Standards of ethical conduct for management accountants

The Standards of Ethical Conduct for Management Accountants (Statement 1C) promulgated by the National Association of Accountants on June 1, 1983, are described and critiqued in this article. Four major issues related to the issuance of the standards are discussed: (1) What are the basic requirements of any ethical system? Does Statement IC meet these requirements? (2) Should a professional be ethical? (3) If ethical behavior is desirable for management accountants, should such standards be formally expressed in writing? (4) If the standards are expressed in writing, what format should be adopted for the content and how should the standards be expressed?     

Political environments and business strategy: Implications for managers

Globalization leads to increased business opportunities and changing rules of the game. Different institutional settings and different organizational players continuously shape business opportunities through different public policy processes operating in various locales. Herein, we develop a framework, based on the work of Nobel laureate Douglas North, which enables managers to determine essential considerations of public policy arenas where they may operate or consider operating.     

The ADA,part II: Implications for managers

This article and the one that preceded it report on the issues and implications of the Americans with Disabilities Act. While both articles provide an overview of the act, Part II focuses on the costs of compliance and Part I focuses on employers' preparations and implementation     

The ethical behavior of retail managers

A measure of ethics termed ethical behavior (EB) is postulated and tested across the moral philosophy types of managers. The findings suggest that certain managers, classified as rule deontologists, appear to rank higher on the EB scale than any other philosophy type tested.John Fraedrich is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Southern Illinois University of Carbondale. His areas of interest include ethical decision making and international marketing. He has published inJournal of Business Ethics, Journal of Macro-marketing, Journal of Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, International Journal of Value Based Management, andJournal of International Consumer Marketing. Dr. Fraedrich has also recently completed a book(Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases, 1991, Houghton Mifflin) on the topic of ethics.     

The legal and ethical components of executive decision-making: A course for business managers

The debate on whether and how to teach business ethics in graduate business programs continues. The authors of this article suggest specific content and processes for a course aimed at giving MBA candidates the awareness, tools, and mental processes necessary to recognize and address ethical issues in decision making. The inclusion of labor law, discrimination issues, consumer protection legislation, securities laws, and an overview of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights coupled with the development of utilitarian, deontological, and egalitarian analysis of ethical issues provides the tools and processes necessary for ethical decision making. These tools and processes are applied in several class experiences using cases, moral audits, and the development of a code of ethics to help students acquire the knowledge, skills, and values needed in ethical decision making.S. Andrew Ostapski is Associate Professor of Management and Information Systems at the College of Business Administration, Valdosta State University, Valdosta, Georgia. His teaching and research interests include the legal environment, business ethics, and international business.John E. Oliver, is presently Professor and Head of the Department of Management and Information Systems at Valdosta State University's College of Business Administration.Gaston T. Gonzalez is an Aggregate Professor at Universidad Simon Bolivar and Visiting Professor at IESA both at Caracas, Venezuela. His teaching and research interests focus on strategic management, business transformation through information technology, and the application of system thinking to the institutionalization of ethics in organizations.     

Gender disparity in job satisfaction of Western versus Asian managers

This study is to shed more light on gender disparity in job satisfaction in the context of Western versus Asian managers. It addresses the “gender paradox of the female contented worker” and takes a position that the paradox does not apply to female managers in Asia. Data were collected from Thailand as representative of Asian countries and from the U.S. as representative of Western countries. The data show that the gender paradox phenomenon is suspect at best. The results suggest that there is gender disparity in job satisfaction in both countries. There are also significant gender disparities in lower-order quality of work life (QWL) and organizational socialization in Thailand, but not in the U.S. There is no significant gender disparity in higher-order QWL in both countries. These results imply that gender disparity in job satisfaction in Thailand is driven mainly by significant gender disparity in lower-order QWL and organizational socialization.     

Career paths of global managers: Towards future research

The aim of this paper is to identify potentially productive areas where future research on global managers’ careers is warranted. Approaching career as a path, we conceptualize a global career path as an intersection of three domains: an individual, an organizational and a global environment domain. To identify, within each domain, the most important factors influencing a global career, we first conducted a review of the literature on boundaryless careers and global managers. This review allowed us to identify those factors that are most relevant to the changing nature of careers and global assignments. We then reviewed past empirical research on international careers to map how previous studies have addressed those factors, further guiding us to formulate directions for future research on global careers. As well as indicating these specific research implications, we propose a contextualized research approach that facilitates understanding of different career moves over time as well as the overall direction of a global career path.     

