Ethics on The Job by Pfeiffer and Forsberg - Book Report/Review Example

? Book review: “Ethics on The Job” by Pfeiffer and Forsberg 28 August Introduction Numerous business and job ethics books have already been published and one of them is “Ethics on The Job” by Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005). This book is already on its third edition, and it includes new sections, such as new business cases that involve nepotism, union negotiations, workplace harassment, and environmental concerns, as well as the ethics of capitalism, where insights on trust, justice, truth and competition are explored. The authors recommended their RESOLVEDD strategy of ethical decision-making. It is a problem-solving method that can be applied to diverse business ethical scenarios. This strategy has a stakeholder approach to ethical analysis and aims to weigh conflicting rights and values. This paper explores the strengths and weaknesses of the book as a reference for business and management students. Based on the book review, this book is best for undergraduate business, management, marketing, and other business-related courses, because it provides a brief overview of business ethics and provides pragmatic solutions to different business cases. Main Arguments The main argument of Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) is that when surmounting ethical challenges, employees and the management should use critical thinking in determining all conflicting rights and values, before choosing which ones have to be upheld. The decision for the resolution must consider different oppositions and diverse alternatives. Furthermore, Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) wants stakeholders to collaborate together in making long-term solutions. They are teaching business and management students to not have a myopic view of ethical dilemmas. Sometimes, it is too easy to focus on organizational loyalty over employee or community loyalty, without considering the repercussions of a one-sided analysis, but such a myopic view will produce other problems and render more problematic business decisions. Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) also asserted that corporations and businesses, in general, have a moral responsibility. They cannot detach themselves from the moral implications and consequences of their business operations and decisions. Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) believed that corporations consists of human beings who should be mindful of their business actions and thinking. They recommended the use of ethical principles, rights, and values in making the right business decisions, so that managers and employees can have the tools for making ethical decisions for different levels (i.e. management or individual levels). Strengths Content The first strength of the book is that it is a book on applied ethics. It does not focus on explaining diverse theoretical and philosophical approaches to ethical decision-making, but instead, it devotes itself to different cases that tackle diverse ethical scenarios. It provides numerous cases that will expose students to different kinds of individual, team, and organization-level ethical dilemmas. This way, Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) are training students on how to view and analyze different ethical challenges that they may face in real life. Through different cases, students will also become updated with emerging ethical issues, such as environmental, technological, and multicultural ethical concerns. They will understand that global, regional, and national events and conditions also impact local business ethical problems. The second strength of the book is that it offers a workable decision-making framework for students. The RESOLVEDD strategy defines stakeholders and their conflicting principles, rights, and values, which is essential in understanding the problem at hand. A complete understanding of the problem can lead to a more comprehensive analysis of the ethical dilemma and will help determine more potential alternative solutions. Win-win solutions can be better viewed, when all conditions and stakeholders are considered. Ferrell and Ferrell (2009) highlighted the importance of having a stakeholder orientation to problem-solving, because it “considers the interests of all individuals and groups to whom the business is responsible” (p.258), and helps prevent future moral and legal issues. “Ethics on The Job” provides a practical problem-solving framework that aims to identify and engage stakeholders. This indicates that the RESOLVEDD strategy can provide solutions that stakeholders can accept and apply. Form The chapters of the book are organized according to principles, values, discussion of the RESOLVEDD strategy, and applications through business cases. It is organized in a way that can be read and understood easily, because ethical frameworks are discussed first. This organization lays the groundwork for basic ethical beliefs and principles. Chapter two on “Ethical Principles” explains the importance of ethical principles, moral rules, rights, and duties. It also compels readers to identify the conflict between justice, value, and self-interest. The final chapters are diverse business case applications that will prepare students for similar scenarios. Managers can also use these cases in resolving their real-life cases that are similar or related to these cases. For instance, several cases explore management and human resource