April 11, 2008

Professor Tamar Frankel publishes book: Trust and Honesty in the Real World

With cracks in American business’ ethics emerging in major scandals, it seems Professor Tamar Frankel’s new course book is just what the nation ordered. Frankel’s latest book, Trust and Honestly in the Real World (Fathom Publishing Company 2007), co-written with Kennedy School Senior Fellow Mark Fagan, is an interdisciplinary teaching book that focuses on case studies that affect students of law, business and public policy. 

“The real world does not separate the disciplines as we do for educational purposes,” said Frankel of her first interdisciplinary work, which cites readings from her last work, Trust and Honesty, America’s Business Culture at a Crossroad (Oxford University Press 2006).

The book is divided into several modules that revolve around case studies drawn from actual business experience.  Each module uses role plays to allow students to act out real life situations and test their ideas.

“The cases that describe the facts in detail, as well as the role plays, help students better sense the issues—the difficult issues,” said Frankel.  “This approach is important to avoid some of the horrendous shocks to our financial system and the economy that we have been witnessing in both business and law. We are educating leaders in law and in business, and they should experience far more sensitivity to issues that this course raises.”

Frankel said she began writing this book based on several questions that drove her, like when does an exaggeration become a lie and how do such scandals affect our culture. 

"Do we really want to live in a culture where everyone assumes that the other is a crook? If we do not, then we should learn about what is happening to us and do something about it,” she said.

Frankel is a Michaels Faculty Research Scholar and Professor of Law at BU Law.  She has been a member of the faculty since 1968.

>>View more on Professor Tamar Frankel’s publications

Reported by Elizabeth Ress