...Backus, Western Oregon University Abstract In this paper we demonstrate how to focus an empirical application in reaching an ethical decision by working with the Potter Box, a model created by Ralph Potter as an analytical tool assessing the ethics of corporate decision-making, The facts emerging in news accounts regarding lawsuits against the pharmaceutical company Merck and its painkiller Vioxx are analyzed for ethical consideration. Utilizing the Potter Box model, the case against Merck can be interpreted and studied in light of ethical considerations. The results demonstrate not only how a decision is argued, but what is missing in the overall consideration for the decision. Introduction The mythos of freedom and responsibility in the United States is premised on the ethical actions of members of the society, particularly those in positions of power. And ethics in communication takes a place of preeminence since the words spoken by authorities are often all a public relies upon to pass judgment. How is the citizen or the communication analyst to evaluate the ethics of the utterances of others? And how does the communicator determine the ethical appropriateness of a planned message? This paper is an introduction to an accessible method of ethical decision-making in communication. The Potter Box allows both student and scholar to analyze the ethical responsibilities of communicators in terms that are both practical and theoretically grounded. The Potter Box's four primary dimensions--definition...
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...concepts to be deployed by any machine able to make moral judgments. No agreement seems forthcoming on these matters, and we don’t hold out hope for machines that can both always do the right thing (on some general ethic) and produce explanations for its behavior that would be understandable to a human confederate. Our tentative solution involves understanding the folk concepts associated with our moral intuitions regarding these matters, and how they might be dependent upon the nature of human cognitive architecture. It is in this spirit that we begin to explore the complexities inherent in human moral judgment via computational theories of the human cognitive architecture, rather than under the extreme constraints imposed by rational-actor models assumed throughout much of the literature on philosophical ethics. After discussing the various advantages and challenges of taking this particular perspective on the development of artificial moral agents, we computationally explore a case study of human intuitions about the self and causal responsibility. We hypothesize that a significant portion of the variance in reported intuitions for this case might...
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...A Decision-making Perspective to Negotiation: A Review of the Past and a Look into the Future Chia-Jung Tsay Max H. Bazerman Working Paper 10-002 Copyright © 2009 by Chia-Jung Tsay and Max H. Bazerman Working papers are in draft form. This working paper is distributed for purposes of comment and discussion only. It may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder. Copies of working papers are available from the author. 1 A Decision-making Perspective to Negotiation: A Review of the Past and a Look into the Future By Chia-Jung Tsay and Max H. Bazerman Chia-Jung Tsay is a doctoral student in organizational behavior at Harvard Business School in Boston. Her e-mail address is ctsay@hbs.edu. Max H. Bazerman is the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston. His e-mail address is mbazerman@hbs.edu. Abstract Through the decision-analytic approach to negotiations, the past quarter century has seen the development of a better dialog between the descriptive and the prescriptive, as well as a burgeoning interest in the field for both academics and practitioners. Researchers have built upon the work in behavioral decision theory, examining the ways in which negotiators may deviate from rationality. The 1990s brought a renewed interest in social factors, as work on social relationships, egocentrism, attribution and construal processes, and motivated illusions was incorporated into our understanding of negotiations...
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...Science=observation of the physical universe which includes (beginning in the late 1800’s) the study of human behavior using our five senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell); Religion=the study of the “divine” (i.e., god, however a person conceives of that notion, and it’s implications) Philosophy=the study of questions unanswerable by science through the use of “reason” (rational thought) alone. Thus, there are 4 different philosophical views on how humans can obtain knowledge: 1. mysticism/divine revelation—a god or gods “reveal” knowledge to us through prayer, meditation, visions, etc. Most religions believe knowledge can be obtained this way—i.e. faith brings knowledge of the “mystical.” 2. rationalism—our reasoning minds alone can figure things out. e.g. Descartes’ famous quote “I think, therefore, I am.” 3. empiricism—we can know things only through...
