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Spirituality And The Development Of An Organizational Compliance And Ethics Program, Michael A. Meyer

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Major corporate scandals and heightened government enforcement of ethical lapses in the workplace continue to emphasize the importance of an effective compliance and ethics program. Compliance and ethics programs effectively became mandatory when the United States Federal Sentencing Commission amended the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations in 2004 to recognize the existence of an effective compliance and ethics program as a mitigating consideration in the sentencing of organizations convicted of criminal conduct. While legalistic codes, policies, and procedures have become the normative response to the Sentencing Guidelines, soul-less documents in and of themselves will not develop the “thoughtful behavior” upon …

Blood Is Not Always Thicker Than Water: A Family Business Case Study, Hai Ta, Todd M. Inouye, Shih-Jen Kathy Ho, Vincent Agnello

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

According to the US Census Bureau, 90% of businesses in the U.S. are family-owned or controlled. Unfortunately, the succession rates for family-owned businesses are dismal. Only 30% survive a transfer from the founder to a child and only 11% survive a second transfer to the third generation. Two major factors that contribute to this are lack of succession planning and failure to deal with family conflict, both of which are management failures and are often intertwined. Failure to properly manage the family fosters a sense of unfairness, unequal workload, and perhaps a free-rider problem among family members. This not only …

The Relationship Between Spirituality And Greed: Sex Matters, Alan G. Walker, Ian S. Mercer

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Abstract

Organizational malfeasance is oftentimes attributed to greed (Hansen & Movahedi, 2010). Such attributions appear appropriate given recent research demonstrating relationships between greed and shareholder return (Hayes et al., 2017). However, research exploring antecedents of greed is scant. We explored one such antecedent by examining the relationship between participants’ spirituality and a trait measure of greed. Results indicated that individuals’ spirituality explained unique variance in greed above that variance explained by sex (being a male) and college major (being a business major) - which have well-established relationships with unethical outcomes. This finding suggests that (a) spirituality was a precursor to …

Reciprocity: An Antecedent To Fraud Compliance And Unethical Behavior, Charles E. Drehmer

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

There is a constant stream of headlines in the news about fraud schemes swindling people out of their hard-earned money. When analyzing these schemes, it can be difficult to see why these scams work so well time after time. Often, the potential payoff to the victim is farfetched or even impossible to a third party looking at the situation after the fact. Why would someone comply with a fraudulent request with such an implausible benefit to themselves or maybe even seemingly no benefit? One of the tools utilized by unscrupulous scam artists is the social norm of reciprocity. Simply stated, …

Sin In Business And Business In Sin: Negative Externalities, Total Depravity, And Freedom From Perfection, Kathryn D. Blanchard

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

It is not difficult to find examples of sin in business. These include blatant individual sins like theft or fraud, as well as larger systemic failures such as negative social and ecological externalities. It is a task of Christian business ethics to address such failures, but we invariably come up against problems that defy easy solutions, no matter how scrupulously we try to root them out. This is because business itself—like all human life—exists under conditions of sin. The Calvinist notion of total depravity reframes “sin in business” as “business in sin,” necessitating greater humility about the possibility of good …

Higher Education Industry Consolidation: Where Does It Leave Students?, Todd M. Inouye Ph.D., Vincent Agnello J.D.

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Mount Ida College, operating as a private non-profit higher education institution, permanently closed on May 17, 2018 after giving six weeks of notice to its existing and recently accepted students. Mount Ida College had two campuses, a small one in Foxboro, Massachusetts and its main campus in Newton, Massachusetts. The Newton campus was sold to the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and students in good standing were offered automatic acceptance to UMass Dartmouth. Soon afterwards a class action lawsuit was filed by students against Mount Ida College, the Board of Trustees, and seven college administrators based on seven legal claims: breach …

In The Presence Of Suffering: Toward A New Understanding Of Evil, Kristina Lebedeva

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The present dissertation addresses the question of evil and suffering as intrinsically intertwined, linked by the notion of affective temporality, as distinct from ‘clock time.’ Following Adi Ophir, I define evil as superfluity, as what ought not to be, thus divorcing it from any idea of necessity, and its social production that must be reduced or disrupted. The catastrophes that are still happening take precedence over past ones, since the former are still open to reduction, intervention, and alleviation. Here time becomes a key notion that alerts us to the possibilities of responding morally to present disasters. Time reappears again …

Using Latent Profile Regression To Explore The Relationship Between Religiosity And Work-Related Ethical Judgments, Alan G. Walker, L. Allison Jones-Farmer, Jason D. Debode, James W. Smither, Raymond D. Smith

