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Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
The Migration Toward Ethical Decision Making
as a Core Course Into the B-School: Instructional
Strategies and Approaches for Consideration
Johnathan Nelson , Lola B. Smith & Clifford Steven Hunt
To cite this article: Johnathan Nelson , Lola B. Smith & Clifford Steven Hunt (2014) The
Migration Toward Ethical Decision Making as a Core Course Into the B-School: Instructional
Strategies and Approaches for Consideration, Journal of Education for Business, 89:1, 49-56,
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.749205
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2012.749205
Published online: 13 Dec 2013.
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ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.749205
The Migration Toward Ethical Decision Making
as a Core Course Into the B-School: Instructional
Strategies and Approaches for Consideration
Johnathan Nelson, Lola B. Smith, and Clifford Steven Hunt
Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, USA
Many academicians are asking the following question: “Are we ill-preparing our business
students if we fail to offer future business professionals the opportunity to engage in a greater
understanding of the ethical decision making process?” The authors provide a current review
of the literature on the state of ethics education in business curricula, as well as a detailed
justification and rationale for incorporating ethical concepts as a core course in business school
programs. They conclude with a wealth of resources, approaches, and instructional strategies
to help develop a culture of integrity, inclusive of simulations, articles, cases, role-playing, and
presentations.
Keywords:
business curriculum, business education, business ethics, ethical behavior,
instruc-tional strategies
When Edwin Gay founded the Harvard Business School in
1908, he proclaimed the purpose of business was to do both
“well and good” (Beer, 2011). Such a methodology indicates
the need for business persons to do well for the company and
shareholders by making an honest profit; it also includes a
caveat that business must be conducted in a manner that also
does good for society. Such a mission statement encompasses
a multiplicity of business ethics considerations and points
to the need to incorporate all aspects of strong and ethical
decision making.
But what is ethics? Some may say it is a requirement
for human life, a way to organize our goals so that we can
demonstrate our core values. Yet while it is generally agreed
that “all people recognize some common ethical norms,
dif-ferent individuals interpret, apply, and balance these norms
in different ways in light of their own values and life
ex-periences” (Resnik, 2011, para. 3). However, taken to this
extreme, this perspective suggests each individual has their
own unique moral principles that they should not seek to
impose on others. As such, multiple authors suggest Trevi˜no
and Nelson’s (2011) definition of ethics, where they define
ethics as “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct
governing an individual or group” (p. 17). Thus, while the
Correspondence should be addressed to Johnathan Nelson, Morehead State University, School of Business Administration, Combs Building 313B, Morehead, KY 40351, USA. E-mail: j.nelson@moreheadstate.edu
bottom line in business may often be to make money or go
bust, this definition highlights that there are guidelines
re-lated to ethical conduct that society expects employers and
employees to be guided by in their pursuit of profit. As such,
being ethical is not necessarily the same as following the law
(Velasquez, Andre, Shanks, & Meyer, 2010).
Today’s business leaders, in a continued expansion of
Gay’s ideas (see Beer, 2011), must make collective decisions
which impact events around the globe, not to mention
influ-encing the quality of life for many persons. So, as business
ed-ucators, it is necessary to ask: “Are professors letting business
students down if they do not offer students the opportunity
to engage in a greater understanding of the ethical decision
making process?” The answer appears to be yes, given recent
findings of the Institute of Business Ethics indicate only 20%
of human resources professionals believe business students
are “adequately knowledgeable about business ethics”
(Insti-tute of Business Ethics, 2011). To improve such statistics, it
appears that business schools must do a better job in
provid-ing business students with the opportunity to escalate their
awareness about what it means to do business ethically, as
well as how to conduct business in such a manner. Such an
approach, at the very least, signals students that ethics has,
or should have, a high priority in business practices.
In this article, we include a review of the literature, which
contains justification and rationale for incorporating
ethi-cal concepts as a core course in business school
instruc-tional strategies. We also include examples of approaches and
50
J. NELSON ET AL.instructional strategies to help develop a culture of integrity,
inclusive of simulations, cases, role-playing, and
presenta-tions. Such activities give a voice to values (Gentile, 2010)
and help students better understand the impact of choices
they must make.
