Practical Business Ethics for the Busy Manager

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book For People Who Want to Promote Positive Change
Review: As a manager in the corporate world, I found this book extremely helpful in planning ethics training for my organization. This book is outstanding for managers, professors and employees who want to promote positive change. I found the "Moral Mentors" material to be especially useful. That material (in Chapter Five) is a perfect antidote to employees who may be tempted to feel victimized by poisonous corporate cultures. The "moral mentors" material teaches managers and employees to ask themselves, "How can I make a difference?" This book lets managers and employees know what steps to take to make a difference. It also provides practical steps for individuals faced with ethical dilemmas at work. I was inspired by the book and recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: The most jouvenile disappointing book on ethics to date.
Review: As a university professor whom has reviewed many practical business ethics texts, I was thoroughly disappointed, sometimes angered by the statements and theories laid out by this book. It is so bad and incorrect, that it speaks for itself. I.E.,in chapter 5, statements such as, "ideal moral mentors exist" are contradicted with, "Additionally, individuals who pin all their hopes and dreams onto a particular kind of boss or leader show their own immaturity and narcissism. We should all practice saying, "I'm not that special. I'm not entitled to the perfect job, the perfect boss, or the ideal moral mentor." It is unrealistic to keep searching for the ideal moral mentor."
I found that statement to be insulting, inaccurate while being extremely narrow minded. To put it quite simply, I would steer very clear of this title. I made the misteak of selecting it one semester, only to discover very early on, that it actually turned off students from Ethics, depressing them, some even told me it made business ethics seem like a joke that should not be taken seriously. I would have to fully agree here and would recommend to anyone, especially a university undergrad class or those who will be giving individuals their first experience with business ethics to chose one of the more costly selections as this one undermines the credibility of the field of "practical" rather than "theoretical" business ethics, essentially turning it into a joke, which in reality is the last thing an educator and practicioner in the field would desire.