Business Commons^™

Moral Development Of Undergraduate Business Students: Online Vs. Residential Programs, Kevin L. Rawls

Kevin L. Rawls

Research related to moral reasoning and development has been increasing over the past decade as a result of the business-related scandals of the early 2000’s. Education has been shown to have a strong correlation to the moral development of individuals. Additionally, the rise in online learning has brought a new dynamic to the cognitive moral development of future business leaders. The problem addressed in this study is how an online program impacts the moral reasoning development of undergraduate business students. This study issued the DIT survey to senior-level undergraduate students declared as business majors from a face-to-face and online format …

Expanding The Motivations For Altruism: A Philosophical Perspective, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

We argue that attempts to extrapolate moral motives for non-egoistic behavior in organizational behavior often interpret results empathically or deontically, while leaving other moral motivational frames, such as the utilitarian and virtue ethical, under-examined. We encourage the creation of experimental measures to distinguish various philosophical frames.

Wittgenstein And The Challenge Of Global Ethics, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

No abstract provided.

Business Ethics Presentation- Pareto Optimality, Kevin L. Rawls

Kevin L. Rawls

No abstract provided.

A Fair Wage? Capping Executive Compensation, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

This case study highlights some of the latest research on setting executive compensation at ethical levels. The board of directors of Spade’s, a mid-size U.S. hardware chain, considers altering the pay package of its incoming CEO to best align his interests with those of shareholders and stakeholders. Students are invited to assess various components of the incoming CEO’s cutting-edge proposal, which seem attractive and convincing on the surface, but might present certain risks over the longer term. Five compensation components are analyzed, namely, salary capping, pay for performance, bonus scales, stock option parameters, and severance package.

‘I Don’T Lend Money; It Causes Amnesia!’ Money, Culture And Ethics., Annetta M. Gibson

Annetta M. Gibson

Christian leaders seek to be ethical people and make ethical decisions, but often the ethical dilemmas a leader must face do not have clear-cut answers. Ethical dilemmas can be even more troubling when they occur in a culturally diverse situation that is coupled with decisions involving financial transactions. Views of money and how to handle money are culturally influenced and may not be the same as the views of the leader, who may come from a different culture. This leads the Christian leader to ponder: When working in a culturally diverse environment, how can one tell the difference between a …

Taxonomy Of Business Ethics Theories, Grace S. Thomson

Dr. Grace S. Thomson

An increasing interest on ethics in business has resulted in a fruitful production of scholarly research that provides business leaders and decision-makers with references to bridge theory and practice (Cherry, Lee, and Chien, 2003). For an effective application of business ethics theories, it is necessary to comprehend their domains, their external and internal logic, and the specific applications to the ethical issues under analysis (Wempe, 2008).

This document presents a taxonomy of 11 ethical theories applied to business ethics that incorporate grounded theory and conceptual frameworks. As a basis for the construction of this taxonomy, the selection of the theories …

Special Edition Of Journal Of Business Ethics, Marilynn P. Fleckenstein Ph.D., Patrick Flanagan, Victoria Shoaf Ph.D., Patricia Werhane Ph.D.

Patrick Flanagan

DePaul University hosted the 14th Annual International Conference Promoting Business Ethics, at The Standard Club in Chicago, November 1–3, 2007. Academic and business leaders came together to explore the important ethical issues facing the business community in the twenty-first century. The articles in this special volume of The Journal of Business Ethics have been selected from the many presentations at this conference. Sponsored annually by the Vincentian Universities in the United States (DePaul University, in Chicago, Illinois; Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY; and St. John’s University in Queens, NY) this conference promotes the mission of St. Vincent DePaul, the …

Where Business Meets Philosophy: The Matter Of Ethics, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

No abstract provided.

Special Edition Of Journal Of Business Ethics, Patrick Flanagan, Marilynn P. Fleckenstein Ph.D., Victoria Shoaf Ph.D., Patricia Werhane Ph.D.

Patrick Flanagan

The articles in this special volume of Journal of Business Ethics have been selected from the many presentations at this conference and represent a cross section of the topics and issues covered at the Vincentian Business Ethics Conference at the Manhattan campus of St. John's University in the fall of 2009. Sponsored annually by the Vincentian universities in the United States (DePaul University, in Chicago, Illinois; Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY; and St. John’s University in Queens, NY), this conference promotes the mission of St. Vincent DePaul, the seventeenth-century Roman Catholic saint who serves as the patron of these …

Special Edition Of Journal Of Business Ethics, Patrick Flanagan, Marilynn P. Fleckenstein Ph.D., Patrick D. Primeaux Ph.D., Victoria Shoaf Ph.D., Patricia Werhane Ph.D.

Patrick Flanagan

Niagara Falls, New York was home to the 13th Annual Vincentian International Conference Promoting Business Ethics sponsored by DePaul University (Chicago, IL), Niagara University (Niagara, NY), and St. John’s University (New York, NY), the three American universities sponsored by the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians). Conferences in the past had specific themes and corresponding paper presentations focused on a particular topic. This one intentionally did not have a central organizing subject matter to allow for greater diversity. Leaders from the academic and corporate sectors, representing 30 countries, submitted excellent papers on a broad range of ethical issues. This rich …

Teaching Ethics And Honesty In Business Classrooms: A Study Of Changes In Student Perceptions, Susan R. Madsen, Ovilla Turnbull, Troy Nielson, Larry Hartman

Susan R. Madsen

With recent highly publicized breaches of ethics among members of the business community (e.g., Enron, WorldCom, Adelphia, Global Crossing, and Tyco), there is a need to re-examine specific strategies employed in colleges and universities to influence business students toward increased ethics and honesty. The purpose of this study was to examine whether perceptions and attitudes toward ethics and honesty could be influenced during a semester-long college business course. A survey was administered to students in six human resource management classes taught by four different faculty members at Utah Valley State College. The Likert scale questionnaire utilized the 20-item Ethics Position …

John Stuart Mill, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

No abstract provided.

Religiously-Motivated Investing, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

No abstract provided.

Socially Responsible Investing, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

No abstract provided.

The Golden Rule, Corey A. Ciocchetti

Corey A Ciocchetti

No abstract provided.

The Utility Of Offshoring: A Rawlsian Critique, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

Most prominent arguments favoring the widespread discretionary business practice of sending jobs overseas, known as ‘offshoring,’ attempt to justify the trend by appeal to utilitarian principles. It is argued that when business can be performed more cost-effectively offshore, doing so tends, over the long term, to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number. This claim is supported by evidence that exporting jobs actively promotes economic development overseas while simultaneously increasing the revenue of the exporting country. After showing that offshoring might indeed be justified on utilitarian grounds, I argue that according to Rawlsian social-contract theory, the practice is nevertheless …

The Intellectual's New Clothes: Review Of "Public Intellectuals: A Study Of Decline," Richard Posner, And "One World: The Ethics Of Globalization," Peter Singer, Julian Friedland

Julian Friedland

This review provides a critique of the public intellectual phenomenon via a joint review of two books by public intellectuals, namely Richard Posner and Peter Singer. Please note, the article starts on p. 195 of the attached document.

Stakeholder Theory And A Principle Of Fairness, Robert Phillips

Robert Phillips

Recent decades have witnessed an increase in the number and quality of discussions concerning the corporation’s obligations to other groups other than its share owners. Possibly the most frequent way framing such discussions is in terms of stakeholders. Hence stakeholder theory has become a central issue in the literature on business ethics / business and society. There has been, however, relatively little attention given to the source of these obligations that a firm has to its stakeholders. Many students of stakeholder theory are content to assert such obligations and move on to what they believe the substance of these obligations …