10
Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual Convention. Copyright © 2003, Association for Business Communication Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the Business Communication Curriculum Dr. LeeAnne G. Kryder University of California, Santa Barbara Since 1997 I have been integrating professional ethics and “corporate citizenship” into undergraduate business communication courses, with positive responses. This paper will examine reasons why I believe ethics and corporate citizenship are legitimate topics in an undergraduate business communication course, and will provide examples of the assignments and resources I have used. Why integrate the topics of Corporate Citizenship and Professional Ethics? Initially I was hesitant to create a curriculum that might seem to impose my values on students. Was it possible to offer ethics readings and assignments without engineering specific solutions that students would feel obliged to deliver? Fortunately, a number of studies by business ethics researchers indicate that the very discussion of ethical issues proves useful to students in forming professional ethical practices. According to these researchers, ethics education should not force standards on students, but should assist students in recognizing ethical issues and developing their existing sensibilities so they can make decisions not simply between right and “wrong” but between right and right. As Michael Davis points out, professionals should “study ethical problems the way generals study old battles” so as to see “the essential facts in the fog of detail.” (1988, p. 57) Given recent national events—notably the Enron scandal and “whistleblowers” in corporations and in the FBI—I have come to believe that the study of professional and organizational ethics, and the development of ethical sensitivity in students, should become a more prominent component in higher education. Fortune magazine’s annual quest to determine the “100 Best Companies to Work For” and “Most Admired Companies” gives us a good sense of what Americans are looking for. In selecting the most admired companies, Fortune evaluated eight attributes; one of these was the company’s “Social Responsibility” or “corporate citizenship” (in addition to Innovativeness, Employee Talent, Use of Corporate Assets, Financial Soundness, Long-term Investment Value, and Quality of Products/Services). American consumers—and investors—now look beyond the numbers, and they no longer assume the credibility of any corporation. “It must be earned.” In these post-Enron times, “we value character and credibility a whole lot more than charisma”(Boyle, 2002). The topics of ethics and corporate citizenship focus on character, values, and what it takes to “do the right thing”—as a professional and as a company. Why not integrate such topics for 1

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Page 1: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the BusinessCommunication Curriculum

Dr LeeAnne G KryderUniversity of California Santa Barbara

Since 1997 I have been integrating professional ethics and ldquocorporate citizenshiprdquo intoundergraduate business communication courses with positive responses This paper willexamine reasons why I believe ethics and corporate citizenship are legitimate topics in anundergraduate business communication course and will provide examples of the assignmentsand resources I have used

Why integrate the topics of Corporate Citizenship and Professional Ethics

Initially I was hesitant to create a curriculum that might seem to impose my values on studentsWas it possible to offer ethics readings and assignments without engineering specific solutionsthat students would feel obliged to deliver Fortunately a number of studies by business ethicsresearchers indicate that the very discussion of ethical issues proves useful to students in formingprofessional ethical practices According to these researchers ethics education should not forcestandards on students but should assist students in recognizing ethical issues and developingtheir existing sensibilities so they can make decisions not simply between right and ldquowrongrdquo butbetween right and right As Michael Davis points out professionals should ldquostudy ethicalproblems the way generals study old battlesrdquo so as to see ldquothe essential facts in the fog of detailrdquo(1988 p 57)

Given recent national eventsmdashnotably the Enron scandal and ldquowhistleblowersrdquo in corporationsand in the FBImdashI have come to believe that the study of professional and organizational ethicsand the development of ethical sensitivity in students should become a more prominentcomponent in higher education Fortune magazinersquos annual quest to determine the ldquo100 BestCompanies to Work Forrdquo and ldquoMost Admired Companiesrdquo gives us a good sense of whatAmericans are looking for In selecting the most admired companies Fortune evaluated eightattributes one of these was the companyrsquos ldquoSocial Responsibilityrdquo or ldquocorporate citizenshiprdquo (inaddition to Innovativeness Employee Talent Use of Corporate Assets Financial SoundnessLong-term Investment Value and Quality of ProductsServices) American consumersmdashandinvestorsmdashnow look beyond the numbers and they no longer assume the credibility of anycorporation ldquoIt must be earnedrdquo In these post-Enron times ldquowe value character and credibilitya whole lot more than charismardquo(Boyle 2002)

The topics of ethics and corporate citizenship focus on character values and what it takes to ldquodothe right thingrdquomdashas a professional and as a company Why not integrate such topics for

