Archives and Abstracts
ETHIX 60 (July 2008)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Steven J. Bell is owner and president of Pacific Crest Industries. He was selected Washington state’s Small Business Person of the Year in 2005, and it will be easy to see why when you read the Conversation. His courage, commitment, and passion for doing business well are evident throughout. Since so many business people are involved in small businesses, we hope to make a concerted effort to more regularly include small business features in ...
DEAR ETHIX
I have enjoyed reading Ethix since its debut. I usually turn immediately to the back page to read the Ethics at Work column. The dilemmas posed are interesting and challenging, and they help me to think how I might respond were I ever to find myself in a similar situation. I have often retold Al’s story about laptops for meeting registration (“Inappropriate Technology,” Issue 28). As a former software engineer who now helps people ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Should I Continue to Watch Technology?, by Albert M. Erisman
In each issue of Ethix for the past 10 years, I have written a column on some aspect of technology. Why is this included in a business ethics magazine? My premise: Technology is the most powerful force at work in business today. 1. Technology is reshaping the internal practice of business. Few companies have escaped the requirement to use technology in an innovative way just to remain competitive. Even small businesses are impacted (e.g., ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Making Cabinets, Changing the World, with Steven J. Bell
Steven (Steve) J. Bell is CEO and owner of Pacific Crest Industries in Sumner, Washington. He started building cabinets in a garage and now employs 185 people in a multimillion-dollar cabinet business. In 2006, he moved his business into a new factory with almost 200,000 square feet, tripling his space and enabling future growth. Pacific Crest currently ships products throughout the 12 Western states through a network of independent kitchen and bath dealers and ...
REFLECTIONS: Reflections on Ten Years of Ethix, by Albert M. Erisman
In ten years of publishing Ethix, we have had Conversations with 76 leaders regarding business, technology, and ethics. The interviews have taken place in various venues across the United States and in many parts of the world, including China, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Switzerland, England, and the Central African Republic. Most interviews were done in English, though we had the support of a translator in China and in the Central African Republic. I conducted a ...
PAST CONVERSATIONS: Ten Years of Ethix Conversations
These are the featured participants in the Conversations in Ethix, organized by categories. Some individuals span categories, so they are listed in the category that fits the thrust of the conversation. Those marked with* continue in a position at the listed institution. The number indicates the issue in which the conversation is published. A limited number of back copies of these older issues are available and can be ordered. Leaders of Large Corporations (24) ...
INREVIEW: Top "Ten" Books, by Albert M. Erisman
In the 10 years of Ethix, we have reviewed close to 200 books. I have personally reviewed about half of them. My goal for this issue was to pick my 10 favorites that best characterize the primary themes in Ethix. I have failed. Rather, I have picked 14 books in six categories that I believe best represent what we find important. Some of these are quite new, and some go back to the late ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: Supported Employment for the Physically Challenged in Singapore, by Seamus Phan
We spoke to Dr. Ow Chee Chung, executive director, Society for the Physically Disabled (SPD), to get his views on how SPD, a nonprofit organization in Singapore, helps the physically challenged through supported employment and skills development. Although much has been said about social enterprises and their successes, Dr. Ow believes that supported employment is also an important facet of helping the disadvantaged. Seamus Phan: Dr. Ow, tell us a little about SPD and ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Fed Task Force Eyes Lenders and Wall Street in Subprime Mess Associated Press, May 5, 2008 Federal authorities, responding to the subprime mortgage mess, have formed a task force to determine if lenders or Wall Street firms participated in fraud. The task force will be comprised of federal, state and local agencies. It will focus on the activities of mortgage lenders and Wall Street firms. U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell said that it was too ...
ESSAY: Lessons Learned on Organizational Ethics, by David W. Gill
David W. Gill is an organizational ethics consultant and trainer, professor on the MBA faculty at St. Mary’s College (Moraga, California), author of It’s About Excellence: Building Ethically Healthy Organizations (2008), and publisher of a monthly e-zine on business ethics (www.ethixbiz.com). What can we say about “sound ethics” — one of the focal concerns of Ethix magazine this past decade? It doesn’t appear that the human race, including its business leadership, is any closer ...
ETHIX AT WORK: No Harm, No Foul?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: A recent sale at our high-volume automobile franchise was canceled by the customer. Our clerks had already submitted the paperwork to the state, and financing had been arranged. As far as the registry was concerned, there was a lien on the vehicle, even though it was a ...
ETHIX 59 (May 2008)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Jeff Pinneo is CEO of Horizon Air, the 2007 Regional Airline of the Year. He met with me and Jeff Van Duzer, dean of the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University (SPU), for this Conversation on March 24. To show how volatile the industry is, Pinneo had suggested there might be some bankruptcies in the near term because of the multiple pressures from fuel costs, security, economics, and competition. Four airlines ...
DEAR ETHIX
Wal-Mart Concerns With regard to the Conversation with Don Soderquist from Wal-Mart, I am still flummoxed. He was very impressive with respect to his personal commitment and personal ethics. He also has done great work with his co-workers, employees, and leadership foundation, as well as his giving to the poor in both Guatemala and inner city Chicago. How can one be this dedicated to ethics and be one of the elites and deliberately manage ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Clearing the Technology Fog, by Albert M. Erisman
In the late ‘90s, we reached the peak of hype around technology. When the “dot-coms” faded, some dismissed technology as being unimportant in business. Nicolas Carr put the exclamation mark on this way of thinking with his book IT Doesn’t Matter. Yet technology continues to be at the center of overstatement and understatement. This was brought home by two articles that colleagues sent to me in the past month. The first focused on the ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Piloting a Business Through Challenging Times, with Jeff D. Pinneo
Jeff Pinneo was appointed president and CEO of Horizon Air in January 2002. He has over 30 years of aviation experience, more than 26 of them with Alaska Air Group. Previously, Pinneo served as vice president of customer services at Horizon beginning in 1990. In that role, he oversaw Horizon’s largest division, which included station operations, in-flight services, security, and food and beverage service. In his present role, Pinneo leads a team of approximately ...
FOLLOW-UP: Connecting Brains and Business, by John Medina
In October 2004, the Ethix Conversation was with John Medina, founder and director of the Talaris Institute. Today, Medina continues his brain-research work with a joint appointment between the Medical School of the University of Washington, and the Brain Center for Applied Research at Seattle Pacific University. Albert M. Erisman: In 2004, we talked about your nine brain rules. Now you have published a book (see InReview) with 12 brain rules. Where did the ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Eliot Spitzer Times TopicsNew York Times, March 29, 2008 Eliot Spitzer took office as New York’s governor on the first day of 2007, with a record margin of victory and a profound sense of promise. He resigned on March 12, 2008, in a scandal over his involvement in a sex ring, bringing an abrupt close to a tenure marked by an almost unbroken string of stumbles and frustrations. Mr. Spitzer’s difficulties were in stark ...
ESSAY: Working Toward Consensus on Nanotechnology
In March 2008, small groups of volunteer citizens gathered for two weekends to consider guidelines for the development of nanoscience and nanotechnology and the ways these are merging with biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. The four together often are referred to as nano-bio-info-cogno (NBIC) science and technology, which may provide powerful ways to enhance human behavior and experience. The activity was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to ensure that NBIC developments ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Dealing With a Broken Promise, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: Until last December I had worked as a programmer for a health care company for more that seven years. I received a call one day from a consulting company asking if I would be interested in working on a one-year contract to support users using a particular ...
ETHIX 58 (March 2008)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
The world of retail is tough, nitty gritty business. How does ethics play in this world? And how does technology impact the issues? We will explore these questions through our interviews in this issue. My interest in this sector started with a trip to Wal-Mart headquarters several years ago. We were invited to the famous “Saturday morning meeting,” where executives review the numbers from the previous week and deal with challenging issues in their ...
DEAR ETHIX
Protecting Information on Social Networks A few issues ago [July/August 2007] you wrote about social networks. These powerful tools require some care in protecting information. Facebook users have some choices (privacy settings) that allow them to “opt-out” of divulging information like email address, birth date, and phone numbers to strangers, but that is not the default configuration. Also, Facebook gathers both email address and email password from users. This allows Facebook to generate and ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Are We Ready for Smart Dust and Nanobots?, by Albert M. Erisman
The miniaturization of technology is obvious to most. But the real challenges and opportunities come from the implications of size rather than spatial dimensions. Miniaturization enables the memory stick for readily transporting large volumes of information, and for the loss of corporate data that goes out the door in these memory sticks. It enables “smart dust,” the transmitting, sensing, and storing of information in something as small as dirt, which can be used for ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Wal-Mart Way Produces Accolades, Criticism, Growth, with Donald G. Soderquist
Donald G. Soderquist joined Wal-Mart Stores Inc. as executive vice president in 1980, and served in several other executive positions until his appointment in early 1988 to vice chairman and chief operating officer. In January 1999 he was promoted to senior vice chairman of the corporation. Prior to his joining Wal-Mart, Don served 16 years with Ben Franklin, including six years as president and chief executive officer. He retired from day-to-day duties at Wal-Mart ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: What Makes Family Grocery Successful?, with Frederick R. Greiner
Frederick R. Greiner is president and chief operating officer of Fareway Stores Inc., and the first non-family member to be president of this privately held 70-year-old chain of grocery stores headquartered in Boone, Iowa. Greiner has been at Fareway since he was 16, that’s nearly four decades except for two years in the Army. He has held almost every position in the stores from bagger to department manager to store manager to vice president. ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: Brewing Success in Singapore a Cup at a Time, by Seamus Phan
Singapore, although a tiny island state, is a sophisticated consumer marketplace for almost any and every conceivable product from computers, electronic appliances, fashion, finance, and, of course, food and beverage. With Singapore’s multiracial and multicultural melting pot, you can easily find food and drink from every culture, at one or more corners. For most Singaporeans, we would drink up the local coffee going for just U.S. 40 cents, often called kopi (which is coffee ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Bill Gates Issues Call for Kinder Capitalism Wall Street Journal, January 24, 2008 In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Gates called for a “creative capitalism” that uses market forces to address poor-economy needs that he feels are being ignored. Gates told the world leaders, “We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well.” He said he has ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Benefit Client or Candidate?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am a partner and one of the founders of an executive search firm. Our clients are the companies seeking an executive, since they are the ones who pay us. But we also develop many relationships with individuals who have the potential to fill the executive slots. ...
