I love this

[tim]

"Attempting to improve corporate ethics is probably hopeless as well.... The reason is simple: moral self-selection. In the United States, people are free to choose whatever careers they want. Those who care little about money become soldiers, teachers, artists, and librarians. Those who desire personal wealth are drawn to business. As a result, our large corporations are staffed almost entirely by people who are more vulnerable to the lure of money, and potentially more at risk of committing fraud to achieve it, than ordinary Americans." -- John Kroger, Convictions

Comments

[miang]

I agree with that last line but disagree with the premise stated in the opening. One of my consulting gigs in grad school was with a woman in the B-school studying reporting fraud (usually tax or stocks); she seemed to think it's possible to convince people that it's in their own financial best interest to report honestly (and to design systems around that principle), and she had at least preliminary data to back it up. I think that's a better approach to take, even if it's equally or more cynical, than writing off the wealth-seekers as ethically hopeless even if their priorities aren't where we might prefer.

[tim]

I'm glad people are doing work like what your client was doing, and I hope it works out well, but I think in any profession, there are always going to be moral dilemmas where it's simply not in your direct interest to do what's right, even if some situations in which the two appear to be in conflict really aren't.