Teaching Business Ethics

Game theory involves deliberating about what to do in light of what other people are likely to do. One of the central frameworks of game theory is the prisoner’s dilemma, in which participants who make rational choices end up in suboptimal outcomes. Using the prisoner’s dilemma to model competition between firms sets the stage for a new and promising approach to business ethics: the market failures approach.

Economistic Business Ethics Denial (BED) is the belief that contemporary business has features that make it systematically incompatible with ethics. Using over 1200 participants across seven separate samples we established the substantive validity of a BED Scale, confirmed its theorized structure, psychometric properties, convergent, and discriminant validity. The results suggest that the scale assesses four correlated factors of economistic BED. The scale can be used in future research on ethical decision making in business, and business ethics education.

Packed with examples, this book offers a clear and engaging overview of ethical issues in business. -/- It begins with a discussion of foundational issues, including the objectivity of ethics, the content of ethical theories, and the debate between capitalism and socialism, making it suitable for the beginning student. It then examines ethical issues in business in three broad areas. The first is the market. Issues explored are what can be sold (the limits of markets) and how it can be (...) sold (ethics in marketing). The second is work. Topics in this area are health and safety, meaningful work, compensation, hiring and firing, privacy, and whistleblowing. The third area is the firm in society. Here readers explore corporate social responsibility, corporate political activity, and the set of ethical challenges that attend international business. -/- Issues are introduced through real-world examples that underscore their importance and make them come alive. Arguments for opposing positions are given fair hearings and students are encouraged to develop and defend their own views. (shrink)

In recent years there has been an increased interest in the research dedicated to the ethics and morality of supply chains. The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) dominates the literature on supply chain ethics in management education. The objective of this paper is to develop some propositions to complement and look more broadly and differently at these management concepts. Supplementing these concepts with the fundamental questions on the meaning of ‘what a moral supply chain is’ and ‘what moral supply (...) chain ought to be,’ we develop some descriptive and normative propositions for management education on the ethics of supply chains. Against a descriptive viewpoint, we propose that judgments on the morality of supply chains should be viewed from multiple perspectives, often conflicting. Against a normative viewpoint, we propose some reflections on how to apply Aristotelian practical wisdom in management education on supply chain ethics. (shrink)

This paper examines the integration of ethical considerations in management accounting (MA) education. Drawing on the work of Alisdair MacIntyre, it is argued that MA instruments such as performance measurement are not morally neutral, but instead bear moral implications. Therefore, this paper contends that MA students should be trained to take these moral implications into consideration alongside MA's technical aspects. A content analysis is carried out to examine the integration of ethical considerations in top-ranked MA textbooks. The findings indicate that (...) these textbooks, particularly the introductory textbooks, marginally integrate ethical considerations. Furthermore, the findings point to the risk of detaching ethical considerations from the discussion of MA's technical aspects, which may weaken the potential of the ethical considerations and turn them into ‘afterthoughts’. Finally, this paper offers practical suggestions for the improvement of the integration of ethical considerations in MA education and concludes with directions for future research. (shrink)

The demand for sustainability in business and sound management training is becoming more resonant in a steadily evolving Africa. With a vast expansion of Africa’s socio-economic base, and viable possibilities for technological, social and economic development, the balancing influence of management ethics cannot be overstated. The historical lessons from the Western business world in corporate scandals and financial misdemeanor clearly reveal to the emergent economies and businesses of developing Africa, the weighty costs of unethical business practice. People require that business (...) firms conduct their business responsibly. Developing ethical business practices, therefore, becomes crucial. With Africa’s cultural diversity of peoples, places and values, business practices are strongly influenced by indigenous values and trends. It is important to understand and situate indigenous ethical principles and practices in Africa within the framework of business. This chapter, therefore, aims at critically discussing what Ethics in management means for a developing Africa. We will also discuss the ethical principles, to be seen as a metaphysical unity of values, of ideals, and especially, of character and community. The chapter will then highlight select cases reflecting ethical practices of management in African business, making sure to emphasize the necessity of Business Ethics to corporate sustainability. (shrink)

