Journal of Business Ethics (2006) 65: 23–42
DOI 10.1007/s10551-005-3970-2
Implementing an Organizational Ethics
Program in an Academic Environment:
the Challenges and Opportunities
for the Duquesne University Schools
of Business
ABSTRACT. This paper acknowledges the paucity of
attention regarding the development of ethics programs
within an academic environment and describes in a case
study how the Duquesne University schools of business
attempted to introduce, integrate and promote its own
ethics program. The paper traces the business school’s
attention to mission statements, curriculum development,
ethics policy, program oversight and outcome assessment.
Lessons learned are offered as suggestions for others
seeking to develop and implement an ethics program in
their school.
KEY WORDS: academic integrity, business schools,
case study, code of ethics, ethics course, ethics programs,
honor code, program assessment
Reoccurring ethics scandals, and the regulatory
backlashes that often follow, gave rise to identifiable
advances of organizational ethics initiatives. The
defense industry scandals of the 1970s led to the
creation of the Defense Industry Initiative that
modeled ethical pricing and purchasing systems.
Continued ethical breaches in the 1980s prompted
the Justice Department to develop the U.S. Sen-
James Weber (Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh) is a Professor of
Business and Ethics and Management and Director of the
Beard Center for Leadership in Ethics at Duquesne Uni-
versity. His research interests include the assessment of values,
moral reasoning and ethical behavior on both the individual
and organizational levels. He has been published in numerous
academic journals and is the co-author of 11th edition of
Business and Society: Stakeholders, Ethics, Public Policy,
published by Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Inc.

Springer 2006
James Weber
tencing Guidelines for Corporations instructing
organizations on how to organize an ethics and
compliance program. The most recent examples of
fiduciary irresponsibility at Enron, Tyco and other
businesses facilitated the adoption of the Sarbanes-
Oxley Act and requirements enhancing ethical
reporting systems. In addition to these external
pressures or regulatory requirements, organizations
discovered that ‘‘ethics pays,’’ at least some of the
time. A strong ethical culture or set of values assists
managers in providing a clear organizational direc-
tion (Schmidt and Posner, 1983), are positively re-
lated to the organization’s productivity (Dobni et al.,
2000), and enhance the marketability of an organi-
zation’s products to its potential consumers (Gildea,
1994–1995). Verschoor (1998) found a statistically
significant relationship between an organizational
commitment to ethics and financial performance.
Others found that an ethical work environment
strongly affects employee decision-making, attitudes
and behavior (Dean, 1992; Fritzsche, 1987;
Reidenbach and Robin, 1991).
However, seemingly forgotten in business orga-
nizations’ attention to ethics initiatives is the role
that academic institutions might play, specifically the
role for business schools. Absent of any serious
external regulatory incentives, save the expectations
by various accreditation bodies (for example, The
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business, AACSB), academic institutions, and busi-
ness schools in particular, generally ignore the call
for greater attention toward building an ethical
culture, creating ethics initiatives, or benefiting from
24 James Weber
these ethics programs. This lack of attention may be
due to the lack of a major ethics scandal. None-
theless, business schools within our academic insti-
tutions could contribute to the creation or
maintenance of an ethical business culture since
‘‘institutions of higher education that live the ethics
and values contained in their mission statements
produce graduates who are highly valued and sought
by ethical organizations’’ (Procario-Foley and Bean,
2002: 101).
Despite their potential to positively influence
business organizations’ quest for supporting an
ethical environment, business schools have failed to
acknowledge the importance of creating ethics
initiatives. As mentioned above, the lack of external
regulatory pressure or the absence of widespread or
serious ethics scandals may be to blame. The
academic culture also provides many unique chal-
lenges in creating an ethical environment due to its
unique, complex internal environment and decen-
tralized power structure (Guelcher and Cahalane,
1999). Nonetheless, business schools are called to
meet the challenge of creating strong ethical cultures
and programs due to the role these institutions play
in benefiting business organizations by supplying
them with potential employees entrusted with an
ethical or moral character (Procario-Foley and Bean,
2002), as well as their own moral obligation to
embody strong ethical values as a leading institution
in our society, as articulated by the dean of a leading
business school and the new president of the AACSB
(Woo, 2003).
Contrary to these challenges, it appears that the
trend in the past few years has been to eliminate
business ethics courses and downgrade the impor-
tance of or attention to ethics within the business
schools (Kelly, 2002; Swanson, 2003, 2004; Swan-
son and Frederick, 2003). This paper counters this
trend by providing a case study describing the
Duquesne University schools of business’s attempt
to address the many challenges encountered when
seeking to create an ethical environment for its
students, faculty, staff and administrators. The au-
thor’s intention is to provide a blueprint for
business school faculty members and administrators
to learn from the mistakes made and successes
realized while seeking to build a strong organiza-
tional ethics program within a business school
environment.
Previous attention to ethics initiatives
by business schools
A review of the extant literature focusing on ethics
education and ethics initiatives in business schools
or academic institutions discovers a marginal
acknowledgement of the importance of ethics in
education but, in total, shows a paucity of research
examination or analysis regarding the normative
benefits of ethics courses or ethics initiatives in
business schools. Beyond a general review focusing
on the success of offering business ethics courses, few
studies investigate the presence or success of ethics
initiatives in an academic setting.
The justification for offering ethics courses has
received some attention as a field of study. Many
universities and colleges require students to complete
a course in ethics in the quest of a strong liberal arts
foundation for a professional career. Addressing the
questions of ‘‘How can I live the good life?’’ or
‘‘What is the right thing to do in this situation?’’
seem appropriate questions for young, collegiate
students to ponder. Reviews of studies investigating
the effects of business ethics or business and society
courses show that in general courses do aid in the
improvement of ethical awareness, reasoning skills
and resolution of cases or dilemmas, although it is
believed that this improvement is short-lived
(Glenn, 1992; Weber, 1990).
In addition, the development of ethics courses
within business school programs appears to be
desirable by the business community. In a 2004 Wall
Street Journal online poll asking the question: ‘‘How
much emphasis should MBA programs place on
business ethics?’’ 81% or 1466 of those weighing in
on the discussion voted: ‘‘Ethics courses should be
required for all students.’’ Another 11% (208 votes)
agreed that ‘‘Ethics courses should be offered as
electives’’ (Wall Street Journal online, 2004).
But the attention to building and maintaining a
strong ethical environment for an academic institu-
tion goes beyond curricular attention to ethics as a
philosophical discipline or single business ethics or
business and society course. As business organiza-
tions have discovered, creating an ethical environ-
ment requires the development of a series of
important ethics initiatives and the allocation of
resources to maintain these initiatives to support the
ethical culture and daily workplace environment,
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
starting with a strong commitment to ethics found in
the organization’s mission.
Procario-Foley and Bean (2002) argue that one of
the strongest indicators of an ethical culture at an
academic institution is the organization’s mission
statement. They note that most institutions have
mission statements, as well as many schools and col-
leges within the university network of organizations.
Not surprisingly, as many business organizations dis-
cover, one must go beyond the lofty sounding words
of a mission statement to values-in-action. Some
academic institutions demonstrate their concern for
others and the community, for example, by devel-
oping service-learning courses. Others show their
attention to issues of social injustice though centers,
chairs or academic programs that explore how the
institution or its members might act to correct
injustice. Many religious-based institutions formally
organize around their mission and values through a
campus ministry or student volunteer office. Clearly,
at the core of an ethics initiative program must be a
strong value-based mission statement that gives rise to
various manifestations of these values.
