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206Ethical Stewardship – Implications for Leadership and TrustJournal of Business Ethics 78 (1-2): 153-164. 2008.Great leaders are ethical stewards who generate high levels of commitment from followers. In this paper, we propose that perceptions about the trustworthiness of leader behaviors enable those leaders to be perceived as ethical stewards. We define ethical stewardship as the honoring of duties owed to employees, stakeholders, and society in the pursuit of long-term wealth creation. Our model of relationship between leadership behaviors, perceptions of trustworthiness, and the nature of ethical ste…Read more
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127Transformative Leadership: Achieving Unparalleled Excellence (review)Journal of Business Ethics 109 (2): 175-187. 2012.The ongoing cynicism about leaders and organizations calls for a new standard of ethical leadership that we have labeled “transformative leadership.” This new leadership model integrates ethically-based features of six other well-regarded leadership perspectives and combines key normative and instrumental elements of each of those six perspectives. Transformative leadership honors the governance obligations of leaders by demonstrating a commitment to the welfare of all stakeholders and by seekin…Read more
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121Identity, Self-Awareness, and Self-Deception: Ethical Implications for Leaders and OrganizationsJournal of Business Ethics 90 (S3). 2009.The ability of leaders to be perceived as trustworthy and to develop authentic and effective relationships is largely a function of their personal identities and their self-awareness in understanding and making accommodations for their weaknesses. The research about self-deception confirms that we often practice denial regarding our identities without being fully aware of the ethical duties that we owe to ourselves and to others. This article offers insights about the nature of identity and self…Read more
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110Ethics and the Auditing Culture: Rethinking the Foundation of Accounting and AuditingJournal of Business Ethics 64 (3): 271-284. 2006.Although the foundation of financial accounting and auditing has traditionally been based upon a rule-based framework, the concept of a principle-based approach has been periodically advocated since being incorporated into the AICPA Code of Conduct in 1989. Recent high profile events indicate that the accountants and auditors involved have followed rule-based ethical perspectives and have failed to protect investors and stakeholders – resulting in a wave of scandals and charges of unethical cond…Read more
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104Love, Forgiveness, and Trust: Critical Values of the Modern LeaderJournal of Business Ethics 93 (1): 91-101. 2010.In a world that has become increasingly dependent upon employee ownership, commitment, and initiative, organizations need leaders who can inspire their␣employees and motivate them individually. Love, forgiveness, and trust are critical values of today’s organization leaders who are committed to maximizing value for organizations while helping organization members to become their best. We explain the importance of love, forgiveness, and trust in the modern organization and identify 10 commonaliti…Read more
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100Repentance and Continuous Improvement: Ethical Implications for the Modern Leader (review)Journal of Business Ethics 102 (3): 473-487. 2011.Although leadership of organizations rarely is discussed in terms of the religious construct of repentance, we propose that repentance and continuous improvement are closely related ideas that profoundly impact individuals and organizations. We identify six parallels between repentance and continuous improvement and then show how these parallels apply to the fundamental principles associated with highly regarded leadership perspectives. We conclude by identifying five contributions of the articl…Read more
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99Duties Owed to Organizational Citizens – Ethical Insights for Today’s Leader (review)Journal of Business Ethics 102 (3): 343-356. 2011.Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has been widely recognized as a contributor to improving organizational performance and wealth creation. The purpose of this article is to briefly summarize the motives of many employees who exercise OCB and to identify the ethical duties owed by organizational leaders to the highly committed employees with whom they work. After reviewing the nature of OCB and the psychological contracts made with highly committed employees, we then use Hosmer’s framewor…Read more
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98Organizational trustworthiness: An international perspective (review)Journal of Business Ethics 47 (4). 2003.Although trust has been widely recognized as a vital component ofrelationships and a critical element to the success of organizations,the literature describing trust and trustworthiness is known for itsvarying perspectives and its inconsistencies. Trustworthiness has beenidentified as a condition precedent to the development of trust.Building upon the established constructs of interpersonaltrustworthiness, we propose a related model containing the sevenconstructs of Competence, Legal Compliance,…Read more
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90The four umpires: A paradigm for ethical leadership (review)Journal of Business Ethics 36 (1-2). 2002.Theories of leadership have traditionally focused on leadership traits, styles, and situational factors that influence leader behaviors. We propose that The Four Umpires Model described herein, which examines how four leadership types view reality and perception, provides a useful example of an effective steward leader. We use the Five Beliefs Model identified by Edgar Schein and Peter Senge to frame the implicit assumptions underlying the core beliefs and mental models of each of the four umpir…Read more
