The Business Ethics Blog

This one’s not about business ethics per se, but about ethics in institutions more generally:
At Ethics Camp, Not-So-Tall Tales From the Dark Side

It’s a story about an

…Ethics Camp, for politicians and public officials here at Santa Clara University.

The two-day camp, at which counselors wore “moral compasses” slung around their necks, was perhaps the most novel effort to create “a culture of ethics and accountability,” said Judy Nadler, a former mayor of Santa Clara and a senior fellow at the university’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the host and sponsor.
…
The camp, which the university plans as an annual event, reflects a growing municipal ethics movement. Over the past five years, for instance, those who serve as “city ethics officers” — there are about 15 now — have joined state and city ethics commissions, federal prosecutors, whistle-blower hot lines and inspectors general in an effort to prevent municipal ethical lapses before they start.

Among items at the camp’s show-and-tell was an Enron ethics T-shirt, bought on eBay, emblazoned with the words “respect” and “integrity.” And instead of synchronized swimming and lanyards, there was talk about creating time for moral reflection and exercises on “taking ethics to the next level.”

Once you get past the idea that “ethics camp” is kind of a corny idea (which it definitely is) this is actually a pretty thought-provoking story. Stuffy ethics professors (like me & most of my friends) are likely to find the camp idea at least mildly cringe-worthy. It lends itself too easily to mental images of happy campers holding hands around the campfire, singing “Kumbayah” and reminding themselves just how, you know, important ethics is. But get over it. Organizations of all kinds — corporations, health care institutions, governments — are desperately searching for ways to build “cultures of ethics.” And in many cases it’s a pressing need. If ethics camp is a way to bring people together to talk about common challenges in a comfortable atmosphere, terrific. Who says all ethics education needs to go on in philosophy classrooms? If attention to ethics is important, then we should be encouraging a lot more open-minded experimentation of this sort.

(p.s. Is it just me, or did anyone else have this initial reaction to that headline: what exactly is “ethics camp,” and how is it related to “ethics kitsch?” I’m pretty sure I’ve seen talks at ethics conferences that would count as “ethics camp.” At least they seemed campy to me.)

Relevant Books:
Ethics and Politics: Cases and Comments
Political Ethics and Public Office
The Ethics Challenge in Public Service : A Problem-Solving Guide
Letters from Camp