Some academic institutions or business schools
have attempted to create an ethical environment by
drafting a code of ethics or honor code. (There are
importance differences between a code of ethics and
an honor code, but in this work the two ethics ini-
tiatives are used interchangeably.) A series of research
conducted by McCabe, Trevino and Butterfield
investigated the role of honor codes in an academic
setting. In general, they found that honor codes en-
able students to better frame their ethical reasoning
and students in institutions that have honor codes are
less likely to cheat (McCabe et al., 1999). These
authors also found that an honor code alone may be
insufficient to guarantee that students will not cheat
in their professional lives, but did find a strong
interaction effect when the existence of an honor
code is coupled with a strong organizational ethics
code (McCabe et al., 1996). Finally, McCabe and
Trevino (1993) compared students at institutions
where there was an honor code and where there was
not and found support for their hypothesis that honor
codes generally are effective in creating an ethical
environment dissuading students from cheating due
to peer pressure, a governance mechanism inherent
to an honor code system. The challenges of creating
an honor code in an academic environment are sig-
25
nificant but the work conducted by McCabe,
Trevino and Butterfield does show that ethics codes
undoubtedly play a significant role in creating and
maintaining an ethical environment in a business
school or academic institution.
Following the establishment of proper conduct
articulated in a code of ethics or honor code, many
business schools turn toward ethics training in the
form of offering its students a course in ethics or
business ethics. Recently the debate between a stand-
alone course versus integrating ethics across all
courses in the school has raged (for example, see
Lopez et al., 2005). The purpose of this paper is not
to wage into or resolve this debate. However, it is
worth noting that others have attempted to offer
various examples of how ethics can be introduced
into the business school curriculum. Capitalizing on
their school’s strong mission and culture, Hazen et al.
(2004) describe an innovative, gateway MBA course
entitled Personal Development and Social Respon-
sibility. Within the structure of this course, the values
found at the University of Detroit-Mercy, an insti-
tution rooted in the Catholic traditions of faith and
justice and the values of its two founding religion
orders, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) and Sisters of
Mercy, are clearly evident and promulgated.
Other faculty and institutions have taken the
‘‘integration across the curriculum’’ approach. Sup-
ported by a grant from the James S. Kemper
Foundation, faculty members in the College of
Business at Northern Illinois University developed
ethics materials for courses in Managerial Account-
ing, Financial Analysis, Business Policy, Marketing
Management, and Operations Management and
Information System to integrate ethics across their
business school (Gowen et al., 1996). Others have
found similar success when integrating ethics across
the curriculum (Borowski and Ugras, 1998; Sims,
2002). Both approaches, the one taken at the Uni-
versity of Detroit-Mercy and the one taken
at Northern Illinois University, report excellent
assessment success and continue to fuel the debate
regarding a stand-alone course versus integration of
ethics across many courses.
Another promising exploration of ethics initia-
tives in an academic setting comes from Guelcher
and Cahalane (1999) when they posit that an ethical
environment is more successful when coordinated
through a centralized office. They argue that
26 James Weber
‘‘the program should have a central ethics office, and
not be scattered around across campus or dispersed
among various constituencies. ... [This centralization]
offers the organization the opportunity to present a
clear and coordinated message surrounding ethics. It
enables concise communications regarding where
ethics advice can be found and how to utilize it’’
(Guelcher and Cahalane, 1999: 341).
Finally, as most business organizations have discov-
ered, the importance of developing metrics or clear
measures to determine the success of the ethics ini-
tiative program or to uncover weaknesses with the
intention of addressing any shortcomings is para-
mount. Hazen et al. (2004) report extensive out-
come measures to demonstrate the significant impact
that their gateway MBA course had on their stu-
dents. For example, one of the course objectives was
to introduce students to the mission of the Univer-
sity and College of Business. Using a five-point
Likert-scale, students reported that their awareness
of the mission was 2.63 prior to taking the course
and 4.19 after the course. Additional significant
benefits attributed to the course are documented by
the authors in their article. Spurgin describes an
MBA competency exam as a method to assess
whether graduate business students ‘‘can demon-
strate several abilities that are indicative of
Organization’s
mission statement
Ethics courses Ethics codes
Assessment
Figure 1. Elements in the Duquesne University schools of business’s ethics initiative program.
competency in business ethics’’ (2004: 279). The
competency exam assessment tool might be used
appropriately when taking the ‘‘ethics across the
curriculum’’ approach.
In review, some scholars have attempted to
investigate and report on the effectiveness of ethics
initiatives in business schools and academic institu-
tions, but the exceptional thinness of this body of
literature must be noted. Little has been reported
possibly due to the fact that there is little in exis-
tence to study. What is reported are five essential
elements for building an effective organizational
ethics initiative in a university setting: mission
statement, code, course, centralized office, and
assessment. Therefore, a case study of how the
Duquesne University schools of business attempted
to develop a comprehensive series of ethics initia-
tives to build and maintain an ethical environment
for its students, faculty members, staff and admin-
istrators follows.
Building and maintaining an ethical
environment at the Duquesne University
schools of business
The various organizational ethics initiatives found in
the business school case study are grounded in the
Leadership’s
commitment
to ethics
Centralized
office
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
extant literature discussed in the previous sections.
The presentation of the case study follows the
framework shown in Figure 1 as each step in the
overall ethics initiative project is explained and
illustrated.
Duquesne University and schools of business’s mission
statement
As Procario-Foley and Bean (2002) strongly argue,
the essential foundation for an ethics initiative
program rests with the institution’s mission statement
and basic values. In addition, many business
organizations discover that the importance of top
management’s support or the leadership of senior
executives within the organization are critical to the
prominence attributed to their ethics initiatives pro-
grams. The Duquesne University schools of business
were fortunate to have a strong ethical value set
grounded in the religious tradition of Duquesne
University, as indicated in the University’s mission
statement:
Duquesne University serves God by serving students
through commitment to excellence in liberal and
professional education, through profound concern
for moral and spiritual values, through the mainte-
nance of an ecumenical atmosphere open to diver-
sity, and through service to the Church, the
community, the nation and the world (Duquesne
University mission statement).
In addition, the University’s strategic plan 2003–
2008 espouses as its goal: ‘‘to weave the mission ...
throughout the fabric of the university to assure that
the values expressed in the mission are given
prominence in all the goals of the strategic plan’’ and
‘‘the University will place special emphasis on ethics
... ’’. To this end, the strategic plan further mandates
that ‘‘members of the Duquesne University com-
munity will pursue the moral and ethical truth
through an ecumenical dialog ... [and] ... establish
activities, programs and courses where discipline-
specific issues are discussed in the context of their
moral, ethical and spiritual context.’’
This attention to ethics and moral values continues
in the business schools’ undergraduate and graduate
mission statements. A key guiding principle for the
27
A.J. Palumbo (undergraduate) School of Business
Administration is to ‘‘espouse ethics as a winning
characteristic of organizations that are successful over
the long term and promote a commitment to high
standards and values among the A.J. Palumbo School
of Business Administration community’’ (Duquesne
University Undergraduate Catalog, 2002–2003:
114). This commitment is echoed in the graduate
business school’s catalog as well.
Since its founding in 1878, Duquesne University has
been steadfast in developing an ethical perspective
within student’s professional and private lives. The John
F. Donahue Graduate School of Business strives to per-
petuate that unique commitment through the required
course in ‘Applied Business Ethics’ and the integration
of ethical dimensions of decision-making throughout
the curriculum’’ (John F. Donahue Graduate School of
Business Brochure, A Distinctive Experience: 9).