Differences in ethical perceptions between male and female managers: Myth or reality?

This study sought to identify whether or not differences exist between the ethical decisions of male and female managers; and, if they do exist, to identify the areas in which differences occurred. An additional evaluation was conducted to determine how each perceived their counterpart would respond to the same ethical decision making situations.Data were collected from 50 male managers and 50 female managers by means of a self-administered questionnaire. Distinctive demographic characteristics were noted among the segments.The results showed only one area where a significant difference existed between males and females on what they considered to be ethical. However, there were significant differences in 16 out of 17 situations when they rated the ethical behavior of their male/female counterparts, i.e., males rated females as being significantly less ethical than themselves and vice versa.Jeaneen M. Kidwell is Corporate Sales Trainer of Avon Products, Inc. Robert E. Stevens is Professor of Marketing at Northeast Louisiana University. He is the author of five books and over thirty articles have appeared in Journal of Purchasing, Journal of Retailing, Business Horizons, and Supervising Management. Art L. Bethke is Associate Professor of Management at Northeast Louisiana University. He has been awarded Senior Professional in Human Resources 1982 and 1985. His articles have been published in Supervisory Management, Personnel Administrator, and Review of Business and Economic Research.     

Identifying the gaps in ethical perceptions between managers and salespersons: A multidimensional approach

This research examines, in a general manner, the degree and character of perceptual congruity between salespeople and managers on ethical issues. Salespeople and managers from a diversity of organizations were presented with three scenarios having varying degrees of ethical content and were asked to evaluate the action of the individual in each scenario. Findings indicate that, in every instance, the participating managers tended (1) to be more critical of the action displayed in the scenarios, (2) to view the action as violating a sense of contract or promise, and (3) to view the action as less culturally acceptable than did the salespeople.Tony L. Henthorne is Associate Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Henthorne has published in such journals asPsychology and Marketing andJournal of Professional Services Marketing.Donald P. Robin is Professor of Business Ethics and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Robin is coauthor with Eric Reidenbach of two recent books on business ethics. Dr. Robin has contributed several articles on business ethics in such journals asJournal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andJournal of Business Ethics. He is also a frequent lecturer on the topic of business ethics.R. Eric Reidenbach is the Director of the Center for Business Development and Research and Professor of Marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Reidenbach has written numerous articles for such journals asJournal of Business Ethics, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Macromarketing, andJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Dr. Reidenbach has coauthored two books on business ethics.     

Ethical beliefs and behavior among managers: A cross-cultural perspective

This study examines the ethical beliefs and behavior of a sample of Israeli managers (n=97) and comparable data from the United States. Israeli managers rated themselves both highly ethical and more ethical than their peers. These results are similar to those found for the U.S., and indicate that the best predictor of respondents' ethical behavior is their beliefs and perceptions concerning their peers' behavior. In addition, this study examines the managers' predisposition to promote social responsibility by joining social networks of managers and other business people, established for that purpose. Seventy-eight percent are of the opinion that networks for the promotion of social responsibility in business are needed and 57% are ready to join them.Dove Izraeli is Associate Professor of Marketing Management and Social Responsibility at the Faculty of Management, Tel-Aviv University. He published nine books and numerous articles. He was a Visiting Professor at U. C. Berkeley and N. Y. U., and chaired the International Conference on Marketing for Developing Countries. His research interests include marketing channels, sales management macromarketing and business ethics.     

Impression management,overclaiming, and perceived unethical conduct: The role of male and female managers

This study examines the impact of impression management and overclaiming on self-reported ethical conduct of 174 managers (67 male, 107 female) who worked for a large not-for-profit organization. As anticipated, impression management and overclaiming positively influenced perceived unethical conduct of managers. Female managers were more prone to impression management than male managers. There was no significant difference in perceived unethical conduct or level of overclaiming of male and female managers.Peter P. Schoderbek is Professor of Management and Organizations at the University of Iowa. He is the author of six books and many articles on various aspects of management. He has lectured through out the United States, Canada, Japan, and Europe, and has conducted seminars for federal agencies, private corporations, universities, and governments. Much of his work has been in project management and goal setting. His recent interests include strategic policy, business ethics, and compensation. Satish Deshpande is an Associate Professor of Management at Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University. He teaches human resource management courses. His current research interests include business ethics, managerial decision-making, and applied psychology in human resource issues. His publications include articles in the Academy of Management Journal, Compensation and Benefits Review, Human Relations, Journal of Small Business Management, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.     

