Search:   Spelling

Sub-Topics Whistleblowers Also Try Business Corporate Power in Government Democracy and Media Young Leaders Lesson Plans Ethics-Based Approach to Environmental Decision Making (Institute for Global Ethics - Kidder) Recognizes the ethical dilemma, the need to resolve competing interests, in decisions related to the environment. Provided in PDF format. Warning - This curriculum is 245 pages long and may take a good while to download. 7-02 Lists Codes of Conduct for Global Businesses (CodesofConduct.org) Provides sources of codes of conduct for businesses engaging in global commerce. 8-02 Codes of Conduct for Multinationals (International Labour Office) Provides ethical standards for multinational businesses. (The ILO is in the United Kingdom.) 8-02 Corporate Codes of Conduct (International Labour Office) Provides a guide for developing and implementing ethical standards. (The ILO is in the United Kingdom.) 8-02 Globalization Issues (Awesome Library) Provides sources that discuss the pros and cons of globalization and "Americanization." 8-02 Model Business Principles (HighTechCareers.com - Lester) Discusses the Model Business Principles developed by the Clinton Department of Commerce to guide global companies. 8-02 Model Business Principles (International Labour Office) Provides the Model Business Principles developed by the Clinton Department of Commerce to guide global companies. (The ILO is in the United Kingdom.) 8-02 Materials Checklist - Business Ethics Survey (University of Nevada - Beekun) Provides a checklist designed to "help develop a better understanding in Ethical Behavior across multiple cultures." Uses scenarios to gain information. 7-02 Checklist - Corporate Integrity Checkup (Crossroads Programs) "You can use the results as part of your due diligence process for partnering, or as the baseline measure for your own ethical fitness program." 7-02 News -06-07-06 China Blocks Google.com (BBC News) "Chinese authorities have blocked most domestic users from the main Google.com search engine, a media watchdog said." " 'It was only to be expected that Google.com would be gradually sidelined after the censored version was launched in January,' Reporters Without Borders said in a statement." 06-06 -06-16-06 Woman Fired for Cohabitation Plan (CBS News) "The owners of a roller skating rink have fired an 18-year-old woman they called one of their 'Top 10' employees because she moved in with her boyfriend, violating a company ethics policy that prohibits 'live-in relationships of an intimate nature.'" 06-06 -07-05-06 Enron - Former Chief's Death Leaves Confusion (CNN News) "The death of former Enron Corp. chief Kenneth Lay on Wednesday underscored the challenges facing online encyclopedia Wikipedia, which as the news was breaking offered a variety of causes for his death." 07-06 -07-05-06 Enron Timeline (Guardian Unlimited) Provides key events surrounding the collapse of Enron. 07-06 -11-09-04 Ranking Nations on Corruption (Fortune.com) "Transparency International, a global watchdog, recently released its tenth annual corruption perceptions index, a worldwide survey of businesspeople and country analysts, ranking each nation from most honest to least. Of the 146 countries included this year, the U.S. came in 17th." 11-04 03-14-05 Ex-WorldCom Chief Convicted (CBS News) "Bernard Ebbers, who built WorldCom from a humble long-distance firm into a telecommunications titan, was convicted Tuesday of engineering the colossal accounting fraud that sank the company in the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history." 3-05 04-28-03 Largest Wall Street Scandal (CBS News) "In an historic $1.4 billion settlement Monday, the government charged Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup's Salomon Smith Barney unit with issuing fraudulent research reports." "The Securities and Exchange Commission said that seven other firms involved in the settlement distributed research reports that contained 'exaggerated or unwarranted claims.' "  11-01 07-14-05 NIH Scientists Violated Ethics Rules (Bloomberg.com) "Almost four dozen scientists at the National Institutes of Health violated rules governing outside contracts with the pharmaceutical industry and nine may be investigated for criminal violations, U.S. lawmakers said." 7-05 Congress Pursuing Corporate Tax Evaders (Washington Post - Eilperin and Weisman) "With major corporate responsibility legislation passed, elected officials are turning to a new target -- business tax evaders -- in a scramble to convince voters they are cracking down on corporate wrongdoing." 7-02 News Regarding Corporate Abuse (CorpWatch.org) Provides news on corporations gaining inappropriate power over democratic institutions, such as news media, or other abuses. 11-02 SEC Chairman, Harvey Pitt, Resigns (CNN) "Embattled Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Harvey Pitt, under fire for not taking a strong enough stand on cleaning up corporate accounting problems, has resigned." 11-02 White House Reduces Corporate Anti-Fraud Effort (Bloomberg News - Goldstein) "The lower increase means that the SEC won't be able to pay for all of its priority items, including bringing salaries up to the level of other financial regulatory agencies and financing the start-up costs of a new accounting oversight board, agency officials told the [New York] Times." 