Executive attitudes,organizational size and ethical issues: Perspectives on a service industry

Responding to Randall and Gibson's (1990) call for more rigorous methodologies in empirically-based ethics research, this paper develops propositions — based on both previous ethics research as well as the larger organizational behavior literature — examining the impact of attitudes, leadership, presence/absence of ethical codes and organizational size on corporate ethical behavior. The results, which come from a mail survey of 149 companies in a major U.S. service industry, indicate that attitudes and organizational size are the best predictors of ethical behavior. Leadership and ethical codes contribute little to predicting ethical behavior. The paper concludes with an assessment of the relevant propositions, as well as a delineation of future research needs.Dr. Paul R. Murphy is currently Associate Professor of Business Logistics at John Carroll University. His previous publications have appeared in journals such as theTransportation Journal, Transportation Research, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of Global Marketing, andIndustrial Marketing Management.Dr. Jonathan E. Smith is Associate Professor of Management and Marketing at John Carroll University. He teaches courses in organizational behavior and human resource management. His current research interests are in business ethics, leadership and organizational uses of information. Dr. Smith consults with organizations regarding management development, ethics and business/organizational communications.Dr. James M. Daley is Associate Dean at John Carroll University and is a consultant to business, government, and academia; his publications include one book and over 40 articles.     

Improving the “Leader–Follower” Relationship: Top Manager or Supervisor? The Ethical Leadership Trickle-Down Effect on Follower Job Response

Since time immemorial, the phenomenon of leadership and its understanding has attracted the attention of the business world because of its important role in human groups. Nevertheless, for years efforts to understand this concept have only been centred on people in leadership roles, thus overlooking an important aspect in its understanding: the necessary moral dimension which is implicit in the relationship between leader and follower. As an illustrative example of the importance of considering good morality in leadership, an empirical study is conducted in which a good performance of the “leader–follower” relationship is reflected when individuals perceive ethical leadership in higher hierarchical managerial levels. To be precise, findings of this study demonstrate that follower job response is improved through an ethics trickle-down partial effect from the Top Manager to the immediate supervisor, and also reveal both key aspects and managerial level on which the practice of ethical leadership should rest upon to have a stronger effect on the follower positive job response. Practical implications of these findings and directions for future research are finally presented.     

Responsible Leadership in a Stakeholder Society – A Relational Perspective

We understand responsible leadership as a social-relational and ethical phenomenon, which occurs in social processes of interaction. While the prevailing leadership literature has for the most part focussed on the relationship between leaders and followers in the organization and defined followers as subordinates, we show in this article that leadership takes place in interaction with a multitude of followers as stakeholders inside and outside the corporation. Using an ethical lens, we discuss leadership responsibilities in a stakeholder society, thereby following Bass and Steidelmeier’s suggestion to discuss “leadership in the context of contemporary stakeholder theory” (1999: 200). Moreover, from a relational and stakeholder perspective we approach the questions: What is responsible leadership? What makes a responsible leader? What qualities are needed? Finally, we propose a so-called “roles model” of responsible leadership, which gives a gestalt to a responsible leader and describes the different roles he or she takes in leading stakeholders and business in society.     

A crisis of leadership: towards an anti-sovereign ethics of organisation

A common reaction to crises experienced within or brought about by business is to identify a corollary ‘crisis of leadership’ and to call for better (stronger, more thoughtful or, indeed, more ethical and responsible) leaders. This paper supports the idea that there is a crisis of leadership – but interprets it quite differently. Specifically, I argue that the most ethically debilitating crisis is the fact that we look to leadership to solve organisational ethical ills. There is, I argue, a pressing need to conceptualise a business ethics that is not constrained by the straitjacket of official hierarchy – a need to denaturalise ‘leadership’ as the normal or rightful locus of ethical regulation and renewal in business organisation. To this end, I explore a Levinasian ethico-politics of responsibility and proximity as the basis of an alternative, anti-sovereign, ethics of organisation.     

