Customer Reviews

Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases (6th Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent. A practical book written by academics. Many books on ethics are hard to read because of the intellectual gymnastics required. Those written by consultants and journalists are often of the cookbook type and artificial. This book is therefore not only usefulfor students but also for businessmen and consultants. This book focuses on decision making within a clearly defined framework with good definitions of the concepts used. It also includes a very good description of relevant laws in the USA. I did not realise that laws regulate so many ethical business issues. For example " The Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organisations" provide a very good framework to any company that wants to act ethically. Business ethics as defined in the book does not include obeying the law, which I think is correct. Each chapter starts with a practical but imagined case. Many of the cases deal with breaking the law or not. For example "analyse the ethical implication of a woman having to decide whether to go to bed with her boss as that is the condition be puts on her being promoted". Or " what are the ethical implications of dumping toxic substances in the river if you can get away with it by bribing the inspector". One of the principles of the book is that it does not prescribe any solutions. I think that this is pushed too far in many of these cases. I see no point in analysing the ethical implications of breaking the law. My recommendation is to eliminate all of these cases or rewrite them. However, the 15 actual legal cases are useful. They show how difficult it can be to determine what is an ethical and what is a legal issue. The subject of moral philosophies is covered in 16 pages. The authors correctly state that it is impossible to deal with this subject in any depth. The risk with this chapter is that the simplifications made are so extreme that the reader may think he has understood the essence of this topic. That is however very far from reality. These criticisms should however not discourage potential buyers of the book. Overall it is very good.

I have used this text twice in the past as a text for a graduate level course in business ethics at a university in Southern California. I will be using it again this fall and winter. I find that it has a good discussion of theory salted with good real life examples. The long cases are a little dated now, three years after publication, but still are very illustrative. (Some still have "action" occurring even now in the real world.) Within each chapter are an "Ethical Dilemma" (short case) and "A Real-Life Situation" (two-to-three page case) that help to stimulate discussion and to employ principles learned so far in the text. My students have indicated that they like this text. Obviously I do as well!

As a business ethics consultant, I read many books on the subject. This is one of the few books that I recommend clients and their human resources professionals read. It is well written and contains excellent information. The hypothetical ethics scenarios are very well thought out. What I like most about this book is that it is organized in such a smart, logical manner - one concept logically follows another. It starts with the basic concepts of what are ethics, business ethics and social responsibility, provides some history on the development of business ethics, and takes off from there. I highly recommend this book for anyone with an interest (or who should have an interest!) in business ethics.

This book was part of my Professional Ethics class. I have to say I was very skeptical (as the textbooks are never fun and one guy gave it a poor review) at first. However, after reading the book I have learned a lot. Ethics is not a matter of conservative or liberal (if that's true than god himself has to be a liberal not to mention bible talked about ethical behavior too). This book focused on why we need ethics in business and how proper ethics enforcement can save a business from corruption and other questionable behavior which eventually may bring down a business (think Enron). It talked about both sides and didn't force someone's opinion on us rather helped us make our own decision which will be ethical and benefiting to the business. Although it was my text book I'd recommend this book to anyone as part of business strategy making.

Although some of the ideas in this book may sound utopian to many readers, those who apply, even one-half of those ideas, in their business dealings will create an unsurmountable competitive advantage. Business Ethics: Ethical Decisions and Cases is a book that every business leader needs to read. This is because it is essential for business leaders to understand and apply the intertwining and inseperability of ethics, law, leadership and competitiveness. These are essential to the needs of every firm dealing with stiff competition today, when it seems that winners are taking all. In fact, as the acclaimed Professor Magaret Neal of Stanford Business School stressed, "winners don't take all."

Notwithstanding the always-talked-about need for business leaders to operate responsibly, many leaders are falling prey to the dog-eat-dog business world, where there seems to be no conscience. This book challenges those who might think that competition has turned so nasty that only the toughest and wiliest players will prevail. The fact is that those firms that strictly adhere to ethical principles espoused here, by Ferrell, Fraedrich and Ferrel, are driving more sustainable growth. The winning leaders know they are required to make sound ethical decisions throughout their careers. They view economics, law and ethics concurrently when making decisions. No doubt, this work in the areas of Ethics, Law & Leadership has provoked a lot of interest and challenge to some business leaders who find themselves dealing with a lot of conflicting issues today; and where ethical "maybes" are more prevalent than before.

It's a great book that would have saved some heahaches for companies like:

Enron®

Tyco®

Arthur Andersen®

Halliburton®

WorldCom®

Global Crossing®

Dynergy®

Qwest®

Sunbeam®

HP®

Readers will remember the hard lessons learned by the leaders of the above companies, who cared less about ethics and fairness. It's a must-read. [Nwankama W Nwankama]

The book contains a wealth of useful and helpful information and ideas on business ethics. As a manager you bring with you your own concept of what is right and what is wrong to your organisation. Every decision that you make is the application of these values to the question at hand. This is made more difficult by the pressures of organisational life. These are the pressures of rapid changes, the pressure for greater productivity, competition and superiors, among others. Sometimes managers make decisions which conflict with their own or society's values because of what they see as the pressures of the business world. Dealing with ethical and moral issues is often perplexing.

This excellent book provides guidance on how we should think through an ethical issue, the questions we should ask and the factors that we should consider and how we can ensure that corporate social responsibility issues receive the attention they deserve.

The book is well written in an easy to follow and understand format. The author methodically explains the various ethical concepts and issues including the ethical approaches and provides handy and helpful guidance on how businesses can act ethically whilst ensuring that it meets its profit objectives.

This book was part of my Professional Ethics class. I have to say I was very skeptical (as the textbooks are never fun and one guy gave it a poor review) at first. However, after reading the book I have learned a lot. Ethics is not a matter of conservative or liberal (if that's true than god himself has to be a liberal not to mention bible talked about ethical behavior too). This book focused on why we need ethics in business and how proper ethics enforcement can save a business from corruption and other questionable behavior which eventually may bring down a business (think Enron). It talked about both sides and didn't force someone's opinion on us rather helped us make our own decision which will be ethical and benefiting to the business. Although it was my text book I'd recommend this book to anyone as part of business strategy making.

I like the book, it gives very clear meaning so it is easy to understand. The price for the book is just right for a college student.

The seller was very customer service oriented. She even shipped the product with online tracking for usps. The product exceeded all expectations (perfect condition, could easily be described as new)--shipped and received in 6 days