THE STATE OF ETHICS IN MANAGEMENT
EDUCATION
Greater emphasis is being placed on business ethics in
man-agement education. This is in large part due to ethics scandals
such as Enron, Tyco, the 2008 Financial Crisis, the desire of
organizations to employ people of integrity, and business
education accreditation requirements placing an increased
emphasis on ethics (Wankel & Stachowicz-Stanusch, 2011).
Many of the leaders involved in these ethics scandals were
educated in business schools, causing some scholars to argue
that business schools are at least partly responsible for these
events; either for not fully preparing students to handle
ethi-cal issues (Ghoshal, 2005), or worse, for promoting unethiethi-cal
behavior in the business curriculum (Gioia, 2003). However,
business education has also been viewed as an essential part
of the solution (Ashforth, Gioia, Robinson, & Trevi˜no, 2008).
From this view, educators can work to prevent future ethical
lapses by more effectively addressing ethics in the business
curriculum. In this section we describe factors that
influ-ence whether ethics is covered and approaches for integrating
ethics into the business curriculum.
Factors Influencing the Integration of Ethics
Into Business Curricula
Despite an increased general emphasis on ethics in
busi-ness education, busibusi-ness schools vary widely in how ethics
is actually integrated into the curriculum (Evans & Marcal,
2005; Evans, Trevi˜no, & Weaver, 2006; Rutherford, Parks,
Cavazos, & White, 2012). Recently, research has examined
factors influencing the decision to include ethics as part of
the required curriculum at the master of business
adminis-tration (MBA) and undergraduate levels. Based on a review
of MBA programs in the United States, Evans et al. (2006)
observed that ethics courses were more likely to be included
in the MBA curriculum for those programs rated as more
prestigious, that had a religious affiliation, and that had a
relatively large percentage of management and marketing
faculty members. These findings appear to largely hold true
at the undergraduate level as well. In examining factors
con-tributing to the decision to require ethics in the undergraduate
curriculum, Rutherford et al. (2012) observed that private
in-stitutions and programs with a religious affiliation were more
likely to require ethics as part of the business curriculum for
undergraduates. Thus, it appears that institutional forces are
an important influence on the decision to include ethics as
part of the undergraduate and MBA business curriculum.
Additionally, Rutherford et al. also found evidence for the
importance of characteristics of the business school’s
lead-ership. They observed that required ethics curriculum was
more likely in colleges of business that had deans who were
women or had a background in the area of management.
Taken together, this research has begun to shed light on
some of the specific reasons that ethics is becoming a part
of the required business curriculum. However, while it
ap-pears that ethics is increasingly included as required
cur-riculum, Rutherford et al. (2012) observed that only about
25% of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of
Business–accredited schools in the United States currently
include a stand-alone ethics course as part of the required
curriculum. Additionally, to date, educators do not yet have
an adequate understanding of the effectiveness of ethics
cur-riculum on ethical behavior. For example, Evans et al. (2006)
noted that ethics could be integrated across functional areas
rather than a stand-alone course. However, they noted that
there is little consensus on the long-term effectiveness of
either approach on managerial ethical behavior.
Effectiveness of Business Ethics Curriculum
In a recent meta-analysis of the influence of individual and
organizational factors on ethical decision making,
Kish-Gephart, Harrison, and Trevi˜no (2010) did not find evidence
to support a relationship between education level and
un-ethical choices. As such, this finding appears to support the
argument of Trevi˜no and Brown (2004) that even educated
adults require further guidance in the workplace in regards to
their ethical behavior and decision making. While this
find-ing focused on general educational level and not on ethics
education per se, Kish-Gephart et al. (2010) argued that this
should be disconcerting to academic instructors and raises the
possibility that educators have not adequately contributed to
the ethical development of students.
This same concern is raised by the results of another
meta-analysis examining the influence of business ethics
in-struction where the effect of ethics education on the ethics
of students and business people was small (Waples, Antes,
Murphy, Connelly, & Mumford, 2009). However, they
em-phasized that there is great variability in the effectiveness
of ethics education. Waples et al. argued that their
analy-sis of specific attributes of ethics education as moderators
indicate “that there are several key considerations—some
of which may enhance the effectiveness of business ethics
instruction—to take into account prior to designing,
deliv-ering, and evaluating business ethics instruction” (p. 146).