Bribery and extortion in international business: Ethical perceptions of Greeks compared to Americans

This study investigates the differences in he way bribery and extortion is perceived by two different cultures — American and Greek. Two hundred and forty American business students and two hundred and four Greek business students were presented with three scenarios describing a businessman offering a bribe to a government official and three scenarios describing a businessman being forced to pay a bribe to an official in order to do business. The Reidenbach-Robin instrument was used to measure the ethical reactions of the two samples to these scenarios. Results indicate that ethical reactions to bribery and extortion vary by (a) the nationality of the person offering the bribe, and (b) the country where the bribe is offered. In addition, Greeks perceived some of the scenarios as being less unethical than did Americans.John Tsalikis is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Florida International University. His research interests include marketing ethics, international marketing, and direct marketing. His articles have appeared in theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, and theJournal of International Consumer Marketing.Michael S. LaTour is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Auburn University. His research interests include marketing ethics, and emotional responses to advertising. His articles have appeared in theJournal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, Journal of Health Care Marketing, and theJournal of Advertising.The authors contributed equally to this article.     

Privacy versus accessibility: The impact of situationally conditioned belief

The information age we are living in and the technology that supports it, raises new ethical concerns. Among these concerns are privacy — the rights of individuals to withold information they consider sensitive, and accessibility — the rights of individuals to obtain information that is relevant to the decisions they must make. Arguments about potential impacts of information technology on privacy and accessibility mask and underlying conflict — that one person's beliefs about their right to relevant information is likely to conflict with another person's belief's about their right to withold information they consider sensitive. This paper proposes that the conflict is likely to be a function of the role the individuals plays in the decision making situation — situationally conditioned belief (SCB) — rather than a function of the person's underlying ethical values.This paper presents an empirical study involving information privacy and accessibility in routine business and market decisions, designed to reveal the presence of SCBs. The results indicate that SCBs cause a gap in beliefs about information accessibility and privacy. Impacts of the SCB gap are discussed. A negotiation technique called information exchange is suggested as a means of closing the SCB gap in routine business and market transactions. Dr. Laura Lally received her Ph.D. in Information Systems. Dr. Lally pursues research on the impacts of information technology on a nation's culture, on business profitability, and on the ethical choices faced by individuals. She has published articles in Decision Sciences, the Information Society, the Journal of Global Information Management and in the Journal of End User Computing. She is currently investigating the risk factors involved in process reengineering under a grant from the National Science Foundation.     

Linking Linear/Nonlinear Thinking Style Balance and Managerial Ethical Decision-Making

This study presents the results of an empirical analysis of the relationship between managerial thinking style and ethical decision-making. Data from 200 managers across multiple organizations and industries demonstrated that managers predominantly adopt a utilitarian perspective when forming ethical intent across a series of business ethics vignettes. Consistent with expectations, managers utilizing a balanced linear/nonlinear thinking style demonstrated a greater overall willingness to provide ethical decisions across ethics vignettes compared to managers with a predominantly linear thinking style. However, results comparing the ethical decision-making of balanced thinking managers and nonlinear thinking managers were generally inconsistent across the ethics vignettes. Unexpectedly, managers utilizing a balanced linear/nonlinear thinking style were least likely to adopt an act utilitarian rationale for ethical decision-making across the vignettes, suggesting that balanced thinkers may be more likely to produce ethical decisions by considering a wider range of alternatives and ruling out those that are justified solely on the basis of their outcomes. Implications are discussed for future research and practice related to management education and development, and ethical decision-making theory. Kevin S. Groves is an Assistant Professor of Management and Director of the PepsiCo Leadership Center at California State University, Los Angles. His research interests include managerial thinking styles, ethical decision-making, executive leadership development and succession planning systems, charismatic leadership, and leader emotional intelligence. He teaches undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral-level classes across a range of management and leadership subjects, including management competency development, organizational behavior, business ethics, and organization development and change. Dr. Groves’ recent research has been published in such journals as the Journal of Management, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Management Development, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Journal of Management Education, and the Academy of Management Learning & Education. He received a Ph.D. in Organizational Behaviour from Claremont Graduate University. Charles Vance teaches in the area of human resource management at Loyola Marymount University. He recently completed Senior Specialist and regular Fulbright appointments in Austria and China respectively. He is the author with Yongsun Paik of the new text, Managing a Global Workforce, (M.E. Sharpe, 2006). His nonlinear penchant is expressed quarterly in cartoons and other attempts at humor in the ending “Out of Whack” section of the Journal of Management Inquiry. Dr. Yongsun Paik is a professor of international business and management in the College of Business Administration, Loyola Marmount University. He holds a Ph. D. degree in International Business from University Washington. His primary research interests focus on international human resource management, global strategic alliances, and Asia Pacific business studies. He has recently published articles in such journals as Journal of World Business, Management International Review, Journal of International Managemtn, Business Horizons, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Journal of Management Inquiry, Human Resource Management Journal, among others.     