1

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

consideration in business communication As Harvard business ethics professor Joseph LBadaracco Jr (1997) asserts ethical problems can raise questions about personal integrity cancreate conflicts between responsibilities for others and onersquos personal values and can involveresponsibilities a company shares with other groups in society Integrating professional ethicsinto business communication courses may help students According to Alfonso OddoAccounting Professor at Niagara University in New York State ldquothe goal of teaching ethics inthe business class should be to get students to recognize ethical issues and to apply their ownpersonal values to resolve the issuesrdquo (1997)

Further I share the cautious optimism of Clark and Lattal (1993) authors of Workplace EthicsWinning the Integrity Revolution who believe that ldquoethical change is possiblehellip clearexpectations and consequences designed into the work place can make a profound difference inpeoplersquos behavior including their ethical behavior Moral leadership discussion of ethicaldilemmashelliptraining sessions statements of corporate valueshellipall can make a most significantdifferencerdquo (pp 2 3)

Why is education about ethics and corporate citizenship important

Perhaps a class incorporating ethics can help provide an ldquoantidoterdquo to the modern business trendsof mergers layoffs outsourcing and globalization that alienate individuals from the humanimplications of corporate decisions and systems Modern management and professional practicescan objectify human beings as is charged by critics who have implicated the accountingprofession for its role in the Holocaust According to Dr Ken McPhail (1998) this chargeagainst accountants is ldquoprimarily related to the technical mathematical nature of accounting andits ability to dehumanize individualsrdquo McPhail argues that ldquoemotion should be introduced intoaccounting education and in particular emotional commitment to other individuals should beencouragedrdquo (p 279)

Further McPhail suggests that requiring a business ethics course might ldquorehumanizerdquoaccountancy engendering a ldquosense of empathy for and moral commitmentrdquo towards others (pp280 282) A recent study of accounting students exposed to the AICPA Code of Conduct in anauditing course indicated that ldquoexposure to the code not only influenced studentsrsquo ethicaldevelopment but also improves their ability to select the ethical course of action in resolving anethical dilemmardquo (Green amp Weber p 786)

I have expanded my interpretation of teaching business ethics to include teaching aboutcorporate social responsibility or ldquocorporate citizenshiprdquo I believe that this topic is often moreaccessible than ldquoethicsrdquo to business students Later as students begin to expect more out ofbusiness organizations (to serve as positive forces for good) they can then expect more out ofthe employees and managers in that organizationmdashand hopefully more out of themselves asprofessionals

2

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Why a writing course

Our university (UCSB) does not have a business school Although we have a nationallyrecognized accounting program our students can only minor in accounting Their degree is inBusiness Economics and most of their required classes are highly theoretical No course inbusiness ethics or organizational behavior is offered for these students

The business communication courses that we offer --ldquoWriting for Economicsrdquo and ldquoWriting forAccountingrdquo are required for the Business Economics degree Our writing courses are typicallyinterdisciplinary and stress critical thinking and all include oral communication as well as avariety of written genres Because students must summarize and analyze articles I have suppliedarticles about corporate citizenship and professional ethics Students must work on acollaborative report or proposal that requires research using both primary and secondary sourcesThis project can be focused on corporate citizenship and professional ethics In short ourbusiness communication courses lend themselves to these topics because some text is neededanyway for critical thinking research writing and oral communication tasks

Because UCSBrsquos writing teachers teach in specific disciplines (mine is business andengineering) they are probably as ldquoequippedrdquo as any business economics teacher who decides toincorporate ethics and social responsibility into hisher course In fact because so many businessteachers have no training in business ethics and often are uncomfortable with more interactivediscussion-based courses many writing teachers might be even better suited to teach thismaterial see assertions by Krohn (1985) and by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer (1985)

If a writing teacher is willing to commit to such a focus I believe that the following courseassignments and suggested readings should be enough for a strong start Furthermore numerousmembers of our professional societymdashthe Association for Business Communicationmdashhavewritten articles suggesting both the validity and possible methods for incorporating ethics intocomposition courses See the Journal of Business Communication special issues with editorsPV Lewis(1990) and S Ralston (1997) and the online bibliography compiled by Dr LindaBrown (1994)

I believe that raising student awareness of potential issues and examining guidelines for makingethical decisions is a service to students and to the business community Instead of askingstudents to enroll in a quarter-long business ethics course a business communication courseprovides an excellent way to integrate ethics into the curriculum without alienating students (seeJoanne B Cuilla1985 who believes that many business students consider ethics to be a uselessabstract area of philosophy andor an obstacle to free competition) Indeed a number of scholarsargue that ethics integrated into the business curriculum is more effective than offering a one-time standalone course

Having to research corporate ethics and professional ethical decisions helps students to preparefor their futures and to appreciate what some exemplary organizations and individuals are doing