An empirical study of moral reasoning among managers

Current research in moral development suggests that there are two distinct modes of moral reasoning, one based on a morality of justice, the other based on a morality of care. The research presented here examines the kinds of moral reasoning used by managers in work-related conflicts. Twenty men and twenty women were randomly selected from the population of first level managers in a Fortune 100 industrial corporation. In open-ended interviews each participant was asked to describe a situation of moral conflict in her or his work life. The results indicated a clearly preferred mode of moral reasoning among the participants who described moral conflicts. Nearly all of these predominated with a justice orientation. These findings suggest that a correlation between gender and preferred mode may be context specific.Robbin Derry is an associate professor at The American College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, where she holds the Lamont Post Chair in Business Ethics. She recently completed a year as a Rockefeller Fellow at The Ethics Institute at Darthmouth College. She has presented and published numerous articles on the ethical decision-making of managers and is currently working on a business ethics textbook.     

Corporate social responsibility perception in business students as future managers: a multifactorial analysis

This paper examines undergraduate business students' perception of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in cases in which they have not attended any specific course either dealing with CSR or providing training in ethics. A survey was conducted of 535 Spanish business students as future managers. The results show that the stakeholders' perspective deserves a huge attention for those students considering what the keys of business success are. Significant differences in perception were nevertheless identified when a multifactorial analysis was undertaken. Female students are more concerned about CSR issues. The maximization of value for shareholders is less valued by second‐ and third‐year students than by first‐year ones. The findings point to a number of important orientations for the future development of university curriculum.     

The organizational bases of ethical work climates in lodging operations as perceived by general managers

The focus of this research concentrated on ascertaining the presence of ethical climate types and the level of analysis from which ethical decisions were based as perceived by lodging managers. In agreement with Victor and Cullen (1987, 1988), ethical work climates are multidimensional and multi-determined. The results of this study indicated that: (a) benevolence is the predominate dimension of ethical climate present in the lodging organization as perceived by lodging managers, and (b) the local level of analysis (e.g. immediate workplace norms and values) is the predominate determinant of ethical decisions in the organization.The implication of this study is that the knowledge gained from understanding that ethical decision making in an organization is multidimensional and multi-determined will foster understanding of ethical decision formation in the organizational context.Randall S. Upchurch has a rich lodging industry background that encompasses 16 years of practical experience ranging from front office operations to hotel general management. He received his Ph.D. in May of 1993. He is the author of a text entitled Lodging Marketing. Sheila K. Ruhland is Assistant Professor of Marketing Education in the College of Education at the University of Missouri — Columbia. Her research interests are in area of workplace ethics, workforce issues, leadership development. She has conducted a seminar on Ethics and has published articles in the Marketing Educators' Journal, and Journal of Vocational Education Research.     

Investigating CSR communication in SMEs: a case study among Danish middle managers

This paper seeks to analyse small‐ and medium‐sized enterprise (SME) managers' representations of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and CSR communication in a corporate communication perspective. The basic question is: how strategic is CSR communication in SMEs? Corporate communication and CSR theories are used to establish an ideal typology of CSR concepts informing an analysis of qualitative data in the form of interviews with three middle managers in two Danish SMEs. A CSR communication model published earlier by the authors is challenged from a SME perspective. Results from an Internet‐based questionnaire survey of 1071 SMEs pave the way for the analysis. Our analysis shows that SME managers clearly have an inside‐out approach to CSR, with a strong emphasis on the internal (corporate culture) dimension. However, SMEs and/or SME managers tend not to communicate externally about the CSR activities of the company. Based on these findings, the paper argues that CSR communication in SMEs is challenged by the global economy and is under revision. The contribution of the paper is to provide an insight into SMEs' present stage in relation to a possible future approach to strategic CSR communication. The paper also reminds us that SMEs have no interest in turning their local and authentic practice into a forced marketing and branding exercise, leaving them with an artificial picture of who they are and strive to be in the future. They should keep on acting locally but force themselves to think globally.