Is business ethics philosophy or sophism?

The contrast between the philosopher and the sophist is subtle and significant. The significant difference is identified by Socrates when he claims, in the Apology 21d, to be the wisest man in Athens: “Neither of us has any knowledge to boast of, but he thinks that he knows something which he does not know, whereas I am quite conscious of my ignorance.” Nearly two and one half millennia later, business ethics has transported street corner conversation into the meeting room and board room, where ethical leadership is cultivated or stifled. Are these conversations about ethics philosophy, or are they sophism? In this paper, I will evaluate the philosophical soundness of business ethics as it is practiced in business situations. My objective will be to outline the unfulfilled value of philosophical wisdom to ensuring the value of business ethics, and business, to society at large.     

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Endorsement of Ethical Leadership

The western-based leadership and ethics literatures were reviewed to identify the key characteristics that conceptually define what it means to be an ethical leader. Data from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) project were then used to analyze the degree to which four aspects of ethical leadership – Character/Integrity, Altruism, Collective Motivation, and Encouragement – were endorsed as important for effective leadership across cultures. First, using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses measurement equivalence of the ethical leadership scales was found, which provides indication that the four dimensions have similar meaning across cultures. Then, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests each of the four dimensions were found to be universally endorsed as important for effective leadership. However, cultures also varied significantly in the degree of endorsement for each dimension. In the increasingly global business environment, these findings have implications for organizations implementing ethics programs across cultures and preparing leaders for expatriate assignments. Christian J. Resick is Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Florida International University. His research is aimed at understanding how people interact with and influence various aspects of their work environments, including cultures, climates, leaders, and teammates along with the implications for various aspects of organizational behavior. A particular focus of Christian’s work examines ethical leadership and the critical linkages between leadership and organizational ethics. He received his Ph.D. from Wayne State University. Paul J. Hanges is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland and the head of the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program in the department. He is an affiliate of the Cognitive Psychology program and the R. H. Smith School of Business. Paul’s research focuses on three topics (a) social cognition, leadership, and cross-cultural issues; (b) personnel selection, test fairness, and racial/gender discrimination; and (c) research methodology. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Applied Psychology and The Leadership Quarterly and is a fellow of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology and the American Psychological Association. Marcus W. Dickson is Associate Professor of I/O Psychology at Wayne State University in Detroit. His research generally focuses on issues of leadership and culture (both organizational and societal), and the interaction of those constructs. He is a former Co-Principal Investigator of the GLOBE Project, and his work has appeared in Journal of Applied Psychology, Applied Psychology: An International Review, and The Leadership Quarterly, among others. Jacqueline K. Mitchelson is a doctoral candidate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Wayne State University. Her current research areas are leadership, organizational culture, individual differences and work-family conflict.     