Zunächst einmal möchten wir klären, was der Begriff ökonomischer Bildung umfasst, um in einem zweiten Schritt klären zu können, welche Teilaspekte von ökonomischer Bildung möglicherweise verbindlich gelehrt werden sollten – und welche Teilaspekte etwa auch nur Teil von Spezialausbildungen sein könnten. Wir werden dabei zu dem Schluss kommen, dass vor allem die Politische Ökonomie – also ein Fach, das einen Schwerpunkt auf ordnungsökonomische und ordnungsethische Problemstellungen legt – ein Kandidat für die allgemein verbindliche Ausbildung an deutschen Schulen ist. Im zweiten (...) Schritt möchten wir diskutieren, inwiefern sich die Einführung eines Faches Politische Ökonomie rechtfertigen ließe. Eine Rechtfertigung im philosophischen Sinne muss dabei zeigen können, dass die Einführung eines Fachs Politische Ökonomie nicht nur bestimmten Interessen – z.B. wirtschaftlichen Lobby-Gruppen dient –, sondern von einem gesellschaftlichen Konsens getragen werden könnte. (shrink)

My original paper (Cohen 2012) argued that business ethics education should focus on cultivating empathetic concern. This response clarifies terminology used in that paper and responds to criticisms presented by David Ohreen (2013).

What is Business Ethics ? Read the difference between Business Ethics and Professional Ethics. व्यवसाय आणि धंदा एकत्र आले की त्यांच्या मिसळणीतून नवेच प्रश्न निर्माण होतात. मालकाला धंदा हवा असतो आणि व्यावसायिक असलेल्या नोकराला अधिक वेतन हवे असते.. इथे व्यवस्थापनाचे, पण मूलत: नैतिक प्रश्न येतात..

The aim of the article is to analyze the interaction of students’ ethical and economic thinking in the process of solving a model ethical-economic dilemma. Dealing with model dilemmas is an integral part of teaching business ethics at the Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava. Through them, students learn to apply ethics in economic life and managerial decision-making. The main objective of the survey was to determine the differences in ethical thinking between Slovak students and students from Western Europe, (...) in reflecting humanity and responsibility, as well as conceding different stakeholders. (shrink)

The Building Ethical Leaders using an Integrated Ethics Framework (BELIEF) Program was introduced in 2006 at the Northern Illinois University College of Business. The Program was developed to support two learning objectives: (1) increase students’ awareness of ethical issues and (2) strengthen their decision-making abilities regarding these ethical issues. This article provides an overview of the development and integration of this Program. We also provide assessment data on our two learning objectives. The assessment measures improvement from 2005, before the implementation (...) of the program, to all of the post-year measures. Thus, the BELIEF Program appears to enhance our students’ ability to recognize issues and identify appropriate decision alternatives. We hope that the description of the components of BELIEF will aid other schools as they integrate ethics into their curriculum. (shrink)

Business education is at a critical juncture. How are we to justify the curriculum in undergraduate business awards in Aotearoa New Zealand? This essay suggests a philosophical framework for the analysis the business curriculum in Western countries. This framework helps us to see curriculum in a context of global academic communities and national needs. It situates the business degree in the essential tension which modernity (Western metaphysics) creates and which is expressed in an increasingly globalised economy. The tension is between (...) those who insist that the degree is to serve modernity and those who hope that it may contribute to a new era of justice and harmony with nature. One critical battle ground for the business curriculum is the subject Business Ethics. The business ethics curriculum often indicates the intention of the business ethics degree itself. Kant's distinction between heteronomy (rule following) and autonomy (making your own decisions) provides us with a means to judge the purposes of business ethics courses: there are courses which seek to produce reliable and compliant (heteronomous) employees, and there are those which seek to produce independent creative (autonomous) human beings. The question for this conference is: what do we as business educators see as our task? (shrink)

This study investigates the effectiveness of pedagogical practices used to teach business ethics. The business community has greatly increased its demands for better ethics education in business programs. Educators have generally agreed that the ethical principles of business people have declined. It is important, then, to examine how common methods of instruction used in business ethics could contribute to the development of higher levels of moral judgment competence for students. To determine the effectiveness of these methods, moral judgment competence levels (...) for undergraduate and graduate students from three institutions were measured and compared based upon the pedagogical method used in a business class. Significant differences were found for moral reasoning and moral competence scores depending on the method used for ethics instruction. Students in classes with more highly integrated ethics coverage scored higher in moral reasoning and moral competence. (shrink)

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen's death, during 2006 quite a number of cultural events were launched (cf. http://www.ibsen.net/). The article suggests celebrating Ibsen as a potentially useful resource for business ethics teaching. Departing from a short presentation of Ibsen's plays An enemy of the people and A doll's house the main focus of this paper is on two selected scenes from the latter piece -both as raw material for developing scenarios for moral maturity assessment (one (...) of them is strikingly similar to and different from Heinz' dilemma), and for teaching business students moral reflection and imagination. As an open end of the article a few wider questions are asked about the use of literature in addition to or instead of ethics when it comes to triggering moral reflection and imagination. (shrink)

This article provides some suggestions, including a list of readings, for use in teaching a course in business ethics.