They highlighted a number of course design decisions
appli-cable at the undergraduate level. For example, based on their
meta-analysis they suggested that ethics curriculum should
include a case-based instructional approach with
opportuni-ties for active learning and application on the part of students.
While the research described herein is somewhat dismal
in regard to the influence of education on ethical behavior, we
believe first and foremost that it suggests educators need to
do more to contribute to the ethical development of students.
Indeed, the authors believe that there is a silver lining in this
research indicating that while it may be difficult to develop
ethics in students, proactive and carefully designed ethics
interventions can be influential. Indeed, early work on moral
cognitive development found that carefully designed training
increased moral reasoning (Thoma & Rest, 1986).
Addition-ally, there is meta-analytic evidence that ethics curriculum
with the appropriate design features does positively influence
ethics in students and professionals (Waples et al., 2009).
Additionally, it appears that a carefully designed stand-alone
ethics courses as part of the required business curriculum can
provide desired outcomes in regards to ethics (Evans et al.,
2006). Here we present instructional strategies to help
pro-grams implement stand-alone ethics courses as part of the
undergraduate curriculum. We hope that future researchers
will continue to shed more light on the effectiveness of
in-structional elements to further guide such efforts.
Presently there is only limited research on the
effective-ness of specific ethics course design elements (Evans et al.,
2006; Waples et al., 2009) to guide curriculum decisions.
However, Warren, Sampson, and McFee (2011) conducted
structured interviews with administration members of 70
top ranked business schools (MBA) according to
Business
Week
’s 2006 rankings to begin to investigate ethics in the
business curriculum. They observed that 40% of the
pro-grams they investigated included a required ethics or law
course. They observed that there was great variety in the
ac-tual approaches to teaching ethics; programs varied in the
degree to which they included experiential learning (19%),
student learning projects (19%), speakers (4%), and
simu-lations (2%) as part of the ethics instruction. In line with
the other research described herein, it was observed that a
majority of administrators (59%) acknowledged a need for
greater coverage of the ethics in their curriculum.
As we have described, ethics can be incorporated as a
stand-alone ethics course in a number of different ways. Such
approaches can address not only moral reasoning, an
under-standing of the psychological and situational influences on
ethical behavior, and philosophical ethical theories, but also
the development of efficacy beliefs for ethics management
(Nelson, Poms, & Wolf, 2012). Thus, instructors of
stand-alone ethics courses are left with a number of different course
design choices. While it is noted that much research is needed
in order to better address the effectiveness of specific course
design choices, we offer some suggestions here, based on
our collective experience, to help guide ethics instructors in
making these course design decisions.
INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES AND
APPROACHES FOR INCORPORATING
BUSINESS ETHICS
Ethical decision making is quite abstract in scope, so if one
is to engage students in this process there is a need to
illus-trate such choices in more concrete terms. Ethics in and of
itself is an exploration of both problem evasion and
prob-lem solving. In this regard, narratives, such as case studies,
movies, or role-playing, present a venue to ask the following
problem-prevention or problem-solving questions: “To begin
with, what could have been done to avoid this situation?” or
“What might have been done to correct this situation once it
emerged?”
Books and Articles
The most obvious narrative teaching tool is one that is text
based. The literature review demonstrates many authors have
sought to define and identify ethical principles. As a result,
numerous books and countless articles have been written on
the subject of business ethics in terms of fostering personal
integrity and social responsibility. So, finding the best text
for a particular set of business students would greatly depend
on the context of that course. However, the authors have
sug-gested a mere sampling of related texts that provide business
students with a solid understanding of basic business-related
ethical conflicts (see Appendix A).
Case Studies
Narratives of events, people, or experiences can readily be
found in clinical case studies, which usually involve a strong
analysis of a person, industry, or company by focusing on
evolving factors for that episode in relation to a specific
con-text. Business schools, such as Harvard, Stanford, and others
frequently use the case study method within their curricula.
See Appendix B for a sampling of relevant ethics-related case
studies as well as a tool called Case Analysis Coach for use
in developing a framework for analysis and synthesis of key
information.
Role-Playing and Simulations
In role-playing, a student assumes the character of another
person, (usually in a fictionalized setting), within
struc-tured guidelines related to specific content knowledge.
