Indiana State University Newsroom

Max E. Douglas, professor of management in Indiana State University's College of Business, understands the importance of business ethics in today's corporate world. He recently shared his expertise with the presentation "Business Ethics: Key Steps to Building a Culture of Integrity."

Douglas was an invited guest speaker during the Edward Jones Continuing Professional Education Seminar, held on the campus of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. He offered audience members a set of steps for establishing an ethical corporate culture.

"These steps are not a quick fix or a cure all for the complexities of ethical decision making, but at least they provide a map to help guide all employees," Douglas said.

The steps included: establishing a code of ethics, providing ethics training, hiring employees who emulate integrity, appointing a chief ethics officer, conducting and publishing a corporate social responsibility audit and establishing a whistle blowing policy.

Douglas concluded his remarks with a challenge to the audience.

"I suggest that corporate leaders adopt servant leadership as their guiding philosophy," Douglas said. "Simply put, servant leadership is based on the principle of 'service to others before self.'"

Douglas earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Ball State University, and his doctorate from Indiana University. He joined the ISU faculty in 1968 where he has taught a variety of courses including leadership and organizational change, small business management/entrepreneurship and corporate citizenship. During his 40 year teaching career at ISU, Douglas received the first Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Business and the university's Caleb Mills Distinguished Teaching Award. In 1996, he was appointed as a teaching fellow at the ISU Center for Teaching and Learning and was selected as a member of the Presidential Teaching Scholars Community in the spring of 2000.

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