This study uses judgment and decision-making (JDM) perspective with the help of framing and schema literature from cognitive psychology to evaluate how managers behave when problems with unethical overtones are presented to them in a managerial frame rather than an ethical frame. In the proposed managerial model, moral judgment of the situation is one of the inputs to managerial judgment, among several other inputs regarding costs and benefits of various alternatives. Managerial judgment results in managerial intent leading to managerial action. (...) The model and the effects of taking an ethics course on ethical and managerial judgment and managerial intent were then indirectly tested in this study, wherein subjects judged the ethical wrongness, managerial badness, and the managerial intent regarding decisions made in a case. Forty-nine MBA students analyzed a case involving budget-based bonuses and production, in which the ethical issue evolved over three stages. It appears from the Path-analysis results that managerial judgment mediated between moral judgment and the judgment of managerial intent as suggested by the proposed model, and that taking an ethics course directly affected managerial judgment but did not affect the moral judgment. Additionally, in the first stage of decision-making (early stage of a developing “ethical slippery slope”), moral judgment did not significantly influence managerial judgment. However, students with ethics course still were more inclined to judge the decision as managerially bad as compared to others, indicating that they were more aware or sensitive to the moral issues involved. (shrink)

Vocational ethics and vocational moral socialization are important for the business ethical climate in a given country and in a given industry, but have not received attention in the literature. Our article suggests vocational ethics as a legitimate sub-specialty for business ethics research and development. The article addresses the exposure of vocational students to a combination of vocational school-based and workplace-based socialization, and outlines an agenda for teaching-oriented research and research-based teaching. More specifically, we first draft a conceptual frame of (...) reference and then report results and experiences from a scenario-based pilot study at one of the biggest vocational schools in the country. As a third step such a preliminary situation analysis inspires a number of suggestions for how one could start with developing this field, practically, empirically and theoretically. (shrink)

The growing trend of required ethics instruction in the business school curriculum has created a need for relevant teaching materials. In response to this need the Journal of Business Ethics is introducing a new case section. This section provides a forum for publishing and accessing a range of materials that can be used in teaching business ethics. This article discusses how business ethics cases can facilitate the development of deductive, inductive and critical reasoning skills.

A modern form of narrative, comic books are used to communicate, discuss, and critique issues in business ethics and social issues in management. A description of comic books as a legitimate medium is followed by a discussion of the pedagogical uses of comic books and assessment techniques. The strengths of the pedagogy include crossing cultural barriers, understanding the complexity of individual decision-making and organizational influences, and the universality of dilemmas and values. We provide an initial source for educators on the (...) topics, comic books, plotlines, and other commentary for consideration of use in the classroom from high school to graduate business ethics and social issues in management courses. (shrink)

A case study provides the basis for consideration of the purpose of business ethics teaching, the importance of reflection and the evaluation of ethics teaching. The way in which personal reflection and an increased capacity for ethical action can be encouraged and openly identified as aims of the course is discussed. The paper considers changes in the design and delivery of the international management ethics and values course taught at the University of South Australia as part of the undergraduate management (...) degree in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. As a result of student and teaching staff responses, and course evaluations, the course design, teaching and assessment has moved steadily toward an aim which explicitly refers to behaviour, without losing the significant conceptual base. Ways in which opportunities can be provided to enhance the development of a reflective capability are considered, including narrative, role models, ethical reflection, journal-keeping and practice. The changes required a change in assessment practice. The difficulties of assessing intention and commitment to ethical action, whether in an individual course or across the curriculum, are discussed. (shrink)