Role-playing can readily facilitate business students’ grasp of
real-world ethical challenges, such as reflecting on a
situ-ation where one might harm other people in order to fulfill
an individual’s own responsibility. For media-related
exam-ples of ethics role-playing, see Columbia University’s (1989)
Seminars on Media and Society (Appendix C). Engagement
in such tasks as simulating entrepreneurial/management
ne-gotiations, finance nene-gotiations, and/or confronting
leader-ship issues can better equip students to deal with real-life
business dilemmas. Moreover, these active participation
sce-narios can aid a student’s understanding of conscious or
unconscious biases that frequently intrude on ethical
de-cision making (Banaji, Bazerman, & Chugh, 2003).
Tech-nologically driven simulations can also train students to
52
J. NELSON ET AL.improve their professional business ethics understanding
(see Appendix C).
Multimedia
Multimedia use is another form of narrative, and these
mir-rors of ourselves, whether based on actual accounts or
fic-titious ones can teach a great deal about ethical
business-decision making. In today’s society, perceptions of what is
considered ethical behavior (what is right, fair, or
benefit-ing society) can so easily become warped (greed, fraud, or
corruption) that learning how to deal with these disorienting
forces can be challenging. There is tremendous power in the
moving image to change lives and to shape society. As such,
a retrospective of films and other multimedia mirrors that
in-vestigate principled business-related issues in society would
present business students with a great opportunity to reflect
on some of these life-defining concerns. Moreover, research
indicates that utilizing visual narratives increase students’
interest and help focus their attention, as well as aid in
re-tention of key information (Gilakjani, 2012). See Appendix
D for a sampling of recent multimedia concerning ethical
dilemmas.
SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In this article, we have provided a literature review
illus-trating the rationale for incorporating ethical concepts as a
core course in Business school instructional strategies.
Ex-amples of approaches and instructional strategies, such as
case studies, multimedia, and role-playing and simulations,
have also been put forth to stimulate the moral imagination
and elicit a sense of honorable responsibility. These methods
have been identified as a means to aid business educators in
moving forth from merely talking about ethics, to
incorpo-rating learning processes that foster greater discussion and
reflection on the complexities of the human condition. After
all, “there are ethical decisions for which knowledgeable,
well-meaning, rational, human beings cannot agree on the
best course of action,” (Brinkman & Sanders, 2013, p. 1).
Only by empowering our students with such instruction can
educators hope to imbue them with stronger ethical
decision-making capabilities.
REFERENCES
Ashforth, B. E., Gioia, D. A., Robinson, S. L., & Trevi˜no, L. K. (2008). Re-viewing organizational corruption.Academy of Management Review, 33, 670–684. doi: 10.5465/AMR.2008.32465714
Banaji, M. R., Bazerman, M. H., & Chugh, D. (2003).How (un)ethical are you?Harvard Business Review,81, 56–64.
Beer, M. (2011, November). MBA programs are failing in ethics: Busi-ness schools need a higher ambition.Bloomberg Businessweek.Retrieved
from http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2011/11/mba programs are failing in ethics.html
Brinkman, B., & Sanders, A. (2013).Ethics in a computing culture. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Evans, F. J., & Marcal, L. E. (2005). Educating for ethics: Business deans’ perspectives.Business and Society Review,110, 233–248. Re-trieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN% 291467–8594
Evans, J. M., Trevi˜no, L. K., & Weaver, G. R. (2006). Who’s in the ethics driver’s seat? Factors influencing ethics in the MBA curricu-lum.Academy of Management Learning & Education,5, 278–293. doi: 10.5465/AMLE.2006.22697017
Gentile, M. C. (2010).Giving voice to values: How to speak your mind when you know what’s right. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good
man-agement practices.Academy of Management Learning & Education,4, 75–91. doi: 10.5465/AMLE.2005.16132558
Gilakjani, A. P. (2012). Visual, auditory, kinesthetic learning styles and their impacts on English language teaching.Journal of Studies in Education, 2, 104–113. doi:10.5296/jse.v2i1.1007
Gioia, D. A. (2003). Teaching teachers to teach corporate governance differently. Journal of Management & Governance, 7, 255–262. Re-trieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/1385–3457?MUD=
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Institute of Business Ethics. (2011, November 7).Call for business ed-ucation to integrate ethics into its core curriculum. Retrieved from http://www.ibe.org.uk/index.asp?upid=30&msid=4
