Nancy B. Kurland

Evolution of a campus sustainability network: a case study in organizational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the evolution of a sustainability network at a large California public university, as an example of organizational change.Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines participant observation and case study techniques over a three‐year period. From 2007 to 2010, the author helped found the universitys Institute for Sustainability and sat on both the Institutes first Advisory Board and the universitys first Core Green Team. The author also interviewed 19 key informants to the sustainability network, including upper administrators, physical plant management (PPM) staff, faculty, and students.Findings – This campus sustainability initiative evolved over three decades in three phases. Phase I evolved from the 1980s in facilities management and student recycling because of changing environmental demands, the 1994 Northridge earthquake, and strong leadership who believed in developing human resources. In Phase II, faculty and Academic Affairs established t...

The ethical implications of the straight-commission compensation system — An agency perspective

This paper examines the role of the straight-commissioned salesperson in the context of agency theory and asserts that because the agent acts to benefit two principals, potential conflicts of interest arise. Temporal differences in receipt of rewards create a major conflict, while the firms exhibition of both espoused and actual behaviors and information asymmetries intensify this conflict. Finally, in light of these inconsistencies, the ethical implications of the straight-commission compensation system are examined.

Water and Business: A Taxonomy and Review of the Research

Why should business care about water? Water is a common-pool resource, critical to many business operations, which faces depletion if not sustainably managed. Based on popular and trade press and academic business research, the authors develop a taxonomy of water issues (water quality, quantity, use, sustainable resource management, company and industry management). Through a review of 135 water-related articles published in 49 leading business journals, the authors examine the degree to which business scholars address these issues. They discuss intersections, diversions, and gaps and conclude with insights for future research.

Engendering Democratic Participation via the Net: Access, Voice, and Dialogue

Information technology in the form of the Internet and its commercial offspring (referred to in this article collectively as the Net) has received much attention as a vehicle to increase political participation. In this article, we explore the potential of the Net, a vast, loosely coupled system of electronic forums, for facilitating and hindering democratic participation. In so doing, we identify five assumptions that undergird the claim that the Net will enhance democratic participation and suggest that increased democratic participation rests on three fundamental characteristics: access, voice, and dialogue. In order for this network of electronic forums to facilitate democratic participation, educational, economic, and cultural barriers to access, voice, and dialogue must be overcome. The final part of this article raises additional challenges to realizing democracy via the Net.

Trust, Accountability, and Sales Agents’ Dueling Loyalties

This paper argues that current accountability mechanisms are inadequate to ensure that straight-commissioned agents meet their fiduciary obligations to their clients. In doing so, using agency theory, it revisits how the straight-commission compensation system creates agents’ dueling loyalties and recommends mechanisms of accountability organizations, agents, and/or clients can recognize and employ to ensure agents’ fiduciary obligations to their clients.

The Defense Industry Initiative: Ethics, self-regulation, and accountability

In 1986, President Reagan created the Packard Commission, a blue-ribbon commission to investigate defense contracting procurement fraud. The Packard Commissions major recommendation was for defense contractors to adopt ethics programs. Out of this recommendation emerged the Defense Industry Initiative (DII). This paper examines this Initiative and focuses on the DIIs six principles. In particular, this paper explores the implications the DII has had with respect to (1) pursuing intra-industry cooperation and setting industry-wide standards; (2) monitoring compliance; (3) the paradox inherent to the DII as a facilitator for industry self-regulation; and, (4) why companies have enthusiastically adopted the directive. This paper concludes that the DII falls short of being an effective method of self-regulation because: (1) it does not achieve complete industry-wide cooperation; (2) it does not establish uniform standards of ethical conduct within the industry; (3) it does not hold the signatory companies accountable for creating a strong system of ethical conduct; and, (4) it does not relieve the organizational and market pressures to be unethical.

Social Movement Organization Leaders and the Creation of Markets for “Local” Goods

Research illustrates that social movements can fuel new markets and that these markets can create social change, but the role of leaders in this process is less understood. This exploratory interview-based study of the localism movement contributes to such understanding. It articulates the relationship of social movement leaders and the legitimacy of their organizations to new market creation. Specifically, leaders in this study engaged in a dual role to legitimize their organizations and to legitimize the movement. At an organizational level, leaders chose strategies that conformed to a conventional organizational model of the social movement organization (SMO) as a business network, much like a local chamber of commerce. At a movement level, the SMO’s level of legitimacy influenced the leader’s choice of strategies to grow a “local” market. These strategies aimed, primarily, to shape consumer purchase behavior and, secondarily, to foster the development of producers’ skills, and only in a tertiary way, to alter the nature of exchange. Finally, this study’s findings suggest a tension between the dual roles that may ultimately challenge the efficacy of the movement.

Does “Local” Mean Ethical? The U.S. “Buy Local” Movement and CSR in SMEs

“Buy Local” campaigns argue that consumers who patronize local firms instead of national chains reap broad economic, social, and ecological benefits for their home communities. These campaigns, which seek to create social change through market forces, imply that “local” means ethical. What ethical claims do localism advocates make for the benefits of local consumption, and how do they verify those claims? And how does the buy-local case inform broader debates on ethical markets? We find that U.S. buy-local organizations routinely focused on marketing concerns and failed to police members’ socially responsible bona fides. We also find that prolocal organizations promoted community cohesion and served an important role in disseminating sustainability information through new networks. We suggest that small- and medium-sized enterprises, which face particular challenges in authenticating claims for their economic and ecological impact, should consider restricting claims to their more specific and more easily verified social impact.

The Impact of Legal Age Discrimination on Women in Professional Occupations

This paper describes how anticipated age discrimination in the form of disparate treatment induces behavior that in effect constitutes gender discrimination. Potential employers often exhibit a common pattern of behavior that acts to discriminate against older workers entering a specific workplace. Women, at a decision-making point early in their lives, are aware of this pattern of discrimination. They perceive that it is important for them to establish their careers before they have a family because it will be more difficult for them to enter the work force at a later age and excel at their careers. This anticipated age discrimination disparately impacts women, resulting in gender discrimination.

Can We Create a Conflict‐Free Commission Payment System?

Key to any successful organization are compensation systems and the degree to which they motivate employees to be increasingly more productive. Research has shown that performance-based compensation such as piece-rate pay plans, commissions, profit-sharing, gainsharing, and small group incentives can all increase performance. What research hasn’t shown, however, is how performance-based compensation affects employees’ ethical decision-making. Those who create incentives that are designed to encourage employees to generate revenues for the firm, while simultaneously making money for themselves, fail to consider that these same incentives may encourage employees to ignore their customers’ needs. As a matter of fact, the 1997 Ethics Officers Association’s survey of its 350 members, corporate ethics officers from some of the largest corporations in America, found that among the major principal obstacles these members faced in performing their duties, was a “compensation system inconsistent with corporate values.” Consider the following: In 1992, auto repair advisors at Sears were accused of overcharging auto repair customers in order to earn higher commissions. When news of these practices became public, Sears’ CEO denied any intent to deceive customers, but acknowledged management’s responsibility for putting in place compensation and goal-setting systems that “created an environment in which mistakes did occur.” Sears’ total cost to settle pending lawsuits was estimated at