Virginia W. Gerde

25 Years and Going Strong A Content Analysis of the First 25 Years of the Social Issues in Management Division Proceedings

Using content analysis, the authors categorize all Social Issues in Management (SIM) Division papers and abstracts (636) from 1972 through 1996 by subject matter and methodology. Showing the development of the field over time, the authors integrate their findings into previous SIM frameworks. Adaptation to the changing business environment is apparent in the subject matter. Although terminology and context (such as employee rights concerning electronic mail) may have changed, the topics are similar. Nevertheless, evolution in the SIM field is apparent. Methodology has become much more sophisticated as researchers use existing and newly created databases and more rigorous techniques-such as event studies and meta-analysis.

Teaching Business Ethics Through Literature

Americas economic ideology lacks a vocabulary of ethics. If, as we assume, an economic system requires a moral component for long-term survival, students in business schools must be exposed to a vocabulary of ethics that is consistent with the ideology of capitalism. We present a vocabulary of ethics and describe an approach to teaching business ethics based on business-related classic literature and moral philosophy.

Moral cover for capitalism

Purpose – In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber chronicled how seventeenth‐century religious tenets expounded by John Calvin inadvertently laid the ideological groundwork for the flourishing of eighteenth‐century capitalism. In this early work on the rise of capitalism, Weber examined the changes in attitudes of business and accepted ethical business behavior and the transition of justification from religious tenets and guidance to more secular, yet rational explanations. The purpose of this paper is to contend this transition from religious to secular moral cover for business ethics was aided by the harmony‐of‐interests doctrine, which provided moral, but secular, cover for the pursuit of self‐interest and personal wealth with an implicit, secular rationalization of promoting the public good.Design/methodology/approach – Although Weber used Benjamin Franklin as an exemplar of the earlier Calvinist Protestantism and spirit of capitalism, advocates a case study of Robert Keayne, a...

Socially responsible modeling: a stakeholder approach to the implementation of ethical modeling in operations research

A common dilemma for modelers in operations research (OR) involves how to construct ethically sensitive models. Concern for ethical modeling has recently become more widespread in the OR literature. Arguably, however, this concern has not manifested into concrete frameworks for analyzing models. This paper presents an approach from the organizational ethics field for evaluating models. After first reviewing the state of ethics in OR—its relevance and current applications—a stakeholder framework for evaluating the social performance of the model is presented. Stakeholder theory is effective for assessing the impacts of models in use. The normative core underlying this theory addresses the ethical concerns in decision support systems and provides a prescriptive solution to ethical issues in modeling.

Is Diversity Management Related to Financial Performance in Family Firms

Policies and practices designed to foster diversity in organizations are now well integrated into a firm’s corporate strategy. In this article, we examine the role diversity management policies play in the financial performance of family firms, based on the premise that family firms have unique goals and governance structures that may affect the adoption of such policies. Using a longitudinal data set covering 952 publicly listed firms and multidimensional measures for diversity and financial performance, our empirical analyses suggest that family firms underperform nonfamily firms on diversity performance indicators. Interestingly, however, we find that the weaker diversity management practices of family firms may contribute to their robust financial performance.

Auditor independence, accounting firms, and the Securities and Exchange Commission: Application of the issue life cycle model

The authors apply the issue life cycle model to analyze the 1999 through 2001 dispute between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the accounting profession concerning auditor independence. The analysis also brings additional insights that extend understanding of the issue life cycle and issues development. This analysis highlights the roles of a trigger event, the shift of an issue from a technical concern to a public debate, and likely recurrence. The reappearance of the auditor independence issue in 2002 with accounting scandals is consistent with the article’s findings and highlights the use of the issue life cycle model and issue evolution.

The Design Dimensions of the Just Organization: An Empirical Test of the Relation Between Organization Design and Corporate Social Performance

Corporations are experiencing external and internal pressures by various stakeholders to be socially responsible. Corporations that do not respond to these pressures and social expectations risk losing legitimacy. To address growing societal expectations of social performance, some corporations have adopted design features believed to be “ethical,” and consulting firms have promoted the use of “ethical design features.” However, the normative underpinnings of these design features and their effectiveness for corporate social performance (CSP) have not been adequately addressed. This study is one of the first to examine the relation between organization design and firms’ impact on society as measured by CSP. Organization design includes both structural and processual elements and is a key determinant of CSP. Current theories of organization design take into account economic performance goals, but they fail to address the extraeconomic goals of CSP. Furthermore, little research has been done on the relationship between organization design and CSP. The few published studies that have been conducted focus solely on the efficacy of

The Taxation of Married Couples: An Issue Life Cycle Approach

The inherent conflict in the taxation of married couples versus single individuals is examined. With competing social and economic outcomes, the taxation of married couples is tied to societal values and the political environment. The authors illustrate the issue by describing three methods of personal income taxation currently used across the globe. Factors such as stakeholder interests, workforce participation, and the political environment are important in determining acceptable trade-offs. Analyzing this issue in terms of the issue life cycle, the authors conclude that in the United States the marriage tax penalty will be an enduring issue because of competing values and interests.

Institutional Constraints and Enablers An Introduction to the Special Topic Forum on Extreme Operating Environments

This article is the guest editors’ introduction to the Special Topic Forum on Extreme Operating Environments appearing in Business & Society. The forum includes two articles accepted after review and revision. The two articles address the macro-level aspects of business’s role in society in terms of accessing resources and markets and in terms of being a change agent or enabler to promote a better or more stable local economy. The articles also provide case studies of businesses developing, getting access to resources and markets, and affecting the larger institutional environment despite great uncertainty and harsh operating environments where the traditional assumptions of stability and security are not available. This Special Topic Forum is published in cooperation with Business & Professional Ethics Journal which, working with the guest editors, has published two other articles that address the more micro-level aspects and the ethical dilemmas business may face in extreme operating environments.