ETHIX 57 (January 2008)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Technology is a major force in business, producing change, opportunity, cost, challenges, and a whole new set of uncharted ethical areas. Since the great collapse of the “dot coms,” the force of technology on the transformation of business has been a bit less visible. Is it still the force it once was? We believe the answer to this question is a resounding “Yes!” First, the technological base continues to develop at the same rate ...
DEAR ETHIX
Alternate Dispute Resolution The Conversation with Ken Melrose on the alternate dispute resolution (ADR) raised the question of its application to hospitals and health care. Yes, there is application. Where there is a clear action/outcome such as the mistaken administration of a medication, wrong test, wrong surgery, I am sure this approach is applicable and in some cases employed by this industry. In many health care instances the action/outcome is not as clear cut ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Robots in the Office, by Albert M. Erisman
“Hitachi’s new toddler-like robot rolled around and waved for reporters on Wednesday [November 21], only to crash into a desk and demonstrate the challenge of turning automatons into everyday helpers. The red and white robot, designed to run errands in offices, wasn’t prepared for the jam of lunch-break wireless network traffic at the company’s research center. Unable to communicate with its handler’s laptop, it smashed into the office furniture as reporters gasped. Reporters had ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Faster Chips, More Opportunity?, with Patrick Gelsinger
Pat Gelsinger is general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group and senior vice president of the Intel Corporation. The Digital Enterprise Group is the largest business group for Intel with more than $20billion of revenue responsibility. His group is responsible for all client, server, storage, and communications products that Intel sells to business customers. This group is also responsible for much of the Intel semiconductor design and development including its Pentium™, Core™, vPro™, Xeon™, ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: Trimming Power Toward Efficiency in Asia, by Seamus Phan
When some consumers were interviewed on national television in Singapore about rising costs, one lady’s comments were hard-hitting. She said, “With the rising petrol costs, I don’t know if I can still use my car, or even keep it. I might sell my car.” Already, rising energy costs have hit home, literally, whether it be the use of petrol and diesel in automobiles, or the simple and mundane use of consumer electricity to cool ...
FOLLOW-UP: Computing Emotions, by Rosalind W. Picard
Rosalind W. Picard is the founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory and co-director of the Things That Think Consortium, the largest industrial sponsorship organization at the lab. She holds a bachelor’s in electrical engineering with highest honors from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and master’s and doctoral degrees, both in electrical engineering and computer science, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
The Underworld of Cybercrime The Seattle Times, December 3, 2007 Somewhere in St. Petersburg, Russia, a tiny startup has struck Internet gold. It’s employees are barely old enough to recall the demise of the Soviet Union. Industry analysts believe they’re raking in well over $100 million a year from the world’s largest banks, including Wells Fargo and Washington Mutual. Their two-year rise might be the greatest success story of the former Eastern Bloc’s high-tech ...
ESSAY: Technology: Love It or Hate It?, by Rosie Perera
I admit it. I’m a technophile. I love technology. My computer counts as a “significant other.” I spend at least eight hours a day in front of it, and I truly love working and playing with it. As a software engineer, I have had the experience of creating something out of virtually nothing, which is pretty amazing. I love well crafted, elegant computer code. And I love to see people’s faces light up when ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Full Disclosure Required?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: A foreign corporation, with substantial cash, wishes to purchase a company located in the United States. The owner of the company has made it clear they do not want to sell to a buyer from this particular country. A middle person in the United States knows both ...
ETHIX 56 (November 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
This issue features a look inside a moviemaking and publishing company, Walden Media. Meeting Micheal Flaherty (the correct Irish spelling of the name) opens an uncommon view into business. I want to call attention to one of his statements: “Another great story Kate (DiCamillo) wrote is Tale of Despereaux. This is a wonderful story of forgiveness that will also come out as a movie, though unfortunately not from us. It will be out in ...
DEAR ETHIX
Long-Range Air Travel I enjoyed your Technology Watch column about air travel in the Sep/Oct ’07 issue of Ethix. Not only did I wear a coat and tie on my first flight (Seattle to San Francisco on a United B-720 — 40+ years ago), but my wife was not over-dressed wearing a hat and white gloves! So the airplanes have improved even if the dress code has not. Like you, I have been very ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: How Far Will Decentralization Go?, by Albert M. Erisman
Telecommuting. Work at home. Work anywhere. Outsourcing. Subcontracting. Where will all of this end? Some have predicted almost everyone will become an entrepreneur working on a project-by-project basis, rather than having full-time employment for a large company. Technology is making this possible as it continues to intrude on the way work is done. It does this in two quite different ways. Technology Replacing People First, technology eats jobs, automating tasks that once required human ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Walden Media: Movies That Matter, with Micheal Flaherty
Micheal Flaherty is the president of Walden Media, a company he co-founded with his former college roommate, Cary Granat, to produce films, books, and interactive programs that tie directly into school curricula. Acclaimed for such films as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Charlotte’s Web, and Bridge to Terabithia, Walden Media aims to recapture imagination, rekindle curiosity, and demonstrate the rewards of learning. Producing both original works and adaptations ...
ANALYSIS: What Happened to the Housing Market?
In October 2004, the Snohomish (WA) County Business Journal featured MILA, an innovative mortgage lending company, as one of the fastest growing companies in Washington state. They were completing a $5 million renovation on new offices, preparing for 800 employees and their first $1 billion year. In September 2007, a moving van emptied the building of furniture, personal computers, and boardroom furniture. This completed the action taken in April 2007, during which all of ...
BEST PRACTICES: Avoiding Subprimes, by Bruce W. Williams, Chairman and CEO, HomeStreet Bank
HomeStreet Bank is a family- and employee-owned community bank with headquarters in Seattle and branches throughout the Pacific Northwest and Hawaii. Bruce W. Williams, HomeStreet’s CEO and chairman, is the grandson of HomeStreet’s first employee, W. Walter Williams. The company was started in 1921, and Williams’ father led the bank from 1960 to 1990. With all of the problems associated with the subprime lending issues (see p. 16), we asked Bruce Williams how HomeStreet ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Lawyer Will Plead Guilty in Kickback Scheme Securities lawyer William S. Lerach agreed to plead guilty to a criminal conspiracy charge, forfeit $7.75 million to the government, pay a $250,000 fine and accept a sentence ranging from one to two years in federal prison in connections with a class-action scheme. In his plea agreement, Mr. Lerach acknowledges making secret payments to Dr. Steven Cooperman, and acknowledges that others received payments from other partners of ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Must an IT Professional Do Police Work?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am an IT professional who feels “caught in the middle.” When I install software on someone’s computer, I sometimes find things on the computer that shouldn’t be there. Sometimes it is unlicensed software, sometimes pornography. As an IT organization, we are under a great deal of ...
ETHIX 55 (September 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
This issue of Ethix marks a minor landmark — the first issue in our 10th year of publication. Someone recently gave me a bound set of every issue of Ethix to date, and it has been fun to page through them all. There are some great ideas from the business, technology, and government leaders we have interviewed over the years. You can do almost the same thing by clicking on Ethix Archives at www.ethix.org. ...
DEAR ETHIX
Businesses That Serve I really enjoy reading each issue of Ethix. Thanks for sending it to me. Nothing makes me more excited than business done right with a “serve others” perspective. Yet I find few ideas more disheartening than business guided by the pursuit of greed or power. The content of the Ethix publication often seems to address these decisive issues. Ethix is clearly focused on doing right to our “neighbor” in a profit-driven ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Gaining Value From the Components of a System: An Air Travel Example, by Albert M. Erisman
Some of us who are older remember when air travel was fun. My first commercial airplane ride was from Chicago to Des Moines, stopping in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They served a meal, and I wore a tie out of respect for the occasion. That was 50 years ago. My recent trip from Seattle to Bangui, Central African Republic, was also done in two pieces. The first leg took more than nine hours, and the ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Caring About People: Employees and Customers, with Kendrick B. Melrose
Kendrick B. Melrose joined The Toro Company in 1970 as director of marketing for the Consumer Products Division. Three years later, he was appointed president of Game Time Inc., a former Toro subsidiary located in Litchfield, Michigan. In 1976, he was named vice president of the company's outdoor Power Equipment Group, promoted to executive vice president in July 1980, named president in February 1981, chief executive officer in December 1983, and chairman of the ...
FOLLOW-UP: Return to the Central African Republic
In the November/December 2006 Ethix, we devoted the entire issue to the Central African Republic (CAR). I had visited there in June 2006, co-leading a team with John Terrill from InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. We were working with Integrated Community Development International, the only American NGO in the country, to explore the feasibility of micro-enterprise development there. The general conclusion was that the country was not ready. Its broken infrastructure, corruption in government, lack ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Critics See Some Good From Sarbanes-Oxley Invitrogen Corp. spent about $2.5 million and 10,000 hours last year reviewing its inventory-counting procedures, computer-system access, and other internal controls. The checks, required by Sarbanes-Oxley found small gaps in documentation but no hint of accounting fraud. The biotechnology company officials think the costs are excessive. But they say Sarbanes-Oxley helped to spur other changes that made Invitrogen a better run business. Several changes at Invitrogen are: Directors ...
ESSAY: The Vital Role of Ethics, by Faustin Touadera
Faustin Touadera is the recteur (the person in charge of the university and appointed by the president of the country) of the University of Bangui in the Central African Republic. These remarks directed to the faculty closed an ethics conference at the university on June 28, 2007. This was translated from French by the EC Group in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This entire day has been devoted to the discussion of ethics. The choice of ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Does Ethics Require Standard Pricing?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am the CEO of a small services company. We bill our clients for services on an hourly rate basis, at a gross profit margin of about 50 percent. The standard rates we set are based upon market conditions, but to some extent that is determined by ...