scenarios, while other cases deal with questions of customers as being right all the time and conflicting loyalties. These diverse cases will help students and existing first-level managers to understand what they have to consider when analyzing ethical problems and thinking of ethical resolutions. In addition, “Ethics on The Job” connects its first chapter with its strategy and applications. This connection provides a sense of coherence and unity to the subjects discussed. It means that ethical principles, rights, and duties are discussed first as concepts, before they are applied to business cases. This discussion helps students understand what the authors mean by principles, rights, and duties, when discussing its RESOLVEDD strategy. Writing Style The authors have written the book in a concise and engaging manner. Each chapter is discussed in a concise manner, so that more material can be used in explaining their RESOLVEDD strategy and its applications. The content is easy to understand and there are enough illustrations to break the eye strain from reading pure text. Finally, they have written sample cases that can truly happen in the real world, such as “Drug Tests as Preventative Maintenance.” They even deal with global ethical issues, such as “Abracadabra! A Challenge to Anti-Nepotism Policies Abroad.” Their writing style engages students to think critically about these cases, so that they can come up with viable alternative solutions. Weaknesses Content The first weakness of the book is its background explanation of theoretical foundations of ethics and so lecturers should provide additional readings and books on this subject matter. For instance, lecturers can recommend the book “Business, Ethics, and the Environment: Imagining a Sustainable Future” by Desjardins (2007). This book focuses on the concept of sustainable development and it argues that corporations can and should integrate sustainable development concepts and principles, when tackling ethical dilemmas. This text also questions “[unqualified] economic growth and undirected economic growth” (p.10), since it will not yield sustainable gains in the long run and it lacks an ethical compass. This book can supplement “Ethics on The Job” in terms of exploring other theoretical frameworks and concepts. Lecturers can also add more theoretical and philosophical concepts of ethics that will help expand the theory of business ethics. This can include books that provide overviews on stakeholder analysis, utilitarianism, and Kantian ethics, for instance. Books on different cultures and their own ethical beliefs and principles will also enhance understanding of how culture impacts ethical frameworks across the world. This can help future expatriate managers in dealing with cross-cultural ethical dilemmas. Finally, even when “Ethics on The Job” discussed its RESOLVEDD strategy to handle conflicting rights and values, it has not provided other potential objections to its own underlying principles and values. It is interesting how this strategy seeks to define and handle objections to the principles and values that decision-makers will uphold, but the authors did not examine objections to its own decision-making strategy. For instance, Pfeiffer and Forsberg (2005) should have further discussed the underlying values and rights of their own framework and how they plan to handle objections. Every decision-making framework has a philosophical basis that must be discussed and defended further, so that its empirical validity and reliability can be enhanced. It will also be useful to test the RESOLVEDD strategy in different business and management journals, where it is applied to real-life business cases. This will remarkably enhance the validity and reliability of the framework in addressing ethical dilemmas. Conclusion The main strengths of the “Ethics on The Job” is its applied ethics content, workable RESOLVEDD decision-making framework, coherent chapters, and brief and engaging treatment of business ethics. The primary weaknesses of the book are its lack of further explanation of theoretical and philosophical issues and concepts and authors no longer dealt with potential objections to their RESOLVEDD decision-making framework. It is recommended for lecturers to supplement this book with other ethics and business ethics books and journals. “Ethics on The Job” provides a good reference for applied ethics. It is best for undergraduate business, management, marketing, and other business-related courses, because it provides a brief overview of business ethics and provides pragmatic solutions to different business cases. The book can also be enjoyed by managers with no business management education and would want a practical reference in making ethical business decisions. The concise and direct-to-the-point writing of the book will be useful for these kinds of managers too. Hence, “Ethics on The Job” remains a useful textbook for undergraduate business and marketing students and managers who are interested in finding pragmatic ways of dealing with complex ethical scenarios. References Desjardins, J.R. (2007). Business, ethics, and the environment: Imagining a sustainable future. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall. Ferrell, L. & Ferrell, O.C. (2009). An enterprise-wide strategic stakeholder approach to sales ethics. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 17 (3/4), 257-270. Pfeiffer, R.S. & Forsberg, R.P. (2005). Ethics on the job: Cases and strategies. California: Wadsworth. Read More