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In the NYTimes.com, Alina Tugend writes about a new website www.EthicalSystems.org which will bring together research and resources on business ethics, a subject that is receiving more attention these days in the wake of scandals at Enron, Worldcom, and other places. Jonathan Haidt, a professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University's Leonard N. Stern School of Business, is one of the major figures behind this website. He feels there is the need for "a more psychologically realistic approach to business ethics."
One way to do this would be to have workers deal with problems before they occur like pilots who use flight simulators. Another path to ethical deliberation is Philip G. Zimbardo's "Heroic Imagination Project" which tests the ability of students to stand up for what they believe in and not to run away from difficult ethical situations.
In 1989, we created a Viewer's Guide to a ten-part PBS series called Ethics in America. We wrote in this educational campaign that "Ethics is what makes and keeps life human. As the headlines remind us, we do not always take the time to consciously consider our choices on how we could and should behave. Living an ethical life is like playing an instrument; it takes practice."