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...Small business social responsibility: Expanding core CSR theory Laura J. Spence Abstract This paper seeks to expand business and society research in a number of ways. Its primary purpose is to redraw two core CSR theories (stakeholder theory and Carroll’s CSR pyramid), enhancing their relevance for small business. This is done by the application of the ethic of care, informed by the value of feminist perspectives and the extant empirical research on small business social responsibility. It is proposed that the expanded versions of core theory have wider relevance, value and implications beyond the small firm context. The theorization of small business social responsibility enables engagement with the mainstream of CSR research as well as making a contribution to small business studies in scholarly, policy and practice terms. Key words: corporate social responsibility, ethic of care, feminist ethics, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), small business, Carroll’s pyramid, stakeholder theory. Correspondence: Laura J. Spence, PhD. Professor of Business Ethics. Director, Centre for Research into Sustainability, School of Management, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK. Laura.Spence@rhul.ac.uk Acknowledgements: With sincere thanks to the special issue editors and reviewers, Kate Grosser and Dirk Matten for their insightful comments in the development of this paper. Introduction Small business social responsibility - whether it be a software...
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...The Role of Power in Financial Statement Fraud Schemes Chad Albrecht • Daniel Holland • Ricardo Malaguen˜o • Simon Dolan • Shay Tzafrir Received: 24 June 2011 / Accepted: 12 December 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 Abstract In this paper, we investigate a large-scale financial statement fraud to better understand the process by which individuals are recruited to participate in financial statement fraud schemes. The case reveals that perpetrators often use power to recruit others to participate in fraudulent acts. To illustrate how power is used, we propose a model, based upon the classical French and Raven taxonomy of power, that explains how one individual influences another individual to participate in financial statement fraud. We also provide propositions for future research. Keywords Financial statement fraud Organizational corruption Recruitment Collusion Power and influence Introduction In recent years, fraud and other forms of unethical behavior in organizations have received significant attention in the business ethics literature (Uddin and Gillet 2002; Elias 2002; Rockness and Rockness 2005; Robison and Santore 2011), investment circles (Pujas 2003; Albrecht et al. 2011), and regulator communities (Farber 2005; Ferrell and Ferrell 2011). Scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Xerox, Quest, Tyco, HealthSouth, and other companies created a loss of confidence in the integrity of the American business (Carson 2003) and even...
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...the impacts of the mining industry globally. Lastly, it addresses the issues surrounding our land—the Canadian mining industry. The research shows that the history of mining goes as far as the Neolithic era. The mining value chain presented demonstrates the formation of a mining company to the extraction of the natural resources. Further investigation shows that the mining structure is an oligopoly. Methods of analysis include an environmental analysis using PEST and a stakeholder map, which focus on the performance of a world-renowned mining company TransAlta. The finding is that management’s role is to have efficiency and productivity while maintaining ethical practices. Ethical theories are then used to look at the social, environmental and economical impacts of the Canadian industry. It is concluded that each ethical theory presents a favorable solution to each impact. Social corporate responsibility is evaluated in the last ten years in Canada and around the globe. It is found that the industry has become one of the most safety-conscious industries within Canada. The companies still have a prospective future as technological advancements, a major key to a sustainable industry, are increasing. Recommendations given include: ■ Mining companies should be accountable for their duty of care to their surrounding communities as they have large environmental and economical impacts. ■ Corporate responsibility should continue to be at the core of every mining company based in...