Towards Authenticity: A Sartrean Perspective on Business Ethics

Taking a Sartrean existentialist viewpoint towards business ethics, in particular, concerning the question of the nature of businesspersons’ moral character, provides for a dramatically distinct set of reflections from those afforded by the received view on character, namely that of Aristotelian-based virtue ethics. Insofar as Sartre’s philosophy places human freedom at center stage, I argue that the authenticity with which a businessperson approaches moral situations depends on the degree of consciousness he or she has of the various choices at stake. Finally, I consider some practical changes in business ethics education, managerial decision-making, and business organizations that Sartrean reflections might prompt.     

A comparison of Nigerian to American views of bribery and extortion in international commerce

This study investigates the differences in the way bribery and extortion is perceived by two different cultures — American and Nigerian. Two hundred and forty American business students and one hundred and eighty Nigerian business students were presented with three scenarios describing a businessman offering a bribe to a government official and three scenarios describing a businessman being forced to pay a bribe to an official in order to do business. The Reidenbach-Robin instrument was used to measure the ethical reactions of the two samples to these scenarios. Results indicate that ethical reactions to bribery and extortion vary by (a) the nationality of the person offering the bribe, and (b) the country where the bribe is offered. In addition, Nigerians perceived some of the scenarios as being less unethical than did Americans. John Tsalikis is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Florida International University. His research interests include marketing ethics, international marketing, and direct marketing. His articles have appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Ethics, Psychology and Marketing, and the Journal of International Consumer Marketing. Osita Nwachukwu is an Assistant Professor of Management at Western Illinois University. His research interests include marketing ethics, and business policy. His articles have appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of International Consumer Marketing.     

Leadership, Ethics and Responsibility to the Other

Of recent time, there has been a proliferation of concerns with ethical leadership within corporate business not least because of the numerous scandals at Enron, Worldcom, Parmalat, and two major Irish banks – Allied Irish Bank (AIB) and National Irish Bank (NIB). These have not only threatened the position of many senior corporate managers but also the financial survival of some of the companies over which they preside. Some authors have attributed these scandals to the pre-eminence of a focus on increasing shareholder value in Western business schools and/or to their failure to inculcate ethical standards. In this paper, we challenge these accounts and the aetiological view of knowledge from which they derive but are grateful for the consensus that they convey regarding the importance of business ethics. The paper focuses on different approaches to ethical leadership concluding with a view that some hybrid of MacIntyre’s virtue ethics and Levinas’s ethics of responsibility may serve as an inspiration for both educators and practitioners. Dr. David Knights is a Professor of Organisational Analysis in the School of Economic and Management Studies at Keele University. He previously held chairs in Manchester, Nottingham and Exeter Universities. He is a founding and continuing editor of the journal Gender, Work and Organisation and his most recent books include: Management Lives, Sage, 1999 (with H. Willmott) and Organization and Innovation, McGraw-Hill, 2003 (with D. McCabe). Majella O’Leary is a Lecturer in Management at the University of Exeter. Her research interests include corporate scandals, ethical leadership, disaster sensemaking, and organizational storytelling. Majella’s most recent publications have appeared in Human Relations and European Journal of Business Ethics.     

Leadership in the promotion of peace: Interviews with the 2015 Business for Peace honorees

Ethical leadership can lead to many positive organizational outcomes. Previous studies have shown a correlation between ethical conduct and profitability; in addition, firms that have high ethical standards have fewer legal issues. The existing ethical leadership literature assumes a stable external environment. The business and peace literature, on the other hand, assumes instability but has thus far largely ignored the role of leadership within companies as a possible driver of peacebuilding activities. The practitioner community has already begun to recognize that leaders of organizations are the key drivers of change in the peacebuilding context. The Business for Peace Foundation, the foremost organization in the practitioner community, gives its annual award to business leaders who promote peace within their organizations and communities. These Business for Peace honorees represent the ‘ethical leadership’ qualities of peace promotion, without reference to academic theories in either area. We conducted semi-structured interviews with the 2015 Business for Peace honorees and combined those with their public speeches at the Business for Peace events to examine what role these business and peace leaders saw between ethical leadership and peace promotion. Unlike the academic research that suggests only a theoretical and sometimes a direct but tangential connection to peacebuilding, the honorees highlight the direct and visible connection of ethical leadership to peace in unstable environments. We begin by describing the relevant business for peace and ethical leadership literatures. Then we highlight the significant aspects of the interviews and speeches and relate these to the prevailing theories of both business and peace and ethical leadership. Our findings suggest that ethical leadership may be an important missing link within the business and peace literature as an avenue for peace promotion, and that the leadership literature may be ignoring an important positive impact of ethical leadership.     