10-02 Papers A Study in Ethics Leadership - Malden Mills (Organizational Productivity Leadership - Boulay) After a fire that destroyed his factory, "Aaron Feuerstein spent millions keeping all 3,000 employees on the payroll with full benefits for 3 months." "Feuerstein did not throw his money away. It was not largesse. It was a well reasoned and sound leadership decision to invest millions in Malden Mills’ most critical asset, its workers. The contrast between this CEO and the currently celebrated CEOs making 30, 60 or 100 million dollars a year by eliminating jobs and moving plants is simply astounding." 8-02 Awards for Corporate Ethics in Action (Ethics in Action) "In our increasingly complex world, good corporate citizenship is critical. Many companies are already good neighbours because they give back to their communities." "The Ethics in Action Awards go a step further to recognize companies who make social responsibility a part of their daily operations." "These leaders are building a new business model, in which principles and profits are balanced in all decision-making. Ethics in Action celebrates their stories so that others may learn and be inspired." 7-02 Business Ethics (Business-Ethics.com) Provides reports, papers, and sources of information related to business ethics. 5-02 Business Ethics Survey Results (WalkerInformation) Summarizes results from a national study of business ethics conducted in 2001. 2-03 Business Ethics and Effective Governance (CoachThee.com) "Today's challenge is to create corporate cultures that encourage and reward integrity, as much as creativity and entrepreneurship. To make this happen, executives need to be the moral compass for stakeholders and take personal responsibility for corporate shortcomings. CEO's must be willing to share governance responsibility with the board and the board should be vulnerable to the stakeholders." 7-02 Corporate Accountability Act (StakeholdersAlliance.org - Estes) Recommends a law requiring auditors to be independent of the companies that they audit. 7-02 Corporate Schemes and Ice Cream Parlors (Dallas Morning News - Krugman) Describes the different strategies of fraud by major corporations and uses an ice cream parlor as the metaphor. Krugman asks how the size of the frauds could have been missed by those responsible for stopping fraud. "How could the people who should have been alert to the possibility of corporate fraud – auditors, banks and government regulators – miss something that big? The answer, of course, is that they either didn't want to see it or were prevented from doing something about it." 7-02 Corporate Values Versus Democratic Values (Business Ethics Magazine) "Civilization has crossed a great divide in history, from monarchy to democracy. But we have democratized only government, not economics. Property bias keeps our corporate worldview rooted in the predemocratic age. To change this, we begin by seeing it." 7-02 Corporate Values Versus Public Interest (Business Ethics Magazine) Recommends adding a "Code for Corporate Citizenship" to state laws that govern the purposes--and liabilities--of corporations. In addition to directors and officers of corporations having a duty to make money for shareholders, Hinkley recommends adding: "but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, the public safety, the communities in which the corporation operates or the dignity of its employees."  "Companies believe their duty to the public interest consists of complying with the law. Obeying the law is simply a cost. Since it interferes with making money, it must be minimized–using devices like lobbying, legal hairsplitting, and jurisdiction shopping. Directors and officers give little thought to the fact that these activities may damage the public interest." "Because the public creates the law, corporations owe their existence as much to the public as they do to shareholders. They should have obligations to both. It simply makes no sense that society's most powerful citizens have no concern for the public good." 7-02 Corporate Values Versus Public Interest - Review of Divine Right of Capital (Business Ethics Magazine) "I have been aware that democracy does not exist within corporations, which I have simply accepted without reflecting on what that means for the functioning of our whole society. Kelly calls attention to the fact that corporations are aristocratic and NOT democratic, therefore, though our lives are guided by a democratic political system, even more importantly they are guided by an aristocratic economic system. Further, our society has become that way as a result of laws (and judicial interpretations) and not as result of democratic process." "The pre-revolutionary view was that King George III had a divine right to reign over (control) all the people of 'his' colonies. The view of our times, which is analogous to the pre-revolutionary assumption about the King’s divine right, is that stockholders have a right to rule over 'their' employees and 'their' corporations." 