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87Leadership, Trustworthiness, and Ethical StewardshipJournal of Business Ethics 96 (4). 2010.Leaders in today's world face the challenge of earning the trust and commitment of organizational members if they expect to guide their companies to success in a highly competitive global context. In this article, we present empirical results indicating that when leadership behaviors are perceived as trustworthy through the observer's mediating lens, trust increases and leaders are more likely to be viewed as ethical stewards who honor a higher level of duties. This article contributes to the gr…Read more
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87A Ten-Step Model for Academic Integrity: A Positive Approach for Business SchoolsJournal of Business Ethics 92 (1): 1-13. 2010.The problem of academic dishonesty in Business Schools has risen to the level of a crisis according to some authors, with the incidence of reports on student cheating rising to more than half of all the business students. In this article we introduce the problem of academic integrity as a holistic issue that requires creating a␣cultural change involving students, faculty, and administrators in an integrated process. Integrating the extensive literature from other scholars, we offer a ten-step mo…Read more
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86Ethical Duties of Organizational Citizens: Obligations Owed by Highly Committed Employees (review)Journal of Business Ethics 110 (3): 285-299. 2012.Individuals who demonstrate organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) contribute to their organization’s ability to create wealth, but they also owe their organizations a complex set of ethical duties. Although, the academic literature has begun to address the ethical duties owed by organizational leaders to organizational citizens, very little has been written about the duties owed by those who practice OCB to their organizations. In this article, we identify an array of ethical duties owed by …Read more
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84Trustworthiness, Governance, and Wealth CreationJournal of Business Ethics 97 (2). 2010.Although trustworthiness has been described as a source of competitive advantage, its value extends to organizational governance and wealth creation. We identify the importance of the commitment—compliance continuum in the decision to trust and note that trustworthiness is a subjective perception viewed through each person's mediating lens. That lens and each person's interpretation of the social contract impact one's commitment to cooperate. We suggest five propositions that integrate trustwort…Read more
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77Trust, Faith, and Betrayal: Insights from Management for the Wise BelieverJournal of Business Ethics 84 (S1). 2009.Trust within a secular or organizational context is much like the concept of faith within a religious framework. The purpose of this article is to identify parallels between trust and faith, particularly from the individual perspective of the person who perceives a duty owed to him or her. Betrayal is often a subjectively derived construct based upon each individual's subjective mediating lens. We analyze the nature of trust and betrayal and offer insights that a wise believer might use in under…Read more
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72Strategic Human Resource Management as Ethical StewardshipJournal of Business Ethics 98 (1): 171-182. 2011.The research about strategic human resource management (SHRM) has suggested that human resource professionals (HRPs) have the opportunity to play a greater role in contributing to organizational success if they are effective in developing systems and policies aligned with the organization's values, goals, and mission. We suggest that HRPs need to raise the standard of their performance and that the competitive demands of the modern economic environment create implicit ethical duties that HRPs ow…Read more
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68Principal Theory and Principle Theory: Ethical Governance from the Follower’s PerspectiveJournal of Business Ethics 66 (2-3): 207-223. 2006.Organizational governance has historically focused around the perspective of principals and managers and has traditionally pursued the goal of maximizing owner wealth. This paper suggests that organizational governance can profitably be viewed from the ethical perspective of organizational followers - employees of the organization to whom important ethical duties are also owed. We present two perspectives of organizational governance: Principal Theory that suggests that organizational owners and…Read more
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67Organizational Governance and Ethical Systems: A Covenantal Approach to Building TrustJournal of Business Ethics 58 (1-3): 249-259. 2005.. American businesses and corporate executives are faced with a serious problem the loss of public confidence. Public criticism, increased government controls, and growing expectations for improved financial performance and accountability have accompanied this decline in trust. Traditional approaches to corporate governance, typified by agency theory and stakeholder theory, have been expensive to direct and have focused on short-term profits and organizational systems that fail to achieve desire…Read more
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64Ethical Outcomes and Business Ethics: Toward Improving Business Ethics EducationJournal of Business Ethics 117 (4): 753-776. 2013.Unethical conduct has reached crisis proportions in business :A1–A10, 2011) and on today’s college campuses :58–65, 2007). Despite the evidence that suggests that more than half of business students admit to dishonest practices, only about 5 % of business school deans surveyed believe that dishonesty is a problem at their schools :299–308, 2010). In addition, the AACSB which establishes standards for accredited business schools has resisted the urging of deans and business experts to require bus…Read more
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52Ethical leadership and building trust—raising the bar for businessJournal of Academic Ethics 5 (1): 1-4. 2007.