Many believe that colleges of business have a role to play in improving the level of marketing ethics practiced in the business world, while others believe that by the time students reach the level of university education, their ethical beliefs are so ingrained as to be virtually unalterable. The purpose of this study is to add to the literature regarding university students’ ethical value judgments. It utilizes scenario studies to assess base line ethical values of junior level undergraduate business administration (...) students, then techniques are employed to influence students’ perceptions of the ethics of various marketing practices, and students’ values are reassessed. A total of 667 junior and senior level students majoring in business administration (52% female; 48% male; 72% 22-years old or younger) participated in the pre-tests and 525 students (47% female; 53% male; 70% 22-years-old or younger) participated in the post-tests. The results of the before/after studies indicate that some experimental techniques are more effective than others in affecting change, but it is difficult to affect long-run change in those predisposed to unethical behavior. (shrink)

The appropriate MBA curriculum has been debated for nearly a half century. More recently, critics contend that the emphasis on functional fields in MBA education has incorrectly elevated the importance of shareholder value resulting in unethical behavior. Although some criticism of MBA programs has merit, shareholder wealth maximization should remain the dominant management objective because it is relatively easy to implement and generally consistent with the interests of stakeholders.

This paper starts off from what seems to be a difficulty of ethics in African Business today. For several years now Transparency International has placed some African countries high on its list of most corrupt countries of the world. The conclusion one draws from this assessment is that either African culture has no regard or concern for ethics, or that there has been a gradual loss of the concept of the ethical and the moral in contemporary African society. Equally problematic (...) is the teaching and promotion of Business ethics in organizations. Western philosophical theories and systems alone have not succeeded in providing access to ethical life of people in modern Africa. This paper is an attempt to inject an orientation that takes into account African manners and customs, their religious convictions and their understanding of the world as a whole, in the teaching of Business Ethics. East and Central Africa have been selected due to their common lingua franca, Kiswahili, and the fact that the author has more teaching experience within that region. (shrink)

The recent corporate scandals in the United States have caused a renewed interest and focus on teaching business ethics. Business schools and their faculties are reexamining the teaching of business ethics and are reassessing their responsibilities to produce honest and truthful managers who live lives of integrity and ethical accountability. The authors recognize that no agreement exists among business schools and their faculties regarding what should be the content and pedagogy of a course in business ethics. However, the authors hold (...) that regardless of one’s biases regarding the content and pedagogy, the effective teaching of business ethics requires that the instructor in designing and delivering a business ethics course needs to focus particular attention on four principal questions: (1) what are the objectives or targeted learning outcomes of the course? (2) what kind of learning environment should be created? (3) what learning processes need to be employed to achieve the goals? and (4) what are the roles of the participants in the learning experience? The answers to these questions provide the foundations for any business ethics course. The answers are major determinants of the impact of a business ethics course on the thinking of students and the views on the ethical and professional accountabilities and responsibilities of managers in the workplace. (shrink)

Business ethics is once again a hot topic as examples of improper business practices that violate commonly accepted ethical norms are brought to our attention. With the increasing number of scandals business schools find themselves on the defensive in explaining what they are doing to help respond to the call to teach ‘‘more’’ business ethics. This paper focuses on two issues germane to business ethics teaching efforts: the ‘‘targeted output’’ goals of teaching business ethics and when in the curriculum business (...) ethics should be taught. (shrink)

Part of the value of stories is moral, in that understanding them, and the characters within them, is one way in which we seek to make moral sense of life. Arguably, it has become quite common to use stories in order to make moral sense of business life. Case method is the standard teaching method in top business schools, and so-called “war stories” are customary for on-the-job training. Shakespeare is a trendy purveyor of leadership education. Several books and articles have (...) been written on the intersection between literature and business and/or business ethics. Still, it is one thing to claim that literature can contribute to our understanding of business conduct, but yet another to claim that literature can contribute to␣the related goal of improving moral conduct in business. Supporters of the claims tend to presume they go together, while skeptics and detractors often discard them as a package. These claims warrant further investigation if they are to be perceived by business scholarship and practice as worthy of serious attention, not just a quaint search for lowbrow moral fables or a vain pursuit of highbrow poetry. One instrumental function of literature is to imitate life, thereby expanding our vision beyond our parochial interests; to see literature merely as a didactic instrument to serve business interests misses the point that literature should expand understanding, our sense of what in addition to business is interesting and valuable. (shrink)