3

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Typically our students are amazed that business can be both ldquogreenrdquo and profitable too oftenour students have already resigned themselves to either making money or doing good (Theseimpressions unfortunately are similar to those noted in the 1985 JBC article ldquoHow to TeachEthics in a Basic Business Communications Classrdquo by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer)

Finally by integrating the study of business ethics and corporate social responsibility into ourcurriculum we teach students the role that ethical corporate and professional communication canplay in business success Indeed attention to corporate reputation requires attention to theimportance of words (Argenti amp Forman 2002 ch 4) Without strong credos developed andpresented by an articulate leader improvement of a companyrsquos culture and role in societyremains an unrealistic quest (Goldberg 1997)

Sample Assignments and Sources

A variety of assignments can work to assist students in their exploration of professional ethicsand corporate social responsibility I will identify my learning objectives describe threeassignments and list possible sources teachers can use or adapt for classroom use

Learning objectivesSpecific cognitive objectives for students include the following

1 Become familiar with ethical issues that they will likely encounter in their professionallives and the ways in which they might apply ethical principles to their professional lives

2 Know what resources are available or should be available to themmdashespecially fromtheir professional organizations and employer when they confront ethical dilemmas

3 Demonstrate written and oral competency in clearly explaining ethical concernsidentifying possible options in resolving these concerns and determining a resolution toethical problems

Further non-cognitive objectives include increased student confidence that they will be capableof both (1) recognizing ethical issues and making ethical decisions and (2) retaining theirpersonal and professional integrity while serving various stakeholders

AssignmentsThe first assignment is to summarize an article in writing and in a 5-minute informal oralpresentation to a group of fellow students Sometimes I provide a list of abstracts to articles orbook chapters about corporate and professional ethical codes outstanding corporations that arecommitted to social and environmental causes ethical challenges faced by employees etc Eachstudent then selects one article reads the entire article summarizes it and reports on it to otherstudents

An alternative Irsquove used provided lists of Fortunersquos ldquo100 Best Companies to Work Forrdquo andBusiness Ethicsrsquo ldquoBest Corporate Citizensrdquo I have students select one company from each list

4

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

and examine each companyrsquos website with the intent of summarizing attributes that mark eachcompany as ldquoa good place to workrdquo Besides the written summarycomparison each studentreports hisher findings to a small group of fellow students

This first assignment allows students to become familiar with several exemplary businesses andto begin sorting out what attributes they would like to see in the future organization they createor work for As a class we begin to identify positive actions while practicing research writingand oral presenting skills

The second assignment is collaborative with the students in teams of four or five working on aldquoscenariordquo that Irsquove created Often that scenario asks the students to serve as consultants to aclient who wants to set up an ethics program and an ethical corporate culture These consultantsmust review articles on corporate ethics programs and determine what are the key elements in asuccessful program That is they report descriptively about what persons and organizations doand then interpret and recommend normatively what people and organizations should do (SeeReinsch 1997 p 224)

In recent years with pre-professional students in our ldquoWriting for Accountingrdquo and our ldquoWritingfor Engineeringrdquo classes I have used a short case with an ethical decision this gives me anopportunity to discuss corporate and professional codes of conduct and how these might beuseful to guide onersquos ethical decision Several years ago I developed a case about software piracyand had students conduct surveys of other studentsrsquo software usage and knowledge aboutsoftware licensing The student teams had to create an educational pamphlet and training plan fortheir clientrsquos employees to learn about the ethical and legal problems of stealing software

With this second assignment I will usually supply four or five articles to ldquojumpstartrdquo theirresearch Within two or three weeks the students need to provide their client with both a memoreport (given to me to grade) and an oral report (given to our class)This assignment requires research and collaborative efforts as the team synthesizes the researchfindings and develops recommendations for their client The memo reports are often three to fivepages long with several attachments It takes additional effort for students to refine their reportfor a collaborative ten to fifteen minute oral report

The final assignment is also collaborative and results in both a sustained research report orbusiness plan and a formal oral presentation This project takes much of the quarter (at least fiveor six weeks) and results in a document of 25-40 pages As teams of four or five members thestudents will collaboratively select their topics determine if they will create a business plan orreport on their research and then write and edit the written document They also will prepareand deliver a collaborative oral presentation

For the reports in past years students have researched the ethical challenges of technology meritsof social investments dilemmas faced by ldquowhistleblowersrdquo and the test of workplace ethics andcorporate communication in the Challenger launch decision

5

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 2: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

consideration in business communication As Harvard business ethics professor Joseph LBadaracco Jr (1997) asserts ethical problems can raise questions about personal integrity cancreate conflicts between responsibilities for others and onersquos personal values and can involveresponsibilities a company shares with other groups in society Integrating professional ethicsinto business communication courses may help students According to Alfonso OddoAccounting Professor at Niagara University in New York State ldquothe goal of teaching ethics inthe business class should be to get students to recognize ethical issues and to apply their ownpersonal values to resolve the issuesrdquo (1997)