ETHIX 54 (July 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Investment banks play a key role in business. In providing the funding, they set the rules for the business investment. They also play the role of broker in mergers, again setting the tone for the success of the merger. Yet they are a “short-term” player in the sense that they get paid when the deal is done and are often long gone when the operational challenges come. In our increasingly short-term focused business world, ...
DEAR ETHIX
School Project I used your article about CAR for my school project. Jesus has given me a heart to help the poor kids in Africa. I also raised some money to help them. Sarah Catterall, Age 7Redmond, Wash. Good Work You continue to do a wonderful job with Ethix! The Sherron Watkins interview was very thoughtful, and I will discuss this in my blog. The J&J piece is very good too, though it does ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Social Networking for Business?, by Albert M. Erisman
One of the hottest areas in technology today is social networks. Almost anyone who is under 25 years of age knows about tools like MySpace and FaceBook. But does this have anything to do with business, or are these applications just toys for the younger set? That’s what we will explore. Social Network Background First, a bit about social networks. The goal is to provide a cyber-meeting space for people wanting to “network.” Tools ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Banking and Long-Term Business Values, with Robert J. Pace
Robert J. “Rob” Pace has held a number of senior leadership positions at Goldman Sachs during his career of more than 20 years. Currently, he serves as a senior advisor to many of the firm’s most significant clients and is responsible for coordinating strategy and marketing initiatives within the Investment Banking Division. He is a member of the Operating Committee, which is comprised of the senior leadership group within Investment Banking. Rob has headed ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Wal-Mart Chief Bought Ring From Firm’s Vendor Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott, who recently was accused by a fired marketing executive of accepting sweetheart deals from suppliers, purchased a diamond ring from a Wal-Mart vendor, according to that vendor’s officials. Mr. Scott purchased the ring for his wife from the Aaron Group, a wholesale supplier of jewelry to Wal-Mart according to Mr. Kempler, the president of the New York-based company. He said Mr. ...
ESSAY: Corporate Social Responsibility, by Henry L. Petersen
Henry L. Petersen is an assistant professor of management in the School of Business and Economics at Seattle Pacific University. No one wants to be considered irresponsible, and the same could be said for corporate entities. After Enron, Tyco, Parmalat, and a whole host of corporate and executive scandals, the principles surrounding corporate governance and business purpose were questioned regarding responsibilities. The outcome: increased control, monitoring, and heightened attention on responsibility. Hence, it stands ...
ETHIX FORUM: How would you rate businesses in your community for corporate social responsibility (CSR)? Can you provide an example of exemplary CSR, or an example of irresponsible behavior? ETHIX AT WORK: Dealing With an Oppressive Boss, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I have what seems like an ethical issue to me, though there is nothing illegal about what is going on. I am a mid-level executive who has built a very innovative and creative organization in a large company. We have great support from most of our internal ...
ETHIX 53 (May 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Ralph S. Larsen, retired chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, said, “You can’t have a large company and not have issues to deal with. But as we have all learned, it is not the initial incident or problem that is so bad, but the cover up.” How do companies, and individuals in those companies, deal with the crises that result from “issues” within a company? In this issue we feature numerous responses to ...
DEAR ETHIX
Executive Ethics Training Recommended I was just reading the latest issue of Ethix. The interview with the chairman of PepsiCo was very good. And the “Best Practices” column is going to reward you with a new window into humanitarian and fair leadership. I am convinced that more needs to be done to build this type of leadership into executives. I believe it will take a different kind of MBA to make a difference in ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Confronting a Technology-Based Crisis, by Albert M. Erisman
Recently, I received an interesting article about technology being at the heart of a major business failure. The article was written by Mel Duvall and Doug Bartholomew in February 2007 and stated, in part, “In October 2006, Airbus chief executive Christian Streiff had delivered a speech announcing that the company's A380 superjumbo would be delayed by at least two years. The delay and resulting changes to the program were expected to cost Boeing's fiercest ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Did We Learn the Lessons From Enron?, with Sherron Watkins
Sherron Watkins is the former vice president of Enron Corporation who alerted then-CEO Ken Lay in August 2001 to accounting irregularities within the company, warning him that Enron “might implode in a wave of accounting scandals.” She has testified before Congressional committees from the House and Senate investigating Enron’s demise. Time magazine named Sherron, along with two others, Coleen Rowley of the FBI and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom, as their 2002 Persons of the ...
BEST PRACTICES: Making the Hard Decisions, by Ralph S. Larsen
When the term “best practices” is used in a business ethics context, the case involving Johnson & Johnson and Tylenol always comes up. We will briefly review the case for those not familiar with it. Recently we met with Ralph Larsen, the chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson from 1989 to 2002. He shared some of the internal thinking that makes this case so important. This is a best practice of dealing with ...
FOLLOW-UP: What Has Happened at Tyco?
In September/October 2003, Ethix featured a conversation with Eric Pillmore, who had recently joined Tyco International as the senior vice president of Corporate Governance. At the time of our interview, Tyco had just been through one of the notable corporate scandals. CEO Dennis Kozlowski and CFO Mark Swartz had been charged with stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from Tyco and illegally earning hundreds of millions more by manipulating stock; they were convicted in ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Ernst Censured Over Independence, Agrees to $1.5 Million Settlement Ernst & Young LLP was censured by the Securities and Exchange Commission and will pay $1.5 million to settle charges that it compromised its independence through work it did for clients AIG and PNC Financial Services Group. Ernst settled without admitting or denying the SEC’s claim that its professional independence was undercut because it helped AIG develop and market a financial product sold to PNC ...
ESSAY: Standing Up in the Face of Difficulty, by Deborah Reynolds Griffing
Deborah Griffing has 30- years experience in the human-development business as a psychotherapist, advanced-practice nurse, college professor, executive coach, speaker, and facilitator. She is the founder of Innovative Leadership LLC, a professional services firm in Bellevue, Washington. She has a Ph.D. in nursing and health sciences, from Rush University, Chicago, Illinois. “We have no intention of cowering in the corner,” proclaimed The Seattle Times headline of March 23, 2007. Quoting John Edwards, The Times ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Dealing Fairly With “Insider” Vendor Information, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am the director of purchasing for a large builder subcontracting firm. Recently a large vendor of ours accidentally sent my assistant confidential pricing information, from another more “core” supplier of ours (obtained by dishonest means), in an email chain to one of their internal team members. ...
ETHIX 52 (March 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
What is a good company? Some would argue there are none. There is the inevitable story about how the "good" company did not perform up to expectations in some dimension. I believe there are many good companies, but no perfect ones. The measures of a good company include how it deals with its customers and employees, how it treats the environment, its corporate social responsibility commitments, and almost as important, how it handles the ...
DEAR ETHIX
The automation on the nurse-patient part of the med administration still doesn't solve the problem if the doctor ordered Zantac, but meant to order Zyrtec. The scanner tells me I'm OK, but that's because it can't read the doctor's mind! In nursing school, though, it is stressed MANY times that we follow the "5 Rights" of med administration because if anything goes wrong for the patient, the nurse could be sued too. It's no ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Business in 2032, by Albert M. Erisman
A technology milestone passed quietly for most of us last October -- the 25th anniversary of email. A party in San Francisco celebrated the event with speeches by technology pioneers. Many high-tech columnists commemorated the event by looking back at how email has changed our lives. Some focused on the great advance email has represented for us, both personally and in business. Others focused on the continuing challenges of email, such as dealing with ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Leadership for a 21st-Century Multinational Corporation, with Steven S. Reinemund
Steven S. Reinemund is chairman of PepsiCo, one of the world's largest food and beverage companies with annual revenues of $33 billion. Its principal businesses include Frito-Lay snacks, Pepsi-Cola beverages, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana juices, and Quaker foods. Its portfolio includes 17 brands that generate $1 billion or more each in annual sales. PepsiCo has about 125,000 employees in 77 countries. In August 2006, he announced his retirement after 22 years with PepsiCo. At ...
BEST PRACTICES: Winning Negotiations, by Jack vanHartesvelt
Jack vanHartesvelt joined Kennedy Associates Real Estate Council Inc. in 1997, and oversees the company's hotel investment, development, and asset management portfolio. He is its senior vice president and principal for acquisition. Prior to joining Kennedy, he was executive vice president of Westin Hotel Company, where he was in charge of all development-related activity in North and South America. I have been involved in many contract negotiations. I am not a lawyer, but I ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
The Hard Rain That's Falling on Capitalism Capitalism values people as individuals according to contract, not according to the status of our birth. This in itself is a miracle. This miracle has been vibrant in the lives of hundreds of millions of Americans who have gone from nothing to something, thanks to the dynamics of capitalism. They have seen their pay rise, and they have been able to convert their sweat and toil and ...
ESSAY: Positive Ethics, by David Mashburn
David Mashburn has 19 years of clinical practice as a psychologist, and won the Expert Psychotherapist Award from the University of Washington in 1999. Currently he is director of research and development at Tidemark, specializing in recruitment process outsourcing. The subject of ethics is usually approached from a negative, pessimistic, and defensive stance. It's well known that any issue approached from this position triggers our nervous system to operate from the fight or flight ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Protecting Your Brand, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: We are a travel company selling travel to a U.S. vacation locale since 1971, and recognized as the official central reservations company for that vacation community. We have represented ourselves as "Central Reservations" since inception. Do you think it is ethical for a local competitor to represent ...
ETHIX 51 (January 2007)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
In this issue, we explore the global ramifications of energy, economics, and ethics with Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. You will enjoy her insights -- rooted in her rich and diverse background of scientific research, government service, and academic leadership. She talks about the challenging and important things that happen at the intersection of specialized fields of learning. David Gautschi, dean of ...
