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Book of Abstracts 2013
Respect for Weak Rationality.............................................................................................. 7 Kristian Alm ........................................................................................................................................7
Moral Foundations Theory: A Business Ethics Application ...................................... 8 Margaret Andersen...........................................................................................................................8 Jill Zuber...............................................................................................................................................8
Just How Much Does Business Ethics Education Influence Practitioner Attitudes? An Empirical Investigation of a Multi-Level Ethical Learning Model9 Edward R. Balotsky...........................................................................................................................9
Performance, Risk, and Governance: Family and Alliance Control.......................10 James Barrese.................................................................................................................................. 10 David Pooser.................................................................................................................................... 10 Nicos Scordis.................................................................................................................................... 10 Ping Wang......................................................................................................................................... 10
Leading in Liberia: Balancing Economic Growth and Sustainability ...................11 David Bauman ................................................................................................................................. 11
Making Corporate Responsibility Substantial: An Enterprise Risk Approach .12 David Bevan ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Ethical Issues in Approaches to Undergraduate Poverty Education: the Differing Worldviews on Poverty and Educating About Poverty Between the Social Sciences and Business Schools .............................................................................13 Kevin Blair........................................................................................................................................ 13
Environmental Impact on MNC Ethical Behavior: Societal Indicators of CSR..14 Mark S. Blodgett.............................................................................................................................. 14 Ariel Markelevich........................................................................................................................... 14 Rani Hoitash..................................................................................................................................... 14
Why Risk Management Failed: Ethical and Behavioral Aspects............................16 John R. Boatright ............................................................................................................................ 16
Human Capital, Human Machine, Human Factory: Reading Gary Becker Through Foucault and Deleuze.........................................................................................17 Justin Boyd ....................................................................................................................................... 17
Barriers to Voicing Moral Concerns................................................................................18 Johannes Brinkmann .................................................................................................................... 18 Beate Lindemann ........................................................................................................................... 18
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Global Corporate Governance, Business Ethics and Anti-Corruption Initiatives.....................................................................................................................................................19 Jill A. Brown...................................................................................................................................... 19 Cynthia Clark ................................................................................................................................... 19
Simon Peter and Transformative Leadership: Leadership Insights for Today’s Leaders......................................................................................................................................20 Cam Caldwell ................................................................................................................................... 20
Context as Decision Space: Locational Mapping of Stakeholder Relationships.....................................................................................................................................................21 Angelo Carlo S. Carrascoso.......................................................................................................... 21 Kimberly Cass.................................................................................................................................. 21
Differential Social Impact of Religiously Affiliated Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Base of Pyramid (BOP) Markets ....................................................................22 R. Mitch Casselman ........................................................................................................................ 22 Abraham Stefanidis ....................................................................................................................... 22
Too Good for Corporate Social Responsibility? How Intraorganizational Status interferes with Adoption of Uncertain Practice..........................................................24 H. Clarissa Chaiy ............................................................................................................................. 24
The Lost Children: Syrian Children Refugees in Jordan (A Video Case Study) .26 Kim Clark .......................................................................................................................................... 26
Successful Business Leaders' Focus on Gender and Poverty Alleviation: The Lojas Renner Case of Job and Income Generation for Brazilian Women............27 Maria Cecilia Coutinho de Arruda ............................................................................................ 27 Gabriel Levrini ................................................................................................................................ 27
Globalization, Poverty, and Corporate Responsibility .............................................29 Richard T. De George .................................................................................................................... 29
Social Business and BoP Initiatives in French Multinational Corporations: An Ethical Comparison...............................................................................................................30 Geert Demuijnck............................................................................................................................. 30
Law and Morality: Is There a Difference?......................................................................31 Alex Devience .................................................................................................................................. 31
GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH: USING THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC TO FOSTER ETHICAL DECISIONAL-MAKING IN BUSINESS...............................................................32 Robert V. Doyle ............................................................................................................................... 32
The Role of Mindfulness for Ethical and Responsible Leadership .......................34 Silke A. Eisenbeiss.......................................................................................................................... 34 Thomas Maak & Nicola Pless, ES ............................................................................................... 34
Ethical Aspects of the Strategic Change Process .........................................................35 Joyce Falkenberg ............................................................................................................................ 35
Ethics, Multinational Organizations and Developing Countries ...........................37 Andreas W. Falkenberg................................................................................................................ 37
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Western Psychological Services and Sensory Integrative Therapy: Re-inventing a Creole .................................................................................................................38 Michael E. Gorman ......................................................................................................................... 38
From Free-Riders to Responsible Leaders ...................................................................39 Stefan Gröschl.................................................................................................................................. 39 Patricia Galbaldon ......................................................................................................................... 39
Survival Skills for Young Professionals Through Peer Leadership, Real‐World Dilemmas and Problem‐Solving Skills The Young Professional’s Survival Guide: From Cab Fares to Moral Snares (Harvard Press, 2012)........41 C. K. Gunsalus................................................................................................................................... 41
Do Casinos Contribute to the Greater Good?: A Utilitarian Ethical Analysis of Casinos ......................................................................................................................................43 Andrew Gustafson.......................................................................................................................... 43
Business and the Common Good: Philanthropy, and Positive Unintended and Intended Externalities .........................................................................................................44 Celeste Harvey................................................................................................................................. 44 Andrew Gustafson.......................................................................................................................... 44
The Global Economic Ethic Manifesto: What Has Happened Since Inception?.45 Dr. Thomas A. Hemphill ............................................................................................................... 45 Dr. Waheeda Lillevik..................................................................................................................... 45
Price Fixing & Human Resource Management ............................................................46 Eli Jacobs ........................................................................................................................................... 46 Dr Sheilla Luz................................................................................................................................... 46
Let’s Talk About It: Examining the Impact of Discussion on Techniques of Neutralization in Student Whistleblowing ...................................................................47 Joanne C Jones ................................................................................................................................. 47 Gary Spraakman ............................................................................................................................. 47 Cristóbal Sánchez-Rodríguez ..................................................................................................... 47
Beyond Boycotts: Shared Responsibility in the Collegiate Apparel Industry...48 Scott P. Kelley .................................................................................................................................. 48
Food Justice: Bridging the Income Gap for Healthy Food Consumption.............49 Martin J. Lecker............................................................................................................................... 49
When the Law is too Weak: Implications of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum for Corporate Social Responsibility .......................................................................................51 Andy Little ........................................................................................................................................ 51
Between The Respect For The Vincentian Values And The Compliance To Professional And Secularized Standards: The Challenge of Balanced Practices In The Case Of A French Group of Vincentian Homes For Elderly.........................53 Denis Malherbe............................................................................................................................... 53
The Ethics of Payment Systems ........................................................................................55 Douglas M. McCabe ........................................................................................................................ 55 James J. Angel................................................................................................................................... 55
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A Model for Corporate Governance: A Cultural Audit ..............................................56 Irene N. McCarthy........................................................................................................................... 56 Benjamin R. Silliman..................................................................................................................... 56
Ethical Image and Ethical Reality.....................................................................................57 Managing the ‘Social Acceptance’ of Healthcare Organizations ............................57 David B. McCurdy ........................................................................................................................... 57
A Vincentian Marketing Orientation and the Responsibilities of NGOs in Emerging Market Micro-Enterprise Development Programs ................................58 Vien Chu ............................................................................................................................................ 58 Belinda Luke .................................................................................................................................... 58 Morgan P. Miles............................................................................................................................... 58
Catholic Social Teaching and the Role of Accounting and Accountants..............60 Mark C Mitschow ............................................................................................................................ 60 Charles J. Coate................................................................................................................................ 60
Evolution of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals and Its Impact for Management Education ...........................62 Ron Nahser ....................................................................................................................................... 62
Multiple Directorships, Industry Relatedness, and Corporate Governance Effectiveness ...........................................................................................................................63 John D. Neill...................................................................................................................................... 63 Curtis E. Clements .......................................................................................................................... 63 Paul Wertheim ................................................................................................................................ 63
Improving Micro-vendors Lives Through Supportive Micro-finance Practices: A Study of Managers, Employees and Customer at the Bottom of the Pyramid.....................................................................................................................................................65 Aron O’Cass ...................................................................................................................................... 65 Morgan P. Miles............................................................................................................................... 65 Kanika Meshram ............................................................................................................................ 65
Ethics Education as Professional Formation................................................................67 Timothy E. O'Connell..................................................................................................................... 67
Ethical Frameworks in Intellectual Property Litigation:.........................................68 Three Cases from the Pharmaceutical Industry .........................................................68 Margaret Oppenheimer ............................................................................................................... 68 Helen LaVan ..................................................................................................................................... 68 William M. Martin .......................................................................................................................... 68
Women in Top Corporate Echelons: Evidence From Turkey..................................69 Zeynep Ozsoy................................................................................................................................... 69
Rethinking the Concept of Intellectual Property for the Common Good: Understanding the Moral Importance of an Open Source and Creative Commons in the Context of the Christian Moral Tradition .....................................70 Scott Paeth........................................................................................................................................ 70
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Interrogating the Philosophical Assumptions Underpinning Management Education .................................................................................................................................71 Mollie Painter-Morland................................................................................................................ 71
Articulating an Ethical Commitment: Conveying Business Values in a Global Context ......................................................................................................................................72 Daniel E. Palmer ............................................................................................................................. 72
Ethical Challenges in Microfinance: an Overview ......................................................73 Kristina Walker Pedersen........................................................................................................... 73 Andreas Falkenberg ...................................................................................................................... 73
Is the Tax Policy Regarding “Carried Interest” Ethical? ...........................................74 Biagio Pilato..................................................................................................................................... 74
Changes in Firms’ Corporate Codes of Ethics: Determinants and Consequences.....................................................................................................................................................75 Maria Pirrone .................................................................................................................................. 75 Joseph E. Trainor............................................................................................................................ 75
Measuring and Reporting Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains: A Proposal for a Human Impact Score for Consumer Products.................................76 Andrew Little................................................................................................................................... 76 Don Pope ........................................................................................................................................... 76 O. Scott Stovall................................................................................................................................. 76
The Silent Deterioration of the Employment Relationship: An Application of Francois Jullien’s Philosophy to Psychological Contracts in Organizations......78 Leigh Poulton................................................................................................................................... 78 David M. Wasieleski ...................................................................................................................... 78 Sybil Persson ................................................................................................................................... 78
Can a Large Corporation be Socially Responsible? ....................................................80 James E. Roper................................................................................................................................. 80
CSR Communication by MNC’s in the Context of Bangladesh: The Challenge of Moving Beyond Tradition and Rhetoric ........................................................................81 Taposh Roy, PhD Student ............................................................................................................ 81 Dr. Joanne Cook .............................................................................................................................. 81 Dr. David Harness .......................................................................................................................... 81
For Want of a Nail: A Concise Explanation for the Ongoing Financial Crisis .....83 Nicholas Russo ................................................................................................................................ 83 Mark Mitschow................................................................................................................................ 83 Michael Schinski ............................................................................................................................. 83
Sales Responses to Unethical Purchasing Practices in Business-to-Business Relationships: A Conceptual Framework......................................................................84 Amit Saini.......................................................................................................................................... 84
Morally Courageous Exemplars in Organizations: Role Models in Fiction ........85 Debra R. Comer ............................................................................................................................... 85 Michael Schwartz ........................................................................................................................... 85
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Background Risk and the Morality of Insurance Premium Optimization..........86 Nicos A Scordis ................................................................................................................................ 86 Petra Steinorth................................................................................................................................ 86 James Barrese.................................................................................................................................. 86
Corporate Responsibilities in a Global Church ...........................................................87 Angela Senander............................................................................................................................. 87
The Ethics of Agreeing to Faith-Informed Alternative Dispute Resolution.......88 Albert Spaulding............................................................................................................................. 88
Factors That Promote Peaceful Coexistence Between Community Stakeholders and Multinational Mining Companies in the Context of Gold Mining in Ghana89 Stanford Nartey, PhD Student .................................................................................................... 89 Dr. David, R. Harness- ................................................................................................................... 89 Dr. Joanne Cook .............................................................................................................................. 89
Corporate Political Speech and Moral Obligation ......................................................91 Dr. Mary Lyn Stoll........................................................................................................................... 91
CSR at the Age of Globalization: The Growing Role of the UN Global Compact92 Owais Succari................................................................................................................................... 92
Inclusive Growth: The Role Of Identity Rights ............................................................93 Mukesh Sud ...................................................................................................................................... 93
Beyond Fair Trade: The Promises and Perils in Principles and Practices of Ethical Sourcing Between Trade Justice and Sustainable Development............95 Marco Tavanti ................................................................................................................................. 95
Weird Science: Business Ethics for Multianational Corporations ........................96 Craig V. VanSandt ........................................................................................................................... 96 Mukesh Sud ...................................................................................................................................... 96
Unpacking the Millennial Mystery: Business Ethics and Working with Generational Differences in the Classroom and the Corporation.........................99 M. Adam Kronk ............................................................................................................................... 99 Jessica McManus Warnell ............................................................................................................ 99
Identifying and Assessing Managerial Value Orientations:vA Cross-generational Replication Study of ................................................................................ 100 Key Organizational Decision-makers’ Values........................................................... 100 James Weber ..................................................................................................................................100
Brokers and Boundary Objects: Exploring the Intersection of Ethics and Compliance and Corporate Social Responsibility in Practice ............................. 102 Angeli Weller, PhD Fellow.........................................................................................................102
Business Ethics: Diagnosis and Prescription in Caritas in Veritate and Vocation of the Business Leader ....................................................................................................... 103 Jim Wishloff....................................................................................................................................103
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Respect for Weak Rationality
Kristian Alm
BI Norwegian Business School
Abstract What kind of ideas and points of view should be respected in a value pluralistic context such as an industrial democracy? The classic position within moral philosophy has often been based on a perception that those ideas and opinions which are supported by the strongest arguments, and which show the strongest rationality, demand the most respect. I would, however, argue that even agreement/disagreement based on weak arguments demands respect, not least in a value pluralistic setting such as an industrial democracy. This understanding of respect for weakness will be developed using Harald Grimen’s critical discussion of Jürgen Habermas’ ethical discourse theory of agreement with a strong justification and John Rawls’ theory of disagreement with a strong justification. While Habermas and Rawls overlap in idealizing the strong justification, Grimen maintains that opinions with weaker justification also demand respect, because they come from a daily reality (C. Taylor) given to us, a reality shaped by our deep interests, core habits, strong beliefs and unavoidable pre-‐understanding. The work will be a continuation of a paper accepted for presentation at the conference “Tolerance: Theory and Praxis in Intercultural Interaction”, at the faculty of teacher education, University, Norway of Bergen autumn 2012. However, I was unable to participate due to a death in my immediate family.
