This May Explain Some Things

That's not what the article says.

It says a survey of grad schoolers reveal those pursuing MBA's (and thus more likely to become managers than say, those with graduate work in art or history) are more likely to cheat than those pursuing a master's degree in non-business disciplines.



Wonder why the correlation to cheating is higher among MBA schoolers? Is it that they are born that way, and seeking their natural environment, or do they come to the table with clean hands and learn the ropes at school? :lol:
 
As many have mentioned in this forum, what does higher education have to do with your position in the company? Many flight attendents, pilots, mechanics and rampers have graduate degrees, are you calling them cheaters as well?

I didn't read where the poster called anyone a cheater.

The article speaks to a study that was done that indicated that folks who were MBA business majors had more of a propensity to cheat vs those who are in other fields. The reasoning behind this that some researchers guess is that business schools today don't teach business ethics. THey are learning what's important is "free market, and maximising "shareholder value". Students are only emulating what they observe in the business world today....Business minded graduates believe that what's important "is not how it gets done, but that it gets done".

So the answer to your query is...it doesn't matter whether your a f/a, pilot, computer operator, or a waitress with a graduate degree in business. The study indicates that those students who were business majors who anwered the questions stated that they cheated while in school.

What I get out of this article pretty much gives credence to what I've known from my own personal experience dealing with senior execs...is what is MOST important to them in these exec roles is MAXIMISING SHAREHOLDER VALUE. Not because they LOVE the trader on wall street...

ITS BECAUSE THEY GET TO BECOME INSTANT MILLIONAIRES AND FILL THEIR OWN POCKETS WITH CASHING IN STOCK OPTIONS THEY NEVER PAID FOR!!! So, if getting to THAT bottom line to increase the share price translates to screwing the employees, lie to the employees and the customers, cheat the employees, exaggerate the value of the company, even dance into bk a couple of times, and titter on what is legal and illegal...MANY of these highly educated, business ya-hoos will do it! Doesnt' matter HOW they do it, the system in which they were taught and what they observe in the hierarcy basically rewards them for it.

That's what I've seen FIRST HAND! The study just validates the "known".
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I have found that to be the case with the undergrad's at the univ. where I teach. My Math/CS majors can be trusted (except for one or two international badeggs), but I have to watch the business majors like a hawk.

I find it funny that they teach courses in ethics in the business dept, yet we hear about all the unethical things that go on in business. I'm not saying other majors/careers are more ethical...
 
I speak from first-hand experience. I am awed by how folks run from ethics.

I am completing my undergrad in business. Every textbook and syllabus, except for stats and accounting, have an ethics section. They have been glossed over or ignored every class. When ethics are discussed, the consensus answer is, there is no right answer (which begs the question, if I walked up and slugged the prof, would they still be so agnostic about right/wrong?).

And of course, we have had "government shouldn't interfere in business" (ignoring Article I:8 of the Constitution), and "the American capitalist system creates the highest standard of living in the world" (actually, we rank 10th on the Human Development Index, 8th in GDP per capita,and 17th on the Human Poverty Index*).

The fact is, the curriculum is training young minds that anything goes in the Shareholder Value Game.

Understand - I love this country dearly. I believe a strong middle class is key to the political stability and freedom we enjoy. Right now, corporate profits are going in one direction, and middle class buying power is going in the other. Even Greenspan says that can't keep going on.

*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_count...l%29_per_capita

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Poverty_Index
 
I have found that to be the case with the undergrad's at the univ. where I teach. My Math/CS majors can be trusted (except for one or two international badeggs), but I have to watch the business majors like a hawk.

I find it funny that they teach courses in ethics in the business dept, yet we hear about all the unethical things that go on in business. I'm not saying other majors/careers are more ethical...

Our society as a whole is more concerned on the bottom line and legality rather than what's ethical and just. This is especially true in the corporate world.
 
And of course, we have had "government shouldn't interfere in business" (ignoring Article I:8 of the Constitution), and "the American capitalist system creates the highest standard of living in the world" (actually, we rank 10th on the Human Development Index, 8th in GDP per capita,and 17th on the Human Poverty Index*).

Yet, with our present government, corporate welfare is the highest it has been, ever. Corporations (Wal-Mart, Halliburton, to mention a couple) doing business overseas are enjoying tremendous profits due to poorly written trade laws as well as obsolete tax laws.

On another thread I mentioned a book, a starting point, if you will, for those very issues. It is "Take This Job and Ship It" by Senator Dorgan of North Dakota. Why does he care? It is a short read, try it to have the question answered.
 
Sharktooth,

Indeed.

I will forego the rant your topic generally sets off, 'cause a foamin' at the mouth cynic ain't pretty! ;)
 
well said, diogenes. Do you suppose part of the problem (maybe a large part) is that we have also banished religion from both government and business? where do you suppose people learn ethics but from religion. While there are significant differences in each religion, they generally have a common theme of encouraging people to live a life characterized by higher moral and ethical standards than exist in society as a whole.
 
WorldTraveler, it would be infinitely easier for me to accept religious ethics if the ethics that Jesus taught - acceptance, love, forgiveness, charity and faith - were the ones actually practiced and promoted by Christians today.

Unfortunately, the Christians who are speaking the loudest now are the ones screaming about those perverted gays and that disgusting, un-American notion that they should be able to enjoy the same rights as all other Americans. Or they're yelling that we should post the tenets of a single religion in courtrooms and public buildings that are paid for by and represent tens of millions of people who don't believe in that religion.

I think Jesus would be rather appalled at what some people are doing in His name.

I'll get off my soapbox now.
 
World Traveler,

I am a person of faith, and was raised in fundamentalist schools and churches.

It is certainly true society has coarsened.

For every person I can find who blames it on taking God out of school, I can find another who blames it on corporations who sexualize young girls for profit.

A discussion about solutions is best left for another forum, but suffice it to say, if we continue to point fingers, rather than accept responsibilty, the coarsening will deepen. Democracy demands engaged citizens, or it will perish.

In general, religion is a vehicle to transmit morality. Which is why this poll breaks my heart.

http://ncronline.org/NCR_Online/archives2/...406/032406h.htm