Kish-Gephart, J. J., Harrison, D., & Trevi˜no, L. K. (2010). Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: Meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work.Journal of Applied Psychology,95, 1–31. doi:10.1037/a0017103
Nelson, J. K., Poms, L. W., & Wolf, P. P. (2012). Developing efficacy beliefs for ethics and diversity management.Academy of Management Learning & Education,11, 49–68. doi:10.5465/amle.2009.00115
Resnik, D. B. (2011). What is ethics in research & why is it im-portant? Retrieved from http://www.niehs.nih.gov/research/resources/ bioethics/whatis/
Rutherford, M. A., Parks, L., Cavazos, D. E., & White, C. D. (2012). Business ethics as a required course: Investigating the factors im-pacting the decision to require ethics in the undergraduate curricu-lum.Academy of Management Learning & Education,11, 174–186. doi:10.5465/amle.2011.0039
Thoma, S. J., & Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral judgment, behavior, decision making, and attitudes. In J. R. Rest (Ed.),Moral development: Advances in research and theory(pp. 133–175). New York, NY: Praeger. Trevi˜no, L. K., & Brown, M. E. (2004). Managing to be ethical:
Debunk-ing five business ethics myths.Academy of Management Executive,18, 69–81. doi: 10.5465/AME.2004.13837400
Trevi˜no, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011).Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right(5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Velasquez, M., Andre, C., Shanks, T., & Meyer, M. (2010). What is ethics? Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/ decision/whatisethics.html
Wankel, C., & Stachowicz-Stanusch, A. (2011). Management education for integrity; transcending amoral business curricula. In C. Wankel & A. Stachowicz-Stanusch (Eds.),Management education for integrity: Ethi-cally educating tomorrow’s business leaders(pp. 3–14). Bingley, Eng-land: Emerald Group.
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Warren, B., Sampson, S. D., & McFee, E. (2011). Business schools: Ethics, assurance of learning, and the future.Organization Management Journal, 8, 41–58. doi:10.1057/omj.2011.5
APPENDIX A: A Sampling of Related Books and Articles
Ethics in a Computing Culture,by B. Brinkman & A. F. Sanders (2013). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.$90.95; available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble
This text looks at how computing is changing who people are and the professional ethics of computing professions, and issues of trust, safety, reliability, and the transfer of intellectual and intangible property. It addresses concerns of vulnerable groups within the computing community.
Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, by O.C. Ferrell, J. Fraedrich, & L. Ferrell (2013). Mason, OH: South-Western.$54.49; available at Cengage Brain
This text provides an introduction to ethical issues in organizations, the ethical decision making process, and business ethics in a global economy. It includes a number of cases highlighting important ethical issues for students to consider.
The Business Ethics Workshop, by J. Brusseau (2012). Flatworldknowledge.com. Printed version$34.95, e-version $24.95; available at
http://catalog.flatworldknowledge.com/catalog/editions/66
This text includes case studies with excerpts taken from
contemporary blogs and newspapers. The topics lean heavily on bridging the gap between staid discussions of problems faced by IBM executives in the 1980’s to stories that relate to students’ experiences and workplace interests. The topics are designed to incite class discussion.
Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Business Ethics and Society(12th ed.), by L. H. Newton, E. E. Englehardt, & M. Pritchard (2012). New York: McGraw-Hill.$33.75; available at Course Smart
This text offers opposing viewpoints on a number of contemporary business ethics issues. These readings can be used to frame and help students prepare for class debates and discussions on these issues.
Ethical Breakdowns, by M. H. Bazerman, & A. E. Tenbrunsel (2011).Harvard Business Review, 89(4), 58–65; available at Research Gate:
http://www.researchgate.net/researcher/4609503 Max H Bazerman
Companies are spending time and money to install codes of ethics, ethics training, compliance programs, and in-house watchdogs. Yet unethical behavior continues to occur. This article examines psychological processes that contribute to unethical behavior, and focuses on actions to circumvent these influences. An Introduction to Business Ethics(4th ed.), by J. DesJardins
(2011). New York: McGraw-Hill.$39.25; available at Course Smart
This text focuses on ethical reasoning and critical analysis. It covers a wide range of contemporary business ethics issues relevant for managers and organizations.