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Moral Foundations Theory: A Business Ethics Application
Margaret Andersen NDSU College of Business
Jill Zuber
Abstract
In this paper, we investigate the application of Haidt’s (2001, 2012) moral foundations theory (MFT) to the ethical decision making of business students. Using confirmatory factor analysis, we find the five foundations: care/harm, fairness/cheating, loyalty/betrayal, respect/authority and purity/degradation are supported by the sample. Preliminary results indicate students’ choices to specific ethical dilemmas are explained by the foundations. However, the factors of loyalty/betrayal and respect/authority are highly correlated and need to be combined in order to do further analysis in structural equation modeling.
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Just How Much Does Business Ethics Education Influence Practitioner Attitudes? An Empirical Investigation of a Multi-
Level Ethical Learning Model
Edward R. Balotsky Saint Joseph’s University
Abstract
The impact of business ethics education on socially responsible practitioner behavior is not a new concern. A sizable extant literature base questions pedagogies used and outcomes achieved by the few early studies done in this area. Ensuing research has not produced definitive answers; measurement, methodological, and generalizability issues are prevalent due to the fragmented nature of most work. Given little pre-‐existing structure, an empirically-‐based model is needed which both sheds more awareness on the ethics education-‐business conduct relationship as well as quantifies the degree of change that the education caused. This study operationalizes a multi-‐level ethical learning model. Using a survey administered at the start and end of an MBA ethics course, subsequent exploratory factor analysis, a matched t-‐test of pre and post-‐course mean scores, and an effect size calculation utilizing the Cohen’s d statistic, the existence of varying degrees of change in ethical outlook after formal ethics education is supported. Model enhancements and the potential for longitudinally following ethical learning from the classroom to the workplace are discussed.
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Performance, Risk, and Governance: Family and Alliance Control
James Barrese David Pooser Nicos Scordis
Ping Wang St. John’s University
Abstract
A postulate of the governance literature is that firm performance and related behavior, such as risk appetite, differ when a corporation has diversified versus concentrated ownership. This study incorporates the stewardship, family, and considers alliance influences in the agency incentive-‐alignment theory as a cause of behavioral and consequent performance variation. The U.S. insurance industry is studied both because prior studies suggest that a high percentage of public firms in the industry have family involvement and because, as a regulated industry, performance across this industry should have a lower level of performance variation. Our study confirms that family control both is a significant feature of the industry and that family performance in the insurance industry is consistent with recent nonfinancial sector Canadian findings. We further observe that these family controlled firms have superior performance; a result given further weight by the fact that the studied industry is regulated. A higher performance level with lower performance variation is a feature expected of stewardship governance.
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Leading in Liberia: Balancing Economic Growth and Sustainability
David Bauman
Regis University
Abstract
After a bloody civil war, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was inaugurated President of Liberia in 2006 and began rebuilding the economy while also protecting Liberia’s “natural capital.” This presentation focuses on how business and government leaders have worked together to improve the economy while protecting Liberia’s natural capital. I first evaluate the progress Liberia has made in the economic and natural capital spheres over the last six years. I then discuss efforts by the government and Firestone Natural Rubber Company (FNRC) to achieve both economic and sustainability goals. FNRC is the largest employer in Liberia with over 6,500 workers on its 118,000 acre plantation. I conclude with a discussion of the ethical obligations that multinational corporations such as FNRC in Africa have because of their ability to exploit natural resources for the sake of short term economic gain.
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Making Corporate Responsibility Substantial: An Enterprise Risk Approach
David Bevan
CEIBS (China)
Abstract
This paper considers indicative empirical challenges to a business of the call for “corporate responsibility” and its developmental reactions. Based on exclusive access to a global firm research site in Hong Kong, it reports on how one business has embraced an enterprise risk approach to the normative and material issues apparently inscribed in business ethics. This has limitations and delimitations, including -‐ by way of example -‐ a refusal to accept the UN Global Compact as a reasonable basis for conducting business. Nevertheless, the business is highly regarded as eminently ‘sustainable’. The paper closes with a discussion of the extent to which this practice is an account of a responsible business.
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Ethical Issues in Approaches to Undergraduate Poverty Education: the Differing Worldviews on Poverty and
Educating About Poverty Between the Social Sciences and Business Schools
Kevin Blair
Niagara University
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Environmental Impact on MNC Ethical Behavior: Societal Indicators of CSR
Mark S. Blodgett
Suffolk University
Ariel Markelevich Suffolk University
Rani Hoitash
Bentley College
Abstract
In today’s global business environment, MNCs must act strategically to meet both shareholder and stakeholder interests. They operate across many different societies in many different countries and continents. By integrating these societies with their business objectives, firms are more likely to maximize shareholder and stakeholder interests (Porter, 2011). Therefore, it is important to know about societal characteristics so that firms can successfully adapt their behavior. However, while it is commonly assumed that firms act less ethically in less regulated environments, this article challenges that assumption.
CSR is said to be of more importance in less regulated business environments (Scherer & Palazzo, 2008) which would include many areas of the globe where US MNCs are located. Lack of regulation and legal infrastructure generally is often accompanied by lack of enforcement. Corruption is also prevalent in such environments. However, there may be other indicators of societal ethical behavior that directly affect MNC social responsibility. This article examines global business environments across many different countries in which a sample of the Fortune 250 operate. Four primary indicators are examined to measure a firm’s ethical environment: transparency score (corruption), heritage foundation score, rule of law and GDP per capita. Then, company CSR statements are analyzed. We compare companies’ use of universal moral values (Schwartz, 2005) in such statements with the companies’ social behavior. A variable is constructed to count each MNC’s use of the universal ethics values (ethics 6). This data is then contrasted with KLD ratings for each company. KLD Research and Analytics is an established social index (Scalet & Kelly, 2010). KLD measures social and environmental behavior and practices deemed controversial. What companies say (ethics 6) and what companies do (KLD), is then contrasted with the four environmental measures above.
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Our results show no association between the environment and what corporations say (ethics 6); there is a negative and significant association between the environment and MNC ethical behavior (KLD). Our results suggest that the less ethical the environment, the more ethically corporations behave or the more ethically corporations behave, the less ethical their environment. In particular, the lower the GDP (less regulated countries), the more MNCs say ethically and the better they behave.
In conclusion, MNCs act ethically in the global business environment. Perhaps several phenomena appear to contribute to this situation: global opinion and demands for ethical behavior; corporate integration of business and societal interests; and more effective corporate ethical leadership abroad. However, societal impact may assert even more influence over corporate behavior. Perhaps future research can expand upon the identification and explanation of environmental indicators of CSR.
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Why Risk Management Failed: Ethical and Behavioral Aspects
John R. Boatright Loyola University Chicago
Abstract
Although modern risk management is a remarkable development with great promise for social welfare, its implementation by individuals and organizations has reduced its effectiveness and produced some destructive consequences, most notably in the recent financial crisis. In addition to the well-‐known technical difficulties with risk management, there are many ethical and behavioral aspects of its implementation which are also important for understanding this prominent failure. Specifically, the implementation of risk management is affected by cognitive elements of individual decision making and by the imperatives of organizational structures and modes of operation. Furthermore, the implementation of risk management has significant impacts on society that require ethical assessment. None of these ethical and behavioral aspects are fatal to the enterprise of modern risk management, but they indicate concerns that need to be addressed in order to realize the full promise of this remarkable development.
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Human Capital, Human Machine, Human Factory: Reading Gary Becker Through Foucault and Deleuze
Justin Boyd
DePaul University
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Barriers to Voicing Moral Concerns
Johannes Brinkmann BI Norwegian Business School
Beate Lindemann
University of Tromsø Norway
Abstract
In his book of 1996 Fred Bird introduces his chapter 2 about Moral silence with the remark that “people are morally mute when they do not recognizably communicate their moral concerns in settings where such communicating would be fitting…” (p 27).
As an extension of Bird’s work (and of other work in the moral silence research tradition, own work included), our paper is about a constructive-‐critical examination of various critical elements in such situations. As a point of departure we use in our pilot project a mix of qualitative methods for further development of research questions. Mainly we try out scenarios1 with qualitative follow-‐up questions and where the respondents then are invited to reflections about their own answers as well as their counterparts’ answers. Focus groups and Socratic dialogues will also be considered.
As a point of departure we address moral wondering and moral uneasiness using the distinction of normative versus cognitive expectations, and the challenge of expecting expectations correctly, Ego’s willingness and ability of putting herself/himself into the shoes of Alter. In a next step we examine and try to isolate the relative importance of interpersonal, language and cultural barriers, and discuss relevant skills for overcoming them. Or put in other words, we’d like to look at moral and ethical conversation topics as a test of such skills, and draft in our conclusion how they could be addressed in training.
As typical for pilot projects, our primary objective is the development of research questions, of a conceptual framework built on relevant theory and of empirical instruments. More specifically, the open ending of our paper will be a theory-‐based and pre-‐tested instrument for online survey research about inter-‐cultural and different-‐language communication about ethical issues in international business situations.
1 See e.g. http://web1.calbaptist.edu/dskubik/bus_case.htm
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Global Corporate Governance, Business Ethics and Anti-Corruption Initiatives
Jill A. Brown
Lehigh University
Cynthia Clark Bentley University
Abstract
We explore recent BRIC country initiatives in global corporate governance that work toward promoting morally normative global governance, also known as “cosmopolitanism” in moral and political theory (Nye & Welch, 2010), and the additional liabilities these may pose for U.S. boards of directors.
References Nye Jr., J.S. and Welch, D.A. 2010. Understanding Global Conflict and Cooperation.
New York: Longman.
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Simon Peter and Transformative Leadership: Leadership Insights for Today’s Leaders
Cam Caldwell
St. Thomas University
21
Context as Decision Space: Locational Mapping of Stakeholder Relationships
Angelo Carlo S. Carrascoso
University of Redlands
Kimberly Cass University of Redlands
Abstract
This paper advances stakeholder theory by adding a spatial dimension to the characterization of both stakeholders and their interactions within a decision space. Using a locational lens, stakeholders, both collectively as a class and individually as members who compose that class, can be positioned in geographical space. From the mapping of stakeholders in physical space, patterns of their relationship to the decision and to each other emerge. Managers can more effectively balance and consider stakeholders in a more tangible way and perceive underlying connections that traditional quantitative and narrative representations of stakeholders conceal. Thus, the decision makers can more concretely the complexities of the decision at hand and its potential impacts.
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Differential Social Impact of Religiously Affiliated Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in Base of Pyramid (BOP)
Markets
R. Mitch Casselman St. John’s University
Linda M. Sama
St. John’s University
Abraham Stefanidis St. John’s University
Abstract Microfinance has been touted as an effective tool in the arsenal of the war against poverty by many witnesses to its success in many developing regions around the world, including Africa (Imhanlahimi and Idolor, 2010; Mosley and Rock, 2004; Nkpoyen, Bassey, and Eteng, 2012), India (Jha and Bawa, 2007), Southeast Asia (Quinones and Seibel, 2000), the Middle East (Abdul Rahim, 2010), and the Americas (Bhatt and Tang, 2001; Mosley, 2001), among others. Although the reach of microfinance institutions (MFIs) to the poorest of the poor in these regions remains uncertain, the increasing confidence of the financial markets in the ability and willingness of the poor to handle credit and to save, bolstered by repayment rates exceeding 90% in the industry, has effectively debunked the previously accepted wisdom that the poor are un-‐bankable. Beginning in the modern era with the work of Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, as well as the contemporaneous success of BRAC (Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee), the achievements of microcredit have provided a dignified route out of poverty for countless families in need. The burgeoning demand for microfinance services far outstrips supply and has encouraged many new players to the industry. Drawn by the industry’s profit potential, commercial private and public sector banks have joined the ranks of NGOs and other not-‐for-‐profit entities in offering services to the urban and rural poor in developing countries. Growth in the industry has been eye-‐popping (Mixmarket.org, 2013) with the sector expanding “at historic rates” -‐-‐ evidencing “average annual asset growth of 39%” between 2004 and 2008 (Chen, Rasmussen & Reille, 2010: p.1). According to the 2011 Microcredit Summit Campaign Report microfinance now reaches more than 190 million families, up from only a few million clients in the 1980s (Reed, 2011: p.7).
The growth of the microfinance industry has not come without criticism (Karnani, 2011). While the early leaders in microfinance had a clear mission to help those in poverty, the motivations of later entrants have come into question. This in
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turn has led to greater regulation and an increased requirement for MFIs to be transparent and demonstrate their contribution to society. As a result, some of the major MFI rating systems and performance reporting organizations (such as mixmarket.org) have expanded their measurement systems from a focus primarily on financial performance and stability to various social performance measures. At the same time, as an increasing number of MFIs transform from non-‐profit to for profit institutions (in an effort to grow and access commercial financing), there is a criticism of mission drift (Copestake, 2007). These trends in the industry have placed increasing importance on effective social performance measurement.
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Too Good for Corporate Social Responsibility? How Intraorganizational Status interferes with Adoption of
Uncertain Practice
H. Clarissa Chaiy Northwestern University
Abstract
Implementation of an uncertain practice has thus far been a black box in organizational theory in that how organizations actually implement a newly adopted practice or an idea remained relatively unstudied. I propose to investigate how an implementation process for an uncertain practice in an organization is heavily influenced by the status of the members that lead the change as well as how they manage their internal relationships. I argue that status and relationships ultimately influences how a practice is translated to fit their organizational environment. Ethnographic data collected at the global and the international headquarters of a multinational organization shows that corporate social responsibility (CSR) team with low status opted for horizontal relationship management while CSR team with high status opted for vertical relationship management. Evidences suggest that internal relationship management plays a critical role in establishing CSR, a relatively uncertain and new management practice, as a respected addition to the organization.
Since DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) seminal article on organizations and isomorphism, many scholars have examined diffusion of practices that eventually lead to isomorphic adoption of practices, relatively less attention has been paid to how these practices are actually implemented at an organization. Implementation of an uncertain practice has thus far been a black box in organizational theory in that how organizations actually implement a newly adopted practice or an idea was remained relatively unstudied. Past research shows that ideas and practices are translated to fit the adopting organization’s own wishes and the specific circumstances in which it operates. (Czarniawska and Joerges 1996; Sahlin and Wedlin 2008). These “local version” of the adopted practice are ultimately what is implemented by the organization in their isomorphic adoption of practices (Czarniawska and Joerges 1996). Therefore, implementation process is variable at organizational level and differs firm by firm. This paper argues that one of the key factors in how organizations translate, or internalize, an uncertain practice in the adoption process is the human factor. I investigate the role of relationships and status within organization as main drivers of adoption process. Drawing from an in-‐depth fieldwork from a multinational corporation, I argue that an adoption process for an uncertain practice in an organization is heavily influenced by the status of the members that lead the change as well as how they manage their internal
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relationship, and that it ultimately influences how a practice is translated to fit their organizational environment.
