Ethics in Business Education

1. Ethics in Business Education Charles Mercieca, Ph.D. President International Association of Educators for World Peace Dedicated to United Nations Goals of Peace Education, Environmental Protection, Human Rights & Disarmament Professor Emeritus, Alabama A&M University Hon President & Professor, SBS Swiss Business School, Zurich

2. Integrity of Character • 1. To promote honesty we must replace egoism by altruism, hatred by love, arrogance by modesty, pride by humility and anger by patience. • 2. We need to lead by example as shown by great historical figures of the caliber of Confucius, Jesus, Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, & many others. • 3. Ethics deals with morality, that is, with human behavior whose actions are positive and constructive. • 4. To avoid institutional failure in ethical behavior, we should keep in mind we cannot achieve what we want at the expense or exploitation of others.

3. Setting Good Example • 1. Lucrative business whose product is meant to inflict pain on a segment of society should be discouraged. • 2. The welfare of our global community as a whole is more important than the successful manufacture and sales of lethal products that may hurt many. • 3. In terms of priority, people are more important and valuable than money and wealth. • 4. Pope John Paul II said that two of our greatest evils were communism and capitalism because they both achieve their goal through the exploitation of people.

4. Our Moral Obligations • 1. Our schools have the moral obligation to implement the concept of good business ethics in the students. • 2. The students tend to behave in society the way they were influenced in the schools they attended. • 3. The bottom line is this: better making $100,000 with honesty than $1,000,000 with dishonesty. • 4. All people want happiness, which comes only from the inside of the individual; it is not imposed from the outside. It generally evolves from a good conscience.

5. Making Constructive Judgments • 1. We have a moral obligation not to work for companies that produce products, which are harmful to our environment and human life. • 2. Our schools need to teach each course not as an end in itself but as a means to a further end, which should be happiness and peace with oneself and others. • 3. In history we should teach not merely events but also how to retain the good that we inherited and not to repeat the mistakes previously made. • 4. In geography we should teach not only the location of nations but also the meaningless of boundaries; hence, it is more important to be a decent human than simply being a German, French or Russian.

6. Priority in Human Relations • 1. In dealing with people we should primarily concentrate on their character and personality. • 2. Governments in general are viewed as corrupt because for money and power they seem to be ready to do anything, including resorting to struggles and wars. • 3. Public corruption could be solved after we prepare a new generation that is capable to implement honesty and fairness in governmental policies. • 4. In conclusion, ethics plays a very important role in the solid build up of a healthy world community. Through good ethics we may find an end to struggles and wars.