The strong statements emphasizing ethics at
Duquesne University and business schools are not
mere rhetoric. The academic leadership clearly
espouses the importance of ethics and builds upon
these words with clear actions of financial support
and commitments of personal and professional time.
In conjunction with the University President and
Academic Vice President/Provost, the business
schools’ dean was able to create and financially sustain
three full-time, tenure-track faculty lines in the area
of business ethics within the Leadership and Change
Management Division of the business schools in or-
der to staff the growing number of ethics courses, as
discussed later.
In addition, the University President, Provost and
business schools’ dean repeatedly offer their time and
energy to various projects affiliated with the ethics
initiative program. Their commitment is seen
through their support of various business school–
sponsored ethics events by attending these events, by
purchasing a table or paying the registration fees so
that University administrators or business school
faculty members could attend these events, or by
participating in these programs as speakers, panelists
or discussants. It is clear that at the core of the ethics
initiatives program rests the unswerving commit-
ment to ethics by the academic institution’s senior
leadership, which is clearly evident during the
development and implementation of the initiatives.
28 James Weber
Based on the foundation of the organization’s
commitment to ethics, as seen in the various mission
statements, and the organization leadership’s dedi-
cation to ethics, as seen in their financial and time
allocation, the ethics initiative program at the busi-
ness schools turned toward specific initiatives in the
form of ethics courses, ethics code, and a centralized
office to administer and coordinate the ethics
initiatives, as shown in Figure 1.
Curriculum development – stand-alone
courses – undergraduate
Grounded in the mission and values of Duquesne
University and business schools, the business schools’
ethics initiative program focused on developing
business ethics courses offered in both its under-
graduate and graduate schools. Trevino and McCabe
(1994) suggest that the business ethics course be
introduced early in the curriculum to set the foun-
dation for ethical decision-making skills to be used
throughout the business school curriculum. Consis-
tent with this suggestion, the required undergraduate
Business Ethics course is available to students in the
fall or spring semester of their junior year, a time
when business students begin in earnest their business
school core courses (see the course description and
general objectives for this course in Appendix A).1
Curriculum development – stand-alone courses – graduate
(MBA)
At the graduate level, an elective course in business
ethics was available to MBA students and was one of
the most heavily enrolled elective courses in the MBA
program. With the development of the business
schools’ ethics program, the new Applied Business
Ethics course became a required ‘‘toolbox’’ course for
all MBA students. Significant changes were made
when converting the elective into the required,
toolbox course (see the course description and general
objectives for this course in Appendix A). A toolbox
course is taken by students in their first or second
semester of graduate business studies, as opposed to an
elective which is typically taken toward the end of the
students’ academic program. In addition, a toolbox
course introduces decision-making skills and tools to
be used again in subsequent graduate business courses.
Specifically the Applied Business Ethics course
introduces to the students an ‘‘ethical decision-
making framework’’ to understand, analyze and re-
solve an ethical dilemma. This framework consists of
three steps: (1) the identification of key ethical prin-
ciples found in the ethical dilemma, (2) the application
of ethics theories or stages of moral development to
weigh and filter information pertinent to the ethical
dilemma, and (3) the development of ethically
defensible resolutions to the ethical dilemma.
Curriculum development – masters program in leadership
and business ethics
An unexpected development for the business schools’
ethics initiatives program occurred when the gradu-
ate business school was asked to join the School of
Leadership and Professional Advancement at
Duquesne University in offering a Masters of Science
in Leadership and Business Ethics. The John F.
Donahue Graduate School of Business faculty
members developed and offered a sequence of six
graduate-level ethics courses.2 The six courses
developed for this program include: Business Ethics,
Information Ethics, Ethics Elective (in Accounting,
Finance, Marketing, Environment, etc.), Organiza-
tional Ethics and Government Interventions, Global
Ethics, and Ethics Capstone – A Field-based Project.
The course description and general objectives for
many of these courses can be found in Appendix B.
Thus, the next element of the ethics initiative
program – curriculum development – consisted of a
combination of utilizing the existing undergraduate
Business Ethics course, enhancing the delivery and
focus of a graduate Applied Business Ethics course,
and the opportunity to develop a sequence of six
ethics courses on the graduate level.
Curriculum development – integration across the curriculum
Rather than taking a side in the ‘‘stand-alone course
versus integrate ethics across the entire curriculum’’
debate, the business schools decided to do both
when implementing its ethics initiative program.
This approach follows the recommendations set
forth by Trevino and McCabe (1994) who argue
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
that once the stand-alone course is introduced early
in the curriculum, this should be followed up with
an integration or inclusion of ethics across all sub-
sequent courses.
In addition to the aforementioned stand-alone
courses, the business schools conducted formal
workshops and informal tutoring among its faculty
members to integrate ethics into as many business
courses as possible. The ethics initiative project
emphasizes the traditional, business school case study
approach using classic cases from the ‘‘Arthur
Andersen ethics project’’ (ca. 1980s), as well as
numerous ethics cases included in most business
course textbooks. Other material aiding in the
integration of ethics into business courses came from
a quick review of the headlines of business or pop-
ular newspapers or periodicals. The business schools
already had a partnership with Business Week, where
students received the weekly periodical. Thus, it was
easy to have faculty members and students scour the
current issue of Business Week (or The New York
Times or The Wall Street Journal) for stories where
ethics was relevant to the specific material to be
covered in the various business courses.
Curriculum development – assessment of integration
An interview survey of full-time business school
faculty members was conducted during the imple-
mentation of the ethics initiative program. Semi-
structured interviews were conducted by a graduate
student as part of her graduate assistantship duties.
This was done to avoid any bias from having the
interviews conducted by a faculty member who was
spearheading this ethics initiative program. In total,
37 of the 43 full-time faculty members were inter-
viewed, with five faculty members unavailable
during the 2-week interview period. Numerous
methods used to integrate ethics into various business
courses were discovered. Many of the faculty mem-
bers (81%) reported a general or occasional discussion of
ethics or a current ethical issue in their classes. Half of the
faculty members used a chapter devoted to ethical
issues from their required course’s textbook as the
basis to frame or begin the discussion.
Thirty-five percent of the faculty members
interviewed described their courses as incorporating
an in-depth attention to ethics by using multiple ethics cases
29
for discussion. These cases were either provided in
the course textbook or the faculty member
supplemented the textbook with prepared ethics
cases or current ethical issues found in the news.
This subgroup of integration of ethics indicated a
more extensive coverage of ethics or attention to
ethics rather than a general or occasional discussion
of ethics or ethical issues related to the course. A few
faculty members decided to present their discipline’s
professional code of ethics as a starter for an ethics
discussion among the students.
The second most common group of activities for
integrating ethics into the business curricula by fac-
ulty members was through encouraging students to
attend an ethics speaker presentation or become involved in
a community service activity. More than one out of
every four faculty members mentioned one of these
activities as part of their business courses.
Each semester the business schools’ ethics center
hosts a distinguished ethics speaker. Seven faculty
members indicated that they require, assign extra
credit, or simply encourage their students to attend
this presentation to learn more about ethics and/or
as a professional development activity. Occasionally
the ethics speaker’s presentation was discussed in
class or students attending the presentation prepared
a written report. In addition, three faculty members
indicated that they emphasize ethics in their class-
room by having their students engage in community
service. This activity is a requirement for two of the
faculty member’s business courses, for students in the
other business course it is an extra credit opportu-
nity.