DEAR ETHIX
African Report Helpful I am presently in Beijing participating in the Sino-African forum. I checked on the Ethix website and discovered, with a lot of satisfaction, the tremendous job you did in treating the Central African Republic as a special report in the 50th issue. I need to express to you my deepest gratitude for what you have done. Some weeks ago, a journalist from Sweden came to Bangui with the objective of gathering ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Executive Decisions About Technology, by Albert M. Erisman
Over lunch with a technology colleague and friend recently, my friend said, "Management decisions involving technology require a lot of understanding of the details, because the details matter. But usually, in my experience, managers don't want to get into the details. So how do managers make decisions involving technology?" He was right. The details do matter when making a technology decision. And he was also right that most managers don't want to bother with ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Energy, Ethics, and Education, with Shirley Ann Jackson
Shirley Ann Jackson, Ph.D., became the 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on July 1, 1999. She holds a doctorate in theoretical elementary particle physics from MIT (1973) and an S.B. in physics from MIT (1968). Prior to coming to Rensselaer, she held senior positions in government, as chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; in industry and research, as a theoretical physicist at the former AT&T Bell Laboratories; and in academe, as a ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Stolen Laptop Leads to More Employee Data Loss Starbucks said that personal data on 60,000 present and former employees and contractors was on two laptop computers missing from its Seattle headquarters. Starbucks is offering free credit-protection services for those affected to guard against possible identity theft. A Starbucks employee realized in September that four laptops in a closet were gone, two containing personal data, including names, addresses and Social Security numbers. Starbucks currently has ...
ESSAY: Internet Creating "Small Town" Accountability for Business?, by Robert L. Bunting
Robert L. Bunting was CEO of Moss Adams, a West Coast auditing and accounting firm, until he stepped down from that role in 2004. He continues as an active partner in the firm. He was chairman of the board for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (2004-05). He was recently appoint-ed deputy president of the board of the Inter-national Federation of Accountants (IFAC), and will assume the position of president in 2008. These ...
ETHIX FORUM: Do you find your work meaningful, making use of your abilities? Or is your work boring or meaningless? Please describe your work in one or both of these ways. ETHIX AT WORK: What Is the Proper Response to an Affair?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: My venture company has funded a startup medical-device company, and I sit on the board of directors. One of my close friends (our families have vacationed together) is the vice president of regulatory. My friend is a highly respected regulatory expert, well known to the Food and ...
ETHIX 50 (November 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
In October 1998, David Gill and I put out the first issue of the publication that would later be named Ethix. The motivation was the dot-com boom and our concern that technology was changing the face of business. The "threat" of Y2K was just around the corner. We saw a whole new set of ethical issues in business that needed critique. Few people knew about Enron except for those looking to invest in the ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Making Technology Work in Africa, by Albert M. Erisman
I remember a National Academy committee meeting during the late 1990s, where we were discussing the role of the Internet. One person said, "At the rate people are coming online, it won't be long before the whole world is connected." My comment at the time was, "Since half the people in the world have not yet received their first phone call, perhaps there are a few challenges we are ignoring." This came home to ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Fighting Corruption, with Augustin Habaile
Augustin Hibaile is the executive director of CIDEL (International Center for the Development of Ethical Leadership), a nonprofit NGO he recently established in the Central African Republic (CAR). Its goal is to teach against corruption in business and government in the CAR and surrounding countries. CIDEL was started early in 2005. Augustin is a former professor of graduate theology. He also was nominated by the minister of the interior of the Central African Republic ...
PROFILE: Sylvain Maliko, Minister of Economy, Planning, and International Cooperation
"The Central African Republic has been unstable since its independence from France in 1960 and is one of the least developed countries in the world," according to a June 2006 article by BBC News. Previous President Ange-Felix Patasse was overthrown in a coup in 2003 and went into exile in Togo. Coup leader Francois Boizize replaced him for two years of military rule, and was then elected as president in May 2005. On August ...
SPECIAL REPORT: Central African Republic
An Overview Profile: A Village Chief Profile: Theodore at the Garage Profile: David and Alexandrine Zokoé Profile: Women of Zako Profile: The Younger Generation of CAR OVERVIEW THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC The Central African Republic (CAR) is a country the size of Texas located where its name implies: in the center of Africa. It is home to about 4,000,000 people, though accurate statistics are difficult there. Its capitol city, Bangui, is located on ...
ESSAY: Tackling Poverty: The Roles of Business, Government, and NGOs, by Prabhu Guptara
Prabhu Guptara is executive director, Organizational Development, Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre of UBS in Switzerland. He has contributed this piece in an entirely personal capacity. The increase in world poverty is startling. I am referring to the numbers, not the absolute proportion, though the decline in the proportion of poverty is worryingly slow. Those who claim to have answers to poverty are perceived to fall into two main groups. First, there is the "pro-market ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Dealing With Bribery in Africa, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am a medium-sized business owner from the U.S. and we want to do business in a very corrupt country in Africa. This is a very difficult proposition in any case, but it is made more difficult by the various "facilitation fees" we know we will have ...
ETHIX 49 (September 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
This issue of Ethix begins our eighth year of publication, and the first issue under the new arrangement with Seattle Pacific University (see below). For this we have featured a conversation with Bill Pollard, a legend of business leadership and longtime CEO and chairman of ServiceMaster. His name was on the very first list of candidates for the Conversation when Ethix began in 1998. Jeff Van Duzer joined me for the discussion with him, ...
DEAR ETHIX
Lack of IT Workers I read your article, which I found very interesting. One assertion is odd. You cite S&E [Science and Engineering] Indicators 2006 saying CS enrollment decline has been due to a 5 percent decline in foreign undergrads. This is quite dubious. Here is an excerpt from the S&E Indicators on foreign enrollment: "Students in the United States on temporary visas earned a small share (4%) of S&E bachelor's degrees in 2002. ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: The Slow Pace of Technological Change, by Albert M. Erisman
The rapid pace of technological change and its implications is something that I have addressed here many times. But equally challenging is the slow pace of technological change, and this has significant challenges for the business leader. I had lunch with an old friend, Bob Abarbanel, and we talked about his latest work. He is now a scientist at GE Medical Systems, developing a doctor's diagnostic system that could revolutionize the practice of medicine. ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Leading By Serving, with C. William Pollard
C. William (Bill) Pollard joined ServiceMaster in 1977 and has served not once but twice as its chief executive officer. His first term as CEO was from 1983 to 1993, a period characterized by major change in the structure and direction of the business, including the introduction and rapid growth of the company's Consumer Group. In October 1999, Bill returned as CEO of the company and served in that role for a period of ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
After Lay's Death, Enron's Victims Contemplate Justice Kenneth Lay, founder of Enron, was a grandfather to 12, a husband to the woman who sobbed at his side on the day of conviction. And yet his sudden death at age 64, came before he had served a single day of what was likely to be a decades-long prison term for his role in the Enron fraud. The timing of the death raised intriguing questions of ...
ESSAY: Changes Needed for the Globalization System, by Prabhu Guptara
Prabhu Guptara is executive director, Organizational Development, Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre of UBS in Switzerland. He has contributed this piece in an entirely personal capacity. There is a great deal of conversation about globalization these days -- and rightly so. Everybody is affected by globalization. But usually this discussion takes place on a decidedly local level: how globalization affects my job or how it affects some person in a "sweat shop" in another part ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Ethical Issues With a New Payroll System?, by Albert M. Erisman
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I work for in the accounting department of a company in Chicago, and we are in the process of changing our payroll system. My boss asked me to do a research paper on the ethical issues of changing a payroll system. I am familiar with ethics and ...
ETHIX 48 (July 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
At the intersection of technology and business lies incredible opportunities and significant pitfalls. The promise of these opportunities can be fulfilled quickly (look at the way PCs changed the office) or can turn out to be more hype than reality (much, but not all of the dot-com activity fits this description). Knowing the difference is often far from obvious at the formative stages. Ethical issues often appear in the new situations at this intersection, ...
DEAR ETHIX
Kudos for Weiss I thoroughly enjoyed my most recent edition of Ethix. FYI, I thought the interview with Al Weiss was excellent. As a former Orlando resident (18 years) and a huge fan of Disney and everything they do, I thought his comments and perspectives were very positive. I also thought his five principles for building a life were outstanding. It is no wonder he has had the success he has had both personally ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: IT Is Back. Where Are the Tech Workers?, by Albert M. Erisman
The demand for IT workers is back, at least in some areas. Anne Fisher wrote in Fortune (May 25, 2006): To look at what's been going on at the fastest-growing tech companies -- including, Adobe, and many lesser-known firms -- you'd almost think it's the late '90s all over again. These employers grew their payrolls by an average of 16 percent in 2005, hiring more than 70,000 people. Meanwhile, Google has snapped up so ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Business Through the Lens of the CIO, with Scott Griffin, CIO, Boeing and Ron Markezich, CIO, Microsoft
For this Ethix Conversation, we met on the Microsoft campus with two chief information officers (CIOs) from the top Fortune 50 list, Scott Griffin (The Boeing Company) and Ron Markezich (Microsoft). We discussed such issues as: Technology management Security The strategic role of IT Employee privacy and monitoring Dealing with the impact of change from technology Globalization and outsourcing Protecting intellectual property Future technology The two companies deal with information technology differently: Microsoft builds ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: Role of IT in Business, by Seamus Phan
I walked by a small florist in my office building, run by a young couple, and their business is not only computerized in terms of accounts and inventory control, but it also extends their IT-savvy to enabling orders across the Internet. Mind you, they are not just having a simple "billboard" Web site, but they have full credit-card processing facility as well. Contrast that to a midsized manufacturing company with turnover of over US$20 ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Enron Execs Going Away, but Fraud Is Here to Stay The convictions of Enron's fallen chief executives Kenneth Lay and Jeffery Skilling were widely described as providing closure to an era of accounting scandals that brought down several companies and executives in recent years. But corporate malfeasance has proved resistant and cyclical, often erupting when the stock market is riding high and euphoria trumps vigilance. Fraud has come in waves, from widespread stock fraud ...