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...Chapter 1: Ethical Theory Meta-ethical positions include: * Ethical non-cognitivism (concept that ethics is a matter of feelings) * Ethical relativism (concept that ethics is relative to a particular point of view) * Ethical objectivism (notion that ethics is objective in nature). Meta-Ethical Positions Ethical Non-cognitivism The basis of ethical non-cognitivism is that ethical disagreement can be a highly emotional affair where no amount of reasoning is likely to convince the other party. * Example: “Let’s just agree to disagree” Ethical Relativism * Ethical relativism says that while ethical statements are cognitively meaningful, they do not hold in any objective sense because they depend on our point of view. * If we accept ethical relativism, then ethical disagreement among people who do not share the same perspective becomes impossible. * It assumes that if people agree on something, then it must be true. * Ethical relativism is suspect for a pragmatic reason: it is fundamentally at variance with our social practice. * Example: “To each his own”, or the belief that what’s right for one group isn’t necessarily right for another Ethical Objectivism * Ethical objectivism holds that right and wrong are objective phenomena. * Example: “I’m right and you’re wrong” What is Ethics? * As a discipline, ethics is a branch of philosophy. * It deals with questions of right and wrong conduct, and with what we ought to do and what...
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...The Moral Compass Leadership for a Free World Lindsay J Thompson Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 2 THE MORAL COMPASS Leadership for a Free World Table of Contents introduction page 5 core learning page 9 the leadership labyrinth page 11 the m oral com pass page 27 values and global value creation page 73 corporate citizenship page 93 bibliography page 109 the case lab page 113 Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 3 Leadership Ethics Course Manual ~ © 2005 Lindsay J Thompson ~ All rights reserved 4 introduction Moral Leadership for a Free World If you read a newspaper this morning, you almost surely read something related to morality, leadership, and freedom. From international relations to neighborhood and family life, concerns about leadership ethics and human welfare are the focus of news, political movements, and civic initiatives. Emotionally engaging terms like “moral leadership,” “the free world” and “human freedom” are often used in the media without much explanation or clarification. Momentous decisions are made and life choices established in the name of values attached to these and similar terms. What do we really mean by “moral leadership,” or “freedom?” If two people use these terms in a conversation, do they explicitly share a common understanding of them or just assume common ground? For instance...
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...Business research Business research can be described as a systematic and organized effort to investigate a specific problem encountered in the work setting that needs a solution. It comprises a series of steps designed and executed, with a goal of finding answers to the issues that are of concern to the manager in the work environment. This means that the first step in research is to know where the problem areas exist in the organization, and to identify as clearly and specifically as possible the problems that need to be studied and resolved. Once the problem that needs attention is clearly defined, then steps can be taken to gather information, analyze the data, and determine the factors that are associated with the problem and solve it by taking the necessary corrective measures. This entire process by which we attempt to solve problems is called research. Thus research involves a series of well-thought-out and carefully executed activities that will enable the manager to know how organizational problems can be solved, or at least considerably minimized. Research thus encompass the process of inquiry, investigation, examination, and experimentation. These processes have to be carried out systematically, diligently, critically, objectively, and logically. The expected end results would be the discovery that will help the manager to deal with the problem situation. Definition of research 1. A voyage of discovery or a journey/movement from the known to unknown; An attitude;...
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...Pearson, P. D., & Cervetti, G. N. (2013). The psychology and pedagogy of reading processes. In W. Reynolds, & G. Miller, (Eds.), Educational Psychology, V.VII, of Handbook of Psychology (2nd Ed) (pp. 507-554). New York: John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 12 The Psychology and Pedagogy of Reading Processes P. David Pearson and Gina Cervetti As we approach the monumental task of living up to the standard imposed by our predecessor, the late Michael Pressley, in writing the reading chapter for this, the seventh volume in the series of Handbooks of Psychology, we are both privileged and humbled by the opportunity of continuing the legacy of providing a comprehensive account of new theoretical and empirical contributions to reading research. Respectful of the cross-age approach that Pressley took in the last volume (account for progress of beginning readers, adolescent and adult readers— and along the way highlight some pedagogical processes that are salient at all levels, such as word recognition, vocabulary, and comprehension), we took a different approach. We decided to focus on reading as a fundamentally cognitive process that can be influenced by contextual forces at many levels, most notably for education, schools, and policy environments. Thus we deal with the fundamental psychological aspects of reading—word level processes (including subword processes such as phonological awareness and decoding, word reading, and vocabulary, with all of its entailments), and...
