UMW College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson
College of Business Dean Lynne Richardson’s weekly column in The Free Lance-Star discusses ETHICS IN THE WORKPLACE.
I recently had one of the most energizing and challenging experiences I have had in my 30-plus years in higher education. Two of my colleagues and I taught—or perhaps the more appropriate word is facilitated—a business ethics course.
Our backgrounds were similar, yet very different. One of my colleagues is a philosophy professor and the other is an accountant. My expertise is marketing. So we brought quite a variety of experiences and perspectives to the classroom.
The philosophy professor shared the ethical theories of utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics with us, giving us an excellent foundation from which to talk about business ethics. Her challenge to the students was to figure out for themselves what they valued by the end of the class. I’m not sure most of them understand what she meant by that at first, but they figured it out as the course unfolded. Read more.