Craig P. Dunn

Feminist Ethics as Moral Grounding for Stakeholder Theory

Stakeholder theory, as a method of management based on mor- als and behavior, must be grounded by a theory of ethics. However, traditional ethics of justice and rights cannot completely ground the theory. Following and expanding on the work of Wicks, Gilbert, and Free- man (1994), we believe that feminist ethics, invoking principles of caring, provides the missing element that allows moral theory to ground the stakeholder approach to management. Examples are given to support the suggested general principle for making business decisions under feminist moral theory.

Business Meta-Ethics: An Analysis of Two Theories

The main purpose of this paper is to defend traditional ethical theory (utilitarianism and deontology) for its application in business against a more recent model consisting of utility, rights, and justice. This is done in three parts: First, we provide a conceptual argument for the superiority of the traditional model; second, we demonstrate these points through an examination of three short cases; and third, we argue for the capability of the traditional model to account for universais and particulars in ethics.

The Caring Approach and Social Issues in Management Education

Most of the conversation, in both research and teaching circles, regarding stakeholder theory has been conducted in the language of absolute principles, of outcomes, and of responding to stakeholders to achieve organizational outcomes. More recently, conversations have occurred that have a different perspective on social issues in management topics—a caring perspective. Using the case of Merck & Co., Inc., and river blindness as an example, the authors show why they believe that these conversations have great potential to increase the quality of management education in the 21st century.

Moral Pluralism in Business Ethics Education: It is About Time

The teaching of business ethics is almost inherently pluralistic, but little evidence of explicitly pluralistic approaches exists in teaching materials besides the available decision-making frameworks. In this article, it is argued that the field needs to acknowledge and adopt pluralism as the standard pedagogical approach, whether the individual teacher uses a philosophical approach or a more applied approach, to best serve students and society. Examples of teaching approaches are offered, including attempts instructors have made to teach ethics in a pluralistic manner.

Toward the Measurement of Perceived Leader Integrity: Introducing a Multidimensional Approach

Even though books and articles in the popular business press consider leader integrity an essential quality of effective leaders, business research has yet to establish firmly the nature of leader integrity and its causes and effects. One reason why integrity research may still be in its early stages is the failure of the literature to describe leader integrity fully and to use such descriptions to develop construct valid measures. Drawing on implicit leadership theory, which states that followers categorize leaders based on multiple traits, attributes and past experiences, this article argues for a multidimensional approach to a leader integrity definition and measurement. The article offers two proof-of-concept tests of how followers may make attributions of leader integrity. Results support two hypotheses suggesting that when making attributions of leader integrity followers use complex information that comes from diverse sources and the information may include judgements of both the moral values of leaders and whether the leader espouses and enacts these values consistently.

Marketing Education For Sustainability

Marketers are increasingly adopting sustainable business practices as the evidence mounts linking sustainability with market share, brand equity and long run profitability. While business coursework is following practice in some disciplines (e.g., environmental accounting/economics), attention to sustainability issues in marketing curricula is limited, for the most part, to discussions of “green” customers, environmental considerations in product development and packaging, and social/ethical issues in non-profit marketing (Beyond Grey Pinstripes 2009). Marketing courses wholly devoted to sustainable business strategy are rare, particularly at the undergraduate level. Thus, there appears to be an increasing discrepancy between the importance placed on a triple bottom line approach to setting marketing objectives by practitioners and its importance to marketing educators. Status quo marketing curricula fail to give students the knowledge and skills they need to be sustainability advocates and experts in their places of employment. This places them at a competitive disadvantage as they seek fulfilling careers in the field.

Cheat: Exporting Business Ethics to Theatre Arts

Within the Academy and, of course, within the principal business school accrediting body, there has been persistent debate around whether business ethics should be taught as a stand-alone course or rather integrated across the business curriculum. Rare, however, are conversations heading in the direction of integration of business ethics beyond the traditional bounds of the business curriculum and into, for example, theatre arts and vice versa. And yet just this type of collaboration was established when an inter-College alliance was formed to create the devised play Cheat, a main stage theatre production for Western Washington University (WWU), in which theatre became the ground and moral theory from business ethics became the figure. The following is a detailed deconstruction of the variety of ways in which business ethics concepts and models informed the creation of Cheat, an original play written, designed, produced and performed by undergraduate theatre arts students.

Deliberate disruptive design

SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS A RAPIDLY shifting field ranging from the work of philosophers to that of economists to that of organizational theorists to that of social scientists to that of philanthropists to perhaps the most vital aspect, the work of ordinary folk seeking simply to leave the world a better place than they found it. The term “social entrepreneurship,” however, fails to adequately capture both the head and the heart of the matter: thoughtful, caring design that is at the same time deliberate and disruptive , to the point of being fundamentally subversive.

The Normative Aspects of Rent Control

Rent control occurs in various forms and is a prominent feature in many housing markets throughout the United States and in many countries around the world. In spite of an enormous literature, however, there has been very little discussion about the ethical aspects of rent regulations. This chapter uses the general ethics frameworks of concern for rights, overall welfare, and fairness to examine several of the key issues involved in rent control.