ABOUT

The Georgetown Institute for the
Study of Markets & Ethics

The Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets & Ethics brings together the finest scholars and best teachers from different fields to advance understanding of the ethical issues inherent in the market society. The institute's mission is to:

Produce high-quality research on matters related to the ethics of markets and the ethical challenges individuals encounter when functioning in the market environment.

Develop courses and pedagogical tools to advance the teaching of professional ethics and the exploration of the moral foundation of the market society.

Create externally oriented programs designed both to educate the broader, non-academic community about ethical issues related to the functioning of markets and bring ethical considerations to bear on policy decisions regarding the regulation of markets.

The institute's comprehensive approach to the study of markets and ethics extends beyond the exploration of ethical questions related to businesspeople functioning in the organizational setting to include issues surrounding law and law enforcement policy and the pressures of conducting business in a political environment with rules that are subject to change.

Headquartered at Georgetown's McDonough School of Business, the institute's fellows are drawn from all divisions of Georgetown University. Its projects are designed to bring insight from business ethics, law, political science, public policy, and economics to the ethical issues endemic to the market society.

Research

The Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets and Ethics (GISME) supports research exploring ethical issues related to market activity. GISME research activities include:

  1. Symposia that explore specific topics in depth;

  2. A faculty research workshop in which scholars from around the country present their latest research;

  3. An executive speaker series in which CEOs and high-level executives present their views on the ethical issues that face businesspeople in the contemporary marketplace; and

  4. A current research workshop in which drafts of new works concerning the ethics of markets are closely examined by invited scholars.

Pedagogy and Teaching

Teaching business ethics in an effective way is difficult. Courses that focus on abstract philosophical ethics employ terminology and methodology that are not familiar or useful to most business students. Courses that employ the strictly empirical methodology of the social sciences lack a normative core and tend to produce students who confuse right and wrong with whatever is fashionable. 

At the McDonough School of Business, we have developed a method of teaching business ethics through experiential learning that is truly normative, communicated in terms readily understood by business students, and involves actual ethical decision-making on the part of the students. We have found that our approach results in students becoming more invested in the course and more committed to successfully resolving the ethical issues that confront them in a business environment.

Each year, we sponsor a Workshop on Teaching Professional Ethics through Experiential Learning: The Georgetown Approach. The workshop is designed to acquaint those who will be teaching business ethics with the new techniques we have developed and train those who are interested in how to use them in an integrated manner to create a highly effective business ethics course.