Ethics and the Ivory Tower: The Case of Academic Departments of Finance

This study reports the results from a survey of 1,000 finance faculty members within schools of business across the U.S. concerning their knowledge of ethical transgressions as well as their attitudes towards ethics training in the curriculum. Ethical breaches appear most frequently with the unauthorized duplication of licensed software and the misuse of university resources for private consulting activity. Yet knowledge of ethical misconduct is highly segmented, with significant differences in reporting frequency between groups based upon citizenship, academic rank and school size. Contrary to the implications of Hawley (1991), we find there is a widely held belief by finance educators that business ethics has a legitimate role in business curriculums and should be included in finance course work. Further, our respondents strongly reject the notions that ethical practices are inconsistent with the principle of shareholder wealth maximization or that finance is more susceptible to ethical transgressions than other functional areas of business. We conclude that finance faculty are able to serve as legitimate ethical mentors for students and by implication may positively influence future corporate ethical behavior.     

基于商业伦理观的商誉成本计量与决策分析

企业在商业活动中,以道德的行为来影响商誉价值,而商誉价值的提升,是需要付出一定代价的。商誉成本是维持或提高企业商誉价值所付出的代价或费用,并是商业伦理决策过程中或商誉决策时所必须考虑的一个重要因素。基于商业伦理观的商誉成本的正确计量及决策分析是企业在战略的角度提升商誉价值的关键所在。     

Increasing Effectiveness in Teaching Ethics to Undergraduate Business Students

Undergraduate business students present special needs and challenges in respect to the teaching of ethics. Traditional methods of teaching this topic are the subject of criticism in the literature. This paper considers the nature of the target audience while advancing the complementary goals of convincing undergraduate business students that ethical behavior in business is important and increasing the likelihood that these students will make ethical choices in the future. Shortcomings of approaches commonly used to teach this topic are discussed. Specific instructional techniques to supplement or replace traditional pedagogy are suggested.     

Teaching Business Ethics Through Literature

America's economic ideology lacks a vocabulary of ethics. If, as we assume, an economic system requires a moral component for long-term survival, students in business schools must be exposed to a vocabulary of ethics that is consistent with the ideology of capitalism. We present a vocabulary of ethics and describe an approach to teaching business ethics based on business-related classic literature and moral philosophy.     

How Not to Make Ethical Decisions: Guidelines from Management Textbooks

Since 1974, business programs have responded to the AACSB's requiring enhancement of instruction in ethics. One way has been through the integration of ethics coverage across departments. In Management, the introductory textbooks that provide coverage of ethics often attempt to simplify for students the process of making ethics decisions by presenting guidelines or tests. We examine two such guidelines, the TV and significant others tests, and discuss their myriad severe deficiencies. Specific ways in which four of the stakeholders in this issue – authors, publishers, instructors, and business schools – can respond to these deficiencies are suggested.     

Bridging Ethics and Self Leadership: Overcoming Ethical Discrepancies Between Employee and Organizational Standards

In spite of extensive study and efforts to improve business ethics and increase corporate social responsibility, a quick review of almost any business publication will show that breaches of ethics are a common occurrence in the business community. In this paper we explore reasons for potential discrepancies or gaps between organizational and individual ethical standards, the consequences of such discrepancies, and possible methods of reducing the detrimental effects of these differences. The concept of self-leadership, as constructed through social learning theory is examined, and shown to be a potentially valuable tool for employees' use in making reasoned decisions in varying organizational ethical climates. Specifically, the authors will show how the practice of self-leadership can be employed as an important means to improve moral action within the firm.     

Of Fallacies and Curricula: A Case of Business Ethics

One of the main objectives of the undergraduate business school curriculum is to develop the students' critical thinking and decisionmaking skills. Official documents such as the school's objectives usually state this as part of its social contract. However, university processes sometimes break the most elementary rules of logical reasoning which, in turn, may lead to questionable decisions. This paper discusses the specific case of the mandatory stand-alone business ethics course as an instance of flawed reasoning in curricular processes. Educational institutions model the students' decision making patterns, not only by formal courses but by the example their own decision making processes set. Academicians should be aware of these processes' underlying values and vices. This should lead to better decisions and set a proper example for our students.     

