COVER It: A Comprehensive Framework for Guiding Students Through Ethical Dilemmas

• Author: Jennifer M. Mitchell,Eric D. Yordy
• Date: 01 February 2010
• Published date: 01 February 2010
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2010.01067.x

COVER It: A Comprehensive

Framework for Guiding Students

Through Ethical Dilemmas

Jennifer M. Mitchell

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and Eric D. Yordy

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I. INTRODUCTION

In October 2008, just days after the federal government gave millions of

dollars to insurance giant AIG to bail the company out of financial crisis, a

commentator for the Washington Post noted that several executives from an

AIG subsidiary spent nearly $450,000 on a week-long retreat at a resort in

California.

1

If the comments to the online Post blog reflect the thoughts of

the average American, people were not shocked by the behavior, but

rather expect this sort of behavior from business leaders. One post in par-

ticular states, ‘‘HOW DARE THEY! We bail out these companies and they

don’t learn.’’

2

Yet business educators believe that they can learn if they are given

tools to help them recognize or prevent an ethical lapse in their organi-

zation. As Marianne Jennings of Arizona State University recently wrote,

‘‘We [instructors] want our students to leave our classes with something

that they cannot shake . . . . We strive to introduce some cognitive disso-

r2010 The Authors

Journal compilation r2010 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

35

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 27, Issue 1, 35–60, Winter/Spring 2010

n

Lecturer, The W. A. Franke College of Business, Northern Arizona University.

nn

Associate Dean and Assistant Professor of Practice, The W. A. Franke College of Business,

Northern Arizona University.

Special thanks to our colleagues at the Pacific Southwest Academyof L egal Studies in Business

for thoughtful reviews and advice.

1

Derek Kravitz, AIG Executive Retreat Irks Lawmakers, Washington Post Investigations

Blog, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/10/after_bailout_

aig_execs_took_4.html (Oct. 7, 2008). The AIG situation is just one of many examples of

problematic business behavior during the past decade.

2

Pam Zirolli, Comment, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/

10/after_bailout_aig_execs_took_4.html (Oct. 7, 2008 (7:24 pm)).

nance that stays with them and haunts them a bit when they are asked to do

something in their business careers that probably crosses a line or two.’’

3

Supporting this statement, David Gebler, an ethics consultant, adds ‘‘Most

unethical behavior is not done for personal gain, it’s done to meet per-

formance goals.’’

4

One of the goals of the model described in this article is

to create a greater ability to recognize the negative aspects of making un-

ethical decisions.

To this end, we developed an ethical decision-making model to aid

students through the process of analyzing these situationsFa model that is

easy to remember and apply. Through this model, the COVER model,

students apply several ethical theories to analyze ethical dilemmas and

come to decisions that are well informed and defensible. The COVER

model is intended to lead students through a decision-making process. It is

a tool to help students recognize and analyze ethical dilemmas. Ultimately,

it is designed to help them make better decisions for themselves and their

organizations.

The COVER model coincides with the recommendations of the Eth-

ics Education Task Force of the American Association of Colleges and

Schools of Business (AACSB) International:

Regardless of the terminology or particular features, the central purpose be-

hind understanding and applying [ethics] frameworks lies in giving students

the tools they need to identify and think through ethical issues. Above all, they

learn what questions should be askedFof themselves and othersFand what

factors need to be considered in their decision-making.

5

This article reviews the literature on teaching ethics, including the idea

that ethics can be taught and the manner in which ethics should be taught.

It looks at recent journal articles proposing ethical teaching tools as well as

the treatment of ethics in recent business textbooks, including legal envi-

ronment and business law texts. The article continues by introducing the

COVER model of ethical decision making, using an ethical dilemma from a

Legal Environment of Business class as an example throughout. Finally,

the article addresses the assessment of the model as a viable and valuable

3

Marianne Jennings, On Staying with Our Students,26J.LEGAL STUD.EDUC. 241 (2009).

4

LYNN BREWER ET AL., MANAGING RISKS FOR CORPORATE INTEGRITY:HOW TO SURVIVE AN ETHICAL

MISCONDUCT DISASTER 57 (2006).

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ASSOCIATION TO ADVANCE COLLEGIATE SCHOOLS OF BUSINESS ETHICS EDUCATION TASK FORCE,

ETHICS EDUCATION IN BUSINESS SCHOOLS 113 ( June 2004).

36 Vol. 27 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education