ESSAY: Will Robots Take Your Job?, by Prabhu Guptara
Prabhu Guptara is executive director, Organizational Development, Wolfsberg Executive Development Centre of UBS in Switzerland. He has contributed this piece in an entirely personal capacity. There was a time when technology was more a blessing than a curse. This began to change around 1990 when the latest round of globalization began. Up to that time, we lived in a bipolar world: more than half the world belonged to communist systems, which slowed down the ...
ETHIX FORUM: Has your job, or the job of a colleague, been changed or eliminated by technology? Do you have a job that didn?t exist 10 years ago but does now because of technology? Tell us about it. ETHIX 47 (May 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
In a world with a lot of serious problems, we wanted to see if the entertainment sector had anything to contribute to the ethics discussion. In our conversation (starting on p. 6) with Al Weiss, the leader of Disney's entertainment parks (DisneyWorld, Disneyland, Disney Japan, and Disney Paris), we found that creating a place for fun requires a serious focus on ethics. How does personal ethics connect with corporate ethics? That's our forum question ...
ANNOUNCEMENT: How to communicate
your corporate values
to consumers, by Albert M. Erisman
A 2-Day Conference, June 14-15, Philadelphia What?s your company doing in terms of consumer communication? Can your Corporate Responsibility policies be sustainable without communication? Will your company gain or lose as more companies turn their values into a competitive advantage? These are just some of the questions that brand experts, CSR and communication leaders will answer at Ethical Corporation's upcoming event ? to be held June 14-15 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Philadelphia. ...
DEAR ETHIX
Intellectual Property My comments on your latest issue of Ethix are not on what any articles said, but on what thoughts they provoked. The concept of "ownership" is multifaceted, and is far less black and white than it may seem at first glance. Since the concept of theft is relevant to and dependent on the concept of ownership, clarity is important. But is it possible? According to the law, the concept of theft is ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Do We Still Need New Office Buildings?, by Albert M. Erisman
The construction cranes dot the skyline of Bellevue, our once sleepy suburb of Seattle. And, of course, it is not just here. Traveling overseas, I have been told more than once that the construction crane is the national bird. Yet here we are in an age of technology featuring discussions about the "death of distance," telecommuting, and shared office space through something called "hotelling." Did no one tell the construction crews that we don't ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Getting Serious About Creating Fun at Disney, with Al Weiss
Al Weiss is president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, whose vacation destinations around the world include the Walt Disney World Resort, Disneyland Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. This responsibility includes 95,000 cast members (as they call their employees), theme parks, resort hotels, golf courses, cruise ships, and other attractions. Weiss began his 33-year Disney career in 1972 as an hourly cast member and worked his way up through ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Ethical Breaches Pose Dilemma for Boards: When to Fire a CEO? An admission that the chief executive officer of RadioShack Corp. misrepresented his academic credentials highlights a dilemma for corporate directors in the post-Enron, Sarbanes-Oxley world: What type of ethical breach requires dumping a top executive? After two days of sticking by David Edmondson, RadioShack directors said they will retain outside counsel to investigate the matter. The board acted on response to a statement ...
ETHIX FORUM: Should a company consider the personal ethics of an employee when making a promotion decision? ETHIX AT WORK: Can I Be Fired for My Position on a Political Issue?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am an "advertising and sales consultant" with a salary and all the benefits of a good job. We have a particularly volatile political issue in our community, and my boss recently made strong statements with his opinion on this issue in a staff meeting. Our company ...
ETHIX 46 (March 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Once again, we take Ethix into the international arena. With the Enron trial starting, and the continued ethical problems in American business (see News Notables), it is easy for Americans to think all of the challenges are at home. The issue of business ethics requires a global perspective. Further, business requires a global perspective. Not many are insulated from the international pressures in business today. For this issue, we share comments from business and ...
DEAR ETHIX
Employment Agreements Twice in my business career I have had to deal with employee agreements (noncompete agreements). They do pose an ethical and legal dilemma. (See "Ethics at Work," Ethix 45). In both cases the agreements were set aside via negotiation. I was able to demonstrate that it would be in the best interests of my employer(s) to grant me a release from the agreements. I would suggest that the writer look for ways ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Stealing Atoms or Electrons, by Albert M. Erisman
Several recent discussions suggest we are still struggling with understanding intellectual property and its not-too-distant relative, the value of ideas, in the context of the digital revolution. Copying Software, Music Last summer in Indonesia, I gave an ethics talk at the business school of a university in Jakarta, Indonesia. I raised the subject of intellectual property, and that led to the first question from a student: "We are not a wealthy nation, and in ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Nutrifood Indonesia: Manufacturing an Ethical Workplace, with Januar Darmawan
Januar Darmawan is the chairman of the board of PT Nutrifood Indonesia, headquartered in Jarkarta, Indonesia. He was born in Juwana, Central Java, Indonesia, came to the United States for his university education, graduating from North Carolina State University with a Ph.D. in horticulture and soil science in 1970. Upon returning to Indonesia in 1972, he established a nursery business producing fruit seedlings and established the Indonesian Nursery Association. He started PT Nutrifood Indonesia ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA, by Seamus Phan
In my teens and 20s, I burned through my wallet every month to listen to my favorite Japanese pop, buying cassette tapes and then CDs of singers such as Seiko Matsuda and Hiromi Go. Contrast that with today, in my 40s. I no longer buy many music CDs. The last album I bought was a few months back, and I hardly listen to it. My reason for not buying CDs these days: the weight ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: Sharing Ethical Culture Globally, by Nancy Higgins
Nancy Higgins started her ethics career as a lawyer at The Boeing Company. She helped to design their first companywide Ethics and Business Conduct program, and then left the legal department to run it. Six years later she joined Lockheed Martin to head a well-established ethics program that was in need of revitalization. In the fall of 2003, she joined the MCI team where she stayed until the company was acquired by Verizon in ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Google protects users' data Cyberspace unconfidential -- just how much does Google know about everyone? That question has been on the minds of Internet users since reports that the federal government is demanding data from Google and other companies. The truth is that Google knows more than you'd probably like. It keeps data on searches, though it would take extra steps to identify you. Query the word "car" from your home computer and Google ...
ESSAY: Reflections from Jakarta, by Albert M. Erisman
Indonesian Leaders View Corruption With Humor, Frustration, Hope In July 2005, I spent six days in Jakarta, Indonesia, where I met with business leaders, government officials, and university faculty and business students. The U.S. embassy arranged several speaking engagements and I met with the U.S. ambassador and econ counselor to discuss issues of business, ethics, and how our work might be useful in the context of Indonesia. These are very public and high-priority issues ...
ETHIX FORUM: It has been almost five years since the current wave of ethical scandals hit U.S. companies starting with Enron. Since that time, many new laws have been passed. Are we now less vulnerable to corporate corruption? Why or why not? ETHIX AT WORK: Promoting Multilevel Marketers?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I have been offered a position as an advertising writer for a company that does marketing for multilevel marketing business owners. I've read a lot of shady stuff about MLMs. I talked about this in the interview, and the company said that they are taking a high-road ...
ETHIX 45 (January 2006)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
This issue took us to Michigan, the home of Herman Miller Inc., for a conversation (see page 6) with Mike Volkema, chairman of the board. Herman Miller has a long history as one of the great U.S. companies. Some background on the company can be found in the book Leadership Is an Art by Max De Pree, an earlier chairman of the company, reviewed on page 13. A visit to the annual supercomputer meeting ...
DEAR ETHIX
Tailored Internet Pricing It's blasphemous to think that a personal profile can dictate a higher payment for a product for me compared to my neighbor. It is essential that there are limitations placed on companies for this, as it is a discriminatory method. Companies are picking and choosing people to pay more or less for the products they buy, based on previous buying habits. Limitations are necessary to keep the future in line on ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: SuperComputing 2005: Hype Meets Geek, by Albert M. Erisman
SuperComputing 2005 Seattle, Washington November 2005 The international convention was a cross between the academy and an auto show. It had more than 9,000 registered attendees and 200,000 square feet of exhibit space featuring 265 exhibitors from industry and research. Exhibits included hyped presentations introduced with the words, "Step right up for a chance to win a cruise in our drawing at the end of the presentation." Free food and drinks were in abundance. ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Solid Values, Changing Times, with Mike Volkema
Mike Volkema has been chairman of the board of directors for Herman Miller since 2000. He also served the company as chief executive officer from 1995 to 2004. Herman Miller consistently has been named by Fortune magazine as the nation's most admired furniture company, and has been cited by the magazine among the leaders in all industries for innovation and social responsibility. In addition, Business Ethics magazine has unfailingly listed Herman Miller in its ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: The Modern Myth of Work and Life: Looking out for Number One, by David J. Mashburn
What makes a person happier -- seeking fulfillment through self-expression and self-promotion, or contributing to something greater than one's self? Most career books on finding one's purpose in life would suggest that people will experience fulfillment only if they are pursuing their passion or finding a way to express themselves in their work. Advice ranging from "how to market yourself" to "do what you love" have been the predominant messages from the self-proclaimed experts. ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Cray Co-Founder Leaves for Position at Microsoft Cray announced that co-founder and chief scientist Burton Smith will leave December 7 to join Microsoft. Smith will be a technical fellow, said Lou Gellos, a Microsoft spokesman. "The Web is increasingly going to be driven by supercomputers," said Paul Saffo, a technology forecaster in Silicon Valley, California. "This is just the latest chapter in the arms race between Microsoft and Google." (The Seattle Times, November 26, ...
ETHIX FORUM: As wireless capability grows, more people are finding "hot spots" that have been left open by neighbors or nearby businesses. Is there an ethical problem in taking advantage of this "free access?" Why, or why not? ETHIX AT WORK: Trapped by an Employment Contract, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: After receiving an MBA, I wanted to move to the West Coast. I found the perfect position in the city where I wanted to live. The only problem was that in order to work there I had to sign an employee agreement with onerous restrictions on what ...
ETHIX 44 (November 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Many people have heard of Janet Reno, former attorney general of the United States during the Clinton Administration. Few people have heard of Cheryl Broetje, the owner of a nearly one million-tree orchard in Eastern Washington. These two women are the subjects in the IBTE conversations for this issue. In some ways, they are very different. Janet Reno is quiet, soft-spoken, and has a law degree from Harvard. Cheryl Broetje is outgoing and very ...