Toward a Model of Cross-Cultural Business Ethics: The Impact of Individualism and Collectivism on the Ethical Decision-Making Process

In this paper, we explore the impact of individualism and collectivism on three basic aspects of ethical decision making – the perception of moral problems, moral reasoning, and behavior. We argue that the inclusion of business practices within the moral domain by the individual depends partly upon individualism and collectivism. We also propose a pluralistic approach to post-conventional moral judgment that includes developmental paths appropriate for individualist and collectivist cultures. Finally, we argue that the link between moral judgment and behavior is related to individualism and collectivism.

Business Education,Values and Beliefs

The study was concerned with values, value systems and the beliefs of business students from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds. The study of values and values education in western societies is clearly different from the approach to a study of Asian values advocated by Lee Kuan Yew. We talk about integrity, idealism, honesty, fairness, altuism, justice, equity, freedom, but can we expect overseas students from different cultural backgrounds to have the same understanding of these concepts as students who have been raised in western society?

     

A Cross-Cultural Application of a Theoretical Model of Business Ethics: Bridging the Gap between Theory and Data

Hunt and Vitell's General Theory (1992) is used in a cross-cultural comparison of U.S. and Taiwanese business practitioners. Results indicate that Taiwanese practitioners exhibit lower perceptions of an ethical issue in a scenario based on bribery, as well as milder deontological evaluations and ethical judgments relative to their U.S. counterparts. In addition, Taiwan respondents showed higher likelihood of making the payment. Several of the paths between variables in the theory are confirmed in both U.S. and Taiwan samples, with summary data suggesting the Hunt and Vitell theory performs well in both U.S. and Taiwan. Some unanticipated linkages within the model were uncovered in the samples. Results and implications are discussed.     

Tax Benefits of Open Individual Private Pension Plans

This article describes the open private pension plans offered in Brazil, which is one of the four pillars of the Brazilian retirement system. A framework is created to describe and analyze the impact of the transaction costs and tax advantages one can obtain from these financial products. This framework allows us to show and measure the advantages of these products versus other alternatives for long-term investment in the Brazilian financial market. It is shown that private plans are better than direct investment in funds in a high interest rate environment.     

The Internet and the Book: Media and Messages in Teaching Business Ethics

The central idea advanced by this article is that thecombination of the Internet and the book in networkinglearning technologies while teaching business ethicsis not only a matter of methodology, but also a matterof educational message. The concept of reflectiveequilibrium underlies the curriculum of a one semestercourse in business ethics. A Phase-model of moraldecision making in business serves as the central axisof the course schedule. Each phase outlines theframework of the ``class' discussion as the courseprogresses. The actual teaching experiencedemonstrates that networking may enrich bothindividual and group learning processes, and advancethe growth of business leadership capable ofincorporating moral considerations within managerialdecisions.     

Teaching Managers to Respond Ethically to Organizational Crises: an inquiry into the case method

Many managers now routinely receive training in business ethics using the case method. However the efficacy of this training has not been studied. Organizational crises, in the form of cases which present managers with ethical dilemmas, are commonly used to illustrate principles in business ethics courses. As illustrated in the classroom, these organizational ethical crises often result in severe financial consequences for the organization involved such as litigation or bankruptcy. The present study assessed the potential of the case method for teaching managers to respond ethically to organizational crisis. The author also assessed the role of organizational and ideographic factors in determining which managers would choose to act. Managers who had received classroom training in ethical case analysis were compared to those who had not. The majority in both groups of managers chose to take action when confronted with ethical dilemmas. However, managers who had received ethical training were more likely to act in some ethical situations than managers who had not. The ethical culture of an organization and the gender of the managers was also found to influence managerial action in response to ethical dilemmas.     

Ethical Decision-Making Differences Between American and Moroccan Managers

Our research’s aim is to assess the effect of cultural factors on business ethical decision-making process in a Western cultural context and in a non-Western cultural context. Specifically, this study investigates ethical perceptions, religiosity, personal moral philosophies, corporate ethical values, gender, and ethical intentions of U.S. and Moroccan business managers. The findings demonstrate that significant differences do exist between the two countries in idealism and relativism. Moroccan managers tend to be more idealistic than the U.S. managers. There is a strong positive relationship between religiosity and idealism. There were mixed findings in examining the correlates of religiosity and various components of ethical intentions. Moroccan managers were more homogenous in their corporate ethical values than were the U.S. managers. The results demonstrate that (in general) idealism is a good predictor of ethical intentions and behaviors. Additionally, managers from the two countries differed in the degree of relationship between perceptions and intentions in three of the four scenarios. This study’s results confirm other research findings that, in general, female business managers have higher ethical sensitivity in terms of their ethical judgment than their male counterparts. Managerial implications are also discussed.