Business & society: ethics and stakeholder management, 7th ed.

Abstract

Business & Society: Ethics and Stakeholder Management, Seventh Edition, employs a stakeholder management framework that emphasizes business’s social and ethical responsibilities to external and internal stakeholder groups. A managerial perspective is embedded within the book’s dual themes of business ethics and stakeholder management. The ethics dimension is central because it has become increasingly clear that ethical or moral considerations are woven into the fabric of the public issues that organizations face. Economic and legal issues are inevitably present, too. However, these aspects are treated more directly in other business administration courses. The stakeholder management perspective is essential because it requires managers to (1) identify the various groups or individuals who have stakes in the firm or its actions, decisions, and practices, and (2) incorporate those stakeholders’ concerns into the firm’s strategic plans and daily operations. Stakeholder management is an approach that increases the likelihood that decision makers will integrate ethical wisdom with management wisdom in all that they do. As this edition goes to press, we are beginning to reach some closure on the fraud and ethics scandals that have dominated the business news since the early 2000s. The Enron scandal and subsequent scandals involving such firms as WorldCom, Tyco, Arthur Andersen, Adelphia, Global Crossing, and HealthSouth constituted an ethical tsunami. Most of the trials of the CEOs and top executives of these firms have concluded, and a number of them are currently serving time behind bars. The horrific attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, are still in our memories—especially for their relevance to such topics as crisis management, global ethics, the business–government relationship, and impacts on both internal and external stakeholders. These major events will be with us forever, and we urge readers to keep in mind the extent to which our world is now changed as they read through the book and consider its content.