Ronald R. Sims

Enron Ethics (Or: Culture Matters More than Codes)

This paper describes and discusses the Enron Corporation debacle. The paper presents the business ethics background and leadership mechanisms affecting Enrons collapse and eventual bankruptcy. Through a systematic analysis of the organizational culture at Enron (following Scheins frame of reference) the paper demonstrates how the companys culture had profound effects on the ethics of its employees.

To purchase or to pirate software: an empirical study

Illegal copying of computer software, usually called software piracy, is a prevalent and serious problem. Some researchers attribute the widespread incidence of software piracy to peoples attitudes toward piracy behavior and peer norms. However, current literature leaves unanswered a fundamental question of why individuals pirate software. The objective of this paper is to identify the underlying reasons why individuals pirate software. We also identify what motivates individuals to purchase software as opposed to pirating it. Understanding why individuals purchase and pirate software has clear value for policy makers to develop effective measures to curb the software piracy problem.

The challenge of ethical behavior in organizations

This paper is designed to do three things while discussing the challenge of ethical behavior in organization. First, it discusses some reasons why unethical behavior occurs in organization. Secondly, the paper highlights the importance of organizational culture in establishing an ethical climate within an organization. Finally, the paper presents some suggestions for creating and maintaining an ethically-oriented culture.

The institutionalization of organizational ethics

The institutionalization of ethics is an important task for todays organizations if they are to effectively counteract the increasingly frequent occurrences of blatantly unethical and often illegal behavior within large and often highly respected organizations. This article discusses the importance of institutionalizing organizational ethics and emphasizes the importance of several variables (psychological contract, organizational commitment, and an ethically-oriented culture) to the institutionalization of ethics within any organization.... institutionalizing ethics may sound ponderous, but its meaning is straightforward. It means getting ethics formally and explicitly into daily business life. It means getting ethics into company policy formation at the board and top management levels and through a formal code, getting ethics into all daily decision making and work practices down the line, at all levels of employment. It means grafting a new branch on the corporate decision tree — a branch that reads “right/wrong” (Purcell and Weber, 1979, p. 6).

Toward a profile of student software piraters

Efforts to counter software piracy are an increasing focus of software publishers. This study attempts to develop a profile of those who illegally copy software by looking at undergraduate and graduate students and the extent to which they pirate software. The data indicate factors that can be used to profile the software pirater. In particular, males were found to pirate software more frequently than females and older students more than younger students, based on self-reporting.

Leaders as Moral Role Models: The Case of John Gutfreund at Salomon Brothers

The paper describes and discusses unethical behavior in organizations, as a result of (interacting) disputable leadership and ethical climate. This paper presents and analyzes the well-known bond trading scandal at Salomon Brother to demonstrate the development of an unethical organizational culture under the leadership of John Gutfreund. The paper argues that leaders shape and reinforce an ethical or unethical organizational climate by what they pay attention to, how they react to crises, how they behave, how they allocate rewards, and how they hire and fire individuals.

Improving the Reliability of Kolb's Revised Learning Style Inventory

The format of Kolbs Revised Learning Style Inventory (LSI II) was modified to eliminate a probable response bias and to investigate the inventorys subsequent reliability and stability. While internal-consistency estimates for the modified instrument dropped as expected in an initial study, test-retest reliabilities and kappa coefficients increased dramatically. A second study replicated the results of the initial research. The increased stability of the modified version argues against dismissal of the LSI as an instrument for the study of learning styles.

Increasing applied business ethics courses in business school curricula

Business schools have a responsibility to incorporate applied business ethics courses as part of their undergraduate and MBA curriculum. The purpose of this article is to take a background and historical look at reasons for the new emphasis on ethical coursework in business schools. The article suggests a prescription for undergraduate and graduate education in applied business ethics and explores in detail the need to increase applied business ethics courses in business schools to enhance the ethical development of students.

The Reliability and Classification Stability of the Learning Style Inventory

The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) and the newly revised Learning Style Inventory (LSI II) were examined for internal consistency, test-retest reliability and stability of the four classifications resulting from their scores. Internal consistency was much improved in the LSI II, but problems with low test-retest indices and classification stability continue to plague the instruments. The authors hypothesize that the observed improvement in internal consistency may be an artifact of the revised scoring scheme.

The Relationship Between Job Security and Employee Health

The relationship between perceived job security and employee health was examined in two manufacturing organizations. A significant relationship was found between health and job security using global measures of both constructs. Closer examination of the correlations among the subscales of the measures of health and perceived job security revealed different patterns of subscale relationships in two organizations. These results suggest that job security is an important determinant of employee health, and that inclusion of this construct in general models of stress and well-being may help to improve our understanding of work performance.