Translating Corporate Culture around the World: A cross-cultural analysis of whistleblowing as an example of how to say and do the right thing

co-authored with D. Elm, T. Radin, K.R. Pope, published in Politeia: Corporate and Stakeholder Responsibility Theory and Practice, Anno XXIV (2009)

Alleviating Global Poverty through Profitable Partnerships: Moral Imagination & Economic Well-Being

co-authored with P. Werhane, D. Moberg, S. Kelley, published in The Melbourne Review, v. 4, no. 2 (Nov. 2008), p. 37.

While others have previously envisioned a role for multinational enterprises (MNEs) in alleviating global poverty, these schemes lack the catalysts of moral imagination and systems thinking necessary to modify MNE mental models toward sustainable solutions that also create broad-based stakeholder value. This analysis outlines the parameters of the challenge, explains the elements of “profitable partnerships,” illustrates it via an example and distinguishes it from alternative approaches.

Saint Vincent de Paul and the Mission of the Institute for Business & Professional Ethics: Why Companies Should Care about Poverty

co-authored with P. Werhane, S. Kelley, published in Vincentian Heritage (Special Issue on Vincentian Higher Education and Poverty Reduction), v. 28, no. 2 (2008), pp. 141-150.

In 2006, following St. Vincent of DePaul’s commitment to serving the poor,  the IBPE aligned its mission with that of DePaul University’s: “serving first-generation and underserved student populations and …addressing social issues.”  This initiative was further promoted by DePaul’s new strategic plan, Vision Twenty12. As a result, IBPE enhanced its mission to include becoming a catalyst aimed to inspire companies to address the reduction of poverty both globally and locally through for-profit initiatives. There are many dimensions to the achievement of this mission, including teaching, research, and community outreach; and the Institute is just beginning this lifetime set of projects.  As an academic institution, however, the Institute realized that, first, it needed to develop strong philosophical arguments justifying and supporting this goal.  With that in mind we have developed a series of thought-provoking papers.  This article summarizes some of this thinking.

European Perspectives on Business Ethics: A Polyphonic Challenge

co-authored with D. Bevan, published in Business & Society Review, v. 112, no. 4 (Winter 2007), pp. 471-476.

An analysis of the special issue of this volume introducing a project seeking to present some distinctly European perspectives on business ethics and corporate social responsibility.  The discussion contextualizes the original papers, anticipates the responses to these papers that will appear in an issue of BE:ER scheduled to immediately follow publication of this issue of Business & Society Review (de George, 2008; Phillips, 2008; Thompson, 2008).  The discussion explores and presents the European perspective on corporate social responsibility, serving as an effective polyphony that is revelatory rather than deterministic and exists in common with another work including this notion in its approach to presenting material. 

Interpreting Ethical Polyphony

co-authored with D. Bevan, published in Business Ethics: A European Review, v. 17, no. 1 (January, 2008), pp. 64-68.

The second part of the polyphonic conversation introduced by the article immediately preceding it, above.  In this segment, we interpret the responses proffered and offer summative analysis.  The authors do pragmatically agree upon a provisional closing. However, given the scope to argue endlessly in a trite pseudo intellectual either/either argument (Gershwin & Gershwin, 1936), our accord convenes artificially on the metaphor of a woven tapestry. The opening promise of interpretation is something that is left, in deconstruction, with individual readers.

The Communication of Corporate Social Responsibility: United States and European Union Multinational Corporations

co-authored with R. Rubin, K. Dhanda and published in Journal of Business Ethics, v. 74 (2007), pp. 373-389.

This study explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) by conducting a cross-cultural analysis of communication of CSR activities in a total of 16 U.S. and European corporations.  Drawing on previous research contrasting two major approaches to CSR initiatives, it was proposed that U.S. companies would tend to communicate about and justify CSR using economic or bottom-line terms and arguments whereas European companies would rely more heavily on language or theories of citizenship, corporate accountability or moral commitment. Results supported this expectation of difference, with some modification.  Specifically, results indicated that EU companies do not value sustainability to the exclusion of financial elements, but instead project sustainability commitments in addition to financial commitments. Further, US-based companies focused more heavily on financial justifications whereas EU-based companies incorporated both financial and sustainability elements in justifying their CSR activities.  In addition, wide variance was found in both the prevalence and use of specific CSR-related terminology.  Cross-cultural distinctions in this use create implications with regard to measurability and evidence of both strategic and bottom-line impact.  Directions for further research are discussed.