DEAR ETHIX
Secular Response to Religion in Business Thank you for revealing -- wittingly or otherwise -- the intentions of Ethix.org in the article, "Creating the Right Mix," by Albert Erisman. The case for allowing religion in the workplace was presented with such brief ineptitude that can surely be explained only by the author holding religious views that are substantially stronger than he lets on. Setting aside its poor construction, can it truly be a serious ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Corporate Technology Response to Disasters, by Albert M. Erisman
Natural disasters recently proved they are much more powerful than our modern technology when the tsunami struck Indonesia and Malaysia, the hurricanes hit the Gulf Coast of the United States, and the earthquakes devastated parts of Pakistan and India. But these same events demonstrated clearly that technology can play a significant role in providing warnings as disasters develop, as well as dealing with the cleanup on the other end. Large corporations may be the ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Government and Business in a Technological World, with Janet Reno
Janet Reno was nominated by President Clinton to be the first woman attorney general of the United States. When she left office in 2001, she had become the longest serving U.S. attorney general in the 20th century. In 2002, she ran for governor of Florida as a democrat and lost the nomination. She lives in Miami and pursues issues related to criminal justice reform, workforce education, health care, and the law and technology. She ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: An Orchard With Fruit That Lasts, with Cheryl Broetje
Cheryl Broetje and her husband, Ralph, own and operate Broetje Orchards, which has operated since 1980 along the Snake River in the Southeastern part of Washington state. She and Ralph are the parents of nine children, ages 18 - 35, six of whom are East Indian by birth. They have six grandchildren. Their goal is to use their business to serve the common good. As a result, Vista Hermosa was born to serve an ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
From Prison to CEO The founder of Fog Cutter Capital Group has been reappointed chairman and chief executive after his release from federal prison. After more than 14 months in federal custody, Andrew Wiederhorn returned to Portland this week and was immediately reappointed to the helm of the merchant banking company. Wiederhorn will be allowed to work at Fog Cutter during the day but must live at a halfway house until November 22. He ...
ETHIX FORUM: Do corporations have any responsibility to help use their resources in response to natural disasters such as hurricanes or earthquakes? How do they balance this with their shareholder responsibility? ETHIX AT WORK: Dealing with Back Taxes, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: Our company is 17 years old and currently operates nationally. We provide a service. After 14 years in business, we learned that our service is subject to sales tax in certain states. This was brought to our attention by the state of Texas, which proceeded to bill ...
ETHIX 43 (September 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." wrote George Santayana, a 19th century poet and philosopher. In the past 10 years, business transformed by technology has been on an incredible ride. We have seen the Internet come from the tool of a few specialists to touch large segments of businesses and society. We have seen the dot-boom followed by the dot-bust. We have seen the now well-documented business ethics scandals ...
DEAR ETHIX
Religion in Business Last issue's perspectives of four major world religions was a very helpful reminder that the teachings of these major religions have much in common on the subject of ethics in business. It's naive to believe that all religions are the same and can or should meld into a universal set of common norms. But, where many ethical principles are shared, bridges of relationship can be built, and a respectful and truly ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Finding Best Use for New Technology, by Albert M. Erisman
Even a veteran technologist has to be impressed with the continued breakthroughs made possible by new tools coming from the information technology world. Powerful search capability, wireless communications, and new storage devices are creating change in the way information is handled that rivals the impact of the World Wide Web from a decade ago. But new technology may be far less interesting than what creative people do with it. Usually, there are false starts ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: 'A Father of the Internet' Looks Ahead to New Technology, with Vinton G. Cerf
Vinton G. Cerf is senior vice president of Technology Strategy for MCI. In this role, Cerf is responsible for helping to guide corporate strategy development from the technical perspective. From 1994 to 2003, he served as senior vice president of architecture and technology, moving to a strategic role in mid-2003. Widely known as a "Father of the Internet," Cerf is the co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols and the architecture of the Internet. In December ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Reflections From a Software Pioneer, with Dame Stephanie Shirley
Dame Stephanie Shirley is a highly successful entrepreneur turned ardent philanthropist. Having arrived in Britain as an unaccompanied child refugee from Germany in 1939, she started what is now Xansa on her dining room table with £6 in 1962. In 25 years as its chief executive, she developed it into a leading business technology group, pioneering new work practices and changing the position of professional women (especially in high tech) along the way. Since ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
IDENTITY THEFT Despite the rhetoric about how safe your personal information is with various financial institutions, you can't read the news without hearing about another security breach exposing consumer information to identity thieves. Due to widespread corporate carelessness, the records of more than 46 million Americans were lost or stolen in the first half of 2005. What Is Identity Theft? Identity theft involves acquiring key pieces of someone's identifying information, such as name, address, ...
ETHIX FORUM: Technology has enabled variable product pricing based on your personal profile. You could be charged more (or less) than your neighbor because your buying habits have been captured by the online retailer. Are there limitations that should be placed on this practice by the sellers? By the law? ETHIX AT WORK: Leaving an Unethical Company, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am leaving my employer where I have worked for the last 20 years. My primary reason for leaving is due to the fact that I am now aware of multiple significant cases of fraud with both customers and vendors (upper management is aware of and abetted ...
ETHIX 42 (July 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
In this issue of Ethix we focus on a single topic: religion in business. Religion is the area where issues of right and wrong are discussed, and hence a critical factor in business ethics. Thus this special issue fits within the Ethix framework. The feature conversation is with Laura Nash, Harvard author and researcher in religion and business. To expand from this conversation, we feature essays (or in one case an interview) with a ...
DEAR ETHIX
Starbucks Culture Congratulations on your excellent article on Orin Smith in the March/April issue of Ethix. I am very impressed by a company so committed to a specific and well defined culture (the kind I dream of working in). It is proof that companies can be successful following this enlightened approach as opposed to the old style autocracy I have been accustomed to in my career. Philip M. Bishop Edmonds, WA Medical Automation The ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Creating the Right Mix, by Albert M. Erisman
In this issue, my usual technology column is replaced by my views on the subject of religious expression in business. As an aside, these subjects are not completely distinct. Neil Postman argues in The End of Education, that technology itself is a god for some people: "... people believe technology works, they rely on it, it makes promises, they are bereft when they are denied access to it, they are delighted when they are ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Religion Offers Value(s) for Business, with Laura Nash
Laura Nash is Senior Lecturer on the faculty of Harvard Business School where she concentrates on values and ethical influences in business leadership and corporate culture. Her most recent book, co-authored with Professor Howard Stevenson, is Just Enough: Tools for Creating Success in Your Work and Life, (2004). She is author of six other books, including Good Intentions Aside (1991), Believers in Business (1994), and Church on Sunday, Work on Monday (2001). Ms. Nash ...
ESSAY: Religion & Business: A Jewish Perspective, by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
Rabbi Daniel Lapin is president of Toward Tradition and host of the Toward Tradition Radio Show and his television show currently airing in the Portland/Vancouver market. He was the founding rabbi of Pacific Jewish Center, a legendary Orthodox synagogue in Los Angeles. In 1991, Rabbi Lapin formed Toward Tradition as a national movement of Jews and Christians working to restore America's respect for the dignity and morality of business. Before immigrating to the United ...
ESSAY: Religion & Business: A Buddhist Perspective, by Seamus Phan
Seamus Phan, based in Singapore, is a thought leader on the Internet, digital media, e-learning, knowledge management, business process re-engineering, marketing, and holistic health. He is a frequent keynote speaker, motivational speaker, workshop and meeting facilitator, commissioned writer, journalist, editor, and published author. He is the founder of KnowledgeLabs News Center (http://knowledgelabs.net), a vertical news and research bureau that provides content to print, TV and radio media, as well as an independent broadcaster. He ...
ESSAY: Religion & Business: A Muslim Perspective, by Dr. Muhammad Arif Zakaullah
Dr. Muhammad Arif Zakaullah teaches in the Department of Economics, International Islamic University Malaysia. His research interests include Islamic Economics and Political Economy. In recent years his research and publications have focused on the political economy of the United States. Recently he has published a book entitled The Cross and The Crescent: The Rise of American Evangelicalism and the Future of Muslims. He believes that an objective understanding of the US and the European ...
ESSAY: Religion & Business: A Christian Perspective, by David W. Miller
David W. Miller serves as Executive Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School, and is an Assistant Professor (Adjunct) of Business Ethics. David also leads the Center's "Ethics and Spirituality in the Workplace" program. The mission of the Center is "to promote the practice of faith in all spheres of life through theological research and leadership development." David also teaches business ethics at Yale Divinity School and Yale ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
John Paul showed that religion does have a place in public discourse The New York Times gave front-page coverage to the last illness, death and funeral service of Pope John Paul II, and to the process to the accession of Cardinal Ratzinger as the new Pope. Not even the assassination of President John Kennedy and Lyndon's Johnson's succession to the presidency rated this kind of prolonged banner headline coverage. The Times and other news ...
ETHIX FORUM: Two prominent CEOs have recently been given significant prison terms: Bernie Ebbers (WorldCom) and Dennis Kozlowski (Tyco). What difference do you think this will make in the behavior of business leaders in the future? RESOURCES
In place of our usual InReview section, we have provided a small number of resources connecting business and religion, primarily linked to authors in this issue of Ethix. There is a large and growing volume of books in this area. Pete Hammond, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, has compiled a list of books from the intersection of Christian faith and business that has passed 2000 volumes dating back to 1932. Other faiths appear to have a ...
ETHIX 41 (May 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
In a recent letter, a reader said he appreciated what we do in Ethix, but wasn't sure he understood how all of the pieces fit together. What is the cohesive theme behind an article on technology, a review of a book on leadership, and a conversation with an executive in health care? This is an important question that we had answered implicitly for ourselves, but it caused us to make this purpose much more ...