This paper examines the manifestation of effect of status and intraorganizational relationship management on adoption of uncertain practices in a very specific function of the organization, corporate social responsibility. Much of existing research on CSR revolves around the profitability of adopting the practice. Many scholars in various disciplines have sought to establish a relationship between financial performance and CSR, or “the business case for CSR” (Vogel, 2005). Unfortunately, these evidences illustrate that there is much uncertainty that surrounds implementation of CSR for even large, established corporations. CSR is an ideal arena to study how organizations implement a new practice because there is relatively little that is institutionalized in comparison to other organizational practices. More importantly, many CSR departments within organizations suffer illegitimacy and low status internally because of its unclear financial contribution to the organization. Other members of the organizations often view them as “nice folk that do good things,” yet do not view them as integral or indispensable element of the organization. I argue that this perception plays a critical role in the adoption practice of CSR as it heightens uncertainties within the organization for the CSR department.
Based on a series of ethnographic participant observations and interviews at a large multinational Korean chaebol, a uniquely Korean conglomerates controlled by a founding family similar to the Japanese keiretsu and the Latin American
grupos, I investigate how status within organizational plays into various aspects of adopting a new organizational practice. By conducting ethnographic research in both the Korean and American headquarters of the organization, I juxtapose the differences between the two CSR departments based on their internal status and relationship management styles and the ensuing differences in their CSR implementation process.
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The Lost Children: Syrian Children Refugees in Jordan (A Video Case Study)
Kim Clark
DePaul University
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Successful Business Leaders' Focus on Gender and Poverty
Alleviation: The Lojas Renner Case of Job and Income Generation for Brazilian Women
Maria Cecilia Coutinho de Arruda
FGV-EAESP (Brazil)
Gabriel Levrini Pontific Catholic University – PUC-Rio – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Abstract
Despite an apparent national economic stability, abject poverty has become a day-‐to-‐day reality to all Brazilians. Sensitive business leaders continue to be fiscally responsible and have developed models for their companies to increase profits in accordance with the Millennium Goals. Successful entrepreneurs of a large retail chain for clothing -‐ the Lojas Renner, a Brazilian subsidiary of the J. C. Penney group -‐ decided to address gender, as well as job and income generation issues, in a challenging experience that involved several stakeholders in the new markets where they established their business. In 1991 the corporate governance process led the executives to define that women would be the target for the company, as 80% of the clients, 73% of the employees and 54% of managers are female. Governmental studies indicated the unfavorable situation of young women in Brazil. In 2007, Renner executives developed their survey with 10,000 clients, confirmed the government findings and immediately decided to launch the “Mais Eu” (More me) social campaign aligned with the business, aiming to increase women’s professional qualification and job and income generation. The key concerned relied upon the content of the communication, in order to promote a deep adaptation to regional tastes and habits, respecting the different lifestyles. The institutional advertising campaign focused on the concept of the woman and her relationship with important symbols as family, considering different phases of her lifecycle (teenager, mother with children, housewife in her home routine etc.) and different women’s styles. This approach nationalized the concept and the importance of women from all Brazilian regions, enabling identification and awareness. The objective of the article is: a) to describe the campaign, as it could serve as a model to be replicated by other companies, in emergent or developing countries; and b) to analyze the campaign using the theoretical framework of the Ethics of Care.
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The methodology used in the survey is content analysis, based upon some of the campaign communication tools, such as the institutional website, billboards, and commercial ads. Some interviews with Renner executives will be presented, aiming at a confirmation or validation of the findings. The authors discuss the convergence or discrepancy of the campaign with the principles of the Ethics of Care, on issues as: treating poor women as persons (when the wealth disparity humiliates them a great deal); treating poor women in a (un)realistic way; influencing poor women to leave the house and work (while many husbands stay home with the children); encouraging poor women to buy more clothes instead of other more important goods and services (food, medicines, health insurance); enabling poor women to buy in installments, making them pay more, with high interests. The authors agree that the case is a good example of business ethics and corporate social responsibility. They only raise questions that might transform issues in real problems.
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Globalization, Poverty, and Corporate Responsibility
Richard T. De George University of Kansas
Abstract
This paper will examine globalization, poverty and corporate responsibility through an examination of the UN Human Development Report 2013. The Report is detailed and authoritative. It is interesting both for what it says and for what it omits. The major omission, the paper will argue, is the role that corporations can play and have played in both globalization and in the alleviation of poverty. Developing what is missing will result in examining the responsibility of corporations with respect to poverty.
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Social Business and BoP Initiatives in French Multinational Corporations: An Ethical Comparison
Geert Demuijnck
EDHEC
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Law and Morality: Is There a Difference?
Alex Devience DePaul University
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GLOBALIZATION AND HEALTH: USING THE HIV/AIDS EPIDEMIC TO FOSTER ETHICAL DECISIONAL-
MAKING IN BUSINESS
Robert V. Doyle Loyola Marymount
Abstract
HIV/AIDS is an epidemic unlike any other the global community has experienced. The unique nature of this epidemic is that HIV/AIDS does not have a well-defined, geographically-limited spread as do many other diseases. HIV/AIDS has already spread to every corner of the world, to every age group, every level of society and to persons of all sexual orientations.1 As such, HIV/AIDS is no longer a concern for just homosexual men and intravenous drug users. This stereotypical and inaccurate approach to battling the epidemic has often lead to a mentality of us (those who are HIV-negative) versus them (those who are HIVpositive).
I propose that this dueling mentality allows for the continued spread of the disease and continuation of unreasonable discourse relying on myopic, unsubstantiated claims. In this paper, I outline ways in which an us versus them mentality is harmful to specific populations vis-à-vis HIV/AIDS and consider Catholic social teaching as a catalyst to refocus the attention of business leaders to justly distribute and market resources towards the poor, African-Americans, and women.
The first part of this paper will present data supplied by the United States’ Center for Disease Control that demonstrates the wide reaching effects of this epidemic beyond typically referenced, aforementioned groups. This data highlights the burdensome and disproportionate facets of HIV/AIDS with respect to poverty, race, and women. This data suggests that distribution and marketing of resources related to fighting the epidemic should be specifically honed to these vulnerable populations. The second part of this paper will argue that in light of this available data that should essentially close the gap between us and them, Catholic social teaching principles such as the dignity of the human person, preferential option for the poor, structural sin, the common good, and solidarity may serve as catalysts to move us beyond the us versus them mentality towards recognition that, as theologian Donald Messer points out, “we are all HIV-positive” and, indeed, in some measure, as large or small as its impact may be, affected by this epidemic.2 Finally, as a result of data-driven analysis and Catholic social teaching principles, I will propose several concrete factors that corporate leaders should consider to actively engage in the fight against HIV/AIDS. These include: refocusing prevention and treatment programs; considering the infrastructure necessary to make these changes; basing decisions on data; and reforming health care based on the dignity of all people. 1 In addition to the data presented in this paper, the Center for Diseases Control suggests that “some generalities about the epidemic can be understood by considering regional aspects. For example, at the end of 2009, the rate (which takes into account the size of the population by noting the number of cases per 100,000 people) of persons living with an AIDS diagnosis was highest in the Northeast, followed by the South, the West, and the Midwest, even though the estimated number
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of adults and adolescents living with an AIDS diagnosis was highest in the South.” Web .1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/geographic.htm>
2 Donald Messer. Breaking the Conspiracy of Silence, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2004), 28.
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The Role of Mindfulness for Ethical and Responsible Leadership
Silke A. Eisenbeiss
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich
Thomas Maak & Nicola Pless, ES ADE Business School Barcelona
Abstract
While leader ethics and responsibility increasingly move into the focus of public and scientific attention, the driving factors behind ethical and responsible leadership remain under-theorized. With the present paper, we connect research from different disciplines– clinical psychology, neuroscience, leadership and ethics–in order to illuminate the relevance of mindfulness for ethical and responsible leadership. Rooted in Buddhist thought and mainly researched in clinical psychology, the mindfulness construct refers to a quality of consciousness which is open and particularly sensitive toward what is happening in the present moment, internally and externally. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and self determination theory, we develop a conceptual model of mediating mechanisms (cognitive capacity: seeing more and seeing differently, emotional self-regulation, and harmonious interconnectedness) which explain how leader mindfulness translates into ethical and responsible leadership. We also identify the contextual conditions which moderate the link between mindfulness and ethical and responsible leadership behavior. The model’s contribution to the mindfulness and leadership literature is discussed and practical implications are offered.
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Ethical Aspects of the Strategic Change Process
Joyce Falkenberg University of Agder
Norway
Abstract Organizations make strategic changes when faced with changes in the environment, for example, as a result of globalization. While we are beginning to understand the ethics of the outcomes of the decisions that are made to adapt to the environmental changes, (see for example, Burnes and By, 2012; Whatley, 2012), further attention is needed to understand the ethical aspects of the processes by which these changes are formulated and implemented. For this paper, the purpose of ethics can be stated as promoting flourishing lives (Falkenberg, 2009).
The basis of the paper is on the strategic change process, (Hill and Jones, 2009, p. 190) which focuses on the need for change, obstacles to change, managing the change and evaluating the change and incorporates the strategic management process starting with the mission and vision of the firm, an analysis of the internal and external environment from which a strategy is formulated and then implemented. This process is simplified, and many have argued that it does not correctly depict the actual process of strategic change. We therefore bring in the literature from the strategy-‐as-‐practice field as we discuss the ethical aspects of the strategic change process.
The focus of strategy-‐as-‐practice is on how managers actually practice strategy, what the organization does (Jarzabkowski, 2003, 2004). The focus on the praxis, practices and practitioners that encompass strategy allows us to address the ethical aspects of the change process. To illustrate this point, let us look at the role of different practitioners in the change process. Whittington (2011) argues that top management can “order” an analysis to indicates the decision which had already been determined. For example, top management may decide to merge in order to gain personal power, or market power, and ask the analysts to find support for a merger decision. Ethical implications of such a merger decision for the rights of employees and the responsibilities of shareholders have been discussed by Werhane (1988). In terms of the process, the decision may be made without input from or regard for stakeholders or shareholders (Thomas and Hardy, 2011). This lack of procedural justice on the part of the employees who will be affected by the decision is an ethical issue. Drawing on social exchange theory, Coonen (2010) argues that those who are not directly involved in the formulation of change strategies, including employees or shareholders, must perceive the process as being trustworthy and fair.
The purpose of the paper is to draw on theories in the field of ethics to discuss ethical aspects of the different stages of the strategic change process. Using strategy-‐as-‐practice allows for a multiple perspectives approach (Werhane, P.
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2008), and potential conflicts are delineated. The paper thus contributes to the field of ethics in strategy which continues to have little emphasis on ethics beyond the vision of the top managers (for example, see Burnes and By, 2012), ethical codices and CSR activities. Burnes, B. and By, R., 2012, Leadership and change: The case for greater ethical clarity, Journal of Business Ethics, 108: 239-‐252. Coonen, E., 2010, Trust and fairness during strategic change processes in franchise systems, Journal of Business Ethics, 95: 191-‐209. Falkenberg, A.W. and Falkenberg, J., 2009 Ethics in international value chain networks: The case of Telenor in Bangladesh, Journal of Business Ethics, 90: 355-‐369. Hill, C.W. L. and Jones, G.R. 2009, Essentials of Strategic Management, Second Edition, South-‐Western. Jarzabkowski, P. (2003). Strategic practices: An activity theory perspective on continuity and change. Journal of Management Studies. 40: 23-‐ 6 Jarzabkowski, P. (2004). Strategy as practice: Recursiveness, adaptation and strategic practices-‐in-‐use. Organization Studies. 25:529-‐560 Thomas, R. and Hardy, C., 2011 Reframing resistance to organizational change., Scandinavian Journal of Management, 27: 322-‐331. Werhane, P., 2008, Mental models, moral imagination and system thinking in the age of globalization, Journal of Business Ethics, 78: 463-‐474. Werhane, P., 1988, Two Ethical Issues in Mergers and Acquisitions, Journal of Business Ethics, 7: 41-‐45. Whatley, L., 2012, An “ethical mindset” – Linking OD and the implicit assumptions leaders make when reviewing the insights of Douglas McGregor, Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 9: 104-‐114. Whittington, R., 2011 in Johnson, G., Scholes, K. and Whittington, R., Exploring Strategy, Prentice-‐Hall.
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Ethics, Multinational Organizations and Developing Countries
Andreas W. Falkenberg Agder University
Norway
Abstract
Multinational organizations (MNO’s) operating in developing countries have long been subject to criticism. From the time of the powerful trading companies in England, the Netherlands and Germany centuries ago, they have used their economic, political and some times military power to further their interests. Their economic and political power; their ability to change the behavior of others, may be as large if not larger than that of some governments.
On the other hand it is the responsibility of each government to create a set of institutions (laws and regulations) in their jurisdiction, which is to the benefit of the citizens of their countries. Unfortunately, many of the institutions in developing countries are inadequate in that they do not serve or promote the general interest of the people. This is partly due to corruption. Consider this illustration: Most of the countries represented in the UN are corrupt. In the Corruption Index developed by Transparency International for 2012, only 40 (of 174) countries score 60 and above on a scale of 1 to 100; 100 being relatively corruption free. Corrupt politicians are not as common in democracies with a free press and free elections. In a study by the Economist, only 25 (of 167) countries were found to be “full democracies”, and none of these can be classified as “developing countries”. Democracies are relatively free of corruption.
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Western Psychological Services and Sensory Integrative Therapy: Re-inventing a Creole
Michael E. Gorman
University of Virginia
Abstract Western Psychological Services (WPS) is a publisher of a wide variety of tests and training materials related to therapies for conditions like autism. A. Jean Ayres developed a set of tests to identify sensory integrative dysfunction (SID); the founder of WPS funded the development and standardization of the first battery of tests for SID (1972), and his son funded the development of an improved version almost two decades later (1989). Now the third generation at WPS has to decide whether and how to revise the test 25 years after Ayres’ death, when the community of SID practitioners is fragmented and pursuing different visions. How can they be brought together? The solution is a trading zone in which the different practitioner communities develop a creole.
But what if not all will trade? If some ‘bad-‐mouth’ the revision and substitute their own alternative tests and diagnostic language, WPS may not be able to recoup its investment.
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From Free-Riders to Responsible Leaders
Stefan Gröschl ESSEC Business School
France
Patricia Galbaldon IE Business School
Spain
Abstract
While many organizations and commentators have been applauding the technological advancements, economic value creations, and the expansion of material consumption in societies, progress has been inequitably distributed and has had profound environmental and societal implications. Inequitably distribution of wealth has created income poverty in many developed and underdeveloped countries, and long-‐term malnourishment and micronutrient deficiencies amongst 270 million children globally (United Nations Millennium Project, 2006), while major international environmental threats include overexploitation, pollution, land-‐use change, and loss of biodiversity (United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP), 2011). By conducting business ‘as usual’, future usage of natural resources and emissions will exceed ‘all measures of available resources and assessments of limits to the capacity to absorb impacts’ (UNEP, 2011: 29)
In this paper we argue that businesses have a moral obligation to respond collectively to these challenges. Business responses in form of corporate social responsible actions (CSR) are embryonic, and are often a disguise for firms’ market and image driven needs. CSR practices are based on voluntary and ad hoc activities which do not address the global scale of the environmental and socio-‐economic challenges.
We explore why companies cannot agree on collective, global scale actions using Hardin’s (1968) discourse of the tragedy of freedom in the commons, and Ostrom et al’s (1999) revisit of the commons. We will present a multi-‐layered, dynamic model in which we identify four types of organizations that can be categorized as unconditional and uncooperative (free-‐riders), conditional and uncooperative (sceptics), conditional and cooperative (believers), and unconditional and cooperative (initiators).
Based on our model, we put forward a number of propositions outlining the conditions by which companies can move between different categories. While in the past, global scale challenges have often been addressed by policy makers with a one size fits all approach (e.g. CO2 emissions), we advocate a more nuanced and differentiating perspective. Depending on the firm’s category, we propose institutional and/or regulatory actions in form of restrictions and control
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mechanism (e.g. property rights), and/or facilitating processes of creating trust transparency. References Hardin, G. 1968. The tragedy of the commons, Science, Vol. 162, December 13, 1243-‐1248. Ostrom, E., Burger, J., Field, B., Norgaard, R., and Policansky, D. 1999. Revisiting the commons: Local lessons, global challenges, Science, Vol 284, April 9, 278-‐282. UNEP 2011. Decoupling natural resource use and environmental impacts from economic growth, A Report of the Working Group on Decoupling to the International Resource Panel. Fischer-‐Kowalski, M., Swilling, M., von Weizsäcker, E.U., Ren, Y., Moriguchi, Y., Crane, W., Krausmann, F., Eisenmenger, N., Giljum, S., Hennicke, P., Romero Lankao, P., Siriban Manalang, A. United Nations’ Millennium Project. 2006. Fast facts: The faces of poverty. E3-‐1.
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Survival Skills for Young Professionals Through Peer Leadership, Real‐World Dilemmas and Problem‐Solving Skills The Young Professional’s Survival Guide: From Cab
Fares to Moral Snares (Harvard Press, 2012)
C. K. Gunsalus University of Illinois
Abstract
What’s the right thing to do if you learn at a family dinner that your widowed aunt is planning to invest your uncle’s whole estate in the company he worked for, and you know that they’re getting ready to enter bankruptcy because you intern for their bankers or auditors? Where do you turn? What if your boss asks you to push a product that you know isn’t good for your clients? If you have misgivings about something you are asked to do, how serious should it be before you raise questions or refuse to participate? Knowing what you think is the right thing to do can be hard—and still sometimes easier than figuring out how to do it and still maintain positive relationships, let alone your job or your career afterward. We all face ethical dilemmas, large and small, on a regular basis. Getting to the end of a career with your sense of self as a good person and your reputation intact isn’t as easy as it sounds, and the choices are not always clear-‐-‐‐cut. Learning how to recognize, analyze and respond effectively to the pressures, temptations and sometimes outright commands to cross the line are as central to career success as strong topical knowledge and skills. Research on effective approaches to ethical education suggests that we share short stories and case studies to which others can connect emotionally: real things that happened to real people. Providing labels so dilemmas can be categorized assists comprehension and retention. Examples of constructive ways to resolve problems are important, not just listing possible negative outcomes. To affect attitudes and, we hope, behavior, we should help our students and young professionals anticipate consequences and forecast the outcome of their choices, and teach approaches to emotional self-‐-‐‐regulation and reflection. Using what I call “two-‐‐minute challenges” (2MCs) to practice and build “muscles” in professional responsibility, Illinois provides tools for confronting ethical dilemmas and practicing responses—before they’re needed on short notice. A two-‐‐minute challenge isn’t one that can be resolved in two minutes or less, but rather can come up and require a response in that time or less, even if that response is a personal script that just buys a bit of time to figure out what to do. Our collection of 2MCs contains “stories” each rooted in the experiences of young professionals. They connect with undergraduate and professional students, and our data show that our peer-‐‐leadership model is effective in
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conveying content and creating a culture of responsible professional practice. The content, stories and skills of our program are presented in The Young Professional’s Survival Guide: From Cab Fares to Moral Snares (Harvard Press, 2012) and its possible use as a text for ethics courses.
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Do Casinos Contribute to the Greater Good?: A Utilitarian Ethical Analysis of Casinos
Andrew Gustafson
Creighton University
Abstract A variety of ethical analysis of the gaming industry could be developed, based on a Kantian Deontological framework, a virtue ethics framework, or some other basis. I will use a utilitarian framework, based on the greatest good of the many is the basis of the good. Here I will a. first outline some of the key ethical issues which arise for the gaming industry, then b. provide a framework for a basic utilitarian analysis of casinos; c. outline empirical on the affects of casinos based on research done in two recent works, Gambling in America, Who Wins, Who Loses? by Grinolis (Cambridge Press, 2009) and Governing Fortune: Casino Gambling in America by Goss and Morse (Michigan Press, 2007) highlighting negative externalities of casino gambling such as crime, employment costs, bankruptcy, suicide, illness, social services costs, direct regulation costs, family problems, and abused dollars; d. highlight the social benefits provided by Casinos using a particular case study of the Iowa West Foundation and its support from the casinos operating in Council Bluffs Iowa; and e. provide a concluding analysis of the ethics of casinos via a utilitarian analysis, relying especially on John Stuart Mill.
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Business and the Common Good: Philanthropy, and Positive Unintended and Intended Externalities
Celeste Harvey
Phd. Student, Marquette
Andrew Gustafson Creighton University
Abstract The notion of Common Good has suffered some severe setbacks in our hyperpluralistic globalized world. The very notion of a common set of values and goals for all has become less tenable as a directive and purposeful vision in recent years. At the same time, a lot of focus has been put on the negative externalities which result from business practices which have no regard for the common good (pollution, etc). Here, drawing on the work of Sen, Arrow, and others, I will highlight the three general ways in which business does contribute to the greater good: philanthropy, positive intended consequences, and positive unintended consequences. My goal is to point out that practically, we cannot avoid working with some notion of the common good, and that business is by far one of the most important contributors to the common good, and one of the most important means of transforming culture and society for the better. I will conclude the paper with reflections on how a Christian might conceive of their purpose for the common good and reconcile it with their business practices by drawing on the recent Papal encylclical, Caritas en Veritate.
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The Global Economic Ethic Manifesto: What Has Happened Since Inception?
Dr. Thomas A. Hemphill
University of Michigan-Flint
Dr. Waheeda Lillevik The College of New Jersey
Abstract The Global Economic Ethic Manifesto (“Manifesto”) is a moral framework/code of conduct which is both interactive and interdependent with the economic function of the main institutions of the economic system: markets, governments, civil society, and supranational organizations. The Manifesto includes five universally accepted principles and values: the principle of humanity; the basic values of non-‐violence and respect for life’ the basic values of justice and humanity; the basic values of honesty and tolerance; and the basic values of mutual esteem and partnership. The Manifesto was unveiled at the United Nations on October 6, 2009. In our study, we intend to:
–First, introduce the Manifesto, briefly identifying its evolutionary history and five principles and values; –Second, investigate the extent of adoption (“signatories to the Manifesto”) by business entities since the October 2009 unveiling of the Manifesto; –Third, evaluate the population demographics of those business entities adopting, i.e., “signing on to”, the Manifesto; –Fourth, define what “signing on to” the Manifesto means to the business entities: –Fifth, identify what means of accountability/transparency exist to ensure organizational adherence to the principles and values of the Manifesto; and –Sixth, based on the preceding data gathered and evaluated, we address the following questions in our conclusion: What are the “strengths” and “weaknesses” of the Manifesto as it relates to adoption and implementation? What recommendations could be made to encourage the expansion the adoption and implementation of the Manifesto?
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Price Fixing & Human Resource Management
Eli Jacobs
University of Hertfordshire
Dr Sheilla Luz
University of Hertfordshire
Abstract Over the last few years a variety of companies & industries have been investigated for price fixing arrangements These have included airlines, auction houses, phone companies, supermarkets, oil & energy suppliers. Although legislation & investigative bodies exist in many industrialised countries in the world to prevent & combat price fixing it remains a ongoing feature of capitalism. Stakeholders of these companies learn far to late that they have been victims of a behavior that either robbed them of high returns on their shares or/end robbed their pockets whenever they acquired the products concerned. This paper discusses the conduct of price fixing and the impacts these agreements have economically on society and reflects on the role of HR managers. A behaviour model of price fixing activities is introduced. The paper recognizes that although competition authorities are actually implementing measures to curb price fixing behavior, there is a definite lack of academic discussion on the subject from a perspective of human resource management. This is in contrast with other ethical issues such as Bribery and Discrimination which have captured the imagination & commitment of HRM professionals. This can be partially explained by the ideas & theory of Moral Intensity (Jones, 1991) Thus the paper intends to arise an interest within the human resources practitioners for the discussion of this conduct and points out that the Human Resource practioners have a unique role to play in the prevention of price fixing activities.
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Let’s Talk About It: Examining the Impact of Discussion on Techniques of Neutralization in Student Whistleblowing
Joanne C Jones York University
Gary Spraakman York University
Cristóbal Sánchez-Rodríguez
York University
Abstract Past research finds techniques of neutralizations, a priori rationalizations that people use to convince themselves or others that their behavior is justifiable, play an important role in the decision to whistleblow and/or to remain silent (Pershing, 2003). Building upon these findings, we aim to consider how educational interventions based upon techniques of neutralization can influence students’ decision to whistleblow when confronted with faculty misconduct.
Heath (2008) suggests that educational interventions that focus on questioning the merit of commonly used neutralization techniques should improve the quality of students’ ethical decisions. Building upon Heath’s proposition and insights from past experimental research ((Thorne & Hartwick, 2001; Thorne, Massey, & Jones, 2004), our experimental study considers how discussion-‐based interventions can influence students’ likelihood to report faculty misconduct. Findings of our study can provide important insight into how to develop ethics education that can impact whistleblowing as well as what factors can encourage or discourage students to report faculty misconduct.
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Beyond Boycotts: Shared Responsibility in the Collegiate Apparel Industry
Scott P. Kelley
DePaul University
Abstract The recent factory collapse at Rana Plaza near Dhaka, Bangladesh is a painful reminder that labor issues in the apparel industry in general, and in the collegiate apparel industry in particular, are abundant and troubling. Students, faculty, and staff at Catholic Colleges and Universities (CCUs) are confronted with the troubling reality that many of the business practices of their collegiate apparel manufacturers can operate in stark contrast to the vision of economic justice found in Catholic social thought (CST). In response to these practices, many activists on CCU campuses, like Jim Keady, have demanded that CCUs boycott apparel manufacturers, like Nike Inc., that they believe to be the most egregious violators of their school's values. While activism can draw much needed attention to problematic areas that are often hidden, it can be misleading, limited, and ineffective in other contexts. While CST does offer various principles of economic justice, it does not offer a blueprint for running a company or buying goods. Furthermore, labor conditions in developing countries are wicked problems, not simple ones, meaning that there are no easy answers. Using Simon Zadek's work on stages of corporate responsibility as a framework, this paper analyzes a diverse and evolving range of corporate responses to labor conditions within the collegiate apparel industry, identifying appropriate strategies for CCU response.
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Food Justice: Bridging the Income Gap for Healthy Food Consumption
Martin J. Lecker
SUNY Rockland Community College
Abstract Every six seconds a child dies from hunger somewhere in the world (“World Hunger Facts”). In the United States, 14.5 percent of the population has been declared food insecure at some time during the year, which indicates if one or more household members’ food intake has been reduced and their eating habits compromised at times during the year because they lacked money and other resources for food (Coleman-‐Jensen, A., Nord, M., Andrews, M. & Carlson, S.).
Food injustice refers primarily to low income communities where they tend to lack the opportunities for locally available healthy food and often find it more expensive to purchase than their upper income counterparts (Hope,4). Furthermore, healthy food is often more expensive than traditional “junk food.” Coupled by less expensive fast food restaurants and polices resulting in more bureaucratic tape to farm food in local urban areas, the less affluent find themselves victimized by economic food injustice. Ironically, these are the same individuals who may be distributing or selling these healthier food choices but cannot afford to consume them. This food injustice may be defined as discrimination from any action which results in a negative impact on a group or an individual who lacks economic or political power to have access to healthy food.
This presentation will consist of (1) defining food justice with examples of how income inequality leads to diminished accessibility to healthy food choices; (2) historical and philosophical reasons why this injustice exists; (3) recommendations to alleviate this inequity; and (4) challenges to implementing these recommendations. This presentation will include national and global perspectives of this known but often unacknowledged issue which is pervasive in our contemporary society. References Coleman-‐Jensen, A., Nord, M., Andrews, M. & Carlson, S. “Household Food Security in the United States in 2010.” U.S.D.A. Economic Research Service Website. http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/usda/usdahome (accessed May 1, 2013). “World Hunger Facts” Ghandi World Hunger Fund Website. http://www.gandhiworldhungerfund.org/facts.html (accessed May 1, 2013). Gottlieb, R. & Joshi, A. (2010). Food Justice. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Heynen, N., Kurtz, H. E., & Trauger, A. (2012). Food Justice, Hunger and the City. Geography Compass, 6(5), 304-‐311. doi:10.1111/j.1749-‐8198.2012.00486.x
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Hilmers, A., Hilmers, D. C., & Dave, J. (2012). Neighborhood Disparities in Access to Healthy Foods and Their Effects on Environmental Justice. American Journal Of Public Health, 102(9), 1644-‐1654. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2012.300865 Hope, A & Agyeman (2011). Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class and Sustainability. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Just Food (2010). Food Justice. http://www.justfood.org/food-justice (accessed May 1, 2013).