7-02 Creating a Code of Business Ethics (American Society of Newspaper Editors) "ASNE asked two leading thinkers to analyze 33 current codes of ethics assembled by the Ethics and Values Committee. Their goal was to highlight the most common — and useful — ingredients of these documents to help editors evaluate their own codes, if they have one, or help editors create one, if they choose." 7-02 Creating a Code of Business Ethics (Illinois Institute of Technology - Olson) "A code of ethics increases ethical sensitivity and judgement, strengthens support for individuals’ moral courage, and helps to hone an organization’s sense of identity." 7-02 Creating a Code of Business Ethics (Institute of Business Ethics) Provides an outline for a written code of ethics and eight steps for implementing a corporate ethics program. 7-02 Creating a Code of Business Ethics (MacDonald) Provides a guide and essays on ethics in business. 7-02 Creating a Code of Professional Ethics (Bugeja) "ASNE asked two leading thinkers to analyze 33 current codes of ethics assembled by the Ethics and Values Committee. Their goal was to highlight the most common — and useful — ingredients of these documents to help editors evaluate their own codes, if they have one, or help editors create one, if they choose." 7-02 Creating a Code of Professional Ethics (Business for Social Responsibility) "The cornerstone of any company’s ethics program is its set of values. The key mechanism for articulating those values are ethics codes, also known as codes of business practices or principals. Ethics codes and business principles are instrumental in enhancing brand name and reputation, creating a cohesive corporate culture, avoiding litigation and fines, and helping to stabilize volatile markets. Ethics codes also help create globally consistent 'fixed reference points' for employees." Includes examples. 7-02 Creating a World-Wide Code of Ethics (ACM - Lee and Berleur) Provides "a set of guidelines for the establishment and evaluation of codes has been produced and procedures for the assistance of code development have been established within IFIP." 7-02 Demand for Recovery of CEO Ill-Gotten Gains (Bloomberg.com - Keil) "President George W. Bush should lead the charge in forcing corporate executives to return bonuses and stock profits based on phony financial statements, Democrats said as Bush prepares for an economic forum Tuesday." 8-02 Enron - Sherron Watkins Letter to Kenneth Lay (Fortune.com) Provides the letter that Watkins provided to the Chairman of Enron to disclose that Enron was using very misleading financial practices. Visitors sometimes misspell as Sharon. 2-02 Enron Timeline (MostNewYork.com) Provides a timeline on the Enron debacle. 2-02 Ethics - Emerging Perspectives in Leadership Ethics (International Leadership Association - Johnson) Describes two ethical approaches that are different from "any of the perspectives that appear in the typical ethics text - utilitarianism, Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative, virtue ethics, the Judeo-Christian ethic, John Rawls's social justice theory..." These typical ethical approaches "can be applied to the leader-follower relationship." On the other hand, "This article examines two additional ethical approaches, Taoism and communitarianism, which can also guide leadership scholars and practitioners." 7-02 Ethics Tests and Leadership (University of Akron - Hallam) Provides tests one may apply to a moral dilemma. Also suggests how to clarify the dilemma and steps to resolve the dilemma. "The choices most leaders must make are not choices between right and wrong." "A simple choice between good versus evil is not a moral dilemma, but rather a test of our moral courage." "In a moral problem, however, the moral correctness of one choice versus the other is often cloudy. The cloudiness is not caused by the leader’s lack of ethical knowledge or shallow moral character. The cloudiness is inherent in the choices themselves." Editor's Note - Includes the "golden rule," do unto others as you would have them do unto you. However, it does not include the "platinum" rule, do unto others as they would have you do unto them, which is emphasized for leaders of culturally diverse staff. 7-02 Ethics Toolkit for Managers (McNamara) Provides a guide "designed to help leaders and managers with real-world advice to deal with real-world issues in the workplace." 7-02 Global Ethics Newsline (Institute for Global Ethics - Kidder) Provides articles on ethics and current events. 7-02 How Congress Passed a Bill Against Corporate Fraud (Washington Post - Hilzenrath, Weisman and VandeHei) Describes the struggles and negotiations involved in passing a law to make corporations more accountable for the financial information that they release to stockholders and the public. 7-02 Interpreting a Code of Business Ethics (International Federation of Accountants - Birkett) "Corporate Codes of Ethics are not incidental to a corporation’s functioning. They are neither ornamental, nor simply expressions of good intent. Instead, they are practical instruments of management, designed to capture the power of social or community morality and put it to ‘good’ corporate use." 7-02 Interpreting a Code of Business Ethics (Workplace Ethics - von Baeyer) Suggests steps to create "the ethical consensus that will ensure consistent, sound decision-making in the organization." 