests that while ethics and compliance management in business has evolved over several decades, significant challenges remain. In response to scandal after scandal, external stakeholders such as government regulators, the media, and institutional investors have raised questions about the legitimacy of business practices. These external pressures have led many organizations to adopt structures and programs to manage ethics and legal compliance. Yet, ethics and compliance officers within many firms encounter resistance from a variety of internal constituents ranging from employees to managers to legal staff, to senior management, who seem to question the legitimacy of these programs. The presenters will highlight the sources of these legitimacy challenges and discuss the tactics that are commonly employed to overcome them. They will also discuss what their data say about those organizations that appear to have fewer of these internal challenges. Finally, they will invite the audience to consider the role business schools may play in setting up such resistance to ethics and compliance management and what they might do differently to prepare students to think about ethics and compliance as integral to their business careers.

Networking Break

Movie Screening: University of Texas Presents Excerpts from their Series "Ethics Unwrapped" in Illinois Room

Roundtable Discussions: Heroes and Villains – Teaching Ethical Behavior by Example

Robert Prentice, Ed & Molly Smith Professor of Business Law
McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

Psychological studies show that most people, including college students, feel a strong need to think of themselves as good, ethical people. However, studies also show that impossibly high percentages of people believe that they are more ethical than others and 92% of Americans report being satisfied with their moral character. If people are overly confident about their character, they may tend to simply assume that they will do the right thing when placed in a situation with ethical dimensions and may not act with reflection.

Among the goals of the Ethics Unwrapped video series is to introduce audiences to many concepts in the new field of behavioral ethics. While students can certainly learn from and be inspired by positive role models, they can also learn from examples of "normal" people who resemble their parents and teachers who have acted unethically and paid the price.

We believe that if we can counter students' ethical overconfidence, and put them on their guard against common ethical mistakes made by people just like them, we can improve their chances of acting like the kind of people they want to grow up to be.