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When the Law is too Weak: Implications of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum for Corporate Social Responsibility
Andy Little
Abilene Christian University
Abstract The popular presumption in the relationship between law and business is that legal action by legislatures and courts constrains corporate behavior in a way that increases compliance costs, imposes regulatory and bureaucratic burdens, and interferes with market mechanisms. The law, so the theory goes, is too strong because it precludes otherwise rational corporate behavior. Thus, corporate actors may resist new legal pronouncements because law and regulation are seen as threats. This paper highlights a recent United States Supreme Court case, Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (decided by the Court on April 17, 2013), and argues that in some cases it is not the strength of the law that makes it problematic, but rather its weakness. Specifically, this case raises the probability that in the area of corporate social responsibility, American courts and legislatures may be unable or unwilling to protect human rights in other countries and thus business must take the lead in the human rights arena.
Kiobel involved the alleged actions of various corporations affiliated with the Shell family of petroleum companies. The plaintiffs were residents of Nigeria, who claimed they were tortured, raped, and forced into exile by Nigerian military and police forces. The plaintiffs claim the Nigerian armed forces were aid and abetted, in turn, by actors from within the Shell organizations. They sued Shell in New York City under the Alien Tort Statute, a 1789 law that allows American courts to be used by persons who are victims of a tort that is committed in violation of the laws of nations. The Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, held that the ATS does not apply in an extraterritorial context: if the violation of rights occurred in another country, a lawsuit in the United States under the ATS is not possible. The Court placed the burden on Congress to enact laws that provide for extraterritorial claims; in an act of judicial restraint, the Court was unwilling to make that leap itself. Judicial restraint from the present Supreme Court justices is not surprising. It is also not surprising that past statutes created by Congress, like the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and Torture Victims Protection Act, are likewise ineffectual and essentially incapable of enforcement. This combination of judicial and legislative inaction and weakness is evidence of a systemic failure to protect human rights by the United States. Given the law’s failure, one implication from Kiobel is that corporate social responsibility now has increased importance. American law cannot be relied on as a back-‐stop for preventing human rights abuses. This is even more important given that corporate actors sometimes confuse minimal legal compliance with ethical conduct. In the present case, in the absence of a legal floor for behavior, emphasis on ethics must increase. The United Nations, through its 2011 Ruggie
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Principles, mandates that corporations and private actors must be proactive in respecting human rights. This paper goes one step further and suggests that in light of regulatory and legal weakness—at least in the United States—corporations have a duty to protect human rights in other countries.
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Between The Respect For The Vincentian Values And The Compliance To Professional And Secularized
Standards: The Challenge of Balanced Practices
In The Case Of A French Group of Vincentian Homes For Elderly
Denis Malherbe
France Business School
Abstract
This paper proposes to question the stakes of legitimacy and responsibility which are underlying the current transformation of the governance practices within medical or social establishments which were historically founded by religious institutions and which are now exposed to a double movement of secularization and professionalization.
A first part describes empirically the broad outlines of the recent or current changes in the institutional context of these Vincentian organizations. These changes concern the internal governance structures of homes as well as the regulations that are defining the relevant constraints and conditions of accountability: On the one hand, the northern French province of the Company of the Daughters of Charity transferred the competency for the management of their elderly homes to the Association Monsieur Vincent (AMV), created in 1994 and managed since that time by lay people. By this way, the nuns preserve a control and supervision authority on the governance of the homes but entrusted to professionalized agents the management both of the local homes and of the whole group. This control concerns mainly ethical dimensions of the decisions made in the governance and the management practices. The matter is not only to manage the orientations in proper operational forms but also to act in the continuity of the Christian values historically asserted by the Vincentian Family, like respect to human dignity, humility and service.
On the other hand, the successive French governments led in the last decade a serial of institutional reforms concerning the systems of healthcare and social structures including new regulations concerning the financing of homes, the standardization of their operational processes and the responsibilities of their managers. In a few words, this new rule regime strengthens the power of control of the public authorities (counties authorities, regional healthcare management agencies, public welfare systems equivalent to Medicaid / Medicare in the USA…). In a certain way, the managers of the elderly homes are now not only the professional agents employed by a Christian congregation in compliance with its own ethical
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values. They are also more subjected by the technical and regulatory standards of the French common law, which is determined in the background by the principles of secularity (Fr.: laïcité) and of the separation of the Churches and the State. This general discussion will be completed by information drawn from the first step of a beginning action-‐research project, lead in partnership with a French Vincentian network of retirement homes for elderly, including specialized structures for dependant people (due to Alzheimer’s disease notably). At this exploratory step, the study is particularly focused on the case of a home which was historically reserved for members of the Company of the Daughters of Charity, Lazarist priests or nuns belonging to other religious orders. Now the manager of this home is presently preparing to take in lay people and has to align its internal practices with the legal and economic constraints applied by the public authorities, without losing the Vincentian ends: serving the poor and marginalized with a spirit of humility, simplicity and charity.
The second part exposes the basic elements to develop a comprehensive approach of the processes of secularization and professionalization presently operating in the governance and management practices of such medical or social organizations which inherited an ethical and spiritual tradition: How could one understand the various and entangled stakes of signification, power and cooperation that their managers have to face in the current transformation of their structures and assessment processes? Which are the opposing rationalities among the governance stakeholders?
How do these rationalities justify their respective definitions of performance, responsibility and legitimacy?
Through which levers can the managers loyally and responsibly adapt to the contingencies of their legal, economical and technical environment, in order words without "losing the ethical soul" of their organizations? Under which conditions can be build a coherent representation of both role and action of these managers who are stretched between the expression of the ethical grounded in the Vincentian tradition and the extrinsic pressures of public regulations based on compliance to rules and economic standards? Based on open-‐minded reading of academic sources drawn in the fields of administrative science, sociology, philosophy and theology, this part aims to conceptualize this ethical challenge in terms of a dynamic, behavioral and cognitive system of opportunities, threats, strengths and weaknesses. A rapid conclusion will indicate some possible directions for the following of the research in a comparative − possibly cross-‐disciplinary and international − perspective.
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The Ethics of Payment Systems
Douglas M. McCabe
Georgetown University
James J. Angel
Georgetown University
Abstract Payment systems have evolved over the years from barter to electronic payments both domestically and internationally. Different methods of payments involved different costs and risks for different participants. Often one party can choose the payment medium and the other party is bound to accept the choice. Consumers can pay retailers with cash, check, debit, or credit cards. Businesses can pay refunds in cash, reversed charges, store credit, or gift cards. Insurance companies sometimes pay benefits by providing beneficiaries with money-‐market like accounts. This paper will discuss and analyze in detail the ethical standards that should apply to these choices. Thus, what salient ethical norms should be applicable to these various choices?
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A Model for Corporate Governance: A Cultural Audit
Irene N. McCarthy Benjamin R. Silliman St. John’s University
Abstract The United States created several regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation after the 1929 Depression hit that helped maintain relative financial stability and prosperity for almost seven decades before deregulation chipped away at their effectiveness. The 2008 financial collapse of financial institutions including, banks, Bear Stearns, the failure of Lehman Brothers and AIG has brought to fore the need for new regulation. The government stepped in to bail out AIG. because its failure could have dealt mortal blows to other financial institutions that the company had agreed to protect from losses. Congress passed the Dodd-‐Frank reform law that imposes new controls on financial activity. The blame for regulatory delays falls, in part, on an unrepentant financial industry that has fought against regulation at every turn. In 1987, the National Commission on Fraudulent Financial Reporting (the Treadway Commission) issued a report outlining causal factors of fraudulent and misleading financial reporting. A key objective of the commission was to identify the characteristics of corporate structure that may contribute to fraudulent and misleading reporting. The report identified the tone set by top management as critically important in creating a healthy reporting environment. According to the report, to set the right tone, top management must identify and assess those risk factors that could lead to fraudulent and misleading financial reporting. A cultural audit would provide a means for assessing the tone at the top and the attitude toward internal controls and ethical decision-‐making. Such an audit can play a vital role in helping management shape an ethical climate within the organization and in helping directors and auditors assess the effectiveness of internal controls. The board of directors, through the audit committee, should retain an outside firm to conduct a cultural audit every three years. External auditors should include in their internal control assessments and risk management profiles a process designed to assess tone at the top and the resulting impact on a company’s culture. Culture audit surveys such as Cameron and Quinn’s (2006) Organizational Culture Assessment Inventory provide useful tools for assessing the current and aspired-‐to culture of an organization, and discovering ways to strengthen the positive aspects of that culture. In this way, leaders can ensure that their virtuous culture supports their virtuous core values.
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Ethical Image and Ethical Reality Managing the ‘Social Acceptance’ of Healthcare Organizations
David B. McCurdy Senior Ethics Consultant and Director of Organizational Ethics
Advocate Health Care Adjunct Faculty
Elmhurst College
Abstract
Lin-‐Hi and Blumberg (BPEJ 2012) contend that “public support” for business is “continuously declining” because corporations’ pursuit of profits is seen to conflict with society’s interests. Business and corporations are widely perceived as unethical in both character and conduct, and face the need to establish themselves as responsible actors, both in the public’s perception and in reality. To address this challenge, business leaders need to develop specific “business ethics competencies” that can effect both image restoration and consistently responsible corporate action. Mutatis mutandis, and despite their altruistic healthcare mission and not-‐for-‐profit status, a parallel challenge faces healthcare organizations (HCOs), including those that are faith based, and parallel competencies are required of healthcare leaders. This paper will examine recent controversies over HCOs’ provision of charity care and their tax-‐exempt status as a test case and a barometer of organizations’ and leaders’ ethical competence, and will suggest how both image and reality may be enhanced in the future.
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A Vincentian Marketing Orientation and the Responsibilities of NGOs in Emerging Market Micro-Enterprise Development
Programs
Vien Chu Queensland University of Technology
Australia
Belinda Luke Queensland University of Technology
Australia
Morgan P. Miles University of Tasmania
Australia
Martie-Louise Verreynne University of Queensland St Lucia
Australia
Abstract Non-‐government organizations (NGOs) involved in poverty alleviation, like other social enterprises, have a responsibility to donors, but their primary responsibility is to their beneficiaries. However, a common criticism of NGOs’ operations in emerging economies is that their activities are largely based on highly standardised services which they can efficiently provide (a production oriented approach) and effectively marketed to donors, rather than services tailored to the explicit and latent needs of their poor beneficiaries (adopting a beneficiary-‐centric Vincentian marketing orientation (VMO) and extending work by Miles, Verreynne, and Luke (2012)).
Accordingly, this study examines the activities of 10 international NGOs operating micro-‐enterprise development programs (MEPs) in Vietnam. Specifically, MEPs aim to help the poor develop sustainable income streams through the establishment of small businesses. However, standardised services and short-‐term support tend to result in only temporary solutions to poverty alleviation.
Findings reveal a range of less conventional approaches to poverty alleviation, as part of a VMO. NGOs that have adopted a VMO have created entrepreneurial innovations such as the development of non-‐monetary credit, involving both the poor and non-‐poor in poverty alleviation programs, and a graduated approach to poverty alleviation depending on the resources and
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capabilities of the poor. In several cases these approaches were adopted as a result of learning from past experience and failures.
This study’s findings highlight the responsibility on the NGO sector to adapt programs to the needs of the poor, and adopt change where past performance has not achieved the intended outcomes. However the importance of differentiating between the needs of individuals and the needs of the market is also underscored, as a way of creating viable long-‐term solutions.
We therefore draw on institutional and learning theories to present a framework that suggests an amended perspective of NGO MEP strategy. Specifically, NGOs adopting a VMO will tend to create more relevant and sustainable MEPs by introducing new insights gained through experimentation and by navigating institutional and market factors successfully. Implications extend to donors, NGOs, and the international community, given each has a role in the global challenge of poverty alleviation.
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Catholic Social Teaching and the Role of Accounting and Accountants
Mark C Mitschow SUNY Geneseo
Charles J. Coate
St. Bonaventure University
Abstract The Franciscan Friar Luca Pacioli is often credited with being the father of accounting because of his 1494 publication Summa de Arithmetrica, Geometrica, Proportioni et Proportionalita (Summa) which included a section on Venetian, or double entry accounting. While accounting systems had existed well before Pacioli, he presented double entry accounting as an efficient means of keeping business records and of computing profits. Pacioli believed that business persons would be successful if they earned a lawful and reasonable profit (Cripps 1995). It is understood that Pacioli advocated the use of double entry accounting because improved records would lead to improved business operation and profits. While the Franciscan order emerged approximately 300 years before Pacioli, Flood (2001) documents how early Franciscan rules clearly guided the brothers in their approach to acceptable work. Flood (2001) further suggests that the people of northeastern Italy understood business as a means to acquire goods and achieve status. Consequently, the confluence of Franciscan business rules and a local sensibilities allowed northeastern Italians to enjoy increased prosperity due to an emerging merchant class.
While Pacioli believed profit was a requirement of a successful business, he also extolled truth and cautioned against a variety of business practices such as keeping two sets of books (Fischer 2000). Further, Pacioli encouraged business persons to intertwine the spiritual and secular aspects of their lives. This included developing a sense of charity from those who achieved business success (Fischer 2000). Pacioli believed the greatest element of a business persons success was access to capital (Cripps 1995), which at the time meant the merchant’s creditworthiness and trustworthiness.
Pacioli advocated a social role for both business accounting and for successful business persons. These social roles clearly include a number of the modern day Principles of Catholic Social Teaching (CST). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social roles of accounting in the context of the Principles of CST (see US Catholic Bishops 2013, Catholic Charities 2012). Pacioli provided a historical foundation for social roles of both accounting as a discipline and accountants as business persons and citizens. In addition, Pacioli’s concept of capital may also provide a link the accountant’s social role in financial reporting. In today’s business
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environment, capital might be considered goodwill (ability to earn profits above those expected based on the firm’s balance sheet) or more commonly ability to generate (debt or equity) funding from markets. Financial reports play a significant role in for-‐profit, not-‐for-‐profit, and governmental accounting.
In the US the financial reporting roles of accounting are primarily defined by FASB (2010) Concepts Statement No. 8 for for-‐profit reporting; FASB (1980) Concepts Statement No. 4 for not-‐for-‐profit reporting and GASB (2005) Concepts Statement No. 5 for governmental reporting. However, other FASB statements also play a role. For example, FASB Concept Statement Number 3 notes that the value of any financial report relies on fundamental characteristics of relevance and faithful representation. Information in financial reports is only relevant if it is capable of making a difference to a decision maker outside of the organization. Faithful representation of information requires that information representing economic phenomena be complete, neutral, and free from error – in short truthful. In this paper we consider the role and limitations of accounting in providing information to society in the realms of for-‐profit organizations, not-‐for-‐profit organizations and government entities. We consider how Pacioli’s concept of truth (or the lack thereof) in financial reporting is critical to meeting CST principles.