Further I share the cautious optimism of Clark and Lattal (1993) authors of Workplace EthicsWinning the Integrity Revolution who believe that ldquoethical change is possiblehellip clearexpectations and consequences designed into the work place can make a profound difference inpeoplersquos behavior including their ethical behavior Moral leadership discussion of ethicaldilemmashelliptraining sessions statements of corporate valueshellipall can make a most significantdifferencerdquo (pp 2 3)

Why is education about ethics and corporate citizenship important

Perhaps a class incorporating ethics can help provide an ldquoantidoterdquo to the modern business trendsof mergers layoffs outsourcing and globalization that alienate individuals from the humanimplications of corporate decisions and systems Modern management and professional practicescan objectify human beings as is charged by critics who have implicated the accountingprofession for its role in the Holocaust According to Dr Ken McPhail (1998) this chargeagainst accountants is ldquoprimarily related to the technical mathematical nature of accounting andits ability to dehumanize individualsrdquo McPhail argues that ldquoemotion should be introduced intoaccounting education and in particular emotional commitment to other individuals should beencouragedrdquo (p 279)

Further McPhail suggests that requiring a business ethics course might ldquorehumanizerdquoaccountancy engendering a ldquosense of empathy for and moral commitmentrdquo towards others (pp280 282) A recent study of accounting students exposed to the AICPA Code of Conduct in anauditing course indicated that ldquoexposure to the code not only influenced studentsrsquo ethicaldevelopment but also improves their ability to select the ethical course of action in resolving anethical dilemmardquo (Green amp Weber p 786)

I have expanded my interpretation of teaching business ethics to include teaching aboutcorporate social responsibility or ldquocorporate citizenshiprdquo I believe that this topic is often moreaccessible than ldquoethicsrdquo to business students Later as students begin to expect more out ofbusiness organizations (to serve as positive forces for good) they can then expect more out ofthe employees and managers in that organizationmdashand hopefully more out of themselves asprofessionals

2

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Why a writing course

Our university (UCSB) does not have a business school Although we have a nationallyrecognized accounting program our students can only minor in accounting Their degree is inBusiness Economics and most of their required classes are highly theoretical No course inbusiness ethics or organizational behavior is offered for these students

The business communication courses that we offer --ldquoWriting for Economicsrdquo and ldquoWriting forAccountingrdquo are required for the Business Economics degree Our writing courses are typicallyinterdisciplinary and stress critical thinking and all include oral communication as well as avariety of written genres Because students must summarize and analyze articles I have suppliedarticles about corporate citizenship and professional ethics Students must work on acollaborative report or proposal that requires research using both primary and secondary sourcesThis project can be focused on corporate citizenship and professional ethics In short ourbusiness communication courses lend themselves to these topics because some text is neededanyway for critical thinking research writing and oral communication tasks

Because UCSBrsquos writing teachers teach in specific disciplines (mine is business andengineering) they are probably as ldquoequippedrdquo as any business economics teacher who decides toincorporate ethics and social responsibility into hisher course In fact because so many businessteachers have no training in business ethics and often are uncomfortable with more interactivediscussion-based courses many writing teachers might be even better suited to teach thismaterial see assertions by Krohn (1985) and by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer (1985)

If a writing teacher is willing to commit to such a focus I believe that the following courseassignments and suggested readings should be enough for a strong start Furthermore numerousmembers of our professional societymdashthe Association for Business Communicationmdashhavewritten articles suggesting both the validity and possible methods for incorporating ethics intocomposition courses See the Journal of Business Communication special issues with editorsPV Lewis(1990) and S Ralston (1997) and the online bibliography compiled by Dr LindaBrown (1994)

I believe that raising student awareness of potential issues and examining guidelines for makingethical decisions is a service to students and to the business community Instead of askingstudents to enroll in a quarter-long business ethics course a business communication courseprovides an excellent way to integrate ethics into the curriculum without alienating students (seeJoanne B Cuilla1985 who believes that many business students consider ethics to be a uselessabstract area of philosophy andor an obstacle to free competition) Indeed a number of scholarsargue that ethics integrated into the business curriculum is more effective than offering a one-time standalone course

Having to research corporate ethics and professional ethical decisions helps students to preparefor their futures and to appreciate what some exemplary organizations and individuals are doing

3

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Typically our students are amazed that business can be both ldquogreenrdquo and profitable too oftenour students have already resigned themselves to either making money or doing good (Theseimpressions unfortunately are similar to those noted in the 1985 JBC article ldquoHow to TeachEthics in a Basic Business Communications Classrdquo by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer)

