Omaha Groups Create Ethics Alliance

Conflicts of interest, generational disparity hot topics for university, business initiative

By James Hyatt 

Business and education leaders in Omaha, Neb., launched a community-wide initiative to create what they envision as a “world class center for Superior Business Ethics”—the Greater Omaha Alliance for Business Ethics at Creighton University.

“We have had an incredible and positive response from our area businesses,” says Beverly Kracher, chair of the alliance and Associate Professor of Business Ethics and Society at Creighton University’s College of Business Administration.

The Alliance conducts a variety of programs aimed at different audiences, starting with executive breakfasts for CEOs, presidents and chairs of companies; the first drew 24, the second, 53, and the most recent, 76 attendees.

Then there are networking lunches for directors and vice presidents—an opportunity to hear speakers as well as “share best practices and learn from each other,” she says.

Keith Darcy, executive director of the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, addressed both groups in September. The April speaker is Jane Miller, chief operating officer of the Gallup Organization, which had a major campus in Omaha.

And then there are business ethics dialogues aimed at the entire business community. Overall “our vision is to make it the case that Omaha is established as a center for business ethics and corporate citizenship,” Kracher says.

So what’s on the mind of the Omaha business community?

“Conflict of interest is a huge issue,” she says, and a topic frequently mentioned in surveys of organization ethics.

There’s also work under way to put up an ethics toolkit on the website, OmahaEthics.org, “to help companies infuse ethics into their business in a more formal way,” Kracher says.  She expects the material will be especially beneficial for small and medium-sized companies. “Leaders of small businesses are strong people with integrity, but they don’t know how to talk about” ethics issues, Kracher suggests.

Another area of concern involves generational differences among employees.  “People coming into the workforce today have different expectations about what work is all about, and what their responsibilities are. Years ago, everybody understood the same thing about responsibility, loyalty, time off. You can’t expect that any more.” And, Kracher adds, technology has changed “the way we do business,” raising issues involving privacy, ethics, and integrity.