Honest Work: A Business Ethics Reader, by J. B. Ciulla, C. Martin, & R. C. Solomon (2010). Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.$58.81; available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
The main focus is that “business ethics” is about the ethics of individuals.. Includes topics on marketing, privacy, protection of personal information, and intellectual property issues. This book features 103 articles and 80 cases concerning such topics as honesty and trust in the work place, whistle blowing, product liability, finance and environmental ethics.
Managing Yourself: Keeping Your Colleagues Honest, by M. C. Gentile (2010).Harvard Business Review, 88,114–117; available at http://hbr.org/2010/03/managing-yourself-keeping-your-colleagues-honest/ar/1
This article examines what at first glance appears to be a mundane accounting matter. But the consequences—in terms of carrying costs, distorted forecasting, compromised ethical culture, and even legal ramifications—are very serious. This article explores how managers must be able to, and can change the ethical culture of organizations
Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right, by M. C. Gentile (2010). New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.$19.76; available at Amazon.
The book is inspired by a program Gentile launched at the Aspen Institute with Yale School of Management. The major tenet of book is that ethics is not a matter of knowing what is right or wrong but rather having the tools to act on your values to oppose pressure. This book presents tools to help enact and “voice” your values.
Note.We have not necessarily done a formal review of texts, but rather highlight these texts or articles as ones that incorporate ideas that can be used in various ethics conversations in multiple business-related classes.
54
J. NELSON ET AL.APPENDIX B: A Sampling of Related Case Studies
The Global Oil and Gas Industry(2010). A. C. Inkpen & M. Moffett.Harvard Business School Review(17 pages). http://hbr.org/product/the-global-oil-and-gas-industry-2010/an/TB0223-PDF-ENG?Ntt=Ethics%2520Case% 2520Studies%25202010 Prod. #: TB0223-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
This case examines the oil and gas industry, describing industry values and major business segments, including exploration and production, refining and marketing, natural gas, and petrochemicals. The case examines the complex structure of the industry and its competitive dynamics.
Business Ethics: A View from the Trenches(1995). J. L. Badaracco, Jr. & A. Webb. Harvard Business School Review(22 pages) Prod. #: CMR050-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.) http://hbr.org/product/business-ethics-a-
view-from-the-trenches/an/CMR050-PDF-ENG?Ntt=Ethics%2520Case%2520Studies
Presents a study of how young managers define ethical issues, think about these issues, and resolve them largely on the basis of personal reflection and individual values, not through reliance on corporate credos or examples of senior executives.
Kitchen Best: Ethics When Doing Cross-Boundary Business in Southern China(2011). Say Goo & Grace Loo. Harvard Business School Publishing (15 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #: HKU948-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
The case highlights legal and cultural differences that pose a challenge in maintaining ethical standards when doing business internationally. The reader is asked to explore structural and internal control mechanisms that may be used to manage such differences. The case also underlines the importance of personal ethics and system integrity.
A Global Leader’s Guide to Managing Business Conduct(2011). Lynn S. Paine, Rohit Deshpande & Joshua D. Margolis. Harvard Business School Publishing (7 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title).
Product #: W1109A-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
An extensive global survey by three Harvard Business School professors finds that employees agree on core standards of corporate behavior. But meeting those standards will require new approaches to managing business conduct. Companies must bring to the management of business conduct the same performance tools and concepts that they use to manage quality, innovation, and financial results.
Ethics Hold the Key to Network Contradictions(2011). Antonino Vaccaro. Harvard Business School Publishing (7 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #: IIR052-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
This article addresses “network ethics” - an integrated vision of ethical problems as associated with the management of Internet-driven networks - and highlights the need for carefully analyzing not only financial and relational drivers but also ethical ones. Sound, conscious, careful ethical judgment becomes a fundamental tool for managers to understand the appropriateness of stakeholders’ ethical claims and then build fruitful relationships with those stakeholders based on trust.
Blind Spots: The Roots of Unethical Behavior in Life and Work(2011). Max H. Bazerman & Ann E. Tenbrunsel Harvard Business School Publishing (4 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title).