Finally by integrating the study of business ethics and corporate social responsibility into ourcurriculum we teach students the role that ethical corporate and professional communication canplay in business success Indeed attention to corporate reputation requires attention to theimportance of words (Argenti amp Forman 2002 ch 4) Without strong credos developed andpresented by an articulate leader improvement of a companyrsquos culture and role in societyremains an unrealistic quest (Goldberg 1997)

Sample Assignments and Sources

A variety of assignments can work to assist students in their exploration of professional ethicsand corporate social responsibility I will identify my learning objectives describe threeassignments and list possible sources teachers can use or adapt for classroom use

Learning objectivesSpecific cognitive objectives for students include the following

1 Become familiar with ethical issues that they will likely encounter in their professionallives and the ways in which they might apply ethical principles to their professional lives

2 Know what resources are available or should be available to themmdashespecially fromtheir professional organizations and employer when they confront ethical dilemmas

3 Demonstrate written and oral competency in clearly explaining ethical concernsidentifying possible options in resolving these concerns and determining a resolution toethical problems

Further non-cognitive objectives include increased student confidence that they will be capableof both (1) recognizing ethical issues and making ethical decisions and (2) retaining theirpersonal and professional integrity while serving various stakeholders

AssignmentsThe first assignment is to summarize an article in writing and in a 5-minute informal oralpresentation to a group of fellow students Sometimes I provide a list of abstracts to articles orbook chapters about corporate and professional ethical codes outstanding corporations that arecommitted to social and environmental causes ethical challenges faced by employees etc Eachstudent then selects one article reads the entire article summarizes it and reports on it to otherstudents

An alternative Irsquove used provided lists of Fortunersquos ldquo100 Best Companies to Work Forrdquo andBusiness Ethicsrsquo ldquoBest Corporate Citizensrdquo I have students select one company from each list

4

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

and examine each companyrsquos website with the intent of summarizing attributes that mark eachcompany as ldquoa good place to workrdquo Besides the written summarycomparison each studentreports hisher findings to a small group of fellow students

This first assignment allows students to become familiar with several exemplary businesses andto begin sorting out what attributes they would like to see in the future organization they createor work for As a class we begin to identify positive actions while practicing research writingand oral presenting skills

The second assignment is collaborative with the students in teams of four or five working on aldquoscenariordquo that Irsquove created Often that scenario asks the students to serve as consultants to aclient who wants to set up an ethics program and an ethical corporate culture These consultantsmust review articles on corporate ethics programs and determine what are the key elements in asuccessful program That is they report descriptively about what persons and organizations doand then interpret and recommend normatively what people and organizations should do (SeeReinsch 1997 p 224)

In recent years with pre-professional students in our ldquoWriting for Accountingrdquo and our ldquoWritingfor Engineeringrdquo classes I have used a short case with an ethical decision this gives me anopportunity to discuss corporate and professional codes of conduct and how these might beuseful to guide onersquos ethical decision Several years ago I developed a case about software piracyand had students conduct surveys of other studentsrsquo software usage and knowledge aboutsoftware licensing The student teams had to create an educational pamphlet and training plan fortheir clientrsquos employees to learn about the ethical and legal problems of stealing software

With this second assignment I will usually supply four or five articles to ldquojumpstartrdquo theirresearch Within two or three weeks the students need to provide their client with both a memoreport (given to me to grade) and an oral report (given to our class)This assignment requires research and collaborative efforts as the team synthesizes the researchfindings and develops recommendations for their client The memo reports are often three to fivepages long with several attachments It takes additional effort for students to refine their reportfor a collaborative ten to fifteen minute oral report

The final assignment is also collaborative and results in both a sustained research report orbusiness plan and a formal oral presentation This project takes much of the quarter (at least fiveor six weeks) and results in a document of 25-40 pages As teams of four or five members thestudents will collaboratively select their topics determine if they will create a business plan orreport on their research and then write and edit the written document They also will prepareand deliver a collaborative oral presentation

For the reports in past years students have researched the ethical challenges of technology meritsof social investments dilemmas faced by ldquowhistleblowersrdquo and the test of workplace ethics andcorporate communication in the Challenger launch decision

5

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 3: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Why a writing course

Our university (UCSB) does not have a business school Although we have a nationallyrecognized accounting program our students can only minor in accounting Their degree is inBusiness Economics and most of their required classes are highly theoretical No course inbusiness ethics or organizational behavior is offered for these students