Some business schools have integrated business ethics issues into their core functional courses rather than simply offering a separate ethics course. To accommodate such a strategy, functional faculty members usually teach ethical issues, a task for which they are rarely trained. However, learning materials are available: some core course textbooks provide additional coverage of ethics, and case studies (and accompanying teaching notes for instructors) are also available which cover ethical issues.This paper reports on an analysis of these materials. We find (...) that a sample of the leading textbooks provides only very superficial coverage of ethical issues. Cases provide a wide range of issues suitable for class discussion, but their teaching notes in many cases provide little guidance for instructors unfamiliar with teaching ethics. Thus there remains a need for teaching resources for business faculty new to teaching ethics. (shrink)

Departing from frequent use of moral conflict cases in business ethics teaching and research, the paper suggests an elaboration of a moral conflict approach within business ethics, both conceptually and philosophically. The conceptual elaboration borrows from social science conflict research terminology, while the philosophical elaboration presents casuistry as a kind of practical, inductive argumentation with a focus on paradigmatic examples.

In this paper we seek to make the case for a teaching and learning strategy that integrates business ethics in the curriculum, whilst not precluding a disciplines based approach to this subject. We do this in the context of specific work experience modules at undergraduate level which are offered by Middlesex University Business School, part of a modern university based in North West London. We firstly outline our educative values and then the modules that form the basis of our research. (...) We then identify and elaborate what we believe are the five dimensions which distinguish an integrated approach based on work experience from a disciplines-based approach, namely: process and content, internal and external, facilitation and teaching, covert and overt, and living wisdom and established wisdom. The last dimension draws on the practical relevance of the Aristotelian notion of phronesis inherent in our approach. We go on to provide two case examples of our practice to illustrate our perspective and in support of our conclusions. These are that reflection integrated into the Business Studies curriculum, using the ASKE typology of learning [Frame, 2001, Proceedings of the 9th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference (Nottingham: Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University), p. 80], in respect of personal and group process in a work experience context, provides a useful heuristic for the development of moral sensibility and ethical practice. (shrink)

Within a supportive learning environment, dialogue can allow for the identification and testing of assumptions and tacit beliefs. It can also illustrate the inadequacies in superficial thinking about ethical problems. Internal dialogue allows us to examine our beliefs, and to prepare and evaluate arguments. Each of these elements is important in the study of business ethics. This paper outlines one teaching technique based on Socratic dialogue, and shows how it can be applied to develop business students' thinking about ethics. After (...) justifying the suitability of this technique, and detailing its key elements, the paper offers for consideration an illustration of how the technique may be applied in a classroom setting, using structured role play. The paper concludes with a “teaching agenda”, offering suggestions for how this technique can be applied to teaching business ethics in an undergraduate, or postgraduate module, where it can examine language, structures and practices. (shrink)

Without question “business ethics” is one of the hot topics of the day. Over the past months we have seen business after business charged with improper practices that violate commonly-accepted ethical norms. This has led to a loss of confidence in corporate management, and has had severe economic consequences. From many quarters business educators have heard the call to put more emphasis on ethical practices in their business courses and curricula. Engineering educators are also heeding this call, since the practice (...) of engineering usually involves working for (or leading) a business and/or engaging in business transactions. In the summer of 2002, Auburn University’s Engineering Professional Development program made the decision to produce—based on the author’s Executive MBA course in Business Ethics—a distance-delivered continuing education program for professional engineers and surveyors. Participants across the USA now may use the course to satisfy continuing education requirements with respect to professional licensing and certification. This paper outlines the purpose and content of the course and describes its production, distribution, application, and evaluation. (shrink)

Sustainability informs the framework for a seminar that we teach for junior and senior undergraduates entitled "The Ethics and Economics of Sustainable Societies." One of the class requirements has each student research and write a life-cycle case study, an exercise in which they trace the full, or partial, life-cycle of some product with which they are familiar. Students are expected to examine the economic, ethical, and ecological implications along each step in the life-cycle of the product. We believe that life-cycle (...) cases in general are very helpful in revealing the full economic, ethical, and ecological consequences of product development, marketing, use, and disposal. We also believe that asking students to research the product themselves provides additional pedagogical benefits. After a brief review of the philosophical case for our alternative view of corporate social responsibility, we will describe the life-cycle case method, offer several examples from our own classes, and make the case for the pedagogical benefits of this approach. (shrink)

The so-called "Prisoner''s Dilemma" is often referred to in business ethics, but probably not well understood. This article has three parts: (1) I claim that models derived from game theory are significant in the field for discussions of prudential ethics and the practical decisions managers make; (2) I discuss using them as a practical pedagogical exercise and some of the lessons generated; (3) more speculatively, I suggest that they are useful in discussions of corporate personhood.