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Utilizing social structural symbolic interactionist theorizing about self-identity as presented by Weaver and Agle (2002) we obtained data related to five key measures of religiosity believed to be critical for understanding religiosity’s influence on ethical judgments. Using our five key religiosity measures we then fit a latent profile regression model to explore whether and how these constructs related to one another and to work-related ethical judgments. Results revealed that both our analytic and theoretical frameworks (latent profile regression and symbolic interactionism) were helpful in identifying religious profiles which are helpful for understanding the relationship between religiosity and work-related ethical judgments. …

Using The Bible In Christian Ethics, Clive Beed, Cara Beed

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Various Christian ethicists commented on a disconnection of Christian ethics from the Bible in the 1960s and 70s. Although this tendency is thought to have been remedied, this paper argues otherwise. The distance and detachment of Christian ethics from the Bible continues. The contention is demonstrated from examining Christian ethics’ books published from 2001-2011, plus two influential works from the 90s — Hays, and Peschke. Their separation from the Bible is indicated by their selective analysis of the biblical text, by their ‘plain reading’ interpretation, by their placing more weight on Christian tradition than the Bible, by not relying on …

Learning About Leadership, Trust And Benevolence From Ethics Of The Fathers (Avot), Hershey Harry Friedman Phd, Dov Fischer Phd Cpa

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

Leadership has become an important subject in numerous areas ranging from business to education to religion. An organization or country that is going to prosper needs effective leadership. Ethics of the Fathers (Pirkei Avot) is the perfect tool for learning about what it takes to restore organizational trust in business leadership. Avot consists of sayings of Jewish sages — many of whom were leaders — who lived from 300 BCE to 200 CE as well as many anonymous sayings. It is essential to any leader who wishes to achieve organizational trust through ability, integrity and benevolence.

Ethics And Affects: A Critique Of Social Intelligibility With Adorno, Butler And Spivak, Jana Mcauliffe

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

In Ethics and affects: a critique of social intelligibility with Adorno, Butler and Spivak I offer a critical analysis that can help to disentangle the reliance of social legitimacy on social intelligibility. I maintain that legitimacy and intelligibility are woven into a kind of double-bind, wherein the illegitimacy of some social identities contributes to a continued unintelligibility of some experiences, while that unintelligibility in turn works to preclude legitimacy. There is thus an injustice, or at least something rather like an injustice, to the ways social intelligibility and social legitimacy are entangled. The central argument here is that critique that …

Human Alienation And Fulfillment In Work: Insights From The Catholic Social Teachings, Ferdinand Tablan

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

This paper is about the modern-day problem of human alienation and fulfillment in work from the perspective of the Catholic social thought. It analyses the symptoms and causes of work alienation, the meaning of work and its significance in the individual’s quest for fulfillment, and how the Catholic social teachings can shed light on the problems involved in transforming the world of work. Alienation in work affects one’s subjective and psychological fulfillment, but it is not ultimately dependent on material culture or economic models. The problem of alienation in work cannot be dealt with by simply modifying the production process …

A Fourth Use Of The Law? The Decalogue In The Workplace, David W. Gill

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

This paper makes a case that a set of basic ethical principles relevant to a diverse, global workplace can be drawn from the Ten Commandments (Decalogue). Especially among Protestant theologians since the 16th century, the Decalogue has been viewed as having two or three “uses.” First, the Decalogue can draw or drive people to repentance and faith as they are convicted of their shortcomings relative to these ten moral standards (the pedagogical or theological use). Second, the Decalogue has a “political use” in articulating the essential rules of justice for society (no murder, theft, false witness, etc.). Third, for many …

Theology Of The "Real Economy": Christian Economic Ethics In An Age Of Financialization, Charles A. Mcdaniel Jr.

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

“Financialization” is a term that has come to describe the process by which economic activity shifts from the “real” production of goods and services to ever more complex forms of financial transacting. Religious critics of practices that led to the financial crisis admonish behaviors commonly associated with financialization, yet these criticisms offer incompletely articulated ideals of what constitutes real economic production from the perspective of their faith traditions. This paper contends that Christianity has the potential to transform the nature of finance and investment but only if theologians and ethicists provide more tangible definition to what is real in economic …

The Effects Of Culture On Attorney Preservation Of The Confidentiality Of Client Information, Rosemary Hollinger

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

This research sought to investigate the effect of culture upon the preservation of confidentiality of client information when the interest of the client conflicts with the interests of others. The rules, practices and values of the legal profession in Chile, India and the United States were studied in respect to two dimensions of culture: individualism-collectivism and power distance. The content analysis of the three ethics codes studied supported the research hypothesis that ethics codes in countries with greater power distance were more concerned with the preservation of the status of the legal profession than those from more egalitarian cultures. Nine-one …

