Gallup recently asked Americans about their trust in government institutions, and the public ranked Congress the lowest with only 7 percent of Americans registering confidence in the legislative body. The Supreme Court was not far behind with only 25 percent of the country expressing approval of the U.S. institution. [1]
But it’s not just the government that dismays Americans; big business was also distrusted. Gallup reported 63 percent of Americans believed corruption was widespread in American businesses. To drive the point home, a jaw-dropping 73 percent of the population reports little or no confidence in anything. [2] So, what’s going on here? Have business and societal safeguards descended into a universally untrustworthy state? Is this part of the reason why 56 percent of Gen Z workers (born between 1997-2012) report very high levels of dissatisfaction with work [3], why teachers are leaving the profession by the hundreds of thousands [4], and why anti-vaxxers remain embedded in American culture? [5]
Gen Z provides insight: many believe big business does not share their moral code. Harvard Business Review recently told the story [6] of a young Black woman who refused an internship at a top aerospace company because the firm did not make a statement regarding the death of George Floyd. When a prestigious consulting company prohibited employees from appearing on TikTok, Gen Zers rebelled again—with Harvard graduates turning down potential jobs because of the disconnect between corporate ethics and their belief in freedom of speech. Lack of understanding from both sides resulted in corporations being labeled as untrustworthy or worse, corrupt.
But are they really? Corporations who do not understand or honor Gen Z’s deeply held values of fairness, self-expression, and social justice have caused this generation of workers to be skeptical of big business. On the other hand, corporations may find employees’ values more individualistic than previous generations. [7] As a result, American business may be uncertain of their employee’s ethical frameworks and be blindsided when lack of understanding earns them a negative label. Change is needed.
Distrust of business is toxic to society—not only leading to dissatisfaction in the workplace, but also to a population who refuses medications, healthcare, and the law. Employers and employees need to get back to basics. Aristotle suggested that all human beings desire happiness and [8] happiness can only be reached through virtue, a moral code of "doing the right thing." The recent graduate who turned down a prestigious aerospace internship because that company’s values did not align with hers, suggests she would agree with Aristotle: if there is no ethical corporate behavior, then there will be no employee happiness.
Former Columbia Business School Professor Richard Eells said, "While historically businesses have derived values from other institutions, it is clear today that businesses are developing their own norms." [9] Some of these are mutually agreeable; some are not. Among the medical students I teach, I have witnessed enlightenment when ethics are broadly discussed. For business students, this is equally applicable. Training in various ethical frameworks can alter students’ perceptions of the ethics of the world at large.
Richard Eells again: "If business has, therefore, a role that transcends the purely economic, might it now be possible to redefine the goal of corporate society in terms of enlightened common interest?" [10] Ethical leaders and past Bernstein Center Botwinick Prize recipients Ken Frazier, Indra Nooyi, and Rose Marcario have shown it is possible to have enlightened common interest in business. When corporate ethics are taught and then visibly adhered to in the workplace, employees are more likely to be in alignment with their employers.
All of this means opportunity. Providing engagement, emotional security, and coaching to potential employees is just a beginning. Teaching ethics is a way to help students understand that while businesses may have different value systems than their employees, that doesn’t necessarily make them unethical; different ethical frameworks can harmonize. A man (sic) judges rightly what he understands…" [11] says Aristotle. Knowledge is the first step in alignment and with that comes the recognition that it’s possible for all to work together.
Resources
[1] https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Kn7NG/5/
[2] https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx?version=print
[3] https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gen-z-millennials-rather-unemployed-211318014.html
[4] https://www.wsj.com/articles/schools-out-for-summer-and-many-teachers-are-calling-it-quits-11655732689
[5] https://data.cdc.gov/stories/s/Vaccine-Hesitancy-for-COVID-19/cnd2-a6zw/
[6] https://hbr.org/2021/06/dear-ceos-a-gen-zers-open-letter-to-his-future-employers?ab=at_art_art_1x4_s02
[7] News.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx
[8] Aristotle, Ethics, Penguin Classics, 1981, p. 73
[9] Eells, R & Walton, C: Conceptual Foundations of Business, Richard Irwin, Inc. 1974
[10] Ibid, Eells & Walton, 1974
[11] Aristotle, Ethics, Penguin Classics, 1981, p.65