Once again one of my kids came up with yet another great question. I was working on my quarterly tax return, and honestly, I answered without thinking too much, “Sometimes you just don’t feel like doing it.” I am sorry to confess that even ethics professors have their temptations. His question caught me off guard, […]
Compliance as a Tool of Ethics
The first time I heard the term “corporate compliance,” I must confess it didn’t sit well with me. The term seemed to transform social responsibility – or worse yet, ethics – into mere compliance with policy, norms and rules as dictated by law and regulation or corporate self-regulation. (An example of the latter would be […]
The ‘Moral Factor’: Learning from a Management Classic
Today many recognize the importance of ethics in management, and particularly in leadership, although some others remain unconvinced. This post presents some insights from Chester I. Barnard (1886-1961), one of the pioneers of management thinking. He wrote The Functions of the Executive (Boston: Harvard University Press, 1938), a book which for decades was widely read […]