Debate exists as to the timing of student exposure to business ethics modules, and the degree to which business ethics education is integrated throughout business school curricula. The argument for an integrated model of business ethics education is well documented, however, such arguments do not stem from an empirical basis. Much of the debate about when and how business ethics should be taught rests on assumptions regarding the stage of moral awareness of business students. The research reported here adds to (...) this debate by attempting to empirically gauge students'' levels of moral awareness in order to explore the implications for the teaching of business ethics, specifically in terms of presenting the case for the importance of an integrated business ethics curriculum. (shrink)

This paper builds on a number of ideas concerning the nature, management and representation in case studies, of moral issues and dilemmas as experienced by people in organisations. Drawing on some cases used in teaching business ethics, and utilising a checklist of questions derived from the more general theoretical analysis, suggestions are offered regarding the contributions which such cases can make in developing students' understanding and potential for performative competence in real life situations. The distinction between issues and dilemmas is (...) emphasised, and different types of issue are identified. The status of self-interest as an issue, and as contributory to personal dilemmas, is given particular attention. The paper also addresses the distinction between cognitive and non-cognitive attributes required by individuals if they are to deal with such situations. Within the cognitive category attention is paid to the contribution of ethical and other theory, and to the need for moral imagination and judgement. (shrink)

The paper focuses on an online business ethics course that three professors (Painter-Morland, Fontrodona and Hoffman) taught together, and in which the fourth author (Rowe) participated as a student, from their respective locations on three continents. The course was conducted using Centra software, which allowed for synchronous online interaction. The class included students from Europe, South Africa and the United States. In order to assess the value of synchronous online teaching for ethics training, the paper identifies certain knowledge, skills and (...) capacities that are crucial to the moral development process within individuals. The paper argues that the online teaching method succeeds in creating an environment within which important ethical knowledge and skills might be developed. It provides an in-depth reflection on the advantages and dis-advantages of online teaching and proposes improvements on the way forward. One of the major advantages relates to its ability to facilitate cross-cultural discussion and debate on ethical issues and foster insight into contextual influences on ethics management within an international arena. (shrink)

A sensible, workable approach to the teaching of business ethics, based on an understanding of how people actually learn and on the need to start with a clear ...

Book reviewed in this article:Zsolnai, La´szlo´ The European Difference: Business Ethics in the Community of European Management Schools.

This article is the result of a survey taken to determine the respect and position of Business Ethics as a field of study within Schools of Business Administration. 379 questionnaires were delivered to individual, not institutional, subscribers to Business Ethics Quarterly. 158 were filled out and returned, for a response rate of 41.6%. The general finding from an analysis of those responses is that many persons active in the teaching and research of Business Ethics at large (over 10000 students) and (...) very large (over 30000 students) universities, both public and private, believe that neither their teaching nor their research "count" for merit salary increases and promotion/tenure decisions at their institutions, and that few enjoy high levels of support from deans, faculty, or students. (shrink)

Emphasis in business ethics texts and courses has generally focused on corporate and other relatively high-level ethical issues. However, business school graduates in early career stages report ethical dilemmas involving individual-level decisions, often including influence attempts from one or more members of their work role sets. This paper proposes the use of role set analysis as a pedagogical technique for helping individuals to anticipate and deal with early-career ethical issues.

North American and West European academics are accepting offers to speak or teach about business ethics to audiences in countries with transitional economies. Such engagements should not be accepted without an appreciation for the challenges involved. This paper outlines the dynamics of business ethics in these former communist countries and describes circumstances relating to ethical training, and course content and pedagogy. A concluding section of the paper identifies some guidelines that instructors should consider before becoming involved with ethical training in (...) transitional economies. The principle message to be received from this paper is that instructors should avoid being ethics missionaries with preconceived ideals. (shrink)

This study provides evidence regarding the level of ethical cognition of business students at the entry to college as compared to a national norm. It also provides comparative evidence on the effects of group versus individual ethical cognition upon completion of a business ethics course. The Principled Score (P-score) from the Defining Issues Test (DIT) was used to measure the ethical cognition of a total sample of 301 business students (273 entering students plus 28 students in a business ethics course). (...) The results indicate that (1) business students are not significantly different from the national norms at entry to college and (2) group reasoning helps male students improve their P-scores significantly in the business ethics course at a loss of P-score (albeit not statistically significant) for female students. (shrink)