The third activity group for emphasizing ethics
across the business curricula is testing students on their
ability to recognize an ethical issue in a business case or
analyze a business case using ethical principles or tools.
Nine faculty members (or 24% of the activities
mentioned in the interviews) described a course
assignment (either an examination or essay paper)
where the ability to use an ethical decision-making
tool was used as part of the overall assignment’s
grade. In some cases it was a matter of recognizing
an ethical issue embedded in a business situation or
case. In other course assignments, the students were
required to reason to an ethically defensible solution
in resolving the ethics case or evaluate the ethical
defensibility of a business manager’s actions when
facing with an ethical dilemma.
30
The fourth activity group described in the fac-
ulty members’ interviews involved emphasizing the
importance of ethics as students began their business careers
or internships. While employment or an internship is
often beyond the scope of the classroom, two faculty
members reported a discussion in class focusing on
the ethical challenges likely encountered by students
during their school-sponsored internships or during
the students’ early work experience.
Given the multiplicity of techniques used by
business school faculty members, the business schools
appear to have reached a significant level of inte-
gration of ethics across the many divisions and
courses within the schools. A more complete assess-
ment of this element of the ethics initiative program
will be discussed later in this paper.
Drafting a code of ethical behavior
Despite the relative success of developing stand-
alone ethics courses and integrating ethics across the
business schools’ curricula at the undergraduate and
graduate levels, business students asked the faculty
and administration for another direct initiative to
build and maintain an ethical environment – a code
of ethics.
The students voiced a number of reasons for their
suggestion. Many students were aware of other
universities that already had codes governing stu-
dent behavior and felt that Duquesne University’s
schools of business should emulate these institutions.
Others felt that Duquesne University’s schools of
business should reflect the business organizations
modeled in the business ethics courses where codes
of conduct were introduced and critiqued. Finally,
some students expressed their concern over the
growing public awareness of a cheating epidemic at
universities as reported by the media. The students
believed that adopting a code within the business
schools would counter this negative image among
the business organizations’ college student recruit-
ers.
Since this initiative was at the insistence of
numerous undergraduate and graduate students, they
made up a majority of the student-faculty committee
charged with drafting a code of ethics. This approach
is similar to the course project described by Kidwell
(2001) where she found excellent success when
James Weber
having her students at Niagara University write their
own ethics code. Kidwell found her students’ codes
thoughtfully considered the ethical challenges they
face as students, as well as later in their business
careers.
Initially the student-faculty committee intended
to develop a code that would instruct and govern
both student and faculty behavior, but that charge
proved to be too complex and contained too many
conflicting behavioral and governance issues. The
committee turned its attention to drafting a student
code, called the Code of Ethical Behavior (Code).
The committee met once or twice monthly during
an academic year for lively and constructive discus-
sions leading to the writing and re-writing of mul-
tiple drafts before a final version of the Code was
achieved (see Appendix C).
As shown in the appendix, the primary foci of the
committee were on the example-driven descriptions
of cheating and plagiarism (determined as the two
most common ethical challenges or breaches of
ethical conduct at the business schools), a clear pro-
cedure to follow if cheating or plagiarism was de-
tected, the enforcement of sanctions against students
who committed breaches of ethical conduct, and the
creation of a ‘‘human assist line’’ (the Ethics Advo-
cates program) to provide students with confidential
resources to discuss concerns over ethical conduct.
Accompanying the Code was a pledge card, de-
signed by the student-faculty committee. The card
was modeled after the common managerial sign-off
procedure. In the business organization, the manager
is asked to read the organization’s code of ethics and
then sign a statement saying that she has read the code
and pledges to report any violations of the code that
she discovers. Similarly, the pledge card states:
Please sign this pledge attesting to your agreement
with the Duquesne business schools’ core principles
and commitment to ethical behavior. I have read and
understand the Code of Ethical Behavior and agree
to comply with Duquesne business schools’ expecta-
tions of its members to act in accordance with the
core principles and ethical behaviors described in the
Code.
The students are asked to sign their name, print their
name (for easier verification) and date the card.
Surprisingly, the drafting of the Code was an
easier challenge compared with the approval process.
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment 31

The Code was presented to the undergraduate and seeking, the Code of Ethical Behavior was ready
graduate student bodies through the student for dissemination.
organization network (in the absence of any type of
all-student organization or meeting format). Stu-
Oversight of the code of ethical behavior – the integrity
dents provided various constructive suggestions, for
standards committee
example the inclusion of a statement explaining
plagiarism of computer code in addition to the
It was evident to those on the student-faculty com-
typical plagiarism of written work. Other students
mittee charged with drafting the Code that the
raised concerns about student self-governance and
administration of the Code was a critical component
the composition of the Integrity Standards Com-
for the success of this element of the ethics initiative
mittee (discussed later) and the Code was modified
program. As recommended by Guelcher and Caha-
to address these concerns. Once their suggestions
lane (1999), a centralized administrative body was
were received, discussed by the student-faculty
needed to ensure the coordination of efforts and
committee and incorporated into the Code if war-
communication of the importance of ethics to the
ranted, the revised code was resubmitted to the
business schools’ community. This recommendation
students for approval.
was coupled with Kidwell’s finding when assigning
Next the Code was presented to the business
her students to draft an honor code – student
schools’ faculty for their review, suggestions and
involvement in enforcement is essential. Therefore,
eventual approval. Many of their suggestions were
the Integrity Standards Committee (ISC) was formed
cosmetic or grammatical since the substance of the
and its membership and duties were articulated in the
Code was perceived to be relevant and compre-
Code of Ethical Behavior.
hensive. It was not surprising that the faculty were
Students make up a majority of the ISC mem-
most interested in the procedures that would be
bership, with two undergraduate students and one
invoked upon the discovery of a cheating or pla-
graduate student comprising three members of the
giarism incident. This section of the Code was
five-member committee. Students are selected from
consistent with the existing procedures adopted by
the student leadership groups, the Dean’s Student
the business schools’ faculty many years earlier.
Advisory Council (consisting of the presidents of
The next group to scrutinize the Code was the
the various undergraduate business school student
business schools’ administration, who like the faculty
organizations) and the Graduate Student’s Advisory
overwhelmingly supported the ethics initiative pro-
Board (the elected leaders of the full-time and part-
gram and made minor suggestions to improve the
time MBA student body). These students are elected
Code before providing their unanimous approval.
by their peers based on their personal integrity and
Finally the Code was taken to the Duquesne
leadership skills to participate in the ISC, whose
University Academic Council, a committee com-
primary duties involved promulgating the Code and
prised of the University Provost, General Counsel,
investigating any alleged ethical violations. The
Faculty Senate President and deans of all the
remainder of the ISC is made up of a faculty member
University’s schools. Discussions at the Academic
elected by the business schools’ faculty and an
Council focused on why the business schools
administrator appointed by the Dean of the business
should have their own Code. Deans of other
schools. In its first year of operations, the ISC met
schools, particular in the health sciences areas, in-
quarterly to evaluate the distribution of the Code
formed the Council that their schools have had a
and to review the Code for possible revisions for the
student code for years. Finally, the discussion
following year. Currently, the ISC meets at least
turned toward legal consistency with the Univer-
twice a year and more often as needed.
sity’s Academic Integrity Policy. A careful review
of both ethics statements, already undertaken by the
business schools’ student-faculty code committee, Implementing the code of ethical behavior
showed no inconsistencies or conflicts between the
two codes, thus the Academic Council provided In the fall of 2003, the Code of Ethical Behavior was
their unanimous approval. After a year of approval introduced to all undergraduate and graduate
32 James Weber
business schools’ students through a dissemination
strategy that was intended to saturate the business
schools’ student body and thus attempt to quickly
influence the business schools’ culture. This strategy
involved a procedure where students in every busi-
ness course received the Code and an accompanying
pledge card. In the business schools’ program,
freshman take one business course per term, whereas
sophomores, juniors and seniors often are enrolled in
as many as four or five business courses in one
semester. Thus, in the fall and spring term, some
students received the Code and pledge cards 10
times during the year.
