Laura P. Hartman

A Qualitative Investigation of Perceived Executive Ethical Leadership: Perceptions from Inside and Outside the Executive Suite:

Senior executives are thought to provide the organization’s ethical ‘tone at the top’. We conducted an inductive interview-based study aimed at defining the perceived content domain of executive ethical leadership. We interviewed two types of key informants - corporate ethics officers and senior executives - about executive ethical leadership and then a contrasting category we labeled ‘ethically neutral’ leadership. Systematic analysis of the data identified multiple dimensions of ethical and ethically neutral leadership. The findings suggest that ethical leadership is more than traits such as integrity and more than values-based inspirational leadership. It includes an overlooked transactional component that involves using communication and the reward system to guide ethical behavior. Similarities and differences between ethics officers’ and senior executives’ perceptions also led to insights about the importance of vantage point and social salience in perceptions of executive ethical leadership. In order to be perceived as an ethical leader by those outside the executive suite, the executive must engage in socially salient behaviors that make the executive stand out as an ethical figure against an ethically neutral ground.

Technology and Ethics: Privacy in the Workplace

Privacy in the workplace is one of the more troubling personal and professional issues of our time. But privacy cannot be adequately addressed without considering a basic foundation of “ethics.” We cannot reach a meaningful normative conclusion about workplace privacy rights and obligations without a fundamental and common understanding of the ethical basis of justice and a thorough understanding of the individual and organizational concerns and motivations. In this article I discuss the status of privacy in the workplace from a technological as well as a legal perspective. What was once considered an inalienable right has now been reassessed as our society and the business world have grown ever more complex. Traditional ethical analysis offers some guidance on how to evaluate the balance between a worker’s right to privacy and an employer’s need for information with which to manage the workplace. But guidance is not the same as resolution: as concerns workplace privacy rights, there are many more questions than answers. I then address the vexing issues of privacy, drawing on ethical theory to advance a means by which to identify the appropriate ethical balance for workplace privacy. My focus is on employee privacy in particular, because this is a critical area where

Trust after the Global Financial Meltdown

Over the last decade, and culminating in the 2008 global financial meltdown, there has been an erosion of trust and a concomitant rise of distrust in domestic companies, multinational enterprises, and political economies. In response to this attrition, this article presents three arguments. First, we suggest that trust is the “glue” of any viable political economy, and we propose that the stakes of violating public trust are particularly high in light of the asymmetry between trust and distrust. Second, we identify a constellation of key barriers to overcoming distrust that companies face in the current environment: (1) corporate mind‐sets that promote a preoccupation with quantification, hierarchical leadership models, and “blind trust” in authority; (2) the anonymity of core stakeholders; (3) the agency of the media as a driver of the political economy; and (4) firm‐centric models of stakeholder relationships. Third, we argue that, notwithstanding these challenges, these phenomena are not fatal and can be addressed through a holistic transformation in corporate culture. Such a transformation might include a shift to collaborative leadership models and replacing authority models with responsibility, a “names and faces” approach to stakeholders through cases and stories, more egalitarian communication exchanges with external stakeholders, and a reprioritization of the firm as a vital element among others within a system rather than the central core of a network. We conclude that the value of trust at the individual, institutional, national, and global levels cannot be overstated. Without a reinvigoration of trust in our political economies, at all levels, the future of an economically vibrant planet is indeed bleak.

The End of Foreign Aid as We Know It: The Profitable Alleviation of Poverty in a Globalized Economy

This chapter will defend the following thesis: poverty can be alleviated, if not eradicated, both locally and globally, but only if we change our narratives about global free enterprise and only if we rethink our mindsets regarding how poverty issues are most effectively addressed.

Carbon Offset Markets: A Viable Instrument?

In this article, we explore the realm of carbon offset markets that have been set up to enable consumers to offset their share of carbon emissions. Though the market is a relatively new one, it has quickly spawned countless offset providers under both regulated and voluntary schemes. Our research points out that the market is widely unregulated and, furthermore, there is no common quality or certification structure for the offset providers. At this point in the evolution of the market, only a handful of offset provider ratings schemes exist; and even these schemes leave a vast void for consumers.

Navigating the Life Cycle of Trust in Developing Economies: One-size Solutions Do Not Fit All

Trust is critical to the development and maintenance of collaborative and cohesive relationships in societies, broadly, and in organizations, specifically. At the same time, trust is highly dependent on the social context in which it occurs. Unfortunately, existing research involving trust remains somewhat limited to a particular set of developed economies, providing a window to explore a cultures stage of economic development as a key contextual determinant of trust within organizations. In this article, we review the state of the scholarship on trust and identify those qualities of trust that are common in organizations at similar stages of economic development, referred to as its etic aspects. We then also distinguish those elements of trust that are, to the contrary, culturally specific or emic in nature. We structure our discussion around the “life cycle of trust” (i.e., the creation, maintenance, and postfracture repair of trust) and consider unique factors in its application to developing economies. In doing so, we ground our examination in expository examples through field experience in Haiti. We conclude with the proposal of a framework for future research oriented toward the resolution of remaining theoretical and empirical queries as they relate to trust in developing economies.

Educating Next Generation Leaders

The purpose of this discussion is to explore how the educational and social philosophy of John Dewey offers insight for those involved in education evolution in emerging economies, with a particular emphasis on nurturing leaders who are capable of recognizing and responding effectively to the challenges of a globalized economy now and for the next century. Dewey offers comprehensive critiques of the interlocking systems of oppression that are present not only in the educational system but also in the workplace and expanding economic system, along with systematic pedagogical strategies for overcoming identified hurdles. To demonstrate application of these insights, we will focus specifically on the implementation of Deweyan theory in an elementary educational system in today’s Haiti through a case study involving l’Ecole de Choix (the School of Choice). After explaining the genesis of the school’s relationship to Dewey, the discussion unpacks Dewey’s diagnosis of the challenges facing both leadership and education within his social context. The analysis then examines the central features of Dewey’s pedagogical vision within that historical context. To illustrate their continuing relevance to a current social environment that finds remarkable parallels with Dewey’s own, we detail the ecosystem, inspiration, history, vision, design, structure, and examples of Dewey-based influences in an educational institution in rural Haiti. We then conclude with implications for educational research and practice that respond to complex challenges in emerging economies.