Ethics For Managers

Ethics for Managers introduces students to the philosophical underpinnings of business ethics and translates this theory into practical terms, demonstrating the moral implications of the decisions managers make. This edition features new material on global ethics, the financial downturn, and ethical sustainability. New, student-friendly features include: Learning objectives at the beginning of each chapter, which provide a roadmap to what is covered and how to use it. Cases that demonstrate real-world scenarios, allowing readers to grapple with real moral ambiguity. Discussion questions at the end of each chapter, which challenge students to see different moral perspectives and to practice good decision-making. A new chapter on international business ethics. Students of business ethics courses will find this compact, well-organized text a useful tool to understand ethics in the digital age.

The recent financial crisis has awakened a renewed sensibility to ethics in business and management, and an increasing interest in a better understanding of how ethics and economics are intertwined. Managers and executives must understand not just the moral value of ethical behaviour, but also how this can strengthen and benefit the organization.

Why is ethics important to organizations? What are the characteristics of an ethical organization? How can we audit the ethics of an organization? What measures and activities stimulate the ethical development of organizations? This book addresses these questions. It is easier to say that ethics is necessary than to tell how to organize ethics. This book provides a fundamental and coherent vision on how ethics can be organized in a focused way. This study examines the assumptions for organizing ethics, the pitfalls and phases of such a process, the parts of an ethics audit and the great variety of measures. The methods and insights illustrated in this book are based partially on practical research. One of these methods, the Ethics Thermometer, was based on more than 150 interviews at various organizations. The Ethics Thermometer has been applied in a great variety of profit and not-for-profit organizations in order to measure an organization's perceived context, conduct and consequences. This book will be important to scholars in the field of business ethics, as well as to managers and practitioners. For scholars, this study provides general knowledge about auditing and developing the ethics of an organization. A summary is given of the criteria by which the ethical content of an organization can be measured. For managers and practitioners, this study provides concrete suggestions for safeguarding and improving ethics within their organizations.

Management Ethics is an indispensable resource and guide to the issues and debates within the ethics of management. It includes examination of: the obligations that managers have to their various stakeholders: employees, customers, shareholders, and the community how managers can meet their obligations the ethics of supply chain management the ethics of dealing with the press and non-governmental agencies the concepts of sustainability and triple bottom line accounting The book culminates with distinctive chapters on stimulating the manager's moral imagination and promoting a unique theory of ethical leadership.

In this book you will learn the five rules of ethical behavior, explore ethical approaches to employee discipline, examine how personal values influence professional behavior, and follow a ten-step process for solving ethics-related business problems. Ethical management practices are essential to every business's success. Managers must make sure organizational rules and codes of conduct are being followed, as well as handle ethical issues concerning relationships. This course will help you recognize and think through ethical issues when they arise, correct unethical practices that may have been previously unnoticed or ignored, and communicate the need for applying ethical principles at all organizational levels.

Ethics has become big business but have businesses become ethical? This is a central question for today’s managers. Managing ethics is critical in an era characterized by unprecedented corporate power and a myriad of competing ethical traditions. Giving new insights into the understanding of ethics for today’s organization practice and managerial behaviour, this timely volume, edited by well-respected industry authorities, provides an overview and critique of ethics as they relate to contemporary challenges and issues (such as globalization, sustainability, consumerism, neo-liberalism, corporate collapses, leadership and corporate regulation). This book, an essential read for postgraduate students of business and ethics, is organized around the core question: What are the ethics of organizing in today’s institutional environment and what does this mean for the practice of management and the organization of business? In response to this, the contributors examine ethics as it is deeply embedded in the everyday practice of management. Interdisciplinary contributions from the fields of sociology, philosophy, management, organization studies and public administration provide unique perspectives, while case studies and real-life examples illustrate the challenges and dilemmas faced in practice. Each chapter has a brief overview and editor’s introduction which skilfully summarizes key points and draws connections between the chapters.

One of the greatest strengths of business ethics research lies in the diversity of backgrounds of those interested in knowing more about it. Where else could we find moral philosophers, industrial psychologists, political scientists, and organizational sociologists hard at work exploring the same issues? These scholars bring to the table an intriguing mix of skills and viewpoints, many of which may be quite different from--and complementary to--those trained in functional areas of business-like management. However, this diversity also reflects a weakness. Researchers from such different backgrounds may be either unable or unwilling to talk to and work with each other in understanding more about these issues. This book bridges the gap and provides a basic reference volume for current business ethics researchers. Second, it stimulates new ways of thinking about, and creating interest in, linking management and ethics among those researchers. Third, it triggers management and ethics researchers who do not currently study business ethics problems to consider the implications of each to their current interests. The central theme of the book is that efforts must be made to better integrate management and ethical theory. Although the market contains a number of good business ethics books, none combines management theory with ethical theory on a chapter-by-chapter, topic-by-topic basis. This book bridges the theoretical, empirical, and at times practical gap between management and ethical scholars.

Can employees be trained to make more ethical decisions? If so, how? Providing evidence-based and practical answers to these critical questions is the purpose of this book. To answer these questions, the authors—four organizational psychologists who specialize in the study of ethical decision making—translate insights based on decades of scientific research. Whether you are a student, educator, HR manager, compliance professional, or simply someone interested in the topic of ethics education, this book offers a road map for designing ethics training programs that work.