Product #: ROT140-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
The authors describe the related concepts of bounded awareness and bounded ethicality and discuss the implications of these states for organizations. They then provide three tools for improving our individual ethicality and outline several aspects of organizational life that must be examined more closely to reduce unethical behavior on a group level, including addressing hidden but powerful informal values’ and ethical sinkholes.
Ethical Breakdowns(2011). Max H. Bazerman & Ann E. Tenbrunsel Harvard Business School Publishing (9 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #: R1104C-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
Companies are spending a great deal of time and money to install codes of ethics, ethics training, compliance programs, and in-house watchdogs and still unethical behavior appears to be on the rise. The authors observe that even the best-intentioned executives may be unaware of their own or their employees’ unethical behavior. Drawing from extensive research on cognitive biases, they offer five reasons for this blindness and suggest what to do about them.
Blood Bananas: Chiquita in Colombia(2010). Mary B. Teagarden & Andreas Schotter. Harvard Business School Publishing (16 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #: TB0245-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
The case provides a vehicle for analyzing strategic, contextual, and ethical challenges underlying Chiquita’s presence in Colombia, a primary global source for bananas.. Concepts from the case include emerging market risk that globalizing companies may encounter; implications of administrative heritage for organizational structure and communication flows; fundamental challenges of global coordination and control; and strategic communication role of the leader in a crisis. These concepts are applicable in multiple other industries.
Case Analysis Coach(2012). Robert D. Austin & Robert L. Kelley. Harvard Business School Publishing (90 minutes). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #: 4380-HTM-ENG ($6.95 each Web Based HTML.)
The Case Analysis Coach was developed for students to enhance their learning with cases. It is a concise, comprehensive introduction to concepts and processes required for
analyzing/interpreting business case studies. The “Coach” introduces students to the case method of learning including: main steps, sorts of information, and output recommendations. It also demonstrates how to apply an analysis framework to an in-depth case example demonstrating necessary connections formed during analysis.
Learning to Navigate the Rough Seas of Ethics(2010). Sophia Kusyk. Harvard Business School Publishing (7 pages). http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu (Search website using title). Product #:IRR027-PDF-ENG ($6.95 each PDF file.)
This article tackles three main myths surrounding cross-cultural management: the appeal to local etiquette over moral considerations; the idea that tolerance based on relativism and subjectivism will solve cross-cultural dilemmas; and the belief that profit justifies dubious means. The article includes some dilemmas for readers to consider for themselves, all aimed at helping international managers formulate sound approaches to deal with the questionable behaviors they face across cultures.
APPENDIX C: Role Playing of Ethical Situations
Seminars on Media and Society distributed by Public Broadcasting System asEthics in America(1989). This 10 one-hour
video-on-demand series uses the Socratic method to build analytical skills and examine ethical questions. Public figures argue ethical dilemmas. The programs aim to sharpen moral reasoning without favoring a particular position by exploring ethical dilemmas in legal, political, medical, corporate, and military arenas. Produced by Columbia University Seminars on Media and Society. You have to sign up, but it is free to download streaming video.
http://www.learner.org/resources/series81.html
LEGAL, POLITICAL, MEDICAL, CORPORATE, AND MILITARY ARENAS.Each episode is arole-playing debateon various ethics topics, among which are: What rights do the guilty have? How does merger mania present an alarming array of ethical problems? Does finding a cure, justify putting test subjects at risk?Some of the renowned role-playing participants are: C. Everett Coop; Antonin Scalia; Rep. Newt Gingrich; Rep. Barney Frank; Rudolph Giuliani; Jeanne Kirkpatrick; Peter Jennings; Mike Wallace; & Geraldine Ferrero
APPENDIX D: A Sampling of Movies, TV Interviews, Streaming Videos, and YouTube Clips
Title and synopsis Framework/ethical questions
(2011) Margin Call.Fictionalized (yet very human) view of key players at an investment firm during the first 24 hours of the 2008 financial crisis. A slice-of–life glimpse at the inner workings of economic collapse (DVD—Lionsgate—$14.99).“Be First, Be Smarter, or Cheat!” Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXJZE-FNzIg
FINANCE/ECONOMICS:What are corrupting factors that cause a company to buy worthless assets, then knowingly sell them off, even though such a move will cause the stock market to collapse?
