Neil Doughty, director of the NIU College of Business’ Building Ethical Leaders Using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF) Program, is passionate about preparing students to face — and not back down from — ethical challenges in their careers.
“New employees may be pressured by others to engage in any or all of these unethical activities. If they feel this might be happening, how can they best respond given the power imbalance due to their status as new employees?” Doughty said. “I suggest they ask for help from superiors. Tell them they are concerned that an activity they are being asked to perform may harm the company. Ask for help in that nonaccusatory way and weigh the response. Ultimately, it may be necessary to leave a company if it has an unethical culture. Better to find another job than be associated with them.”
Our College of Business launched BELIEF in 2006 and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has called it a model program. All College of Business courses include an ethics element, and you’ll learn the BELIEF decision-making framework in core courses. While every ethical dilemma is unique, you can evaluate each situation with the BELIEF handbook (PDF) or wallet-sized decision card. Both outline a multistep decision-making process and suggest a dozen different “tests” you can use to evaluate the ethics of various options.
The lessons students learn from these ethical tests are from consistently given examples of boundary-pushing scenarios that can challenge businesspeople.
After three years in BELIEF Week presentations, Leaders in Ethics and Academic Discipline (LEAD), attending multiple Huskies Ethics Awareness Talks and other ethics events, senior Edith Escorza has been reminded of the importance of remaining an ethical individual and maintaining a clean professional reputation.
“Being ethical is necessary to be successful in your professional career,” said Escorza, who is a former LEAD president and majoring in business management. “As a future human resources professional, ethics will always play a relevant role in my career because remaining ethical will help me reinforce credibility and earn the trust of those working around me. Also, maintaining simple but constant ethical standards such as transparency and honesty will help me create a positive workplace environment that everyone wants to be a part of.”
Nyla Owens came to NIU as a transfer student and has had a meaningful experience participating in BELIEF and LEAD.
“Being able to go on my first case competition in spring 2025 was great,” said Owens, who is majoring in business management. “I have learned there is never a right or wrong answer with ethics. As long as you go with your gut and what you think is right, backed up with evidence, then it’ll be all good. While some may think ethics is boring, I think it’s fascinating and I’m going to continue to evaluate it the rest of my life.”
Owens shared that ethics and LEAD have made her reflect on her own choices and the choices of those around her.
“[Ethics education] has made me pay more attention to detail and evaluating different patterns,” she said.
Marketing senior Katrina Rath has been able to connect her experiences to her coursework, which has deepened her understanding of ethical decision-making.
“Engaging in real-world growth scenarios, I feel better prepared to navigate complex ethical challenges in my future career and workplace thanks to LEAD.”
To learn more about our BELIEF Program, go to go.niu.edu/BELIEFProgram.