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...IIBM Institute of Business Management Corporate Governance www.iibmindia.in Chapter 1 Corporate Governance Corporate governance refers to the system by which corporations are directed and controlled. The governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in the corporation (such as the board of directors, managers, shareholders, crors, auditors, regulators, and other stakeholders) and specifies the rules and procedures for making decisions in corporate affairs. Governance provides the structure through which corporations set and pursue their objectives, while reflecting the context of the social, regulatory and market environment. Governance is a mechanism for monitoring the actions, policies and decisions of corporations. Governance involves the alignment of interests among the stakeholders. There has been renewed interest in the corporate governance practices of modern corporations, particularly in relation to accountability, since the high-profile collapses of a number of large corporations during 2001–2002, most of which involved accounting fraud. Corporate scandals of various forms have maintained public and political interest in the regulation of corporate governance. In the U.S., these include Enron Corporation and MCI Inc. (formerly WorldCom). Their demise is associated with the U.S. federal government passing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, intending to restore public confidence in corporate...
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...Typically before class session or by appointment. Required Learning Materials This course is a series of thematic conversations about human values and your responsibilities as an emerging/aspiring business leader. There is no traditional textbook, but there is much reading. You are required to read The Moral Compass: Leadership for a Free World, a workbook by Lindsay Thompson available online as a PDF in Course Documents. You will find details about required learning materials in the Bibliography and Theme Briefs sections of the Syllabus. Course Description and Overview This course explores ethical leadership as a framework for enterprise value creation in a complex environment of competing economic and moral claims. Students examine the intrinsic ethical challenges of leadership and the concept of a moral compass as a foundation for responding effectively to the ethical challenges of corporate citizenship and value creation in a competitive global economy. (2 credits) Syllabus Table of Contents Page Topic 2 Bibliography & Learning Resources 6 Calendar, Seminar Structure, Theme Briefs, Content 42 Seminar Preparation Toolkit 48 Learning Objectives, Graded Assignments, Deliverables 59 General Academic Policies 61 Supplemental Readings on Learning Theory bibliography learning resources ------------------------------------------------- Bibliography of Required and Suggested Readings Required: Appiah, Kwame (2010). The Honor Code: How Moral...
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... Misery Loves Companies: Whither Social Initiatives by Business? Abstract Companies are increasingly being asked to provide innovative solutions to deep-seated problems of human misery. Organization and management scholarship can play an important role in understanding and guiding possible corporate responses. Theory and research to date have sought to reconcile possible corporate responses with economic premises about the purpose of the firm. Our goals in this paper are to reorient the debate and to spark new research about social initiatives by business. Acknowledging that firms already make such investments, we try to stimulate a fresh agenda for organizational scholarship in three ways. First, we depict the hold that economic reasoning has had on how organization theory conceives of the relationship between the firm and society. Second, we examine the consequences of this...
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...which encourages appropriate and limited use of discretion. Raktažodžiai: atskaitomybė, atsakomybė, diskretiškumas, etika, korupcija, sprendimų priėmimas. Keywords: accountability, responsibility, discretion, ethics, corruption, decision making. Introduction Few aspects of Public Administration engender more controversy than the idea of discretion. For most, the attitude toward the exercise of discretion must be described as ambiguous and even ambivalent. While the necessity of the exercise of discretion is not disputed, there is little agreement on the normative foundation (Bryner, 1987) for that activity. Yet without a normative foundation, there is little basis upon which to judge the exercise of discretion. Recent literature on ethical practices in the governments of Africa has boldly asserted that discretion leads to the breakdown of the rule of law and threatens the capacity to govern (Hope, 1999). Those who have witnessed the slow slide into corruption that has befallen many a nation make the reduction of official discretion a cornerstone of public sector reform. As Hope (1999) laments: Following independence, most African countries shamelessly transformed themselves from bureaucratic administrations that generally...
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