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Evolution of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals and Its Impact for
Management Education
Ron Nahser DePaul University
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Multiple Directorships, Industry Relatedness, and Corporate Governance Effectiveness
John D. Neill
Abilene Christian University
Curtis E. Clements Abilene Christian University
Paul Wertheim
Abilene Christian University
Abstract Members of a Board of Directors of a public company have numerous responsibilities, including an ethical duty to “represent the interests of the investors/shareholders” and to “oversee the financial well-‐being of the organization.” (See “Developing a Code of Conduct for a Corporate Board of Directors, Ethics Resource Center, 2002). When a Director simultaneously serves on the boards of multiple other companies (“multiple-‐directorships”), that service has the potential to either add to or subtract from the Director’s effectiveness in fulfilling his or her ethical responsibility to each company.
Prior researchers have tested competing hypotheses in an effort to understand the relationship between multiple-‐directorships and governance effectiveness. The “Busyness Hypothesis” states that serving on multiple boards leads to overcommitted and/or distracted directors, which in turn leads to a decrease in governance effectiveness. In certain discussions of board effectiveness, this effect has been referred to as “overboarding.” Conversely, an alternative hypothesis, referred to as the “Experience Hypothesis,” posits that serving on multiple boards provides a director a diversity of valuable experiences, which leads to enhanced governance effectiveness. However, prior research has often examined these two hypotheses as independent or competing hypotheses. In other words, prior research has assumed that these hypotheses are mutually exclusive and that empirical results would support either one or the other of the two hypotheses. In this study, we extend prior research by testing the possibility that the busyness effect and the experience effect may not be mutually exclusive. We postulate that (1) the busyness effect and the experience effect each have opposite effects on corporate governance effectiveness, (2) these effects occur together and simultaneously, (3) the effects may be offsetting, and (4) one particular effect will be more dominate in certain types of firms. In particular, we posit that for directors with multiple directorships, the effectiveness of corporate governance will be related to the extent to which a Director gains “beneficial experience” from the other directorships held by that Director. Further, we hypothesize that the beneficial
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experience gained from multiple-‐directorships will be related to the industry relatedness of those other companies compared to the company under examination. If the multiple-‐directorships leads to an increase in beneficial experience, we hypothesize that the “experience effect” will dominate, leading to an increase in governance effectiveness. Conversely, if the multiple-‐directorships do not add any beneficial experience, then we hypothesize that the “busyness effect” will dominate, leading to a decrease in governance effectiveness.
In our empirical tests, we use the number of internal control weaknesses reported by a company as a proxy for governance effectiveness. We use logistic regression to statistically measure the degree of association between the industry relatedness of a director’s multiple directorships and governance effectiveness. Finally, we attempt to control for other relevant determinants of a board’s ability to govern effectively (e.g., size, degree of financial expertise, et al.). Results will help add to existing evidence on situations where multiple-‐directorships help the director meet his or her ethical responsibility regarding corporate governance.
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Improving Micro-vendors Lives Through Supportive Micro-finance Practices: A Study of Managers, Employees and
Customer at the Bottom of the Pyramid
Aron O’Cass Morgan P. Miles
The University of Tasmania
Kanika Meshram Maquarie University
Abstract This paper is a multi-‐level investigation that focuses on the leadership role played by micro-‐finance branch managers in facilitating employees to create financial services value for Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) vendors in India. We focus on the theme of micro-‐finance firms dedicating their service to help BoP vendors and how this speaks volumes about their societal role which is not just profits but uplifting the BoP vendors’ community by continuing to assist the BoP vendors with financial support. This is especially in situations when banks and governments in countries such as India fail to address the problems of this social group. The interplay of micro-‐finance institutions with BoP vendors is worthy of investigation, because the poor who struggle to improve their lives through their micro-‐businesses cannot survive and prosper without ready access to small loans.
The paper begins with an examination of value creation as fundamental premise of all marketing activities. It then highlights the gap on the failure of value creation scholars to address issues related within BoP markets. The vulnerability of BoP vendors their socio-‐economic issues surrounding their business and how they lack support and face pressure on daily basis. This discussion accounts for the supportive role of micro-‐credit firms as transformation leaders in uplifting the BoP vendors’ community by way of proving them with small loans to run their business. The paper then discusses the Hierarchical Linear Modeling approach adopted within the empirical part of the study. This discussion leads to a theoretical framework of value creation within BoP markets as shown in Figure 1. It highlights the leadership role played by micro-‐finance branch managers in facilitating employees to create financial services value. The paper introduces the key variables of interest in the framework which is of, transformational leadership, employment autonomy, corruption in the business, value offering, supportive service and value creation. The methods section outlines the data collection process. This section elaborates the survey designed for data collection in four large cities in India. The survey for this study was translated in eight Indian languages and the data collection was conducted by a market research group for one year period. Data was collected from 112 branch offices that belonged to 10 participating micro-‐finance institutions. The
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final survey consisted of 112 branch managers, 224 clerks and 672 BoP vendors of theses finance institutions.
Following the methods section the HLM analysis section follows. First the factor analysis for the measures is be reported followed by findings from HLM analysis. The findings will be presented. The last section of the paper discusses the key findings and draws implications for micro-‐finance managers, value creation scholars and government bodies to engage with BoP vendors.
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Ethics Education as Professional Formation
Timothy E. O'Connell Loyola University Chicago
Abstract Courses in business ethics can be viewed as opportunities to encourage and support the participants’ commitment to business pursued with integrity. Utilizing research from the social sciences, this session will present a strategy for that professional formation. The session will combine research findings with business cases in order to define and defend a strategy of professional formation. Then it will outline specific learning activities which can advance that strategy. The goal of the session will be a lively discussion of professional formation itself and the exchange of fresh ideas for integrating it into our teaching.
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Ethical Frameworks in Intellectual Property Litigation: Three Cases from the Pharmaceutical Industry
Margaret Oppenheimer
Helen LaVan
William M. Martin DePaul University
Abstract This study analyzes three recent litigated cases involving intellectual property (IP) in the pharmaceutical industry and examines how ethical conflicts were addressed by plaintiffs, defendants, and/or by the court in its determination of the outcome of the case. We consider how various ethical frameworks as well as efficiency criteria can be applied to understand the reasoning used to make decisions or resolve the conflicts described in these cases.
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Women in Top Corporate Echelons: Evidence From Turkey
Zeynep Ozsoy Istanbul Bilgi University
Turkey
Abstract Data for the study has been collected from two different sources; discourse analysis of corporate governance compliance reports of the ISE companies. This study shows that on a typical board of directors of a family-‐owned and listed Turkish company; the percentage of women board members is about 11 % and those women who sit on the board are mostly the members of the families that are the majority shareholders. There are very few professional women who sit on ISE boards. The composition and functioning of the typical Turkish listed company board represents paternalistic Turkish family structure.
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Rethinking the Concept of Intellectual Property for the Common Good: Understanding the Moral Importance of an Open Source and Creative Commons in the Context of the
Christian Moral Tradition
Scott Paeth
DePaul University
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Interrogating the Philosophical Assumptions Underpinning
Management Education
Mollie Painter-Morland University of Nottingham
U.K.
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Articulating an Ethical Commitment: Conveying Business
Values in a Global Context
Daniel E. Palmer Kent State University at Trumbull
Abstract Businesses with a commitment to ethical values must articulate those values to a wide variety of internal and external constituents (employees, suppliers, consumers, etc.). As noted in the literature on business ethics, the communication of ethical values raises both pragmatic and normative considerations in a number of ways. However, in a global context, this paper argues that the communication of business values raises even more complex issues. More specifically, this paper explores the unique ethical issues associated with the communication of business values within global and intercultural contexts. The paper utilizes several examples to illustrate these issues and then explores the general considerations relevant to developing the ethical communication of business values in a global context. In doing so, the paper argues that business and business organizations articulating ethical values in a global context need to avoid both ethical imperialism and ethical relativism.
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Ethical Challenges in Microfinance: an Overview
Kristina Walker Pedersen
Andreas Falkenberg University of Agder,
Norway
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the ethical challenges in the microfinance industry, adopting an ethical framework inspired by Falkenberg (2004, 2009, 2012) to make sure that the parties to an exchange experience flourishing lives. The paper suggests that traditional microfinance models have some inherent ethical challenges that may lead to ‘debt slavery’ in some cases and argues that more promise lies in the savings-based and membership-driven microfinance models, such as savings and loan associations (SLAs) as these seem to avoid certain ethical predicaments and can be more in tune with local cultural values.
In the years following the UN’s International Year of Microcredit in 2005 and the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Mohammad Yunus in 2006, the hopes for microfinance were high. While the ambitions and optimism for microfinance as an effective strategy against poverty alleviation remain high, the expectations have been lowered with the disclosure of certain limitations to the model. The microfinance industry is characterized by a multitude of small exchanges that are driven by a distinct set of actors while affecting numerous stakeholders. The institutional landscape governing the industry is diverse. Small-scale financial services are facilitated and provided by a wide range of actors. Some are profit oriented and some are non-profit institutions; some are international and some are local. The relationships to the various stakeholders can be a challenge for management as they seek to develop financial products suitable for these markets. The consequences experienced by stakeholders when affected by poor financial products can be devastating. Over-indebtedness is a frequent problem within the microfinance industry, especially for the more vulnerable stakeholders such as the borrowers, their families, and the surrounding local community. Thus the microfinance industry must be particularly sensitive to ethical issues that may arise from extending financial products to vulnerable market segments that impact multiple stakeholders. From a microfinance perspective with a double-bottom line ambition, a Pareto optimal exchange should produce a win-win situation. Over-indebtedness is an example of a problematic exchange putting the borrower in a dependent relationship with the lender as a “debt slave”. This is the opposite of the desired outcome, which is to secure independence for the borrower.
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Is the Tax Policy Regarding “Carried Interest” Ethical?
Biagio Pilato
St. John's University
Abstract
“Carried Interest” is the share of the profits of an investment or investment fund that is paid to a Hedge Fund Manager or Private Equity Partner. These proceeds escape ordinary income tax rates and instead receive favorable income tax treatment. At a time when more is being asked of the American taxpayer is it fair and ethical that “Carried Interest” be taxed at Capital Gains rates?
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Changes in Firms’ Corporate Codes of Ethics: Determinants and Consequences
Maria Pirrone
St. John's University
Joseph E. Trainor St. John's University
Abstract
We examine the determinants and consequences of amendments to firms' corporate codes of ethics. Prior research suggests that in response to the regulatory requirements imposed by the Sarbanes-‐Oxley Act of 2002, corporations adopted codes of ethics that contained boilerplate language. The Codes closely resembled each other. The SEC, however, believes that "ethics codes do, and should, vary from company to company". Recent data suggests that over the last several years a large number of firms have amended their codes of ethics. We argue that amendments to codes of ethics that attempt to improve the ethical decision making environment have a positive effect on firms' compliance which leads to higher financial reporting quality. Specifically, the extant literature suggests two main orientations for ethics programs; compliance-‐oriented and values-‐oriented. We hypothesize that firms making amendments towards a more values-‐orientated framework should have a positive effect on firms’ compliance and that this compliance towards ethical values will result in higher accounting quality in the post-‐amendment period. On the other hand, firms' amending ethics codes towards a compliance-‐oriented framework are predicted to have less or no effect on accounting quality, as the prior literature suggests that compliance-‐oriented frameworks results in less changes in employees' ethical behavior. Our study contributes to the growing stream of literature examining changes in business ethics in a global environment. First, we provide evidence on the determinants of firms’ decision to amend their ethics codes. Second, we provide evidence on how the change in the firms’ codes of ethics affect financial reporting quality. Finally, we provide descriptive evidence on the types of changes made to firms’ corporate codes of ethics over the last four years.
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Measuring and Reporting Human Rights Violations in Supply Chains: A Proposal for a Human Impact Score for Consumer
Products
Andrew Little Abilene Christian University
Don Pope
Abilene Christian University
O. Scott Stovall Abilene Christian University
Abstract Advocates of corporate social responsibility often suggest that market mechanisms like socially responsible investing and consumer behavior must work alongside government regulation in order for ethical conduct to be pursued most effectively. Yet among the recurring problems in corporate social responsibility are the following: 1) measuring and reporting in non-‐financial contexts; and 2) providing adequate information to consumers so they can make informed, ethical choices about the products and services they buy.1 This project attempts to address both problems by adapting the existing criteria related to carbon footprint reporting and applying the modified criteria to human rights violations. There is extensive work already accomplished in the field of environmental sustainability as it relates to measuring and reporting carbon emissions for purposes of influencing consumer behavior.2 Our project would take some of the same basic theories and methods, modify them as necessary, and apply them to an equally important context in which there is comparatively less information available for consumers: human trafficking and child labor. By taking existing reporting standards from this analogous context and combining them with the widely available information from the United States Department of Labor indicating the countries and products that have a higher likelihood of involving child labor and/or human trafficking, we seek to provide consumers better information about their choices.3 Our research will raise questions about the possible methods of measuring, calculating, and reporting a human impact score for consumer products and discuss the challenges associated with any such proposal. For example, would a human impact score calculated and reported by management need to be independently audited in order to provide information content to consumers and other users? While the research on ethical purchasing habits remains inconclusive, we posit that better information about a particular product’s human rights impact may provide
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the impetus necessary to enable consumers to negatively influence global human rights violations through their purchasing power.
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The Silent Deterioration of the Employment Relationship: An Application of Francois Jullien’s Philosophy to Psychological
Contracts in Organizations
Leigh Poulton Duquesne University
David M. Wasieleski Duquesne University
Sybil Persson
Cerefige-ICN Business School France
Abstract Recently, in a public speech President Obama lamented the demise of the social contract between the worker and manager, stating that the compact between the two parties is fraught with distrust and possible unfair treatment (Leibs, 2011). One potential contributing factor to this phenomenon is the global economic crisis (Karnes, 2009). Simply, the sluggish economy has put a strain on the employer-‐employee relationship. In accordance with the global responsibility theme of the 20th annual International Vincentian Business Ethics Conference, this theoretical paper re-‐examines current understandings of the employer-‐employee relationship from an Eastern philosophical perspective in an effort to improve workplace relations. Specifically, we address the tacit, intangible aspects of employment arrangements, characterized by the psychological contract. This refers to the “individual beliefs shaped by the organization, regarding terms of an exchange agreement between individuals and their organizations” (Rousseau, 1995: 10). Since psychological contracts are cognitive in nature, the perception of the actions of each party is affected by many factors and changes over time. For years, ethicists and organizational behavior theorists have believed that this relationship is likely to deteriorate as time progresses (Robinson, Kraatz, & Rousseau, 1994). Certainly this becomes an ethical issue when those deteriorating relationships cause conflicts in the workplace (Coyle-‐Shapiro, 2008). The causes for this strain and potential weakening of their working relationship, in many cases, stem from an expectations gap between the contracting parties related to a perceived deviation from the core values shared between the employee and the company (Uen, Chien, &Yen, 2009), ultimately leading to a negatively altered workplace dynamic. Traditional Western ideologies and methods of thought regarding the workplace relationship often focus on outcomes (Lewin, 2007), or are caught up in defining the specific duties that each party has to the other (Brenkert, 2009). In this present
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paper, we argue that the dialogue needs to change to establishing a more holistic understanding of individuals interactions in organizations, informed by the Easter philosophical tradition. With this understanding, comes an ability to positively affect how the employer and employee relate.