Exploring the Global Reporting Initiative Guidelines as a model for triple bottom-line reporting

co-authored with M.Painter-Morland and published in African Journal of Business Ethics, V. 2, no. 1 (July, 2007), pp. 45 - 57.

The paper is aimed at analyzing the contribution that the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) makes to the field of sustainability reporting. It provides an overview of the multitude of initiatives aimed at standardizing corporate social responsibility efforts on a global scale and highlights the ways in which the GRI can be distinguished from other international initiatives. By evaluating GRI’s goals and its claims, the paper provides an overview of the strengths and weaknesses of this critical initiative. It includes a discussion of changes and new strategies that the GRI proposes as part of its recently introduced G3 Guidelines. The authors contend that, despite certain remaining challenges, GRI has much to offer a stakeholder community that has for many decades been starved of quality, measurable and accountable corporate social information presented in an accessible and understandable format.

An Analysis of Ethics, CSR, and Sustainability Education in the Financial Times Top 50 Global Business Schools: Baseline Data and Future Research Directions

co-authored with L. Jones, E. Peirce, M. Hoffman, J. Carrier and published in Journal of Business Ethics (2006).

This paper investigates how deans and directors at the top 50 global MBA programs (as rated by the Financial Times in their 2006 Global MBA rankings) respond to questions about the inclusion and coverage of the topics of ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sustainability at their respective institutions.  This work purposely investigates each of the three topics separately. Our findings reveal that 1) a majority of the schools require that one or more of these topics be covered in their MBA curriculum  and one-third of the schools require coverage of all three topics as part of the MBA curriculum, 2) there is a trend toward the inclusion of sustainability-related courses, 3) there is a higher percentage of student interest in these topics (as measured by the presence of a Net Impact club) in the top 10 schools, and 4) several schools are teaching these topics using experiential learning and immersion techniques.  We note an almost five-fold increase in the number of stand-alone ethics courses since a 1988 investigation on ethics, and we include other findings about institutional support of centers or special programs; as well as a discussion of integration, teaching techniques, and best practices in relation to all three topics.

Positive Ethical Deviance Inspired by Moral Imagination: The Entrepreneur as Deviant

co-authored with F. Wilson, D. Arnold and published in Journal for Business, Economics and Ethics, v. 6, no. 3, pp. 343-358 (“Zeitschrift fur Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik, ZFWU”) (2006).

The purpose of this paper is to extend the concept of positive ethical deviancy and moral imagination to the entrepreneurial environment.  We specifically explore the connection between moral imagination and positive ethical deviance in firms that, from their inception, display positive deviance from established ethical industry norms. Our analysis identifies firms that do not deviate positively under pressure, or for other externally imposed reasons, but instead those that make a conscious and deliberate choice to adopt new and often radical approaches to ethical issues from the ground up, distinguishing them from standard entrepreneurs in the same industry. This exploration uncovers two elements present in these entrepreneurial firms that support the positive ethical deviance: visionary leadership and resulting structures or activities that sustain that vision.  This examination of positive deviancy and moral imagination in an entrepreneurial context is vital because of the potential role that entrepreneurial firms can play in changing the rules of the game and the institutions that govern them, thereby creating a new, higher norm, and raising the industry standard overall.

Worker Rights and Low Wage Industrialization: How to Avoid Sweatshops

co-authored with D. Arnold and published in Human Rights Quarterly, v. 28, no. 3 (Aug. 2006), pp. 676-700.

Disputes concerning global labor practices are at the core of contemporary debates regarding globalization. Critics have charged multinational enterprises with the unjust exploitation of workers in the developing world.  In response, some economists and “classical liberals” have argued that these criticisms are grounded in a naïve understanding of global economics.  They contend instead that sweatshops constitute an inevitable and essential feature of economic development.  To the contrary, we argue that there are persuasive theoretical and empirical reasons for rejecting the arguments of these defenders of sweatshops.  In particular, we argue that respecting workers entail an obligation to adhere to local labor laws, and we demonstrate that it is feasible for multinational corporations (MNCs) to provide decent working conditions, and to provide a fair wage to workers.  We go on to argue that MNCs have good strategic reasons for embracing voluntary codes of conduct.  The main conclusions of this essay are that there are compelling ethical and strategic reasons for MNCs to voluntarily improve working conditions in their global sweatshops.

