Improving Business Ethics: The President's Lonely Task
John I. Reynolds is a Professor of Management and Business Analysis and Research at Texas A&M University. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Princeton, an M.B.A. from Harvard and a D.B.A. from Harvard. His work has been published in the Academy of Management Review, Business Horizons, Logistics Spectrum and Business Logistics. There has never been a shortage of calls for the ethical improvement of business decisions. Few couch the issue, in the apocalyptic terms of Robert L. Heilbroner, as a &dquo;long-run challenge to a business civilization,&dquo;’ but no one who has thought deeply about the problem treats it lightly. Some think of it as a need for &dquo;social responsibility&dquo; in business; others are more concerned with &dquo;morality&dquo; or &dquo;justice&dquo; in an absolute sense. Few people, in or out of the ranks of management, are completely satisfied with the status quo. But there is a great deal of controversy over how to effect the needed changes. .
Management priorities and management ethics
The management process affects the level of ethical performance in organizational life. As one part of this process, managers establish priorities which give direction to an organization. In business firms, management typically stresses the attainment of profits and other related economic and technical factors. Since little explicit recognition is given to ethics, the resulting climate makes it easy to ignore ethical factors. Changing this situation by making ethics a significant part of the corporate culture is difficult and requires a combination of management communication and management example. However, managers who choose to emphasize ethics and who skillfully articulate their importance can improve the integration of ethics into the day-to-day operating decisions of the firm.
Movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection
Purpose – To address the UNLV Libraries movement toward a predominantly electronic journal collection including evaluation of library collection and reevaluation of organizational structure, staff resources and workflow to find the best ways to provide library users with timely and reliable access to electronic resources.Design/methodology/approach – A range of UNLV Libraries initiatives in building and managing electronic resources is described to demonstrate how the library moved from a predominantly print environment to a predominantly electronic environment. The paper consists of sections: development of the electronic resources collection, reengineering acquisitions/periodicals, new responsibilities and new skills, next steps, and conclusion.Findings – Since 1999, the composition of the Libraries journal collection has been dramatically changed. The percentage of print‐only subscriptions decreased from 59 percent in 1990 to 20 percent in 2004, while electronic journals jumped from 35 percent to 75 pe...