Faculty members were asked to distribute the
Code and pledge cards during the first week of the
semester. For the fall term, faculty members returned
the signed pledge cards to the ISC, but this proce-
dure was changed for the spring term. We found that
faculty members wanted access to the pledge cards to
see if a student they suspected of cheating or pla-
giarizing a paper had signed a pledge card. Having
the faculty members retain these signed cards was
more expedient than having them contact the ISC to
locate the pledge card. Therefore, in the spring term
faculty members kept the pledge cards signed by
their students.
At the end of the first year of distributing the
Code and pledge cards in every business course, a
feedback survey was circulated to all full-time busi-
ness schools’ faculty members. The detailed results of
this survey are reported later, but in general it con-
firmed the Integrity Standards Committee’s belief:
they had saturated the business schools’ student body
with the current procedure of distributing the Codes
and pledge cards to all students in every business
school class. The survey also confirmed the ISC’s
belief of the necessity of such a strategy to be suc-
cessful in its first year of implementation since the
surveys indicated that the awareness of and impor-
tance given to the Code and pledge cards were
widespread across the business schools’ faculty and
students.
In preparation for the second year of the Code
distribution, minor editing was performed on the
Code (e.g., adding a short sentence indicating the
ethical expectation that only students attending a
course or event should sign the attendance sheet,
addressing the concern that students were signing in
the names of other, non-attending students). More
significant was the change in the distribution of the
Code and pledge cards. The ISC identified eight,
key business courses where the Code and pledge
cards would be distributed – one course typically
taken by freshman, one by sophomores, one by ju-
niors, one by seniors, two courses in the MBA
toolbox group, and two MBA core courses. They
believed that targeting specific courses would draw
attention to the Code and the signing of pledge cards
without the potentially negative backlash of over-
saturation of the student body. Faculty members
teaching courses not designated for Code and pledge
cards distribution were asked to
(1) Make the Code available to students via the
course syllabus or website.
(2) Require the following statement on all
examinations/quizzes: ‘‘In accordance with
the business schools’ Code of Ethical Behav-
ior, I attest that I neither received nor of-
fered unauthorized assistance in answering
the questions on this examination (quiz).’’
Also require that the students sign this state-
ment before submitting their examination or
quiz for evaluation.
(3) Require the following statement on all writ-
ten assignments: ‘‘In accordance with the
business schools’ Code of Ethical Behavior,
I attest that I have not engaged in any acts
of plagiarism in completing this assign-
ment.’’ Also require that the students sign
this statement before submitting their writ-
ten work for evaluation.
(4) Emphasize the availability of Ethics Advo-
cates for students to confidentially discuss
any ethical issue pertaining to their business
school classes.
The ISC continues to monitor the dissemination of
the Code and signing of pledge cards in the spirit of
continuous improvement and to lessen the potential
for breaches of ethical conduct by business school
students.
Assessing the impact of the ethics initiative
As discussed earlier, assessing the impact of an ethics
course is an important function since it may confirm
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
whether the intended objectives are met or if addi-
tional work is warranted. The impact of the ethics
initiative program for the business school is assessed
at various specific junctures, as well as reviewed by
third-party organizations.
The interview survey of the full-time business
schools’ faculty members regarding the integration
of ethics across the curriculum was briefly discussed
earlier. The executive summary of this report pro-
vides a clear overview of what was found:
These interviews revealed a strong emphasis on eth-
ics and ethical issues across most of the business
schools’ divisions (departments). Attention to ethics
across the curriculum was evident in four general
areas: (1) discussing ethics by utilizing material from
a textbook chapter, ethics-oriented case study, cur-
rent ethical issue drawn from business periodicals, or
professional code of ethics; (2) encouraging students
to attend an ethics speaker or become involved in
community service; (3) testing students on their abil-
ity to recognize an ethical issue in a business case or
analyze a business case using ethical principles or
tools; and (4) stressing the importance of ethical
behavior while employed or completing an intern-
ship. In general, significant progress was discovered
in emphasizing ethics across the business schools’
curricula, but a number of recommendations are of-
fered to continue this effort.
The recommendations emanating from this report
focused on the fact that ethics was not integrated
into every business course. There was one division
where the integration of ethics was particularly low.
Specifically, it was recommended that a number of
additional supportive programs could be launched:
• Developing ethics case material for each
business school discipline, as well as integra-
tive cross-discipline ethics cases.
• Distributing and encouraging the discussion
of professional codes of conduct relevant to
the faculty member’s particular business
school discipline.
• Sponsoring speaker programs, administered
by the business schools’ ethics center, that
emphasize ethical challenges facing specific
business disciplines, enabling students in
Finance or Information Technology, for
example, to attend the presentation and then
33
discuss the presentation when returning to
class.
• Supporting faculty members by placing
students in community service opportunities
related to their discipline, such as accounting
students helping the elderly complete their
tax forms, or marketing students educating
at-risk consumers.
• Conducting faculty workshops on how to
introduce or analyze ethical issues in the
classroom, utilizing the ethical decision-mak-
ing framework presented in both the under-
graduate and graduate required business
ethics courses.
• Offering professional development work-
shops for students, utilizing exemplary ethical
leaders from the business community, to
emphasize the importance of ethical behavior
as employees or interns at business organiza-
tions.
Each of these recommendations could enhance any
business schools’ ethics initiative program.
The second assessment undertaken was conducted
after the first year of the distribution of the Code of
Ethical Behavior and pledge cards. In total, 31 of the
44 full-time business schools’ faculty members
(70.5%) returned the feedback survey that was
emailed to them and placed in their mailboxes.
Unfortunately the feedback survey was conducted
during finals week of the spring term which may
have reduced the response rate. Some of the more
enlightening findings from this assessment survey
were
• Nearly every faculty member reported dis-
tributing the Code in each of their business
classes.
• Twenty-three faculty members reported
going beyond merely distributing the Code in
their classes by discussing the Code, its impor-
tance and its contents with their students.
• Nearly half of the faculty members placed
the Code on their course website, periodi-
cally discussed the Code during the semester,
and/or reminded the students of the Code
when papers were due or examinations given
in class.
34 James Weber
• Only four of the faculty members reported a
negative or blasé reaction by their students
when presenting the code in class, with 40%
reporting a positive or enthusiastic response
from their students in class.
• Only four incidences of cheating or plagia-
rism were reported during this academic year
and each faculty member involved was aware
of and followed the procedures as outlined
in the Code.
Numerous suggestions were made by faculty mem-
bers regarding the continuous improvement of the
distribution of the Code and pledge cards. Many of
these suggestions were the catalyst for the changes in
the procedures taken during the second year of
distributing the Code in the business school.