(2011) Facebook: The$50 Million Dollar Question.Documentary looks at the past, present and future of social-networking company Facebook Inc., and its founder Mark Zuckerberg. (Bloomberg News, http://www.bloomberg.com/video/65716940/).
VENTURE CAPITALISM and REGULATION:Is Facebook overvalued at$50 billion? The Goldman Sachs/Facebook situation—seems to skirt around existing regulations.
(2011) The Social Network.Fictitious account of Mark Zuckerberg’s creation of Facebook, and subsequent law suits by Winklevoss twins and the co-founder, Narendra. (DVD—Columbia Pictures—$9.99).“You can’t make 500 million friends without making a few enemies.” Trailer:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HWT6DO/ref=atv feed catalog?tag=imdb-amazonvideo-20
VENTURE CAPITALISM/IDEA PLAGERISM—
FRIENDSHIP/BETRAYAL:Is Zuckerberg a prophet, genius, billionaire, or a traitor? What are other examples of plagiarism/ copyright infringement in workplace?
(2006) Enron—The Smartest Guys in the Room.Documentary of one of history’s greatest business scandals. In 2001 the top executives of America’s seventh largest company walked away with over one billion dollars, while investors and employees lost everything.
(DVD—Amazon.com—$8.99).“The greatest innovation of the new economy was greed.”
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dNZaKLjYbc
ACCOUNTING FRAUD/SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002:Enron’s financial condition was sustained by systematic and creatively-planned accounting fraud. How does Sarbanes-Oxley help to change such conditions?
(2010) The Inside Job.Documentary of how 2008 financial crash happened via deregulation, greed. And deep-rooted corruption that left middle-income Americans jobless and homeless. Journalist, politicians, and financial insiders are interviewed. (DVD—Sony—$14.99). “There’s nothing we can trust anymore.”
Trailer:
http://www.blockbuster.com/browse/catalog/movieDetails/486860
FINANCE/ECONOMICS:How did repeal of Glass-Steagall act lead to the creation of mega-banks that combined traditional lending with risky investment banking and a high-risk gambling mentality?
(2005) North Country.A fictionalized account of the experiences of Lois Jenson, a real person who waged one of first major successful class-action sexual harassment cases in the United States—Lois E. Jenson v. Eveleth Taconite Co. (Warner Home Video
DVD—Amazon.com—$7.63).“All she wanted to do was to make a living, instead she made history.”
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXkVQm0QPyY
WORKPLACE GENDER ISSUES:Moral, social, and legal aspects of a woman’s right to equal pay for equal work. Many occasions arose when top management could have taken some positive action to stop the abuse, but did not. Why not?
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J. NELSON ET AL.APPENDIX D: A Sampling of Movies, TV Interviews, Streaming Videos, and YouTube Clips
(Continued)
Title and synopsis Framework/ethical questions
(2005) Thank You For Smoking.Fictional dark-comedy about tobacco industry lobbyist Nick Naylor whose job is to promote cigarette smoking in a time when health hazards are all too apparent. Nick, however, loves his job, and uses twisted logic to place his clients (the tobacco industry) in the positions of either being altruistic do-gooders or victims. (DVD—Amazon.com—$2.99).“Nick Naylor doesn’t hide the truth...he filters it.”
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBELC vxqhI
ADVERTISING/LOBBYIST—TOBACCO, ALCOHOL AND FIREARMS:What ethical dilemmas does lobbying present for products that are lethal? How does an advertising person manage conflict between a need to protect human lives, and a great bottom line?
(1999) The Insider.Docudrama about Jeffrey Wigand, a real-life Brown & Williamson tobacco executive, who decides to appear on the CBS-TV News show “60 Minutes” to acknowledge the tobacco industry, has been both aware that cigarettes are addictive. The big tobacco corporations try to silence Wigand, threatening his life and his family. (DVD— $6.41—Buy.com).“What got broken here doesn’t go back together again.”
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wwJp8VDGzE
WHISTLEBLOWER/HEALTH/LEGAL ISSUES:
How can it be made possible for insiders who know about unethical situations in corporations be able to come forward without punitive damages?
Why self-sacrificing oneself at the expense of the safety of one’s family?