Adam Smith and the ethics of contemporary capitalism

This paper presents a theoretical elaboration of the ethical framework of classical capitalism as formulated by Adam Smith in reaction to the dominant mercantilism of his day. It is seen that Smith's project was profoundly ethical and designed to emancipate the consumer from a producer and state dominated economy. Over time, however, the various dysfunctions of a capitalist economy — e.g., concentration of wealth, market power — became manifest and the utilitarian ethical basis of the system eroded. Contemporary capitalism, dominated as it is by large corporations, entrenched political interests and persistent social pathologies, bears little resemblance to the system which Smith envisioned would serve the common man. Most critiques of capitalism are launched from a Marxian-based perspective. We find, however, that by illustrating the wide gap between the reality of contemporary capitalism and the model of amoral political economy developed by Smith, the father of capitalism proves to be the most trenchant critic of the current order.G. R. Bassiry is currently professor of Management and international business at California State University, San Bernardino, California. Formerly he served as Vice President and Acting President of Farabi University. His most recent articles on business ethics include Ethics, Education, and Corporate Leadership,Journal of Business Ethics and Business Ethics and the United Nations: A Code of Conduct,Sam Advanced Management Journal. He has also published numerous journal articles on international business, corporate strategy and corporate leadership, and is the author ofPower vs. Profit by Arno Press of New York Times.Marc Jones is a management lecturer at the University of Otago, New Zealand. His research interests include multinational corporations and economic development. He has worked as a financial analyst for Electronic Data Systems Corporation and as a management consultant for Peat Marwick Main & Company.     

A comparison of ethical perceptions of business and engineering majors

Previous research has reported that ethical values of business students are lower than those of their peers in other majors. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a self-selection bias with respect to ethical values exists among students enrolled as business majors when compared with students planning to enter the engineering profession. Engineering students are exposed to a similar technical orientation in academic curricula and also supply the market for managers.A survey instrument was administered to 195 students enrolled in undergraduate business and engineering programs and a graduate business program. The research instrument measured how business and engineering students perceive their own ethical beliefs and actions and how they perceived the ethical beliefs and actions of their peers.The results indicate a perceptual trap, or the self-versus-others disparity exists for the entire sample. However, there was a divergence between the two groups on the issue of whistle blowing. Engineers may be more sensitive to this issue. It was concluded that if a self-selection process exists, it is present for both business and engineering professional tracks with implications for educators in both disciplines.It is not enough to teach a man a specialty. Through it he may become a kind of useful machine, but not a harmoniously developed personality. It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of and a lively feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and of the morally good. Otherwise he — with his specialized knowledge — more closely resembles a trained dog than a harmoniously developed person. He must learn to understand the motives of human beings, heir illusions, and their sufferings in order to acquire a proper relationship to individual fellow men and to the community.— Albert EinsteinPriscilla O'Clock, Ph.D., 1991, CPA, Assistant Professor, Xavier University.Marilyn Okleshen, Ph.D., 1991, CPA, Associate Professor, Mankato State University.     

The Mediating Effects of Managerial Skills on the Relationship Between Managerial Values,Ethical Leadership,and Organizational Reputation

Drawing on the upper echelons theory, this study examines the mediating effects of managerial skills on the relationship between managerial values, ethical leadership, and organizational reputation. Data were obtained from 209 manufacturing companies in the People’s Republic of China. Regression results reveal that (1) managerial values positively affect ethical leadership and organizational reputation and (2) managerial skills mediate the effects of managerial values on ethical leadership, and on organizational reputation. The study sheds light on the mechanisms through which managerial self-transcendence values but not self-enhancement values affect ethical leadership and organizational reputation.     