An indirect and third assessment of the ethics
initiative program was undertaken by the accounting
division at the business schools. As dictated by the
division’s strategic plan and in accordance with the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants’
(AICPA) list of suggested core competencies, the
accounting faculty sought feedback from their
graduating accounting majors regarding various
assessment outcomes for the four-year baccalaureate
degree program. Due to the importance placed on
ethics by Duquesne University and the schools of
business and the current public attention to the lack
of ethics by business organizations regarding their
accounting practices, the accounting faculty at-
tempted to integrate ethics into their accounting
courses. In the fall of 2004 the data from the spring
and summer 2003 graduating class surveys were
analyzed and the accounting division reported that
the second highest mean score for any core com-
petency was ‘‘understanding of the importance of
ethical financial reporting’’ (a 4.65 on a 5.00 scale).
In addition to internal measures of success for the
ethics initiative program, some external organiza-
tions have reviewed the business schools’ program.
At an international meeting of the AACSB, the
international accreditation body for schools of
business, three universities were featured as having
exemplary ethics programs within the business
school: Kansas State University, Stanford University
and Duquesne University. At two consecutive
teaching business ethics conferences, a case study
presentation featuring Duquesne University schools
of business’s ethics program was offered. These
presentations emphasized the business schools’ ethics
center, Code of Ethical Behavior, required courses
and supplementary ethics activities for business stu-
dents (Ferrell, 2004; Weber, 2005).
Finally, the business schools annually participate
in the AACSB/EBI Business Exit Survey. The
results from the 2003–2004 and 2004–2005 exit
surveys showed that question 26: ‘‘Satisfaction with
business curriculum instructors presenting ethical
issues’’ had a mean of 5.58 and 5.57, respectively (on
a 7-point Likert-scale). In each year, this question
placed in the top 15 of the means score responses
provided by Duquesne University schools of busi-
ness’s graduating seniors for the 171 questions in the
survey. There appears to be significant evidence that
the ethics initiative program at the business schools is
having a positive impact on the business schools’
students.
Lessons learned from the Duquesne
University schools of business’s ethics
initiative program
There were many lessons to be learned from the
ethics initiative program undertaken by the business
schools. These lessons may not only be valuable to
those at the Duquesne University schools of business
who are seeking to improve upon the efforts
undertaken here but also important for those at
other academic institutions seeking to develop and
implement their own ethics initiatives.
The first lesson learned is the importance of a
commitment to ethics and ethics education embedded deeply
within the school, and possibly, the university’s cultures.
This is not to say that ethics programs can only
succeed in business schools residing in private, reli-
gious universities who typically have a long-standing
tradition of ethics education. While it may be more
likely that this type of university would encourage, if
not expect, an ethics program to be developed by
their business school, it is not the exclusive domain
of private education to teach ethics or promote
ethics programs. Any university and business school
can identify ethics as an explicit, key component to
the educational focus of the institution.
In the case study described here, significant
support for the ethics program developed by the
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
business schools came from Duquesne University’s
mission statement and strategic plan grounded in
the university’s tradition. In addition, the Academic
Vice President/Provost of the university (who has
been involved in many different ethics programs
during his academic career), the business schools’
dean (who developed a strong commitment to
ethics and integrity after many decades of profes-
sional work in the public accounting industry) and
the business schools’ alumni (who reflected back on
their days as students and expressed their desire that
ethics would have been emphasized more in their
business classes and extracurricular activities) all
provided critical support of and commitment to the
business schools’ ethics program. If ethics is a core
educational component or competencies of the
business school or university, then the development
of an ethics program begins with a solid founda-
tion.
The second lesson learned is that there must be
widespread communication of the ethics initiatives, espe-
cially at the outset of the program. Meaning, it is
helpful to be as aggressive as possible when informing
others about the specific ethics initiatives within the
ethics program, whether it is through the direct
advertisement of the program’s initiatives or through
normal, casual communication of business school
activities.
For example, at every opportunity available, the
business schools’ ethics program was described or
discussed in university publications, business schools’
newsletters to the alumni, the schools’ ethics center
and its publicity channels, or through conversations
at the university faculty lunchroom. It was essential
to get the ‘‘word out’’ to the university and business
school communities. One significant opportunity
arose when the business schools’ administration was
required to present the Code of Ethical Behavior to
the University Council for their review and
approval. This gave notice to the university that the
business schools had developed a student code and
provided the opportunity to discuss other ethics
initiatives embedded in the business schools’ ethics
program during the Council’s deliberations before
approving the Code.
Another opportunity for widespread communi-
cation of an ethics initiatives came when deciding
how best to introduce the Code of Ethical Behavior
to the business schools’ students. The Integrity
35
Standards Committee decided that it would be
imperative to distribute the Code in every business
course. As mentioned earlier, this resulted in some
students receiving the Code and signing the pledge
card four or five times during a single semester. In
the second year of the ethics program this practice
was lessened somewhat, but at the outset of the
program it was believed that extensive distribution
of the Code was essential.
Finally, the comprehensive communication of
the ethics program is evident when considering
how pervasive is the coverage of ethical issue dis-
cussions and general ethics education when seeking
to integrate ethics across the business schools’
curricula. Rather than assigning this educational
task to a single, stand-alone business ethics course,
the business schools attempted to integrate ethics
education across all of their courses. The wide-
spread attention to ethical issues and the subsequent
in-depth exploration of ethical analysis was dele-
gated to all business schools’ faculty members and
their classes. It appears that this and the preceding
efforts at a widespread communication of the ethics
initiatives within the business schools’ ethics pro-
gram contributed to the apparent success of the
program.
Earlier in this paper, Guelcher and Cahalane
(1999) warn of particular challenges for business
schools in developing an ethics program due to its
unique, complex internal environment and decen-
tralized power structure. Thus, the third lesson
learned was the importance of centralized leadership
and coordination of the ethics initiative program. The
ethics program was organized through the business
schools’ ethics center administration, affording a
clear starting point for all communication about the
program and a focus for any concerns, suggestions
for improvements, or complaints involving the
program. The center’s staff assumed the leadership
for the program and was charged with seeing the
ethics program through to completion by the busi-
ness schools’ administration.
The local, centralized leadership assumed by the
ethics center staff was supplemented by the central-
ized leadership from the university and business
schools. As described earlier, Duquesne University’s
President and Provost and the business schools’ dean
all became personally involved in the business
schools’ ethics program. This leadership was evident
36 James Weber
to the university’s employees as well as the students,
whether the faculty members or students were part
of the business schools or belonged to another school
at the university.
Throughout the development and implementa-
tion of the business schools’ ethics program is was
evident that there must be widespread student and
faculty member ownership and participation in the ethics
initiative program. At the outset, business school stu-
dents initiated the creation of a committee to draft
the student’s ethics code. Students served as the
majority on this committee, were involved through
the student extracurricular clubs and organizations
in making suggestions to early drafts of the Code,
and finally gave their approval of the Code. Students
also serve as the majority stakeholder on the
Integrity Standards Committee, charged with the
continued implementation of the Code and as an
oversight investigation team of any Code violations.
The business schools’ faculty, likewise, was in-
volved in every step of rolling out the ethics pro-
gram, from serving on the committee to draft the
Code to distributing the Code in their classes. Fac-
ulty members also were instrumental at efforts to
integrate ethics across the business schools’ curricula
through discussions of ethics cases or the testing of
their students’ ethical analysis skills. Faculty members
also serve on the Integrity Standards Committee.
Another important lesson learned was the absolute
essentiality of continuous improvement for the ethics pro-
gram. The program is in constant need of review,
reflection and modification as determined by various
committees and business schools’ administration.