DEAR ETHIX
Failed Electronic Transaction I enjoyed reading about your failed electronic transaction. Probably many readers have had similar experiences (I have), but I believe you persisted far more than most people would. Just look at all the valuable things you learned for only $22! If you enrolled in a designer seminar for the same information, you would expect to pay many times more. ;-) Bill McNeely Bellevue, WA I just got your latest Ethix; it ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Digital Medical Care?, by Albert M. Erisman
Imagine the possibilities if health care entered the digital age. X-rays, MRIs, prescriptions, and patient health records could all be in digital form, and could be moved electronically when and where they are needed. Teleconferencing could allow your current doctor to enter into real time discussion with a local doctor about a particular medical problem you are experiencing half a world away, but with access to all records. Remote monitoring could free up hospital ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Focus on ethics and technology in health care
Technology Watch--Information technology in health care--from electronic medical records to remote monitoring to collaboration over distance--can be applied to saving costs, saving time, and saving lives. There are great possibilities, but a number of barriers as well: standards, security, privacy, and usability. All have been addressed by other industries as they have moved to the digital world, but there are some critical nuances in health care that must be considered. Beyond the technology challenge ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Protecting Customers, Managing Growth at TriWest, with David J. McIntyre, Jr.
David J. McIntyre, Jr., is president and CEO of TriWest Healthcare Alliance. McIntyre was the chief architect of the strategic vision behind TriWest Healthcare Alliance and has led the company since its inception. The privately held company, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona, is owned by fifteen Blue Cross Blue Shield plans and two university hospital systems and is the tenth largest federal government contractor. Its primary line of business is serving the health ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Patients or Profits?, with Donald C. Labourr
Donald C. Labourr graduated from the University of Vermont in 1975 with a B.S. in physical therapy. He completed requirements for certification in athletic training at the University of Virginia, and was the assistant athletic trainer for the University of Washington from 1975-1978. Don started the Sports Medicine Clinic at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle and worked there until 1994 when he entered the corporate world. Don spent seven years as a ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: Why Rest?, by Lisa Klein Surdyk
So often, our "24/7" lifestyles (24 hrs/day, 7days/week) leave us feeling overworked and unable to balance all facets of life. The urgent takes precedent over the important. We may feel guilty if we take time off. Many books and articles discuss how to better manage our time to reduce stress, but few suggest that the answer is more rest! Call me crazy, but I advocate taking a 24-hour break each week from normal work ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
ChoicePoint Slow to Acknowledge Data Theft In October 2004, hackers gained access to the databases of ChoicePoint, a data collection company located in Atlanta, Georgia. ChoicePoint gathers very personal data on people throughout the U.S. using advanced data mining techniques, and then sells the data to credit providers, landlords, government agencies, and anyone who wants to buy the data. Estimates range from 145,000 to 400,000 people became vulnerable to identity fraud due to this ...
ETHIX FORUM: Often religion is regarded as a taboo subject in places of business. Yet since religion is the source for making decisions of right and wrong for many people, should this taboo be reconsidered in light of the ethical failures in business? If so, what guidelines would you suggest? ETHIX AT WORK: Is this Termination Fair and Right?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I work for a small non-profit. Yesterday one of our employees was asked to leave after she had been told her position would last till the end of the year. She was hired a year and a half ago as the house parent for a small maternity ...
ETHIX 40 (March 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Coffee is big business these days. It is also multinational. In addition, coffee houses are the hub of business activity for many entrepreneurs. Starbucks is the leading player in this world-wide movement, and in this issue we sat down with Orin Smith, their CEO, to learn the inside story. Order a grande latte and enjoy the account. A synopsis of this conversation can be found in a new feature, The Executive Summary. For a ...
DEAR ETHIX
Good Ethics is Good Business? I just read the article you wrote on the use of technology in China. You asked why most of these jobs have been eliminated by technology in many parts of the world but not in China. Cheap labor probably is one reason that the company does not want to install technology. However, the first four examples you gave are examples of government working positions. The government has been reluctant ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Who is to Blame for Failed Electronic Transactions?, by Albert M. Erisman
It was only $22, not much in the broader scheme of things. But I tell the following true story to illustrate some important points about business ethics in an age of technology. Closing a Credit Card It started in June 2003, when I decided to open a Visa credit card with United Airlines, because I am a frequent flier and wanted to add to my mileage total. Since I stopped using the Bank of ...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: IBTE Conversation with Orin Smith
As Starbucks grows rapidly around the world, maintaining our culture is the number one focus. Our culture starts at the top. Since you can't really know someone's values until you see them in action everyday, and since this values fit is so important, I've had to dismiss more people for values fit than any other reason. Getting the values right means treating the people that work for you well. We work hard at creating ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Managing Growth and Leadership Change at Starbucks, with Orin C. Smith
Orin C. Smith is President and Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of Starbucks Coffee Company. He joined Starbucks as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer in 1990, when the company had 45 stores located mostly in the Pacific Northwest. In 1994, he became President and Chief Operating Officer with full profit and loss responsibilities; in 2000, he became Chief Executive Officer. He is slated to retire March 31, ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Blending Captalism & Philanthropy, with John Sage, CEO, Pura Vida
John Sage is a co-founder and President of Pura Vida Coffee. The company was founded in 1998 by John and his partner, Chris Dearnley, and serves a "funding engine" designed to generate ongoing financial support for a wide range of charitable organizations. Pura Vida ("Pure Life") Coffee produces co-branded coffees for such partners as Habitat for Humanity and World Vision. and donates 100% of net income to benefit at-risk children living in coffee growing ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Multinational Companies Unite to Fight Bribery Some of the world's largest construction and natural resource companies, their industries beset by corruption investigations around the globe, are starting to coalesce around a plan to clean house themselves. CEOs of Newmont Mining Corporation of Denver, Rio Tinto PLC of London, and Bechtel Corporation of San Fransisco, global leaders of their industries, are signing onto a "zero tolerance" pact against paying bribes, being sponsored by a coalition ...
ETHIX FORUM: Does good ethics make good business? All the time, mostly, or sometimes? Why? ETHIX AT WORK, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I understand the virtue of acting ethically in business when you have a reasonable profit and are at a reasonable size. But what about a business that is just starting up? I am a struggling entrepreneur, and right now our sole effort is trying to survive as ...
ETHIX 39 (January 2005)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
We recently did a survey of readers, looking for suggestions of what they would like to see in Ethix. One idea came up several times--could we feature a conversation with a person lower in the organization who is dealing with issues "from the middle," not just with the person at the top of the organization. This is a great idea, but difficult because people in the middle often cannot speak their mind as freely. ...
DEAR ETHIX
Technology in China I read with interest the observations that were posted by Dr. Albert M. Erisman because I live in India which has similar issues facing the country as does China, and the movement of jobs offshore to India from the west in recent years has been the topic of debate. Also, China has in recent decades made significant economic progress and for this reason, is often the subject of many discussions in ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Getting Rid of Old Technology, by Albert M. Erisman
When we think about "watching" technology, we often associate that with looking to the future. What is coming down the road that will affect us? But we seldom look at the companion problem of phasing out old technology. When it is time to upgrade to new technology, how do we get rid of the old? It turns out this problem offers significant challenges on three distinct levels: The components of technology (e.g., a new ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Courage in an Ethical Crisis, with Bob Wright
Bob Wright is the Chief Executive Officer of Matthew G. Norton Company and its subsidiary company, Northwest Building LLC. Bob is responsible for strategic initiative, direction, acquisition and divestitures, portfolio strategy, asset allocation, risk management, and capital allocation within the company. He also takes an active role in the day-to-day operations of both companies. His experience prior to Matthew G. Norton includes serving as the Regional Managing Partner of Tax for Arthur Andersen and ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Sarbanes-Oxley Act Passes First Court Test A federal judge has rejected a challenge by fired HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrusy to the new corporate fraud law aimed at top executives, which was adopted after a series of major accounting scandals. Under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, a public company's top executives are required to vouch for the company's financial reports. Scrushy last year became the first CEO charged under Sarbanes-Oxley. Free on a $10 million bond, he ...
ETHIX FORUM: What one recommendation would you make to company managers who want to help build a more ethical company? ETHIX AT WORK, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: A colleague and I created some technology that could be the basis for a great company. We have several joint patents and began the pursuit of our market using this intellectual property. When we formed the small company I allowed him to bring his brother in as ...
ETHIX 38 (November 2004)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
This special issue on Asia is a result of two major trips I took in the past quarter. The first was twenty-five days in Southeast Asia, with a team of eight including several MBA students. For our research in conjunction with Eagles Communications in Singapore, we interviewed 54 business leaders in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok, exploring with them their approach to handling difficult personnel situations. John Terrill (the director of graduate and professional ...
DEAR ETHIX
Response to Lavengood I was pleasantly surprised to find an article by Lawrence Lavengood in the July/August issue. I was a student of Professor Lavengood at the joint Northwestern and Tel Aviv University's MBA program called Kellogg-Recanati. I was in the first class (1996-8) of this first-class regional bridge-building education program for Palestinian and Israeli executives alike. Professor Lavengood is a legend in his own right. A management scholar, an outstanding professor, and a ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Technology Observations from China, by Albert M. Erisman
My recent visit to China provided a stunning object lesson on the relationships between technology, jobs, and outsourcing. Of course, two weeks in Beijing and Xi'An, reading a few books, and talking with business leaders does not make me an expert on business in China. But as Yogi Berra, philosopher and former baseball player said, "You can observe a lot by watching," and that's what I did. Here's what I concluded. Observations on Technology ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Malaysian Reflections from KFC, Pizza Pioneer, with Dato' George Ting
Dato' George Ting Yew Tong, Chairman of Carlingford Village Shopping Centre (Sydney) and Impress Eight (Malaysia), was the Executive Director/President, Fast food Division of KFC Holdings (Malaysia), spearheading the KFC and Pizza Hut brands. Currently he is also the controlling shareholder of the Shakey's Pizza chain of restaurants in Malaysia. The past twenty-five years he was instrumental in the development and accelerated growth of the KFC restaurant chain in Malaysia and Singapore, and as ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: A Malaysian CEO Perspective on Bribery and Business, with Dato' T.N. Loy
Dato' T.N. Loy is President and CEO of MBf Corporation in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is also Chairman, Executive Committee of Taylor's Education Group (Taylor's). MBf Corporation is an investment holding company representing leisure and tourism services, financial services, and real estate. Taylor's is Malaysia's premier private education group providing education services in the form of private schools, preuniversity courses, and university degrees. Dato' T.N. Loy's family controls both the unrelated MBf Corporation and ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: China Shougang - Reducing Pollution, Promoting Ethics, with Jimin Zhu
Jimin Zhu is the chairman of the board of Shougang Corporation (formerly known as Capital Iron and Steel), the third largest steel producer in China. As late as 2001, Shougang was referred to as "the major source of industrial pollution in the Chinese capital." Today, Shougang remains the third largest steel producer in China, where building projects are everywhere. But they are cleaning up their steel production, diversifying their portfolio, and establishing management practices ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Intellectual Property Issues in China Chinese auto makers have realized the importance of independent research and development from the arising intellectual property rights (IPR) disputes. "We must respect others' intellectual property rights and try to create our own through learning from and cooperation with them," said Xu Gang, chief executive officer of Geely, a private car maker in East China's Zhejiang Province. Geely, which is one of a few Chinese auto makers making its ...