We posit that French philosopher, Francois Jullien may offer a solution to improving this understanding of the psychological contract. As Jullien states, “First, to age is not what would happen in addition to what I would be as a subject, but is inseparable from whatever it is that is my ‘essence’ (Jullien, 2011: 55). The concept of “essence” is a consistent theme in Jullien’s Silent Transformations, and it allows scholars and professionals to better comprehend how intangible aspects of employee – employer relationship change over time. While many aspects affect this “essence”, Jullien critically examines the Western thinking approach that is dominated by utilitarian standards (e.g., Mill, Bentham). How can an essence be achieved without internalizing each step of the journey? Because Western (European) philosophy “has privileged finality, has been preoccupied as a priority with the ‘towards what’ (eis ti) and with the destination, concentrating on the result and not on the transition, it has stepped over old age. Has it even noticed it? It has passed over it in silence and kept only the End in sight: that is, Death” (57). Without acknowledging and appreciating the progression, the only “End in sight” is equivalent to “Death”, or in this paper’s context, the demise of the psychological contract in the employee-‐ employer relationship. Our main research question is: How can Eastern philosophical approaches, as discussed and expanded upon by Jullien, help employers understand and respect the maintenance of the psychological contract with their employees? We feel that our paper will offer insights into Jullien’s application to business organizations to ultimately help business managers meet their responsibilities to their employees. After Jullien’s philosophy is explained in this context, we offer strategies to assist preventing the potential damage to the employee – employer relationship.
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Can a Large Corporation be Socially Responsible?
James E. Roper
Michigan State University
Abstract Our moral intuitions suggest that large corporations must always be capable of being socially responsible, as are smaller corporations and individual business people. Yet there are strong arguments that such entities cannot be socially responsible in cases where doing so does not mesh with the corporation’s need to maximize its bottom line. I examine three such arguments and a possible reply to some of my claims. I also suggest a test that might help us determine when a major corporation’s action is socially responsible rather than merely a manifestation of its need to maximize its profits.
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CSR Communication by MNC’s in the Context of Bangladesh: The Challenge of Moving Beyond Tradition and Rhetoric
Taposh Roy, PhD Student
Hull Business School
Dr. Joanne Cook Hull Business School
Dr. David Harness
Hull Business School UK
Abstract The notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained a considerable attention recently from scholars and practitioners due to rising concerns over the social and ethical responsibilities of organizations. In recent years, a growing number of studies have been published in the field of CSR; though mainly in the context of developed countries, with few investigated the underpinning issues around CSR practices in developing countries (Jamali, 2007; Belal, 2001). This means that only a constricted perspective on CSR practices, especially in the area of CSR communication, for developing countries, including the focus of this study Bangladesh exist. The lack of empirical studies results in a poor understanding of CSR communication in the context of Bangladesh, this paper thus attempts to address this gap by investigating CSR communication strategies of large MNCs, which operate their businesses in Bangladesh. Stakeholders’ (internal and external) low awareness about organizations’ CSR activities (Sen et al., 2006; Du et al., 2007; Bhattacharya et al., 2008; Alsop, 2005) demands an effective CSR communication strategy from organizations. Within the contemporary business setting, CSR communication is shaped by the sometimes conflicting institutions’ internal and external stakeholder groups’ expectations and insight (Lattemann et al., 2009; Matten and Moon, 2008; Fleming and Jones, 2012). Particularly, core issues of CSR communication such as organizations’ motivation (instrumental/normative), communication approach (media, content) and the extent of communication are shaped by numerous stakeholders/institutions. This paper attempts to bridge the gap in the current literature by conceptually exploring various multifaceted driving factors and their influences on formulating CSR communication strategy. Central justification is grounded in the fact that substantial attention has been given on CSR that focuses on Western managerial orientation from a functionalist perspective; the local
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perspectives and voices of local constituents in the developing countries have been largely ‘overlooked’ (Bird and Velasquez, 2006; Khan and Lund-‐Thomsen, 2011). The second aim is to investigate some crucial aspects regarding internal communication and employee engagement. It is noted that an effective CSR communication from an organization is a pre-‐requirement for stakeholder engagement. This paper examines the causal-‐relationship between the outcomes of internal communication (such as commitment, employee-‐organization (E-‐O) identification or trust) and employee engagement. Here, the core validation is drawn from the proposition that conventional communication channels (e.g. Advertisements) may create cynicism among stakeholder groups; internal communication (a route of inside out approach), however, can minimize this cynicism by involving and engaging employees with CSR development process and activities. Practically, this paper will produce a series of subsequent implications which can guide practitioners to formulate an effective CSR strategy that creates high awareness and less scepticism. Data for this study has been collected from the management and employees of leading MNCs in Bangladesh via mixed methods (semi structured interviews and the administration of surveys).
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For Want of a Nail: A Concise Explanation for the Ongoing Financial Crisis
Nicholas Russo
Mark Mitschow
Michael Schinski SUNY College
Geneseo
Abstract Fallout from the 2008 collapse of the US housing market is causing severe repercussions throughout the world economy. In the developed world, the Great Recession has evolved from a liquidity crisis into a solvency crisis. Rising unemployment and falling output have exacerbated deficits and debts in many EU countries and the US, raising the specter of sovereign debt failure. While many emerging economies, particularly those in Asia, have suffered less and recovered faster from the crisis, the “hot money” coming from economically advanced countries is creating both asset bubbles and inflation in emerging markets.
It is critical that business practitioners, ethicists, and students understand the causes of this complex financial disaster. Many authors have attempt to provide an explanation, but unfortunately most comprehensive analyses are too complex for many readers while shorter examinations tend to focus on only one party and are thus incomplete. What is required is a comprehensive yet concise explanation of the crisis that takes account of the many parents of this systemic failure.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the various players’ roles and responsibilities by viewing the financial crisis from an internal controls perspective. Financial services are one of the most highly regulated markets in most industrialized countries, and recognizing how successive gatekeepers comprehensively failed is essential in understanding this crisis and preventing future ones. Section one introduces the topic and provides the motivation for the manuscript. Section two discusses the major housing market participants and their respective roles in regulating the housing market. Section three outlines how each of successive “control point” failed, while section five summarizes and concludes the paper.
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Sales Responses to Unethical Purchasing Practices in Business-to-Business Relationships: A Conceptual Framework
Amit Saini
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Abstract Buyer-‐Supplier relationships in the business-‐to-‐business context can be rife with unethical purchasing and sales practices (Saini 2010). In this context, unethical activities commonly include: acceptance of gifts (physical gifts, free meals, free trips, or free entertainment) from suppliers, informing a supplier of competitor’s quotes and allowing them to re-‐quote, preferential treatment of suppliers favored by management, soliciting quotes from supplier who have small chance of success, etc. (Rudelius and Buchholz 1979). While past research has examined antecedents of unethical behavior by purchasing agents (Carter 2000; Landeros and Plank 1996; Gonzalez-‐Padron et al. 2008; Saini 2010), and has focused on general ethical issues in sales management and personal selling (Hunt and Vasquez-‐Parraga 1993), how (and why) sales people respond to an unethical move by a purchasing manager has not received adequate research attention. The author conceptualizes three potential sales responses when exposed to an unethical purchasing practice: (a) Rebuff, (b) Partial give-in, and (c) Full give-in. Both inter-‐organizational and interpersonal antecedents to the three sales responses are examined. Potential moderators that abate or strengthen the relationship between the antecedents and sales responses are discussed. Theoretical and managerial implications of the conceptual framework are also discussed.
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Morally Courageous Exemplars in Organizations: Role Models in Fiction
Debra R. Comer
Hofstra University
Michael Schwartz RMIT
Abstract Individuals need moral courage to face pressures in the workplace that threaten to compromise their values and principles. Morally courageous exemplars can serve as role models who inspire others to act with moral courage in organizations. However, because such exemplars may not be readily apparent in organizations, it is fruitful to consider fictitious exemplars. Indeed, the rich narrative description in stories can motivate and instruct readers to behave ethically. We will identify characters in international literature who act with moral courage in their respective organizations, and assess their moral courage in terms of the personal costs they face and the effect of their behavior on others. We will discuss how accounts of these protagonists can illustrate right behavior in organizations and help to prepare and guide practitioners and students (as future practitioners) to act with moral courage in the workplace. Insofar as fictional moral exemplars are universally appealing, these can provide a useful model to promote ethical managerial behavior and enhanced corporate governance in an increasingly global economy.
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Background Risk and the Morality of Insurance Premium Optimization
Nicos A Scordis Petra Steinorth James Barrese
St. John’s University
Abstract We offer a pragmatic approach to pricing background risk and show that new pricing techniques in the insurance industry that rely on such pricing have the potential to extract nearly all consumer surplus. We then discuss the impact of such pricing on those in society that are vulnerable.
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Corporate Responsibilities in a Global Church
Angela Senander Georgetown University
Abstract The new pastoral leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, provides an instructive witness for reflection on professional ethics for pastoral leaders in a global church. In this paper, the symbolic actions of Pope Francis provide case studies for engaging three questions of the conference. First, to better understand the Catholic Church’s corporate governance in the context of globalization, we will examine the new structures that Francis has developed to increase diversity in governance. Second, we will examine how an emphasis on poverty in our world reorients the church’s engagement in its mission. Third, we will examine how this orientation provides new criteria for evaluating fiscal responsibility.
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The Ethics of Agreeing to Faith-Informed Alternative Dispute Resolution
Albert Spaulding
Wayne State
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Factors That Promote Peaceful Coexistence Between Community Stakeholders and Multinational Mining Companies in the Context of Gold Mining in Ghana
Stanford Nartey, PhD Student
University of Hull
Dr. David, R. Harness- Hull University Business School
Dr. Joanne Cook
University of Hull Business School UK
Abstract This study is the second part of a multiple case study research aimed at resolving conflict between multinational gold mining companies (MNGMCs) and catchment communities in the mining industry in Ghana. Although MNGMCs embrace CSR as a strategy to improve the lives of mining communities, Hilson (2007) describes these CSR projects as greenwash. Analysis of the effectiveness of MNGMCs’ CSR strategies from various stakeholder perspectives in the first article helped to uncover the root causes of the conflicts that impede peaceful coexistence. And although some research has been conducted into these causes of conflicts, there are limited or no prescriptions on solutions to the problem hence a gap exists. This second part prescribes solutions to the conflicts thereby filling the gap. The mining sector has been the largest contributor to the Ghanaian economy in recent years but this is not without violent clashes between (MNGMCs) and the host communities (Garvin et al 2009). Communities expect government to protect them through regulation (Getz 1997) yet the increasing power of MNGMCs coupled with corruption (e.g., Hellman & Schankerman 2000) put communities at the receiving end of unethical business practices from MNGMCs. Our study found that until the following issues are addressed peaceful coexistence will still remain elusive: 1) The historical challenge in compensation where farmers who lost their land to mines between the 1980s and early 2000s but were not compensated is addressed.2) The need for a clear mining policy that integrates the sector into other sectors in a more holistic way. 3)Transparency in awarding mine contracts and dialogue at the grassroots level should be intensified. 4) Lands must be reclaimed and reassigned to the original owners after the mines. These then means that 5) MNGMCs should study and be familiar with the local culture. Finally, 6) CSR should be looked at from the
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perspective of powerless host communities rather than from the perspective of the MNMCs. The findings contribute to the CSR stakeholder debate. Practitioners and policy makers will also find the findings useful as all stakeholders can then live and work in harmony. Keywords: Gold mining, CSR, Peaceful coexistence, multinational mining companies, conflict resolution, Ghana. References Garvin, T. McGee, T.K. Smoyer-‐Tomic, K.E. and Aubynn, E.A. (2009). Community-‐company relations in gold mining in Ghana. Journal of Environmental Management 90, 571-‐586. Getz,K.A. (1997) Research in Corporate Political Action: Integration and Assessment. Business and Society, 36, 1, 32-72 Hellman, J.S., and Schankerman, M. (2000) Intervention, Corruption and Capture. Economics and Transition, 8, 3, 545-576. Hilson, G. (2007). Championing the rhetoric? Corporate social responsibility in Ghana’s mining sector. Greener Management International 53, 43-‐56.
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Corporate Political Speech and Moral Obligation
Dr. Mary Lyn Stoll
University of Southern Indiana
Abstract
In the wake of Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission, corporate expenditures on political speech have skyrocketed. While more companies are spending heavily on political speech, the moral implications of these business practices are not so clear. Companies deeply involved in political speech must consider their obligations to stockholders, to stakeholders more generally including poor populations globally as well as the environment, and finally how their choices affect both democratic governance and teleological obligations towards the continued efficient functioning of the market. I outline a series of moral guidelines with respect to corporate political speech.
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CSR at the Age of Globalization: The Growing Role of the UN Global Compact
Owais Succari
DePaul University
Abstract
The objective of the paper is to highlight the pivotal role of the UN Global Compact (GC) in bringing together traditionally conflicting players on the world scene. GC had succeeded in linking together the “private sector” with “governments” and “civil societies”.
GC had created initiatives and established mechanisms leading to the development of shared values. As a result of the GC efforts, the three groups can find efficient ways of cooperation among themselves in order to increase sustainable development and reduce poverty and corruption around the world.