Although only a few years old, the Code of Ethical
Behavior was closely scrutinized for possible lan-
guage changes, inclusion of new issues, and the
presence of unnecessary material. Students and fac-
ulty members were petitioned for their input. The
distribution of the Code was changed after
the Integrity Standards Committee believed that the
system developed for year one had outlived its
effectiveness and needed to be revised for the second
year of the Code.
As described earlier, efforts at soliciting feedback
from faculty members regarding the integration of
ethics across the curriculum or how best to distribute
the Code of Ethical Behavior were important ele-
ments addressing the continuous improvement of
the program.
Finally, an important lesson learned involved the
need for continuous, new ‘‘add-ons’’ for the program.
In order for the program to remain fresh and
appealing, it is critical to think of new ways to pro-
mote attention to ethics within the business schools.
Efforts at integrating ethics across the curriculum are
in constant need of attention and new approaches.
For example, workshops are planned to further
introduce the business schools’ faculty members to
the ethical decision-making framework introduced
to MBA students in the Applied Business Ethics
course as a simple tool for all faculty members to
utilize in their courses, as well as the identification of
current ethics cases emerging from business and
popular newspapers and magazines for subsequent in-
class discussion.
The usefulness for students to hear of the inherent
presence and importance of business ethics in
everyday business operations has lead the business
schools to consider how to involve more students in
the ethics speakers program. Rather than primarily
targeting students in the business ethics courses by
requiring their attendance at the semi-annual
speaker’s program, the search for a larger venue to
hold these presentations is being sought, as well as
the possibility of bringing more speakers on campus
to speak to smaller groups of students. Programs
targeting accounting, finance, information technol-
ogy, or marketing majors, for example, are being
considered.
Unfortunately there is no magic formula. Simply
adhering to the six ‘‘lessons learned’’ described here
may not result in a successful ethics program at a
business school. But this paper describes the
Duquesne University’s schools of business’s efforts
toward creating an ethics program and its apparent
success to serve as a possible initial model for the
development and implementation of an ethics pro-
gram in other business schools.
Appendix A: Business course descriptions
MGMT 368 – Business Ethics
This course provides students with ethical decision-
making tools to assess and resolve various ethical
dilemmas commonly found in the students’ lives
and in many business organizations. Social and
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
ethical problems, existing in societies where busi-
nesses must operate, also are investigated through a
community service volunteer project. Course
assignments seek to improve ethical decision-mak-
ing skills and develop basic communication com-
petency.
GRBUS 508 – Applied Business Ethics
This course introduces students to the school of
business’s policies on ethical behavior and provides
students with basic ethical decision-making skills
necessary to recognize, evaluate and resolve ethical
conflicts. Emphasis is on common ethical challenges
facing graduate students in the classroom and at
work. This course provides an analytical framework
for students to use when grappling with course-
specific, ethical dilemmas in subsequent core and
elective courses in the graduate program and in their
professional business careers.
Appendix B: Master-level business track
course descriptions
MSLBE 501 – Business Ethics
This course will emphasize the individual as deci-
sion-maker and focus upon ethical issues and
dilemmas facing managers in most business organi-
zations. The specific objectives of the course are to
raise students’ general awareness of ethical dilemmas
at work, to place ethical issues within a management
context subject to analysis and decision-making
action, and to enhance and improve the ability of
students to reason toward a satisfactory resolution of
an ethical dilemma.
MSLBE 502 – Information Ethics
This course deals with ethical issues in the new era of
the Information Society. The general objectives of
this course are to improve the student’s ability to
identify specific information ethics issues, to analyze
and resolve these information ethics issues within a
management context, and to improve the student’s
understanding of how information technology im-
pacts people’s lives.
37
MSLBE 507 – Organizational Ethics and Governmental
Interventions
This course provides students with an in-depth look
at the formal and informal initiatives, processes, and
structures developed by business organizations and
professional associations to address common ethical
problems at work. The applied focus of this course
will prepare students for a career in the ethics field or
enable them to participate in their organization’s
efforts to promote ethics at work. In addition, the
role of the government (primarily in the U.S.) to
promote ethical business conduct will be discussed.
MSLBE 508 – Global Ethics
This course identifies and discusses differences and
similarities in ethical values and principles found in
the practice of organizations conducting business
around the world. In particular, comparisons of
culture and religion, and their impact upon business
operations, will be explored. Strategic opportunities
emanating from cultural and/or religious differences
will be developed to guide organizations conducting
business in the global marketplace.
MSLBE 509 – Ethics Capstone – a field-based project
Individual or group study culminating in an applied
ethics research paper or case study is the focus for
this course. Students will be exposed to past and
promising streams of field-based, business ethics
research before selecting their particular area for
study. Analytical research techniques will be pre-
sented and guidance provided by the instructor in
how to use relevant data collection techniques on an
‘‘as needed basis’’ for each student in the course. The
content of the project is subject to mutual agreement
between the student(s) and the course instructor.
Appendix C: Duquesne university schools
of business’s code of ethical behavior, initial
version, 2003–2004
Code of Ethical Behavior
As students enrolled in courses offered by the A.J.
Palumbo School of Business Administration and the
38 James Weber
John F. Donahue Graduate School of Business at
Duquesne University (hereafter, the Duquesne
business schools), you are expected to adhere to the
ethical principles and behavior described in this
Code, in addition to behavior required in the Uni-
versity’s Standards of Academic Integrity.
Underlying the Code of Ethical Behavior is the
expectation that as members of the Duquesne
business schools, which include administrators,
staff, faculty and students, we should behave in an
ethical manner. Guiding this expectation are the
following core principles: respect for others, indi-
vidual accountability, personal responsibility for
conducting oneself with integrity, and creating and
maintaining trust in all of our business school
relationships. Through its curricula and in extra-
curricular activities, the Duquesne business schools
strive to model ethical leadership since ethical
decision making and behavior are recognized as
successful business strategies and desirable employee
characteristics.
Please read the attached Code and sign this cover
page attesting to your agreement with the Duquesne
business schools’ core principles and commitment to
ethical behavior.
I have read and understand the Code of Ethical
Behavior and agree to comply with the Duquesne business
schools’ expectations of its members to act in accordance
with the core principles and ethical behaviors described in
the Code.
Guidelines
Based on the ethical principles of respect, account-
ability, personal responsibility and trust, a response to
the question: ‘‘What is ethical?’’ is modeled for the
Duquesne business school community. The princi-
ples must underlie and be evident in your behavior,
as well as in your relationships with the business
schools’ administration, faculty and staff.
Clarifying students’ responsibilities
Plagiarism: In many of the Duquesne business school
courses, you are assigned research projects or similar
assignments requiring the investigation of past works
or thoughts. This research develops your analytical
skills and/or expands your critical thinking on a
subject or current business issue. When engaged in
these learning exercises, the possibility of plagiarism
may arise.
Plagiarism is defined as the failure to acknowledge the
sources from where you borrow ideas, examples, words, and
the progressions of thought. For example:
• Your failure to report in a paper the discov-
ery and use of ideas from another source
constitutes plagiarism.
• Your direct copying of material from an ori-
ginal source without acknowledging the
source also is plagiarism.
• While you may not use another person’s
exact words or phrases in your paper, for
example, when you take the general pattern
of ideas or opinions from an original
source, you must acknowledge the original
source.
• Instances of plagiarism also include para-
phrasing another’s work; that is, taking the
basic ideas and re-phrasing them when pre-
sented in your work.
