Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label ethics

Integrity and Moral Courage in an Environmental Context

Integrity and moral courage is something we discuss in the textbooks and seek to realize in our lives when handling sensitive issues. Unfortunately, its very existence is defined against the backdrop of difficult discussions that few else would have the courage to undertake. Whether discussing corporations or governments, creating environments that protect those who engage in helpful actions for the betterment of society is important for building a nation bent on improvement. People with integrity  understand the difference between right and wrong before they can think about mustering the courage to tackle major ethical dilemmas. It is the internal code built upon ingrained values that makes it possible for a person to discriminate between those actions that are moral and those that are immoral. If one doesn’t understand the difference there is no moral dilemma for them to deal with. Knowing that there is a moral issue at hand is based on the way the person interprets information

8 Standards of International Corporate Ethics

Ethics goes a long way in building trust in an international business system. As information spreads faster along quickening fiber optic cables the world will continue to integrate in terms of interrelated laws, regulations, cultures, and business standards. Having an international standard of ethics is important in ensuring that companies are encouraging  better business environment.    When companies move into international locations they will need to understand and respect the cultures of those nations. There is a difference between respecting local culture and becoming involved in unethical practices. When few options are left, organizations can seek to remove themselves from such countries. Each company will decide what they stand for. Today’s world needs a new way of looking at business and how that business interacts with other countries. Developing strong international ethical systems means that both companies and countries come to an understanding of what a “good

The Nature of Values and Authority-Beyond Metrics

Authority is accompanied  with power, and this can be an irresistible aphrodisiac. It is so intoxicating that people continually seek to gain higher levels of authority through wealth, social position, and power accumulation. Positions of power should come with responsibility, and those who do not have the right kind of values should not be entrusted to direct others. People in power positions set the standards for others and can have an enormous impact on acceptable behaviors among their charges. A study focusing on disengagement theory found that managers who pushed others to engage in misreporting had a direct impact on the moral performance of their subordinates (Mayhew & Murphy, 2014). Supervisor requests were met with willing subordinates who misreported more, rationalized their unethical behavior and didn't feel that bad about it. Immoral bosses changed the perspective of their subordinates to the point where they no longer could have any remorse. As unethical b

Call for Papers: Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue: Ethics and Development

Date: 10th to 11th April 2015 Location: Charlottesville, VA, United States of America Organized by: Jefferson Scholars Foundation Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 30th November 2014 Website: http://www.jsfconference.org/   The Jefferson Scholars Foundation and the Jefferson Society of Fellows at the University of Virginia present the fourth biannual Forum for Interdisciplinary Dialogue (FID) to be held on 22-23 September 2015 at the Jefferson Scholars Foundation Hall in Charlottesville, Virginia. The FID is an interdisciplinary conference for students, faculty, and community members from around the world. The theme for 2015 is Ethics and Development

The Ethics of Making Education Affordable and Accessible

An article in the Journal of Business Ethics that discusses non-traditional education brings forward some interesting points about ethics in the higher educational system. The primary argument discussed whether non-traditional models are moral. Secondary arguments included the need to generate research to be of benefit to society. Below you will find a few points that could have also been included in the paper.  Certainly it is important to consider the secondary outcomes of all educational systems that include research and creative scholarship. The problem is that the characterization of non-traditional schools offering little benefit to society is misplaced. Online universities are now involved in producing research in their respective fields and offering that research for public consumption.  It can be argued that online universities will likely offer more research and publication output in the future as they grow to maturity. A number of online universities are current

A Systemic Approach to Improving Corporate Performance

William F. Roth   PhD                                              The concept that needs to be introduced at this point is “systemic thinking,” a concept very much in vogue twenty-five years ago that eventually fell out of favor, overshadowed, unfortunately, by more quantitative approaches. The systemic approach to management is built on two pillars. The first is the belief that “a whole is more than the sum of its parts.” This means, basically that the interactions between the parts of an organization are just as important as the parts themselves in terms of the organization meeting its objectives. The second pillar of the systemic approach is the “Development Ethic.” It says that employees should be encouraged to develop and utilize their positive potential to the fullest possible extent in order to improve their quality of work life and of life in general and to improve the fortunes of the company.   Organizations that have become “systemic” in nature possess fou