The Quandary of Serving Multiple Masters: An Institutional Exploratory Analysis of Publishing Business Law

co-authored with R. Rubin, J. Olson and J. Belohlav, and published in Midwest Law Journal, v. 20 (Spring, 2006), pp. 1-22

The article discusses research by the authors seeking a process by which institutions of higher education can effectively evaluate business law faculty in a manner similar to that suggested by earlier research in other disciplines and one which strives to respond to the limitations of the Fisher and Fox study.  By exploring the publication streams and records of business law faculty, information about individual performance as well as directions of the discipline can be ascertained.  With the dearth of information on business law publishing, the distinctions that are being drawn between business law and other business disciplines, and in satisfaction of the university’s end objective to maintain reasonable productivity standards given available resources, a discipline-based research and scholarship assessment process provides both an appropriate and independent source of professional assessment.

Beyond Sweatshops: Positive Deviancy and Global Labor Practices

co-authored with D. Arnold, and published in Business Ethics: A European Review, v. 14, no. 3 (July 2005)

This paper responds to the concern that insufficient attention has been paid to those companies that are “positive deviants” with respect to their global labor practices. In this essay, we outline the conventional case for sweatshop conditions, as well as conventional arguments for the mandated improvement of those conditions.  Next, we provide a summary of the basic human rights that ought to be respected by employers.  We then develop an original account of positive deviancy and argue that our view is preferable to other recent accounts in the literature.  We apply the concept of positive deviancy to global labor practices, using recent field studies of MNC factories in developing nations as a basis for arguing that MNCs are capable of voluntarily respecting the basic rights of workers while remaining economically competitive.

Moral Imagination and the Future of Sweatshops

co-authored with D. Arnold, and published in Business & Society Review, v. 108, no. 4 (2003).

In this essay we explore several multinational corporations’ global labor programs in an effort to illustrate the positive impact of moral imagination at the individual, organizational, and systems level on the “sweatshop” problem.  The intent is to identify the factors that have allowed particular MNCs to respect the basic rights of workers and thereby exhibit positive deviancy from the norm in their industry.  The labor initiatives discussed herein were trailblazing at their inception.  However, they have become increasingly common thereby raising stakeholder expectations to the extent that a failure to provide these basic standards is regarded as morally unacceptable.  We conclude that the exercise of moral imagination as demonstrated in these cases suggest a diminishing future for sweatshops.

Exploring the Ethics and Economics of Global Labor Standards: A Challenge to Integrated Social Contract Theory

co-authored with B. Shaw, R. Stevenson, and published in Business Ethics Quarterly, v. 13, no. 2 (2003) 193-220.

This paper considers the adverse nature of sweatshop practices, critically examines their economic and ethical implications, and assesses whether various ethical theories provide sufficient guidance for establishing labor practices that balance ethical concerns and economic consequences. An Integrated Social Contract Theory methodology is applied to identify a minimum set of hypernorms that could serve as a foundational base for balancing ethical and economic concerns. The paper concludes with recommendations on how businesses can ethically acquire developing country imports and how governments and consumers can reinforce those efforts.

Moral Person and Moral Manager: How Executives Develop a Reputation for Ethical Leadership

co-authored with L. Trevino, M. Brown, and published in California Management Review, v. 42, no. 4 (Summer, 2000) p. 128

Our research found that that a reputation for ethical leadership rests upon two pillars: 1) moral being and 2) moral managing.  The first pillar, moral being, has to do with the ethical substance of ethical leadership -- being an ethical person who consistently makes decisions and behaves based upon a solid set of ethical values. The second pillar, moral managing, has more to do with the leadership process aspect of ethical leadership.  It is about creating perceptions in others of the importance of ethics and values in the organization. One’s reputation depends upon others’ perceptions.  To be perceived as an ethical leader, others must perceive the ethical dimension of your leadership. 

Other Papers Available Upon Request

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