Any form of plagiarism results in the failure to
meet the expectations of ethical behavior since
it dishonestly presents another’s work as your
own, for which you intend to receive credit or
be evaluated.
Cheating on Examinations: In many Duquesne
business school courses, your learning is assessed
through examinations, with the type of questions
ranging from multiple choice to essays. When
engaged in these learning assessment activities, the
possibility of cheating may arise.
Cheating includes but is not limited to
• When you use, or attempt to use, unautho-
rized assistance, material, or study aids during
an examination or other academic work.
• Cheating also occurs when you prevent, or
attempt to prevent, another student from
using authorized assistance, material, or study
aids during an examination or other aca-
demic work.
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
Cheating on examinations results in the failure
to meet the expectations of ethical behavior
since it enables you to unfairly gain an
advantage over another student during, or
in the evaluation of, an examination, or
deliberately denies another student an equal
opportunity to perform at her/his best ability
on an examination or other academic work.
Other unethical behavior: Other instances of
unethical behavior may arise during your member-
ship in the Duquesne business school community.
For example, when engaged in an authorized group
assignment, you take credit for work completed by
another group member or fail to contribute your fair
share to the group process or project. These actions
disrespect others and/or fail to assume personal
responsibility, such as accepting a lower grade than
your group members since you failed to contribute
equally to the group’s efforts.
No Code of Ethical Behavior could cover all pos-
sible instances of unethical actions. When in doubt,
refer back to the core principles of respect, account-
ability, personal responsibility and trust that govern all
members of the community and their actions.
In addition, the Integrity Standards Committee
and Ethical Advocates (described next) are available
to serve the members of the Duquesne business
community and help ensure that an ethical envi-
ronment is maintained in the business schools.
Enforcing the code
When violations of ethical behavior occur
Researchers have found that punishment of
wrongdoing and awareness of sanctions against
wrongdoers are significant positive influences when
promoting ethical behavior in a community. To this
end, violations of this Code are subject to sanctions
imposed by the faculty member governing the stu-
dent(s) or the Integrity Standards Committee
(described later). In addition, any Duquesne business
student may appeal a decision or action taken by a
faculty member regarding violations of the Code to
the Integrity Standards Committee.
When a faculty member discovers an alleged
student violation of the Code, the faculty mem-
ber should meet with the student(s) to discuss the
allegation. The faculty member should also notify
39
her/his department chair and the appropriate Asso-
ciate Dean. After the alleged violator has been heard,
the faculty member may impose the sanction for the
ethical violation upon the student, in accordance
with the penalties described later in the Code. If the
violator is a repeat offender, the Associate Dean may
determine if a more severe penalty should be im-
posed, as discussed later.
If you observe a violation of the Code, you
have a responsibility to bring the incident to the
attention of the student who violated the Code.
You should advise the student to admit the
wrongdoing to the appropriate faculty member
immediately. If the student does not do so, then you
have an obligation to report the incident to the
appropriate faculty member or to an Ethics Advo-
cate (described below).
The Integrity Standards Committee Students, faculty
and administrators from the Duquesne business
schools are represented on the Integrity Standards
Committee. The committee consists of five mem-
bers, with two undergraduate business students, a
graduate business student, a business faculty member
and a business school administrator.
The undergraduate student representatives are
selected by the student members of the Dean’s
Student Advisory Council, the graduate student
representative is selected by the student members of
the Graduate Students’ Advisory Board, the business
faculty representative is selected by the Duquesne
business schools’ faculty, and the business school
administrator is selected by the Dean of the
Duquesne business schools.
Each member of the Integrity Standards Com-
mittee shall serve a one-year term, with continuous
service by an individual permitted if duly selected by
his or her membership group.
All members of the Integrity Standards Com-
mittee have an equal voice and vote in committee
decisions. A faculty member, other than the faculty
representative to the Committee, will serve as an ex
officio member of the Committee and chair of the
Committee.
The Integrity Standards Committee’s duties
consist of
(1) Facilitating a wide distribution of the Code
of Ethical Behavior to all segments of the
Duquesne business school communities.
40 James Weber
(2) Revising the Code periodically or as the
need arises.
(3) Investigating alleged claims of violations of
the Code.
(4) Providing a forum before which claims of
alleged violations of the Code can be heard.
(5) Ensuring that the confidentiality of the wit-
nesses appearing before the Committee with
alleged claims of ethical behavior violations
is maintained if possible.
(6) Deciding if the Code has been violated by a
majority vote by the Committee.
Sanctions for ethical violations The importance of
creating and enforcing sanctions against violators of
the Code of Ethical Behavior cannot be overem-
phasized. If the Code is violated, enforcement must
be fair and timely for the Code to continue to be a
viable factor in maintaining an ethical environment
at the Duquesne business schools.
In determining if a violation of the Code has
occurred, those assessing a student’s actions should
consider:
(1) The premeditation of the student in com-
mitting the alleged act.
(2) The apparent truthfulness of the student
when questioned by the faculty member or
the Committee in regards to the alleged
violation.
(3) The severity of the alleged violation.
In addition to the severity of the offense, the
frequency of the student violating the Code
affects the sanctions imposed. For example for a
first offense, the sanction or penalty might be an
‘‘F’’ on the assignment or examination, as
imposed by the faculty member involved in the
incident.
For a second or more severe offense, the violation
of the Code might warrant a stricter penalty, for
example an ‘‘F’’ for the course. If so, the faculty
member and faculty member’s department chair
should agree on the sanction. The student has the
right to appeal this decision to the School Standing
Committee. This committee reports to the Dean,
who has the final decision.
If the offense is so severe or the student has vio-
lated the Code so often, the appropriate sanction
could be expulsion from the university. If so, the
following actions must be taken. In accordance with
the University’s Academic Integrity Policy, if the
recommended offense is greater than failure of a
course, the matter is turned over to the University
Academic Integrity Committee. This committee
conducts a hearing and makes a recommendation to
the Provost. The Provost will implement the
Committee’s recommendation, unless the faculty
member or student involved in this situation appeals
the recommended action. After hearing any appeal,
the Provost must ratify, modify or suspend the rec-
ommended sanction.
To determine if there are repeated Code viola-
tions by the student, the faculty member should
inform the appropriate Associate Dean, who should
maintain records of all ethical violations by students
in his or her program.
Ethics Advocates In addition to the members of the
Integrity Standards Committee, a number of faculty
members and students are to be appointed by the
Dean of the Duquesne business schools to serve as
Ethics Advocates. Those who are Ethics Advocates
serve the Duquesne business schools’ community as
confidential resources. Students, faculty, staff or
administrators who have ethical issues they wish to
discuss may do so with an Ethics Advocate knowing
that their confidentiality will be protected to the
greatest extent possible.
Ethics Advocates are charged with the following
responsibilities:
• Providing confidential counsel to individuals
who believe they have witnessed an alleged
ethical violation.
• Discussing possible ethical violations
with members of the Integrity Standards
Committee as they deem warranted.
Notes
1
It is important to note that the required undergradu-
ate Business Ethics course pre-dates the launching of
the formal ethics initiative program since it was estab-
lished as a required course for all business students,
regardless of their major, in 1993; whereas, the ethics
initiative program was developed and introduced in
2002.
 Organizational Ethics Program in academic Environment
2
As the program enters its fourth year of existence,
the projected enrollment of 90 students after five years
is surpassed by the more than 230 students already en-
rolled in the program after three years.
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