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Inclusive Growth: The Role Of Identity Rights
Mukesh Sud Fairfield University
Abstract
Governments and policy makers have long viewed economic growth as a panacea for problems associated with poverty. Growth in any system, however, has limits with opposing forces seeking equilibrium (Senge, 2006). This has lead some philosophers to suggest that they very concept of growth that is sustainable over a period… “[W]hen applied to the economy, is a bad oxymoron—self contradictory as prose, and unequivocal as poetry” (Daly, 1993: 11). Moreover for growth to benefit wider sections of society, by translating into rising living standards and increased social and economic mobility, involves elements of inclusiveness and equity. In this paper we attempt to channel the poverty alleviation discourse, in the management literature, from being solely focused on economic growth-‐ in its traditional sense-‐ to a more pluralistic one encompassing equity, moral equality and broader inclusion. Towards this end we first investigate definitions of economic growth, in terms of its pace and pattern, and how it impacts society. We trace the relationship between growth and income inequality; growth’s impact on poverty reduction; and finally debate whether it is even possible to simultaneously tackle the twin objectives of growth and poverty alleviation. In line with Rawls (1958,1971) our desire is to find a path that ensures that when growth occurs benefits flow to broader sections. We conclude this section by engaging with ‘inclusive growth’ and some of its policy implications. We next investigate the concepts of equity and equality; their dimensions; interconnectedness and implications for development priorities. In line with the World Bank approach (refer Equity and Development, 2006) we define equity in terms of the twin objectives of equal opportunity and avoiding outcome deprivation. We note that despite increasing scholarly attention, equity remains low on the agenda of governments and policy makers. We also approach poverty alleviation utilizing the tools of social choice theory and engage with Sen’s (1985) argument that poverty should be examined through the lens of capability deprivation. We next illustrate an example of how some firms can, while fulfilling their economic objectives, play a role in poverty alleviation. ITC Ltd., the Indian conglomerate, in an attempt to improve its soybean procurement created its own supply chain putting in place efficient intermediaries and a fair market. All stakeholders have gained from this innovative business model that has unleashed an entrepreneurial transformation amongst traditionally debt ridden rural farmers. While extolling exemplars we ask the question-‐ why is it that the vast majority of the poor do not participate in such potentially beneficial market transactions? This leads us to examine the issue of identity rights (IR’s). We highlight that in the context of the developing world vast numbers are disenfranchised from markets.
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Not being 'officially' recognized and counted prevents them participating in the formal economy or even availing of government programs and outreach. Through a comprehensive case study we investigate how creating a national database of 1.2 billion people, and providing them with proof of their identity, can be a digital tool for the disenfranchised. We conclude the paper by investigating the role that IR's can play in two dimensions of poverty alleviation-‐financial inclusion and property rights. In both we find IR's serving as a precursor to ensure inclusive growth. For example mobile banking is delivering affordable financial services to citizens of some countries in Africa and Asia. This, in turn, can spawn a wave of micro savings and micro insurance. On property rights, building on the work of deSoto (2000), we examine two market approaches to slum removal: Brazil's 'favelas' and Mumbai's joint development. References Daly, D. 1973. The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in Social Forecasting. New York: Basic Books. de Soto,H. 2000.The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. Basic Books Equity & Development. 2006. The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. New York: The World Bank and Oxford University Press Rawls,J. 1958. Justice as Fairness. New York:Irvington Rawls,J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge,MA: Harvard University Press Sen, A. 1985. Commodities and Capabilities. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Senge, P. M. 2006, The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday
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Beyond Fair Trade: The Promises and Perils in Principles and Practices of Ethical Sourcing Between Trade Justice and
Sustainable Development
Marco Tavanti DePaul University
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Weird Science: Business Ethics for Multianational Corporations
Craig V. VanSandt
University of Northern Iowa
Mukesh Sud Fairfield University
Abstract
Beginning nearly twenty years ago, a pair of scholars published a series of papers that attempted to develop a theory that would facilitate the melding of empirical and normative research in business ethics and provide guidance to managers of multinational corporations (MNCs) seeking to conduct their business operations in an ethically justifiable manner (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1994; 1995; 1999; Donaldson, 1996). Introducing an integrative social contracts theory, they sought to provide a framework for both subsequent scholarly research and for practical ways of making moral judgments in a host country, where ethical standards may be quite different than in the firm’s homeland.
Donaldson (1996) presented a continuum ranging from cultural relativism (the idea that there are no universal rights or wrongs—each culture defines its own ethical standards, which are immune to critique from outsiders) to ethical imperialism, which dictates that people should always behave according to their home culture’s ethical standards; further, to impose their native standards on foreign cultures. Rejecting both ends of the continuum as philosophically and practically indefensible, he called for a more nuanced approach that recognized core human values as minimum ethical standards for all firms, doing business anywhere. These standards are also referred to as hypernorms, “principles so fundamental that, by definition, they serve to evaluate lower-‐order norms, reaching to the root of what is ethical for humanity” (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1999: 46). Recognizing that hypernorms, by themselves, are insufficient to provide adequate ethical guidance in all cases, individuals and firms thus have moral free space, within which they may define moral norms according to local standards (Donaldson and Dunfee, 1994).
To their credit, these scholars explicitly noted the overriding need for MNC managers to familiarize themselves with the host country’s customs and ethical norms when determining what may or may not be ethical in any foreign locale. However, a recent review of psychological and behavioral research indicates that natives of Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (i.e., WEIRD) societies are far more different from their non-‐Western, less industrialized counterparts than researchers have heretofore assumed (Henrich, Heine, and Norenzayan, 2010). This research stream indicates significant differences in even
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basic human functioning such as visual perception, spatial cognition, analytic versus holistic reasoning, and the ways humans conceive the self. Specific to the question of ethics in different cultures, fundamental variances in fairness and cooperation in economic decision-‐making and in moral reasoning were also noted. Hofstede (1984) has previously noted a general variability of various cultural dimensions among different societies, but more recent research shows that WEIRD people are often at the tail end of a bell curve distribution; furthermore, Americans are often at the tail end of a bell curve distribution of WEIRD people (Henrich et al., 2010). Culturally, American MNC managers are the outliers of the outliers, making their assimilation into host countries’ ethical culture even more problematic.
These basic differences between WEIRD people and others will make deep understanding of some host countries’ cultures even more opaque than most realize. To date, the bulk of international economic activity has been conducted among cultures that share many similarities, or has been predicated on imperialism/colonialism. Consensual global operations and open trade among starkly different cultures is a relatively new phenomenon (Parry, 1961; Israel, 1989; Eckes, 1995). We postulate that ethical operation of MNCs will require more than a superficial understanding of host countries’ cultures. To gain the deeper understanding needed, MNC managers will benefit from reliance on social network theory and moral imagination. We will explore how these concepts provide tools with which managers can learn to identify, understand, and take the perspective of host cultures, thus operating effectively in moral free space. Donaldson, T. 1996. “Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home.” Harvard Business Review. September-‐October. 4-‐12. Donaldson, T., and T. W. Dunfee. 1994. “Toward a Unified Conception of Business Ethics: Integrative Social Contracts Theory.” Academy of Management Review. 19(2). 252-‐284. Donaldson, T., and T. W. Dunfee. 1995. “Integrative Social Contracts Theory: A Communitarian Conception of Economic Ethics.” Economics and Philosophy. 11. 85-‐112. Donaldson, T., and T. W. Dunfee. 1999. “When Ethics Travel: The Promise and Peril of Global Business Ethics.” California Management Review. 41(4). 45-‐63. Eckes, Jr., A. E. 1995. Opening America’s Market: U.S. Foreign Trade Policy since 1776. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Henrich, J., S. J. Heine, and A. Norenzayan. 2010. “The Weirdest People in the World?” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 33. 61-‐83. Hofstede, G. 1984. Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills CA: SAGE Publications.
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Israel, J. I. 1989. Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585-1740. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Parry, J. H. 1961. The Establishment of the European Hegemony, 1415-1715: Trade and Exploration in the Age of the Renaissance. New York: Harper & Row.
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Unpacking the Millennial Mystery: Business Ethics and Working with Generational Differences in the Classroom and
the Corporation
M. Adam Kronk
Jessica McManus Warnell University of Notre Dame
Abstract
Increasing attention in corporate training and development focuses on unique challenges and opportunities associated with engaging Millennial professionals, especially with an eye toward their contribution to effective, ethical organizations. At the same time, business schools continue to develop strategies in applied, relevant and meaningful ethics education. The growing importance of ethics education in business schools is no secret, and the need for meaningful application of theoretical considerations is as high as ever. This presentation highlights ethics education in one undergraduate business program, including a dedicated course on “Managing and Millennials,” and the capacity of ethics education for developing the next generation of effective, values-‐based business leaders. We discuss promising strategies of engaging Millennials for ethical leadership in the corporate context, complemented with perspectives gleaned from students and from corporate executives.
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Identifying and Assessing Managerial Value Orientations:vA Cross-generational Replication Study of
Key Organizational Decision-makers’ Values
James Weber Duquesne University
Abstract
Values are often consider an influential component of managerial decision making and behavior (Allport, Vernon & Lindzey, 1960; Beyer, 1981) but have been generally neglected as a research focus in current management and business ethics research. When framed in business organizational content, the importance of values as an influence on decision making and behavior shifts to the need to better identify and understand the values held by organizational leadership, that is the values of mid-‐ to upper-‐level managers.
This research seeks to explore managers’ values from the viewpoint of their “managerial value orientation” (MVO). MVO is a stronger representation of managers’ values than looking at a singular value since values often work in congruence as an influence (Rokeach, 1968). MVO is based on the grouping of values as hypothesized by Rokeach (1973) and empirically tested and assigned weights based on their groupings by Weber (1990). The four MVOs are: Personal-‐Competence; Social-‐Competence, Personal-‐Moral and Social-‐Moral. The classic Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) is used to assess the importance managers assign to various terminal (personal or social end states) or instrumental (competence or moral modes of action) values. The RVS has been widely accepted in values research (Braithwaite & Law, 1985).
This research attempts to present a more meaningful picture of MVO by conducting a replication study to see if the MVO of mid-‐ to upper-‐level managers, the key decision-‐makers in most organizations, have changed from one generation to another. The sample used in this research draws upon a larger database of managers’ values and ethical reasoning collected by the author to match the subjects in the sample initially presented by Weber (1990) in establishing a MVO baseline.
The results show that the MVOs of managers from 1990 (Weber, 1990, N = 413) are significantly different than the MVOs of managers collected today (current research, 2013, N = 221). The chi-‐square test statistic for two samples was 97.076 (df = 3, p < 0.0001). The greatest differences lie in the MVO areas of Social-‐Competence and Social-‐Moral. Therefore, the data indicate there has been a dramatic shift in MVOs over the past 20+ years (1990 to 2013). A more detailed analysis of the differences discovered in the MVOs and implications of the results reported will be discussed, along with suggestions for future managerial values research.
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References Allport, G.W., P.E. Vernon and G. Lindzey: 1960, A Study of Values, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Beyer, J.M.: 1981, ‘Ideologies, Values and Decision Making in Organizations’, in P.C. Nystrom and W. Starbuck (eds.) Handbook of Organizational Design, New York: Oxford University Press. Braithwaite, V.A. and H.G. Law: 1985, ‘Structure of Human Values: Testing the Adequacy of the Rokeach Value Survey’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 49, 250-‐263. Rokeach, M.: 1968, Beliefs, Attitudes and Values, San Francisco: Jossey-‐Bass. Rokeach, M.: 1973, The Nature of Human Values, New York: Free Press. Weber, J.: 1990, ‘Managerial Value Orientations: A Typology and Assessment’, International Journal of Value Based Management 3(2), 37-‐54.
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Brokers and Boundary Objects: Exploring the Intersection of Ethics and Compliance and Corporate Social Responsibility in
Practice
Angeli Weller, PhD Fellow Copenhagen Business School
Denmark
Abstract
Multinational companies manage the ethical dimensions of their business in a variety of ways, including formal and information practices labeled ‘ethics and compliance’, ‘corporate social responsibility’ and ‘sustainability’. Recently, some business ethics scholars have called for their alignment, and a few companies have taken up the challenge. This article offers an in depth case study of a large global high tech manufacturing company that has been integrating their ethics, compliance, social responsibility and sustainability practices over the past two years. Using interview transcripts, participant observation notes from relevant company meetings and an analysis of company documents, I explore both barriers and opportunities that emerge during the integration process. By applying a communities-‐of-‐practice lens, I call attention to the important role played by employees who understand and bridge multiple practices (brokers), and collective projects (boundary objects). Implications for research and practice are also provided.
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Business Ethics: Diagnosis and Prescription in Caritas in Veritate and Vocation of the Business Leader
Jim Wishloff
The University of Lethbridge Canada
Abstract
The Magisterium, or teaching authority of the Catholic Church, provides a comprehensive body of doctrine to guide those of the faith. The social teachings of the Church extend this guidance to the moral aspects of economic activity. Catholic social thought (CST) deals with nothing less than the right ordering of the world’s goods and the right relationships that need to be maintained in the process of achieving this sound ordering. As per the mandate given to it by its Founder, the Church must speak out against any falling away from proper order. It must address aberrational social conditions and speak to the times it is in by reiterating its venerable principles of social action. This paper proposes to do an in-‐depth examination of two recent Church documents to understand both their diagnosis of the current economic crisis and their prescription for how to build a healthy socio-‐economic order. The first work examined is Pope Benedict XVI’s social encyclical Caritas in Veritate. The second is a follow up work from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace entitled Vocation of the Business Leader. Only the Papal encyclical is a Magisterial document and yet the Pontifical Council’s publication is interesting precisely because it is supplemental. Billed as an executive’s handbook and a professor’s teaching resource Vocation of the Business Leader has the potential to change the way business is thought about and conducted. It makes a transformation in our understanding of the special role business ought to play in the unfolding of creation possible. The basic thesis of Caritas in Veritate and Vocation of the Business Leader is that a theological basis for social action must be restored if modern man is going to meet the challenges facing him. The economic regime devoted to amassing capital has run its course but not just because it fails on a proximate level. A more profound assessment discloses that the loss of a contemplative approach to reality has led to an incoherence about our nature. Unable to see ourselves as anything more than a lost atom in a random universe, we are left in the world as Creator and creature. There is no truth that is not of our own making. With freedom untethered, a state of nihilism prevails. Possibility alone is left to constrain the use of technology to achieve the attenuated end of profit maximization A Christian humanism centered in the reality of the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and the love that characterizes the relationships of these three divine Persons undergirds the prescription for responsible free enterprise given in Caritas in Veritate and Vocation of the Business Leader. An attitude of receptivity is needed
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to see that subsistent Being is prior to us and constitutes us. Our lives are the gift of a loving Creator. The truth of our being, that we are made in the image of God and have as our destiny to share in God’s own life, is given to us. It is something we discover not something we create. An element of this discovery is the uncovering of a natural moral law written on our hearts. Economic decisions ought to uphold this moral law. Vocation of the Business Leader culminates in a checklist of business practices that conform to the moral order. The business leader who serves God in this way has unity of life.
