ECI Webcast Recording: New Behavioral Science Tools from Ethical Systems
Azish Filabi (Executive Director of Ethical Systems) and Jeffrey Kaplan (ES collaboarator and Partner at Kaplan & Walker, LLP) recently led a webcast about ethics, research, and culture highlighting new behavioral science tools for the ethics and compliance field. The slides and recording are now available.
Richard Thaler, The Nobel Prize and Nudge
All of us at Ethical Systems extend a hearty congratulations to Richard Thaler on the announcement of his Nobel Prize for his pioneering research around nudging.
From The New York Times announcement:
The Nobel committee, announcing the award in Stockholm, said that it was honoring Professor Thaler for his pioneering work in establishing that people are predictably irrational — that they consistently behave in ways that defy economic theory. People will refuse to pay more for an umbrella during a rainstorm; they will use the savings from lower gas prices to buy premium gasoline; they will offer to buy a coffee mug for $3 and refuse to sell it for $6.
The committee credited Professor Thaler, who teaches at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, for moving economics toward a more realistic understanding of human behavior, and for using the resulting insights to improve public policies, notably a sweeping shift toward the automatic enrollment of employees in retirement savings programs.
Featured Culture and Business Ethics Expert: Marshall Schminke
Featured Culture and Business Ethics Expert: Marshall Schminke, BB&T Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Central Florida
What are your main areas of research around business ethics?
I focus on the idea that ethics don’t happen in isolation. They emerge from a complicated mix of individual and situational factors. My research explores this messy stew and how it drives ethical behavior. More specifically, I study the impact of organizational structure and culture on individual ethics, such as trying to understand climates that support or resist ethical decision making, abusive supervision, moral emotions, and ethical efficacy. My work also examines how ethical and unethical action drifts through organizations. I study how factors like trust and fairness—which provide the foundation for organizational ethics—“trickle down” the organization from managers to supervisors to line employees. Understanding these patterns helps to explain why relatively small changes in ethical or unethical activity may lead to profound, organization-wide effects.
[Updated] The Ethics Case for Due Diligence: Azish Filabi’s New “Expert Analysis” on Law360
The case for business ethics was recently made very clear to me when I co-chaired at the New York State Bar Association International Section’s Seasonal Meeting in Guatemala, particularly as it relates to hidden ethics risks in M&A transactions. I wrote a piece for the Law360 site as part of their "Expert Analysis" explaining these risks. It's a case study about A.P Moller-Maersk who purchased a port in Guatemala in 2016 just before it became embroiled in a corruption scandal, eventually adding another $43M to their acquisition costs to get a new, clean permit.
Ethical Systems is a Compliance Officer Day Champion
Ethical Systems is honored to have been chosen as a Compliance Officer Day Champion. Compliance Officer Day, on September 26, is an annual event put on by SAI Global recognizing the professionals who have dedicated their careers to the field of ethics and compliance. The goal is to raise awareness of resources, support wellness, and promote growth among the ethics and compliance community.
Our New Collaborator: Marshall Schminke
We welcome Marshall Schminke as our newest Ethical Systems collaborator. Marshall serves on the working group for our culture measurement project and is both a leading voice on business ethics in the media and in the classroom.
Bio:
Marshall Schminke is the BB&T Professor of Business Ethics at the University of Central Florida, where he specializes in business ethics and strategy. He received his doctorate from Carnegie Mellon University, and has served as a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University and the London School of Economics.
Featured Business Ethics and Compliance Expert: Azish Filabi
Interview with Azish Filabi, CEO of Ethical Systems
As the CEO of Ethical Systems, what keeps you motivated? Are you optimistic about the current state of business?
I am motivated every day by the opportunity to connect businesses with research and strategies that will make them more ethical and productive for the long term. We at Ethical Systems believe that good ethics is good business and our mission is to strengthen ethics within organizations by providing content, resources and tools by which to improve internal cultures and climates. It is rewarding to know that our organization is playing a needed role, and connecting with like-minded professionals.
Azish Filabi Interviewed by the American Marketing Association
Ethical Systems CEO Azish Filabi, was interviewed in a far-reaching discussion with Hal Conick published on Marketing News, a publication of the American Marketing Association.
In the piece, which covers both the components and traits of an ethical leader as well as how to make ethics front and center in the hiring process and how marketers can be more ethical, Azish connects research with practice, helping identify academic reference points to confirm potential, and profitable, strategies.
A New Paradigm For “Just” Business: JUST Capital publishes its research results
In 1970 Milton Friedman wrote a now famous essay in the NY Times Magazine declaring that the social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. Since then, writers and researchers have been debating whether this accurately reflects the responsibilities of business in society. In the decade since the Global Financial Crisis these debates have become particularly critical, with some participants questioning the basic principles of free market capitalism and whether they serve our current societal needs.
But what if the best way to do right by shareholders was to run a socially responsible business?
New findings by JUST Capital are showing that this is often the case. JUST Capital is a non-profit research organization whose mission is “to build a more just marketplace that better reflects the true priorities of the American people.” Their distinctive research approach began with a survey of the U.S. public on what they believe makes a “JUST” company.
Ethical Systems Releases New Behavioral Science eBook: Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics
Ethical Systems Releases New Behavioral Science eBook: Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics
New York, NY – Ethical Systems is pleased to announce the release of Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics a new, free eBook created to help practitioners in the ethics and compliance field integrate social and behavioral science research to help strengthen employee-focused programs.
Structured as a series of one-on-one conversations between Ethical Systems CEO Azish Filabi and Ethical Systems collaborator, Jeffrey Kaplan, partner at Kaplan & Walker, LLP, Head to Head demystifies academic research and makes findings applicable to practitioners. Research is curated and explained to make integration into existing programs easy and serviceable. Filabi's deep expertise as a lawyer and work as an Ethics Officer at the NY Fed coupled with Kaplan's pioneering writing on conflict of interest and tenure within the legal community, make for an ideal background from which to distil information and make it palatable for the business world. In addition, Head to Head: A conversation on behavioral science and ethics has been professionally designed to structure content and facilitate the application of the many lessons and tips featured throughout the eBook.