ETHIX AT WORK: Who?s Responsible for Product Misuse?, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I work as a mid-level executive for an American company that sells sensitive electronics parts internationally. By U.S. law, we are required to work out agreements with our customers, and then audit these agreements regarding their use of the product they purchase. Recently the data made it ...
ETHIX 37 (September 2004)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
The IBTE Conversationin this issue introduces John Medina, a molecular biologist who studies the brain and applies this study to early childhood development. He was the founder of Talaris Institute; some of the exciting results of their work can be found on their website. So what is the connection to business, technology, and ethics? Reading News Notables (see p. 17), with a small sampling of recent executive misbehavior, might suggest it is executives behaving ...
DEAR ETHIX
Email for Business I enjoyed your article, "Making Email Work for Business." You (and those you quote) rightly note the problematic tendency to view email as a "personal productivity tool" rather than the "repository of corporate data" that it is. In fact, as you illustrate from your own experience at Boeing, employees tend to write emails without realizing that their text, even though in email and not on letterhead, is still a representation of ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Challenge at the Intersection, by Albert M. Erisman
At the intersection of technology and ethics lies a challenging set of problems. Using the broadest definition of technology, the problems include issues in genetic engineering, the environment, medical- and bioethics, nuclear power, nanotechnology, and weapons of mass destruction to name a few. Even when technology is narrowed to information technology, the set of issues remains large, including piracy, privacy, pornography, hacking, identity, and intellectual property. Information technology will be my focus in this ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: What Every Business Person Should Know About the Brain, with John J. Medina
Dr. John J. Medina is a developmental molecular biologist with special research interests in the isolation and characterization of genes involved in human brain development and the genetics of psychiatric disorders. He is founding director of the Talaris Research Institute, a non-profit research center focused on the science of infant brain development and the transformation of such investigations into practical tools for parents and educators. Prior to founding Talaris, Dr. Medina was a private ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: The Tripartite War Against Spam, by Seamus Phan
If spam emails only present an occasional, infrequent nuisance, most people would simply delete such emails and get on with work and life. However, depending on which analyst you speak to, between 40 percent and up to 80 percent of incoming emails may be unsolicited bulk email. Worse, if spam only contains content we did not consent to or care for, that is just a tedious matter of deleting them into the Trash mailbox. ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: Personal Responsibility in the Age of Narcissism: a Remedy for Boredom and Meaninglessness, by David J. Mashburn
Organizations have responsibility for creating the conditions that enable employees to achieve success and job satisfaction, as I discussed in the May/June issue. One rather skeptical senior manager responded, "So what? There are countless individuals who would rather spend their day playing solitaire regardless of how well senior management creates the conditions of a thriving culture." This legitimate question highlights a far too common problem. What is the responsibility of the individual (middle manager, ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Unfazed by Conviction, Firm Keeping CEO on the Payroll Unlike many fellow inmates, Andrew Wiederhorn won't have to worry about finding a job when he is released from federal prison. In fact, the chief executive of Fog Cutter Capital Group will be making $2.5 million while he serves his 18-month sentence. His company's board of directors voted to keep Wiederhorn on the payroll and even make him eligible for a bonus after he pleaded ...
ETHIX FORUM: What do you find to be your major source of workplace stress? What do you do about it? ETHIX AT WORK: A Book Buyer in the Middle, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: I am a middle manager in a large retail book store with responsibility as a buyer. I feel caught in the middle. In general, I like my job very much, but I am faced with a conflict over a small percent of the books I need to ...
ETHIX 36 (July 2004)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Government plays a unique and important role in the management and execution of business. Dennis Bakke, in the IBTE Conversation last issue, said: To operate business ... you need to have the rule of law. You have to have a legal system that enforces agreements. In this issue we decided, for the first time, to get the perspective of an elected government official. For the IBTE Conversation, we talked with U.S. Senator Susan Collins, ...
DEAR ETHIX
Managing Spam As a heavy email user, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the volume and content of spam I get. I, too, had thought of the idea of charging for each email (as suggested by Bill Gates in Technology Watch, Issue 35). The way I thought about implementing this was through the service provider. The service provider would charge a minimal fee for the basic connection and web access. Email would not be free ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Making Email Work for Business, by Albert M. Erisman
Email has burst on the business landscape only in the past fifteen years, and businesses are still trying to figure out the proper role for this powerful tool. Certainly spam, the subject of my column last issue, is one factor that undermines its effectiveness. I will survey some other factors here. The bottom line is that email for business use is still rather immature, and there is a need to establish practices within companies, ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Can Government Mandate Ethics?, with Susan M. Collins
Susan M. Collins was elected to represent the State of Maine in the U.S. Senate in 1996 and was reelected to a second term in 2002. She is the fifteenth woman to be elected to the Senate in her own right. Senator Collins, a Republican, serves as the Chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, one of twelve major committees in the U.S Senate. This committee has jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security and ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: Doing Good While Doing Well in the Social Environment of Business, by Lawrence G. Lavengood
Operating within the environment of market capitalism, as it exists in North America and elsewhere, any legitimate business doing well financially must be advancing social good also. This is true because society demands it, arranging rules and opportunities to make it happen. From society's perspective, the purpose of a business system is to promote social well-being. Society's political processes, which sanction how economic resources are allocated, developed, made usable and distributed, ordain the composition ...
NEWS NOTABLES, by Roger Eigsti
Spitzer Files Suit Seeking Millions of Grasso Money New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued the New York Stock Exchange, former exchange Chairman Dick Grasso, and the Wall Street executive who headed its compensation committee. He wants Mr. Grasso to return more than $100 million for the $200 million-plus in salary, retirement pay, bonuses, benefits, and potential severance payments that the Big Board gave or promised him. Spitzer said Grasso had "absolute power" to ...
ETHIX FORUM: What is government's proper role in legislating ethical behavior for business? ETHIX AT WORK: A Client's Unlicensed Software, by Kenman Wong
If you have an ethical dilemma at your workplace, email Ethics at Work (eaw@ethix.org). We will publish some of these in Ethix along with our diagnosis. DILEMMA: In our technology consulting business we have concrete guidelines concerning abiding by software license agreements. Our policy is that we do not install or support unlicensed software for any client. However, we sometimes become aware of software our client is using without a valid license, but the ...
ETHIX 35 (May 2004)
NOTES FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, by Albert M. Erisman
Dennis Bakke offers a refreshing and unusual look at business in his candid discussion starting on p. 6. Bakke was co-founder of AES Corporation, an international independent energy provider. He was one time quoted as saying, "Enron is trying to conquer the world; we are trying to serve the world." We allowed more space for this discussion than we usually do, because we believe Bakke offers some insights for business that need to be ...
DEAR ETHIX
A Perspective on Globalization "Globalization" is a term used to describe world-wide trade. It increases the income and standard of living (including better environmental safeguards) for underdeveloped countries, while offering goods and services at lower costs to more highly developed countries. On the macro scale, it is win-win. On the micro scale, there are losers...inefficient, high cost producers. They can win, but only if they will adapt to the realities of their cost structure. ...
TECHNOLOGY WATCH: Understanding and Dealing with Spam, by Albert M. Erisman
When I was a kid I was frequently served Spam, the canned meat product from Hormel. The name is a shortened form of "spiced ham." I admit I was never very fond of Spam, though I guess it has some nutritional value at low cost. In this era of email, "spam" has taken on a whole new meaning, and all of us using email have to deal with it. The old Spam looks like ...
THE ETHIX CONVERSATION: Creating Real Fun at Work, with Dennis Bakke
Dennis Bakke is the President and CEO of Imagine Schools, an education service provider that operates K--12 public charter and independent schools nationwide. Prior to starting Imagine Schools, Bakke was Co-Founder, President and CEO of the AES Corporation (AES). He was President and CEO of the company from 1994 to 2002. Formed in 1981 to generate and sell electricity, AES has grown into a leading global power company with businesses in over 30 countries, ...
A PERSPECTIVE FROM ASIA: More than Just Antivirus Software, by Seamus Phan
One Asia vendor's Southeast Asia spokesperson purported that the total damage for global businesses due to malware (the term describing damaging software worms, Trojan horses, viruses, and the like) reached US$55 billion in the year 2003. But there isn't any independent research to back up the claim. It brings to mind the U.S. Air Force's reference to the "false authority syndrome," where sometimes an office holder can present himself as an authority simply by ...
ETHICS FOR BUSINESS: Right Questions Key to Hiring for Ethics, by Michael S. Erisman
Michael Erisman has been a human resources leader for General Electric, Pepsi, and Qwest, and is currently a Vice President for Human Resources with H & R Block in Kansas City, MO. Whether a corporation operates in an ethical manner rests ultimately with its people. Despite what cultu |