Kinship And Bystander Effect: The Role Of Others In Ethical Decisions, Susan Fredricks, Michele Ramsey, Andrea Hornett

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

This study asked college students (n=454) from four different locations to determine their course of action in response to ethical dilemmas based on scenarios from previous students’ personal reports and well-publicized events (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, and Martha Stewart). Results provide support to a previous study (Fredricks & Hornett, 2005), indicating that students are more likely to take ethical action where kinship is a factor than where it is not. In addition, this study provides empirical support to the ‘bystander effect’ (Zyglidopoulos & Fleming, 2008). Students, given information on how others are acting, respond to ethical dilemmas. The effect of the …

Executive Compensation: The Role Of Shari’A Compliance, William Martin, Karen Ahmed

Publications – Dreihaus College of Business

Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to illuminate issues surrounding executive compensation as it relates to current understandings of Islamic business law. Methodology We review the emerging bodies of literature in the fields of executive compensation and opinions of stock options under Shari’a law. Findings It appears that the trend in offering employee stock options as part of a Shari’a compliant compensation package is acceptable in most cases, yet because of its close association with the more problematic idea of derivative transactions, the company must be vigilant in obtaining the approval from its Shari’a Standards Board before offering …

Importance Of Religious Beliefs To Ethical Attitudes In Business, Tisha L. N. Emerson, Joseph A. Mckinney

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

One would expect a relationship between the ethical attitudes and the religion of individuals. Published research into this relationship has found somewhat mixed results. While some studies have found a significant, positive relationship between religious belief and ethical attitudes, other studies have found either no effect or only a “marginal effect”. In this study, we investigate the relationship between religious convictions and attitudes toward ethical dilemmas. We find strong evidence to suggest that business professionals who self-report higher levels of religious importance are significantly less accepting of ethically questionable behavior – for all 16 vignettes studied. This result is far …

“The Golden Door”: Does Business Hold The Key?, Sally A. Kenel, Ellen K. Boegel Esq.

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

“The New Colossus,” Emma Lazarus’ poem, although a later addition to Liberty Island, has now become synonymous with the Statue of Liberty itself. Its words, however, are not without controversy. Was Lazarus arguing that the United States is morally obligated to open her door to the poor and the oppressed? If so, what role does/should business play in granting immigrants entry? The poem frames this discussion of a contemporary understanding of what it means to be human in a global society and, building on this concept, the paper evaluates current US employment-based immigration law and suggests a paradigm to assess …

Ethical Methodology: Between Public Theology And Public Policy, Nimi Wariboko

Journal of Religion and Business Ethics

That public theology is relevant to public policy debates and formulation should be self-evident. After all, public theologians aspire to develop ethical frameworks and discourses about how we should live together in plural civil societies. They offer public theology as a form of discourse. Unfortunately, they have largely failed to explicitly develop a procedural method of ethical analysis relevant to public policy decision-making.

This paper proposes an ethical methodology as a form of public discourse, a meta-ethical model showing how themes, concerns, and insights of public theology can be systematically organized into practical policy arguments. It provides a robust “mechanics” …

Business, Profit, Partnership And The Global Common Good, Scott Kelley, Patricia Werhane, Laura Hartman

Mission and Ministry Publications

The chapter considers the reduction of poverty through for-profit initiatives, with a critique of global corporations that take goods and services out of the "bottom of the pyramid" rather than developing new markets that provide new jobs as well as export products and services. Thus, the common good is served through economic empowerment without having to appeal to global philanthropy. An inversion of intuitive thinking is proposed whereby models for for-profit initiatives are considered that will contribute to the common good rather than using a notion of the common good to inspire global companies.

Supplying Human Body Parts: A Jewish Law Perspective, Steven Resnicoff

College of Law Faculty

This article explores two related, but distinct, questions: (1) whether, under Jewish law, it is ethical for someone to buy or sell human body parts, and (2) whether, given Jewish law's perspective, it would be appropriate for the United States to adopt a distribution system that would give preference to people who volunteer to be prospective donors. These questions should interest three different kinds of people: (1) those who seek to abide by Jewish law and, therefore, need to know its rules; (2) those who respect Jewish law, who are curious about it, and who might be persuaded by its …

Lying And Lawyering: Contrasting American And Jewish Law, Steven Resnicoff

College of Law Faculty

Can desirable ends justify what would otherwise be undesirable means? The answers to this question depends on a variety of factors, including the ends to be accomplished, the means to be employed, the person who would use them, and the parties against whom they would be directed. This article begins by discussing American rules regarding lying by lawyers. The article argues that those rules place insufficient importance on the protection of innocents, have a corrosive effect on the moral values of lawyers who obey them and alienate lawyers who disobey them. The article then examines the Jewish law approach which, …