The paper begins with an examination of traditional attitudes towards business ethics. I suggest that these attitudes fail to recognize that a principal function of ethics is to facilitate cooperation. Further that despite the emphasis on competition in modern market economies, business like all other forms of social activity is possible only where people are prepared to respect rules in the absence of which cooperation is rendered difficult or impossible. Rules or what I call the ethics of doing, however, constitute (...) just one dimension of ethics. A second has to do with what we see and how we see it; a third with who we or what I describe as the ethics of being. Of these three dimensions, the first and the third have been most carefully explored by philosophers and are most frequently the focus of attention when teaching business ethics is being discussed. I argue that this focus is unfortunate in as much as it is the second dimension which falls most naturally into the ambit of modern secular educational institutions. It is here that moral education is most obviously unavoidable, and most clearly justifiable in modern secular teaching environments. I conclude by describing the importance of this second dimension for the modern world of business. (shrink)

Like politics, all ethics is local. The key to understanding the most difficult ethical issues is in the relationships of neighbors. Consequently, in studying and teaching business ethics, we rightly begin with the micro-setting of the neighborhood and work outward and upward in complexity and challenge. The author has found the operations of a small, imaginary pizzeria on his real street an ideal (in both senses) entry to all the issues of hiring, liability, environment and so on. The method of (...) proceeding is Socratic inasmuch as it proceeds by conversation and takes for granted an elemental understanding on the part of all conversants. It is Cartesian inasmuch as it moves carefully from the simple situations to the most intricate organizational puzzles without ever forgetting the insights garnered at the outset. (shrink)

The purpose of this article is to show how meditation can be used to help a student to become an ethical person. Discursive and non-discursive meditation give the student an awareness of ethical issues and lead to the discovery and application of models of ethical conduct. In part one, the student is led through non-discursive meditation to discover him/her self as an ethical person. The student is also given the tools to explore ethical issues. Part two discusses a transition stage (...) from non-discursive to discursive meditation. The student is led to use non-discursive meditation to construct an ethical value system and apply it to his/her own life. An art medium is especially helpful at this stage. Discursive meditation gives the chance for the student to compare who he/she is with what he/she should be. Part three discusses four elements in the construction of an ethical vision with discursive meditaton: First, a picture of reality; second, models of ethical rules; third, models of ethical conduct; fourth, current personal and social values. The conclusion contains a description of the ethical person. (shrink)

What ethical framework should be used as a basis for teaching business ethics? Should business ethics be taught by ethicists in a separate course, by business faculty in business courses, or perhaps by both? These are some of the issues this paper will address. The paper begins with a review of the literature concerning approaches to teaching business ethics. Next, some ethical frameworks for teaching business ethics are considered. Finally, the paper proposes that students should apply their own personal values (...) to business ethical issues in the classroom, thus providing future business leaders with a process for resolving ethical dilemmas. (shrink)

In this re-visioning, business ethics would integrate feminist theories and pedagogy which include the diversity of women in terms of race/ethnicity, class and sexual orientation, thereby expanding its coverage to include issues of power, gender, cultural and theoretical conceptualizations, both in the conceptualization of morality, as well as in ethical constructs of analysis. My research indicates that the integration of feminist scholarship, ethics and pedagogy would make it possible to teach ethical decision making, and ultimately increase the likelihood of ethical (...) behavior, by showing students how to harness the multi-cultural ways of thinking needed to resolve ever more complex organizational problems.Use of the four-stage model I propose would effectively address the three major issues which make teaching business ethics in a new way to critical. The curricula, as modified, would present enriched ethical theories which are contextual and grounded in experience and which grant the connected nature of all organizational stakeholders. By recreating personal identity, autonomy and power as a theories of community, teaching its responsible use would be easier. Expanding the definition of business ethics to include authenticity and mutuality would move it beyond "social responsibility" to a model of interrelationship which encourage principled thinking leading to more ethical behavior. By combing empirically connected ethical theories, and conflict resolution techniques, ethical precepts can be molded into more usable curriculum models. (shrink)

The "ethical environment of business" provides a constructive frame of reference for business ethics instruction. As illustrated by a suggested role play about foreign sweatshops, it provides a realistic, problem-solving context for the study of moral and ethical ideas. Once ethical behavior is viewed through this paradigm, students can better see how business policies are shaped by ethics and prepare themselves to react to their own ethical environment.