Twin towers: A philosophy and theology of business

To be in business is first to be. To do in business, is to enhance one's being and the being of others; it ought never result in the diminishment of either. This article invites philosophical reflection on the purpose of business.To be and do in business looks for an explanation that goes beyond the meaning of work. The meaning of work is a worthy philosophical inquiry; the meaning of business is a separate question. The purpose of business is relational. Business is doing for others on condition of receipt of something of fair value in return. It deals essentially with exchanges. Persons in business relate to other persons whose needs, preferences, and desires are met, to some degree of satisfaction, by the product or service the business is organized to provide — at a price. To meet the need, preference or desire is the purpose of business.Theology, through the categories of creation and stewardship, sheds additional light on the purpose of business. There is theological significance in the human action of making available, through fair exchanges, the goods and services people need, prefer and, in some cases, simply desire. There is also theological meaning in the managerial and entrepreneurial function of making employment available for others, thus helping them to be more active and productive human beings. From a theological perspective, the purpose of business activity is to serve a people on the way to salvation by organizing the material basis of their transit through life. William J. Byron, a Jesuit priest with a doctorate in economics, is president of The Catholic University of America. Author of Toward Stewardship (1975) and editor of The Causes of World Hunger (1982), his experience includes directorships of a bank, an insurance company, two hospitals, and several universities.     

The implementation of a code of ethics: The early efforts of one entrepreneur

Attention is being focused on the tone at the top in businesses in the United States with the publication of the Report of the Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting. There has been growing discontent with the quality of ethcial behavior in the business society and at the present moment many American companies are developing — or revising — codes of ethics and establishing procedures for their implementation. Yet, there is some question about the success of such efforts.This article describes the efforts of an early American entrepreneur to develop a code of ethics and to implement it throughout his organization during the early years of relatively rapid growth. The code was introduced in 1913 and was supported through a variety of means in which the leader himself participated. That early code continues to be reissued as the company updates its overall code of ethics. The persistent and seemingly genuinc commitment to ethical behavior throughout the company was evident in all aspects of the leader's behavior. Mary Ellen Oliverio (PhD, Columbia; CPA, New York State) is Professor of Accounting, Graduate School of Business, Pace University, New York, New York, 10038. She is the author of several textbooks and has had articles published in a number of professional journals, including the CPA Journal, Internal Auditor, and Internal Auditing. She is currently conducting a study on the role of the internal auditor in the performance of the external audit.     

A framework for organizational success

The contention of this paper is that the marketing concept is but one aspect of a philosophy of business referred to by the authors as the framework for organizational success. This framework maintains that the marketing concept must work together with good management approaches and with ethical business practices in order to satisfy the needs and wants of the various publics of the organization — customers, employees, suppliers, society — and, in the long run, ensure the satisfaction of the needs of the organization itself. The authors propose that focusing on one concept, and ignoring the other two aspects, is not likely to promote organizational success. Hershey H. Friedman is Professor of Marketing at Brooklyn College. He has published in the Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Applied Psychology, Akron Business and Economic Review, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Simulation, Journal of the Market Research Society, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Business Ethics. Linda Weiser Friedman is Associate Professor of Statistics and Computer Information Systems at Baruch College. She has published in Computers and Operations Research, Behavioral Science, Omega, Simulation, Journal of Statistical Computation and Simulation, Journal of Advertising Research, Interface, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences.     

Developmental constraints on ethical behavior in business

Ethical behavior — the conscious attempt to act in accordance with an individually-owned morality — is the product of an advanced stage of the maturing process. Three models of ethical growth derived from research in human development are applied to issues of business ethics.Claudia Harris is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Scranton. She was formerly a financial analyst in the chemical industry.William Brown is a Professor of English at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science. The genesis of this paper was the authors' experience in using fiction to teach business management, and they have published papers on this topic in Organizational Behavior Teaching Review.