Eileen P. Kelly

Book Reviews: Transformational Leadership: Industry, Military and Educational Impact Bernard M. Bass Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998 208 pp., Paperback,

I found this book to be both invigorating and thought challenging. These essays forced me to redefine my own sense of present reality and future. As both a college professor and a practicing Certified Public Accountant, I have tended in the years since my own college experience to focus more on the practical, &dquo;how to’s&dquo; of life and business. This book was a jolting experience to again force me to think about the &dquo;what should be&dquo; of my own teaching practices and life directions.

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The article reviews the book “The Living Company: Habits For Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment,” by Arie de Geus.

The Living Company: Habits for Survival in a Turbulent Business Environment

Examines some of the methodological problems encountered in conducting patient satisfaction surveys, including the sampling frames, quality of survey data and instruments, non-response problems, and reporting and interpretation of results. Proposes guidelines and lays out an agenda for future research.

Methodological issues in patient satisfaction surveys

From a consumer perspective, the issue of personal, informational privacy is of growing concern as our society becomes more and more digitized. For businesses however, detailed customer information is a valuable and lucrative commodity. The latter is particularly true for online businesses with few tangible assets. In order to allay consumer privacy fears, some online businesses post privacy policies promising not to divulge customer information. Yet, when an online business files for bankruptcy, creditors will demand that the customer database be sold with other assets. This article examines the legal and privacy issues surrounding customer databases that arise when an online business files for bankruptcy

Legal and privacy issues surrounding customer databases and e‐merchant bankruptcies: reflections on Toysmart.com

Purpose – To analyze the legal and ethical standing of the most promising business applications of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.Design/methodology/approach – High potential RFID installations are identified in the supply chain, in operations, and in consumer applications. Pertinent legal precedents are noted and discussed as are some ethical issues beyond legislation and regulation.Findings – Although an extremely attractive technology, legitimate concerns exist about RFID, particularly in consumer applications. Legal protections vary widely by country and are generally not fully applicable to some areas of potential information abuse.Research limitations/implications – This research is not exhaustive to all countries, it concentrates mainly on the USA and EU. Further, legislation and regulation change all the time, so the situation is highly variable. This analysis is only a snapshot at one point in time.Practical implications – Practitioners looking to install RFID technology should ...

Building competitive advantage with radio frequency identification tags

The article presents a review of the book “Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders,” by Warren G. Bennis and Robert J. Thomas.

Geeks and Geezers: How Era, Values, and Defining Moments Shape Leaders

The article reviews the book “The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency,” by Robert Kanigel.

The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma of Efficiency

The Catholic Church has provided an evolving framework, for well over a century, to deal with economic issues. This article examines the past century of Catholic social teaching on the economic order, with particular emphasis on the papal social encyclicals. Focuses on three key aspects of the Church’s social teachings: economic systems, private property and labor. Suggests key areas for further research.

Labor, capital and the Church: a call for action

This publication contains reprint articles for which IEEE does not hold copyright. Full text is not available on IEEE Xplore for these articles.

Ethical Perspectives on the Use of Radio Frequency Identification Tags

This case study examines the failure of top management at Putnam to exercise ethical behavior in the face of their clear knowledge of corruption in the company. Market timing by employees was expressly forbidden by Putnam. Six employees, including two portfolio managers, repeatedly engaged in market timing activities from 1998 to 2003, garnering over a million dollars in personal profit. The CEO and key senior executives had factual knowledge of the abuses. Management failed to stop the abuses or to discipline those involved until faced with charges from government regulators. By failing to do so, top management breached ethical duties to its shareholders and inflicted serious damage on the organization. The end results of top managements failure to address ethical violations were significant outflow of assets from Putnams funds, payment of penalties, and loss of trust among investors. This case raises awareness about ethical issues surrounding mutual fund trading practices and the impact that top management can have on the ethical behavior of employees.