Daniel T. Ostas

The Team Teaching of Business Ethics in a Weekly Semester Long Format

This article describes our team teaching of asemester long course in business ethics taught oneevening a week to mostly part-time MBA students. Wediscuss the differences and similarities in ourbackgrounds, disciplines, and preferred teachingstrategies. Our team teaching approach, thesubject matter, and teaching strategies are alsodiscussed. A typical session of the course is brieflydescribed. We discuss how student performance isevaluated. Finally, we provide some thoughts on teamteaching a business ethics course and briefly commenton our redesign of this business ethics course in afour Saturday schedule.

A business ethics experiential learning module: The Maryland business school experience

In this paper we describe the principal activities of the initial implementation in May of 1996 of one of the “Experiential Learning Modules (ELMs)” entitled “Business Ethics” (UMCP 1995, p. 7) that is part of the full-time MBA program at the College of Business and Management (Maryland Business School) of the University of Maryland at College Park (UMCP). Additionally, we briefly consider the location of this Business Ethics ELM in the curriculum of the Maryland Business Schools full-time MBA program. We also outline how the Business Ethics ELM was developed. Further, we provide a discussion and a short conclusion.

Ethics of Contract Pricing

This study explores the legal and ethical issues associated with contract pricing. In particular, it focuses on a set of legal precedents which have addressed the enforceability of allegedly “unfair” contract prices. Traditionally, the common law has emphasized the consent of the parties. If the parties consented to a given price; it is presumptively fair and enforceable. The cases reviewed in this study, however, seem to draw upon alternative moral conceptions of fairness not normally associated with the common law. The analysis begins by distinguishing the traditional legal conception of fairness from alternative moral conceptions. The cases are then read with a critical eye so as to tease out the underlying principles which best explain them. The analysis illustrates that, notwithstanding judicial rhetoric to the contrary, the courts continue to employ the traditional legal notion of fairness, to the exclusion of alternative moral concerns. The study clarifies an otherwise murky area of the law and illustrates that the legal meaning of fairness differs greatly from the moral one.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: An Economic Approach: Bruce A. McDaniel; Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2002, 286 pages

Turner and Ehlers also spend a substantial amount of space exploring Sugar’s views about Black men and masculinity. Sugar defines family as mother and children; she says, “Normal is mom and the kids.” In Sugar’s view men cannot be counted on and fathers are inconsistent. She is not looking for a man to be a father to her children or contribute financially to the household; in her view she is parent enough. Rather, she is looking for a life-partner. Although the book is centered on Sugar, Ehlers also had some realizations in the course of writing the book. Collaborating with Sugar was intensely personal and the two women developed a genuine friendship. However, as they grew closer, they were repeatedly confronted with the differences in their world-views and life experiences. In addition, Ehlers was forced to come to terms with some of her own unexplored beliefs about race. Sugar’s Life in the Hoodis well-written, down-to-earth, and accessible. It would make a good addition to courses in welfare, work, race, gender, cultural studies, and ethnic studies. Sugar’s world is one that most academics or White people never get to see or understand. In light of other work that addresses recent welfare reforms such as Ehrenreich’s N kel and Dimed, this book offers a distinct view from the inside. The only minor quibble I have is that—although I realize the intent of the book is not to generalize to all poor Black women—Ehlers could do a bit more to situate Sugar’s experiences in the larger social and political context. Indeed, there is an ongoing debate about welfare. In the wake of wide-sweeping welfare reform, the story of one poor woman is probably applicable to many more. Thus, although Ehlers offers a critical analysis, she could do more to locate Sugar’s narrative within the academic literature about the subculture of poor Black women. Indeed, academic research has provided some insights into that subculture. Sugar’s life and views are not representative of all Black women, but it is the relationship between her life story and the context in which she lives it that is most compelling.