Perspectives in Business Ethics

Perspectives in Business Ethics gives a good combination of the principles involved and the practical application of those principles. The firms that are used as case studies are very timely. Most people will recognize the firms and the issues that the firms are dealing with. This was a good text to study a very sensitive subject and the references make sure that the reader can do additional research.

The positives of this book are many. Most importantly, it is very well-organized compared to some of the other business ethics books I've read. Specifically, Hartman begins by introducing various ethical theories and strategies for ethical decision-making. She also covers ethical leadership, business and social responsibility, employee-employer relations, marketing, finance/accounting, and finally, the ethical implications of technology. By proceeding from general principles to specific cases, her approach should greatly help students acquire the tools they need to assess particular ethical dilemmas. Very nice. Her summary of each major section should greatly benefit students as well. On the negative side, the selected articles are at times a bit spotty in their coverage of a particular issue. Also, the articles tend to focus on very specific situations (e.g. the Enron debacle) instead of more general ones (e.g. "do businesses have social obligations to their consumers which affect the content and strategy of their marketing efforts?"). While this is fine as far as it goes, it would have been more consonant with Hartman's overall approach for her to include a few articles which address these "big picture" sorts of questions. All in all, this is a very beneficial text for an introductory course in business ethics. I recommend it to students and teachers alike.