15.270  Ethical Practice (H2)

Final Grades and Papers

Hi Class,

An update for you regarding final grades and papers. First, the grades have been posted to the your Websis accounts, so you should be able to access them at this point. Accordingly, your final papers have been graded and should be in your folders by the close of business tomorrow (Thursday 5/24) afternoon. Feel free to reach out to your grader (signed at the end of each paper) if you'd like additional feedback.

We hope finals have ended up well for everyone! Again, it was our pleasure to work with you this semester. Thanks again for all of your input and thoughts.

Have a good night,
Greg

Announced on 23 May 2012  3:55  p.m. by Greg Zielinski

Slides, NYT Article

Hi everyone,

Two quick announcements:
- Professor Hafrey's slides from class today have been posted. They are in the materials tab all the way at the bottom beyond the study questions. Feel free to reference them for your papers.
- We wanted to share this article from the New York Times' Magazine a week ago. It is written by one of the founders of NPR's "Planet Money", and he discusses his interviews and work with one of Mitt Romney's former partners at Bain Capital. The title of the article is "The Purpose of Spectacular Wealth, From a Spectacularly Wealthy Guy".
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/magazine/romneys-former-bain-partner-makes-a-case-for-inequality.html?emc=eta1

Have a good night!
Greg

Announced on 14 May 2012  5:42  p.m. by Greg Zielinski

Further Singapore Discussion

Hi Class,

A little more background on the current situation in Singapore, thanks to Julian.

Today, the country is in another phase of transition, where the tensions of economic success and a more globally aware citizenry rub up against the Confucian values that had brought us here. It is a journey that is causing significant soul searching within the government and civil society. The following article from the Washington Post reflects some of these challenges we face today:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/singapores-next-frontier/2012/05/09/gIQA9v7jCU_story_2.html

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead! Take care and see you Monday,
Greg

Announced on 10 May 2012  12:01  p.m. by Greg Zielinski

A Few More NPR Stories

Good Evening Everyone,

Some good content was generated from the last email about campaign finance reform, so a few folks have sent in a couple more stories and articles for your enjoyment. Thanks for all the activity on this!

- From Navin S., Kevin H. and Bo: another take on the story about Tobey Groves, the gentleman you met in Gautham's podcast from a few nights before.
http://www.npr.org/2012/05/01/151764534/psychology-of-fraud-why-good-people-do-bad-things
- From Matt Lieber (full disclosure, a former NPR employee): It's an interview from this morning, in the wake of the Wal Mart bribery scandal, with the General Counsel of Siemens. Siemens had its own pervasive culture of bribery in the early 2000's, and the GC talks about the specific changes they made to the organizational culture. http://www.npr.org/2012/05/01/151745671/companies-can-recovery-from-bribery-scandals

Have a good night! See you tomorrow,
Greg

Announced on 01 May 2012  9:56  p.m. by Greg Zielinski

Campaign Finance Reform

Hi Class,

After our conversation yesterday, Charles Shieh found some great resources from NPR discussing campaign finance reform a bit further. They shed some light into lobbies and more importantly campaign financing and how business + politics are tied at the hip.

Planet Money interviews a prominent lobbyist:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/11/01/141913370/the-tuesday-podcast-inside-washingtons-money-machine

This American Life on Campaign Financing:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/461/take-the-money-and-run-for-office

See you all tomorrow! Take care,
Greg

Announced on 01 May 2012  2:51  p.m. by Greg Zielinski