7-02 Leadership During a Crisis - The Mayor Guiliani Example (MentorsMagazine - Hoffman) "When textbooks are written that discuss crisis management and effective leadership in trying times, I am confident that Mayor Guliani's handling of the World Trade Center tragedy will be featured. CEO's of major corporations, heads of small businesses, and all those in positions where others look to them for effective crisis management can learn much from the ways Mayor Guliani: Cooperated with the Media, Provided Control, Showed Caring and Concern, Was Credible, and Demonstrated Competence." 8-02 Lessons from Martha Stewart (MSNBC News) "She taught us how to expertly iron a creaseless shirt, remove tarnish from grandma's silver, and make the perfect ice cream sandwich. But as exemplified through her bumpy road to success, failure and survival can also teach us how to manage our careers. Here are 10 lessons we can take from the extraordinary and resilient career of Martha Stewart:" 10-05 Money - Who is Bankrolling the Presidential Candidates? (Center for Public Integrity) Identifies the top sources of funding for some of the leading contenders for president. "Every major White House contender who has held past elective office has 'career patrons,' or longtime financial sponsors, who have underwritten his or her political career. And every major aspirant has used his government position to help his patrons." 1-04 Principles - A Framework For Universal Principles of Ethics (Crossroads Programs - Colero) "There are many tools for decision making, but few (secular) guides to indicate when situations might have an ethical implication. Yet this awareness is a crucial first step before decisions are made. Recognizing the moral context of a situation must precede any attempt to resolve it." "Ethical dilemmas rarely present themselves as such. They usually pass us by before we know it or develop so gradually that we can only recognize them in hindsight - a little like noticing the snake after you've been bitten." "The principles have been organized into three categories for ease of use: personal, professional and global ethics." 7-02 Psychopaths and Entrepreneurs (Up-Mag.com - Warren) Describes the differences and similarities between psychopaths and successful entrepreneurs. The primary difference, according to the article, is ethical integrity. 8-02 Questions for Corporate Directors to Ask on Ethics (Crossroads Program - Colero) Provides five questions that a corporate director should ask. "Lack of attention to ethics can be a corporation’s Achilles’ heel, with the potential for a single employee to topple even large well-established companies." 7-02 Steps for Globalization with Ethical Responsibility (International Business Ethics Insitute) Provides a mission of "fostering global business practices which promote equitable economic development, resource sustainability and just forms of government." Recommends three steps: Step One is called Global Sensing. "A global sensing, or organizational ethics analysis, is conducted to identify and to clarify the key issues and risks for the company" Step Two is called Systems Alignment. It includes "Aligning management systems with corporate values, Developing an effective code of conduct, and Implementing support systems." Step Three is called Education. It includes "Developing effective training materials and Implementing educational programs to ensure long-term benefits." "Successful education can only occur after the organization has analyzed, defined, and then integrated its values and standards into major management systems." 8-02 Suing International Corporations for Human Rights Violations (GlobalPolicy.org) "The Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) of 1789 grants jurisdiction to US Ferderal Courts over 'any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.' " 1-04 U.S. Government Bans Andersen Consulting Firm (BBC News) "Arthur Andersen, the US accountancy firm embroiled in the Enron bankruptcy scandal, has been banned from US government work after being indicted by a federal grand jury on the charge of obstruction of justice." 3-02 Virtue, Ethics, and Leadership (West Point - Pfaff) Describes and discusses three approaches to ethics, using a military scenario. The three approaches are utilitarianism, rule-based systems, and ethics based on the development of virtue or character. "I have made the claim that, as an ethical theory, virtue ethics better accounts for good leadership than either utilitarianism or rule-based systems. It does so because when a leader is faced with the kind of situation I described in the beginning of the paper it is the virtues that the leader has habituated that are going to guide his or her actions." 7-02

Italian, Russian, Greek, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Korean,   Index, New, Search Engines, Dictionary, Bookstore, Licenses, Email Us, About Us, Link to Us, or Privacy Policy.