The business communication courses that we offer --ldquoWriting for Economicsrdquo and ldquoWriting forAccountingrdquo are required for the Business Economics degree Our writing courses are typicallyinterdisciplinary and stress critical thinking and all include oral communication as well as avariety of written genres Because students must summarize and analyze articles I have suppliedarticles about corporate citizenship and professional ethics Students must work on acollaborative report or proposal that requires research using both primary and secondary sourcesThis project can be focused on corporate citizenship and professional ethics In short ourbusiness communication courses lend themselves to these topics because some text is neededanyway for critical thinking research writing and oral communication tasks

Because UCSBrsquos writing teachers teach in specific disciplines (mine is business andengineering) they are probably as ldquoequippedrdquo as any business economics teacher who decides toincorporate ethics and social responsibility into hisher course In fact because so many businessteachers have no training in business ethics and often are uncomfortable with more interactivediscussion-based courses many writing teachers might be even better suited to teach thismaterial see assertions by Krohn (1985) and by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer (1985)

If a writing teacher is willing to commit to such a focus I believe that the following courseassignments and suggested readings should be enough for a strong start Furthermore numerousmembers of our professional societymdashthe Association for Business Communicationmdashhavewritten articles suggesting both the validity and possible methods for incorporating ethics intocomposition courses See the Journal of Business Communication special issues with editorsPV Lewis(1990) and S Ralston (1997) and the online bibliography compiled by Dr LindaBrown (1994)

I believe that raising student awareness of potential issues and examining guidelines for makingethical decisions is a service to students and to the business community Instead of askingstudents to enroll in a quarter-long business ethics course a business communication courseprovides an excellent way to integrate ethics into the curriculum without alienating students (seeJoanne B Cuilla1985 who believes that many business students consider ethics to be a uselessabstract area of philosophy andor an obstacle to free competition) Indeed a number of scholarsargue that ethics integrated into the business curriculum is more effective than offering a one-time standalone course

Having to research corporate ethics and professional ethical decisions helps students to preparefor their futures and to appreciate what some exemplary organizations and individuals are doing

3

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Typically our students are amazed that business can be both ldquogreenrdquo and profitable too oftenour students have already resigned themselves to either making money or doing good (Theseimpressions unfortunately are similar to those noted in the 1985 JBC article ldquoHow to TeachEthics in a Basic Business Communications Classrdquo by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer)

Finally by integrating the study of business ethics and corporate social responsibility into ourcurriculum we teach students the role that ethical corporate and professional communication canplay in business success Indeed attention to corporate reputation requires attention to theimportance of words (Argenti amp Forman 2002 ch 4) Without strong credos developed andpresented by an articulate leader improvement of a companyrsquos culture and role in societyremains an unrealistic quest (Goldberg 1997)

Sample Assignments and Sources

A variety of assignments can work to assist students in their exploration of professional ethicsand corporate social responsibility I will identify my learning objectives describe threeassignments and list possible sources teachers can use or adapt for classroom use

Learning objectivesSpecific cognitive objectives for students include the following

1 Become familiar with ethical issues that they will likely encounter in their professionallives and the ways in which they might apply ethical principles to their professional lives

2 Know what resources are available or should be available to themmdashespecially fromtheir professional organizations and employer when they confront ethical dilemmas

3 Demonstrate written and oral competency in clearly explaining ethical concernsidentifying possible options in resolving these concerns and determining a resolution toethical problems

Further non-cognitive objectives include increased student confidence that they will be capableof both (1) recognizing ethical issues and making ethical decisions and (2) retaining theirpersonal and professional integrity while serving various stakeholders

AssignmentsThe first assignment is to summarize an article in writing and in a 5-minute informal oralpresentation to a group of fellow students Sometimes I provide a list of abstracts to articles orbook chapters about corporate and professional ethical codes outstanding corporations that arecommitted to social and environmental causes ethical challenges faced by employees etc Eachstudent then selects one article reads the entire article summarizes it and reports on it to otherstudents

An alternative Irsquove used provided lists of Fortunersquos ldquo100 Best Companies to Work Forrdquo andBusiness Ethicsrsquo ldquoBest Corporate Citizensrdquo I have students select one company from each list

4

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

and examine each companyrsquos website with the intent of summarizing attributes that mark eachcompany as ldquoa good place to workrdquo Besides the written summarycomparison each studentreports hisher findings to a small group of fellow students

This first assignment allows students to become familiar with several exemplary businesses andto begin sorting out what attributes they would like to see in the future organization they createor work for As a class we begin to identify positive actions while practicing research writingand oral presenting skills

The second assignment is collaborative with the students in teams of four or five working on aldquoscenariordquo that Irsquove created Often that scenario asks the students to serve as consultants to aclient who wants to set up an ethics program and an ethical corporate culture These consultantsmust review articles on corporate ethics programs and determine what are the key elements in asuccessful program That is they report descriptively about what persons and organizations doand then interpret and recommend normatively what people and organizations should do (SeeReinsch 1997 p 224)