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50Rights, responsibilities, and respect: A balanced citizenship model for schools of business (review)Journal of Academic Ethics 5 (1): 105-120. 2007.In a world increasingly described as turbulent and chaotic, management scholars have acknowledged the importance of a virtue-based set of criteria to serve as a moral rubric for the stakeholders that an organization serves. Business schools play a unique role in helping their students to understand the ethical issues facing business. Business schools can also model the way for creating a clear statement of values and principles, by creating a bill of rights for business schools that recognizes t…Read more
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47Building trust in business schools through ethical governanceJournal of Academic Ethics 3 (2-4): 159-182. 2005.This paper presents conceptual arguments to suggest that trust within organizations and trustworthiness of organizations are built through ethical governance mechanisms. We ground our analysis of trust, trustworthiness, and stewardship in the business literature and provide the context of business school governance as the focus of our paper. We present a framework that highlights the importance of knowledge, resources, performance focus, transparency, authentic caring, social capital and citizen…Read more
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47Cultural insights to justice: A theoretical perspective through a subjective lens (review)Journal of Business Ethics 46 (2): 187-199. 2003.Distributive, procedural, and interactional justice are constructs that are increasingly being recognized as important factors that affect individual perceptions in the workplace environment. This paper presents a theoretical perspective that suggests that justice is perceived through a subjective lens that consists of individualized beliefs and proposes that cultural attributes and demographic characteristics play an integral part in determining the perception of justice. The distinctions betwe…Read more
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46The case for creating a DBa program – a virtue-based opportunity for universitiesJournal of Academic Ethics 5 (2-4): 179-188. 2007.Although efforts have been made to increase the opportunities for American-born minorities to obtain doctoral degrees in business, the actual number of business students who are American-born minorities has been extremely low. At the same time more than half of all PhD candidates in business schools are foreign-born. We suggest that business schools owe an ethical duty to provide role models for minority business students, and that this duty can be achieved by initiating Doctor of Business Admin…Read more
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40Practicing what we teach – ethical considerations for business schoolsJournal of Academic Ethics 3 (1): 1-25. 2005.The raging cynicism felt toward businesses and business leaders is a by-product of perceived violations in the social contracts owed to the public. Business schools have a unique opportunity to make a significant impact on present and future business leaders, but ‘practicing what we teach’ is a critical condition precedent. This paper presents frameworks for ethical practices for assessing the social contracts owed by business schools in their role as citizens in the larger community. We identif…Read more
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36Academia, Aristotle, and the public sphere – stewardship challenges to schools of businessJournal of Academic Ethics 5 (1): 5-20. 2007.In this paper we suggest that the ethical duties of business schools can be understood as representing stewardship in the Aristotelian tradition. In Introduction section we briefly explain the nature of ethical stewardship as a moral guideline for organizations in examining their duties to society. Ethical Stewardship section presents six ethical duties of business schools that are owed to four distinct stakeholders, and includes examples of each of those duties. Utilizing this Framework section…Read more
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27“Organizational Terrorism” and Moral Choices – Exercising Voice When the Leader is the ProblemJournal of Business Ethics 97 (1): 159-171. 2010.We introduce the concept of “organizational terrorism” to describe dysfunctional leaders who are abusive and who treat organizational members with contempt and disregard. After identifying the moral duties of leaders in organizations, we explain how organization members respond to their dissatisfaction with organizations through Exit, Voice, Loyalty, or Neglect. We explain why exercising voice is the most effective moral choice in dealing with dysfunctional leaders.
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26Supply Chain Responsibility and SustainabilityBusiness and Professional Ethics Journal 39 (2): 147-168. 2020.Decisions made by supply chain managers have a far-reaching impact on the economic, environmental, and social performance of entire supply chains, even though many activities in the supply chain occur beyond the direct control of those managers. Some firms establish a line of moral disengagement, beyond which they distance themselves from the impact of the activities of the supply chain. This research addresses the question of why some managers choose to take responsibility for the sustainabilit…Read more
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22Leading with Meaning: Using Covenantal Leadership to Build a Better Organization - Leading with Meaning: Using Covenantal Leadership to Build a Better OrganizationMoses Pava New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. 192 pp. ISBN 1403961328, hc., $25 (review)Business Ethics Quarterly 15 (3): 499-505. 2005.
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20Examining Corporate Citizenship: Balancing Duties and Opportunities in the Modern OrganizationBusiness Ethics Quarterly 14 (4): 775-780. 2004.
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18Erratum to: Duties Owed to Organizational Citizens – Ethical Insights for Today’s LeaderJournal of Business Ethics 102 (3): 517-517. 2011.
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Dixie CollegeRegular Faculty
Areas of Interest
Applied Ethics |
Normative Ethics |
Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy |