Business Ethics Resources

Ferrel, O.C., Fraedrich, J., and Ferrell, L. (2008). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 7th edition.

"Philosophy of This Text: Business ethics in organizations requires values-based leadership from top management and purposeful actions that include planning and implementation of standards of appropriate conduct, as well as openness and continuous effort to improve the organization’s ethical performance. Although personal values are important in ethical decision making, they are just one of the components that guide the decisions, actions, and policies of organizations. The burden of ethical behavior relates to the organization’s values and traditions, not just to the individuals who make the decisions and carry them out. A firm’s ability to plan and implement ethical business standards depends in part on structuring resources and activities to achieve ethical objectives in an effective and efficient manner.

The purpose of this book is to help students improve their ability to make ethical decisions in business by providing them with a framework that they can use to identify, analyze, and resolve ethical issues in business decision making. Individual values and ethics are important in this process. By studying business ethics, students begin to understand how to cope with conflicts between their personal values and those of the organization." (From the Preface of the book, p. xvi)

There are many real-world examples and cases, as well as exercises, simulations, and practice tests in this text that provide numerous opportunities for students to master the material. It also covers the complex environment in which managers confront ethical decision making. Using a managerial framework, the authors address the overall concepts, processes, and best practices associated with successful business ethics programs–helping students see how ethics can be integrated into key strategic business decisions.

Halbert, Terry and Elaine Inqulli (2008) Law and Ethics in the Business Environment, South-College/West Publications, 6th edition.

Product Description: "Modern business is full of ethical dilemmas and snares. But LAW AND ETHICS IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, 6e, equips you with the tools and practice you need to effectively handle the ethical issues you will likely face as a manager. Offering a unique interdisciplinary blend of theory and practical applications, LAW AND ETHICS combines up-to-the-minute issues in business ethics with the latest in case law. A refreshing change from the rote learning of many texts, LAW and ETHICS includes contemporary readings, current cases, historical quotes, chapter problems, chapter projects, and Internet-based assignments. A wealth of interactive projects--including role plays, mock trials, mock hearings, debates, roundtables, and negations--gives you hands-on experience grappling with real-life ethical dilemmas. The text also includes insightful case and end-of-chapter questions that help sharpen your critical-thinking skills. LAW AND ETHICS IN THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, 6e, empowers you with the skills needed to make difficult ethical decisions--and ultimately become a better business leader. " (From Amazon)

Review: "What I do NOT like about the other textbooks is that they are more "red-eye" type telling about the ethical concern and not requiring critical thinking on the part of the student to determine what is "ethical and moral" in the legal context. For example, all of the other texts tend to show "employment-at-will" with the boss being able to fire the employee with or without cause as being unethical. However, in your text, you present both sides of the legal doctrine with the employer's side being presented also. This is something that the students have never even thought about. Because of the format of this Textbook, I am able to engage the students in a lot of critical thinking on subjects of legal and ethical interest to all of them. For instance, most students have never heard the other side to things like Affirmative Action. This causes the students to begin thinking not only in the classroom but in their current and future jobs. Because of this, my course in Business Ethics with your textbook is often rated one of the most interesting and most useful course students have taken in their college life. I also get calls often from former students that have run into an ethical/legal issue in their current work that we have covered. They want to refresh their knowledge of what they learned. Therefore, your current textbook is having an impact on students in real-life situations."

"I found the Instructor's Manual invaluable. The introductory tips helped me "break the ice" more effectively, and the sources and background (especially to the cases) saved me many, many hours of additional work while making me better prepared to anticipate and answer questions about the course content." (From Amazon)

Beauchamp, T. L., Bowie, N. E., and Arnold, D. G. (2008). Ethical Theory and Business. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 8th edition.

Thsi book is a comprehensive anthology of readings, legal perspectives, and cases in ethics in business. Ethical Theory and Business provides students with a strong understanding of ethics in business and the tools needed to address ethical situations in business.The authors examine ethical theory and business practice, the purpose of the corporation, corporate character and individual responsibility, acceptable risk, the ethical treatment of employees, diversity and discrimination in the workplace, marketing and disclosure of information, ethical issues in information technology and, ethical issues in international business. For those interested in examining the ethical challenges we face today.

Here is an excerpt from the first chapter of the book:

“Can large business organizations be just? Should the chief obligation of business be to look out for the bottom line? Is non-voluntary employee drug testing immoral? How far should business go to protect and preserve the environment? These are some of the many questions that permeate discussions of the role of ethics in business.

The essays and cases in this book provide an opportunity to discuss these questions by reading and reflecting on influential arguments that have been made on these subjects. […]” (p. 1)

Milton Friedman’s famous article “The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits” is included in this text and here is an excerpt from that article:

“When I hear businessmen speak eloquently about the “social responsibilities of business in a free-enterprise system,” I am reminded of the wonderful line about the Frenchman who discovered at the age of 70 that he had been speaking prose all his life. The businessmen believe that they are defending free enterprise when they declaim that business is not concerned “merely” with profit but also with promoting desirable “social” ends; that business has a “social conscience” and takes seriously its responsibilities for providing employment, eliminating discrimination, avoiding pollution and whatever else may be the catchwords of the contemporary crop of reformers. In fact they are—or would be if they or anyone else took them seriously— preaching pure and unadulterated socialism. Businessmen who talk this way are unwitting puppets of the intellectual forces that have been undermining the basis of a free society these past decades. […]” (pp. 50-51)

Henderson, Hazel. (2007). Ethical Markets: Growing the Green Economy. Chelsea Green Publishing.

From Publishers Weekly: In this companion to the television series of the same name, economist Henderson delivers an optimistic overview of socially responsible, environmentally sensitive businesses, investors and visionaries. Keeping an eye on the “triple bottom line” that adds “people” and “planet” to the usual focus on “profits,” the book divides “cleaner, greener, more ethical and more female sectors of our U.S. economy” into three areas: lifestyles of health and sustainability, socially responsible investing and corporate social responsibility.

An economist with a long history of activism in “redefining success” (for example, revamping the GDP to include environmental capital and unpaid labor such as child-rearing), Henderson adeptly packs large amounts of information into chapters within her expertise. Discussion of topics that are further from her experience, such as green building and the health care system, tends to careen from problems to solutions so quickly that a reader can become confused. The interviews after each chapter, meant to show how CEOs are “walking the talk,” seem to be taken unedited from the TV show, coming across as incoherent and shallow. Fortunately, the book is crammed with Web references that can offer a fuller picture to readers tantalized by this glimpse of the economic revolution thriving below the radar of mainstream media.