In recent years with pre-professional students in our ldquoWriting for Accountingrdquo and our ldquoWritingfor Engineeringrdquo classes I have used a short case with an ethical decision this gives me anopportunity to discuss corporate and professional codes of conduct and how these might beuseful to guide onersquos ethical decision Several years ago I developed a case about software piracyand had students conduct surveys of other studentsrsquo software usage and knowledge aboutsoftware licensing The student teams had to create an educational pamphlet and training plan fortheir clientrsquos employees to learn about the ethical and legal problems of stealing software

With this second assignment I will usually supply four or five articles to ldquojumpstartrdquo theirresearch Within two or three weeks the students need to provide their client with both a memoreport (given to me to grade) and an oral report (given to our class)This assignment requires research and collaborative efforts as the team synthesizes the researchfindings and develops recommendations for their client The memo reports are often three to fivepages long with several attachments It takes additional effort for students to refine their reportfor a collaborative ten to fifteen minute oral report

The final assignment is also collaborative and results in both a sustained research report orbusiness plan and a formal oral presentation This project takes much of the quarter (at least fiveor six weeks) and results in a document of 25-40 pages As teams of four or five members thestudents will collaboratively select their topics determine if they will create a business plan orreport on their research and then write and edit the written document They also will prepareand deliver a collaborative oral presentation

For the reports in past years students have researched the ethical challenges of technology meritsof social investments dilemmas faced by ldquowhistleblowersrdquo and the test of workplace ethics andcorporate communication in the Challenger launch decision

5

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 4: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Typically our students are amazed that business can be both ldquogreenrdquo and profitable too oftenour students have already resigned themselves to either making money or doing good (Theseimpressions unfortunately are similar to those noted in the 1985 JBC article ldquoHow to TeachEthics in a Basic Business Communications Classrdquo by Golen Powers amp Titkemeyer)

Finally by integrating the study of business ethics and corporate social responsibility into ourcurriculum we teach students the role that ethical corporate and professional communication canplay in business success Indeed attention to corporate reputation requires attention to theimportance of words (Argenti amp Forman 2002 ch 4) Without strong credos developed andpresented by an articulate leader improvement of a companyrsquos culture and role in societyremains an unrealistic quest (Goldberg 1997)

Sample Assignments and Sources

A variety of assignments can work to assist students in their exploration of professional ethicsand corporate social responsibility I will identify my learning objectives describe threeassignments and list possible sources teachers can use or adapt for classroom use

Learning objectivesSpecific cognitive objectives for students include the following

1 Become familiar with ethical issues that they will likely encounter in their professionallives and the ways in which they might apply ethical principles to their professional lives

2 Know what resources are available or should be available to themmdashespecially fromtheir professional organizations and employer when they confront ethical dilemmas

3 Demonstrate written and oral competency in clearly explaining ethical concernsidentifying possible options in resolving these concerns and determining a resolution toethical problems

Further non-cognitive objectives include increased student confidence that they will be capableof both (1) recognizing ethical issues and making ethical decisions and (2) retaining theirpersonal and professional integrity while serving various stakeholders

AssignmentsThe first assignment is to summarize an article in writing and in a 5-minute informal oralpresentation to a group of fellow students Sometimes I provide a list of abstracts to articles orbook chapters about corporate and professional ethical codes outstanding corporations that arecommitted to social and environmental causes ethical challenges faced by employees etc Eachstudent then selects one article reads the entire article summarizes it and reports on it to otherstudents

An alternative Irsquove used provided lists of Fortunersquos ldquo100 Best Companies to Work Forrdquo andBusiness Ethicsrsquo ldquoBest Corporate Citizensrdquo I have students select one company from each list

4

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

and examine each companyrsquos website with the intent of summarizing attributes that mark eachcompany as ldquoa good place to workrdquo Besides the written summarycomparison each studentreports hisher findings to a small group of fellow students

This first assignment allows students to become familiar with several exemplary businesses andto begin sorting out what attributes they would like to see in the future organization they createor work for As a class we begin to identify positive actions while practicing research writingand oral presenting skills

The second assignment is collaborative with the students in teams of four or five working on aldquoscenariordquo that Irsquove created Often that scenario asks the students to serve as consultants to aclient who wants to set up an ethics program and an ethical corporate culture These consultantsmust review articles on corporate ethics programs and determine what are the key elements in asuccessful program That is they report descriptively about what persons and organizations doand then interpret and recommend normatively what people and organizations should do (SeeReinsch 1997 p 224)

