The author emphasizes the need for business ethics due to the recent business scandals and the effect of these incidents on public opinion, and provides suggestions for handling dilemmas by combining good ethics with good business.

This book is a unique collection of essays by the leading scholars in business ethics. The purpose of the volume is to examine the emergence of business ethics as an important element of managerial practice and as an integral area of scholarship. The four lead essays--by Norman Bowie, Kenneth Goodpaster, Thomas Donaldson, and Ezra Bowen--are examples of some of the best thinking about the role of ethics in business. These essays examine such issues as the nature of scholarship and knowledge (...) in business ethics, how ethics is a central factor in managerial leadership, the complexities of ethics in multinational and multicultural settings, and the problems of ethical literacy and moral debate in a free society. Each lead essay develops several themes which are then explored by other prominent thinkers, including Robert Solomon, Richard DeGeorge, and Joanne Cuilla. (shrink)

This study investigates current linkages between ethical theory and management behavior. The vignettes used in this investigation represent ethical dilemmas in the areas of coercion and control, conflict of interest, physical environment, and personal integrity. The results indicate that even with the heightened state of ethical awareness that has evolved in recent years the link between ethical philosophy and management behavior remains basically the same as it was in the mid 1980s. Specifically, practitioners still rely almost totally on the utilitarian (...) ethical philosophy when making business decisions. (shrink)

The purpose of this study is to examine a number of current moral philosophies and their effects on retailers in work and nonwork settings. ;The study focused on whether or not retailers in general have more than one philosophy type. In addition, the research tested the reactions of different philosophy types when perceived risk was introduced. ;A set of hypotheses were developed which examined whether perceived risk would affect the philosophy type and the individual's intention to behave. In addition, the (...) research tested certain, philosophy type's individually and organizationally perceived ethicalness. The hypotheses were tested using data gathered by questionnaire within one corporation. Analysis of variance techniques were the most common form of analysis for the thirty six hypotheses. ;The results of the first set of hypotheses show that retailers classified as act deontologists and egoists are more likely to change their philosophy type between work and nonwork situations than any other. The second set of hypotheses tested whether or not specific philosophy types perceived themselves as ethical. The findings showed that within work situations all philosophy types perceived their decisions as ethical, with rule deontologists as the most ethical and egoists the least. Within nonwork situations, act utilitarians and egoists perceived the decisions they made as unethical. ;The third set of hypotheses measured the likelihood of each philosophy type changing their decision when some form of risk was included. The results showed that egoists are more likely, with rule deontologists the least likely, to alter their decision based on perceived risk. The final set of hypotheses tested the organizational ethicalness of each philosophy type. The results showed that rule deontologists are more ethical, as defined by a scale to measure ethicalness from the organization's perspective, than any other philosophy type. (shrink)

The conceptual model presented in this article argues that corporations exhibit specific behaviors that signal their true level of moral development. Accordingly, the authors identify five levels of moral development and discuss the dynamics that move corporations from one level to another. Examples of corporate behavior which are indicative of specific stages of moral development are offered.

Any company violating the public trust today puts itself at a disadvantage. Competitors who are more eager to please their clients will gain the upper hand by developing trusting relationships. Readers are exposed to ethical problems, striking examples of unethical conduct, and a variety of moral dilemmas and temptations businesses encounter every day. The aim of this book is to teach from the mistakes of the well-known cases described and to show how to avoid, and how to respond best, should (...) the worse scenario occur. (shrink)