In recent years with pre-professional students in our ldquoWriting for Accountingrdquo and our ldquoWritingfor Engineeringrdquo classes I have used a short case with an ethical decision this gives me anopportunity to discuss corporate and professional codes of conduct and how these might beuseful to guide onersquos ethical decision Several years ago I developed a case about software piracyand had students conduct surveys of other studentsrsquo software usage and knowledge aboutsoftware licensing The student teams had to create an educational pamphlet and training plan fortheir clientrsquos employees to learn about the ethical and legal problems of stealing software

With this second assignment I will usually supply four or five articles to ldquojumpstartrdquo theirresearch Within two or three weeks the students need to provide their client with both a memoreport (given to me to grade) and an oral report (given to our class)This assignment requires research and collaborative efforts as the team synthesizes the researchfindings and develops recommendations for their client The memo reports are often three to fivepages long with several attachments It takes additional effort for students to refine their reportfor a collaborative ten to fifteen minute oral report

The final assignment is also collaborative and results in both a sustained research report orbusiness plan and a formal oral presentation This project takes much of the quarter (at least fiveor six weeks) and results in a document of 25-40 pages As teams of four or five members thestudents will collaboratively select their topics determine if they will create a business plan orreport on their research and then write and edit the written document They also will prepareand deliver a collaborative oral presentation

For the reports in past years students have researched the ethical challenges of technology meritsof social investments dilemmas faced by ldquowhistleblowersrdquo and the test of workplace ethics andcorporate communication in the Challenger launch decision

5

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 5: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

and examine each companyrsquos website with the intent of summarizing attributes that mark eachcompany as ldquoa good place to workrdquo Besides the written summarycomparison each studentreports hisher findings to a small group of fellow students

This first assignment allows students to become familiar with several exemplary businesses andto begin sorting out what attributes they would like to see in the future organization they createor work for As a class we begin to identify positive actions while practicing research writingand oral presenting skills

The second assignment is collaborative with the students in teams of four or five working on aldquoscenariordquo that Irsquove created Often that scenario asks the students to serve as consultants to aclient who wants to set up an ethics program and an ethical corporate culture These consultantsmust review articles on corporate ethics programs and determine what are the key elements in asuccessful program That is they report descriptively about what persons and organizations doand then interpret and recommend normatively what people and organizations should do (SeeReinsch 1997 p 224)

In recent years with pre-professional students in our ldquoWriting for Accountingrdquo and our ldquoWritingfor Engineeringrdquo classes I have used a short case with an ethical decision this gives me anopportunity to discuss corporate and professional codes of conduct and how these might beuseful to guide onersquos ethical decision Several years ago I developed a case about software piracyand had students conduct surveys of other studentsrsquo software usage and knowledge aboutsoftware licensing The student teams had to create an educational pamphlet and training plan fortheir clientrsquos employees to learn about the ethical and legal problems of stealing software

With this second assignment I will usually supply four or five articles to ldquojumpstartrdquo theirresearch Within two or three weeks the students need to provide their client with both a memoreport (given to me to grade) and an oral report (given to our class)This assignment requires research and collaborative efforts as the team synthesizes the researchfindings and develops recommendations for their client The memo reports are often three to fivepages long with several attachments It takes additional effort for students to refine their reportfor a collaborative ten to fifteen minute oral report

The final assignment is also collaborative and results in both a sustained research report orbusiness plan and a formal oral presentation This project takes much of the quarter (at least fiveor six weeks) and results in a document of 25-40 pages As teams of four or five members thestudents will collaboratively select their topics determine if they will create a business plan orreport on their research and then write and edit the written document They also will prepareand deliver a collaborative oral presentation

For the reports in past years students have researched the ethical challenges of technology meritsof social investments dilemmas faced by ldquowhistleblowersrdquo and the test of workplace ethics andcorporate communication in the Challenger launch decision

5

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 6: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

If the students decide to write a business plan I challenge them to establish a ldquogreen businessrdquo ora socially responsible business For example one student team proposed a company calledldquoEcolibriumrdquo that served as both a consultant and purchasing source for other companies tryingto purchase environmentally-sensitive products or behave in a more environmentally-friendlymanner Another company was called ldquoHigher Motives Quality Clothes with MoralFoundationsrdquo and promised products made without sweatshop labor and with only organically-grown fabric Although these businesses may be highly idealistic they are useful efforts forstudents to apply what they have learned from the earlier assignments and readings Furthermoreaccording to Entrepreneur magazine even smaller businesses want to demonstrate goodcorporate citizenship (see Blanchard 1998 and Stodder 1998)

Sources Readings Websites Teacher TrainingWhen I began integrating issues of ethics and corporate social responsibility in my writingclasses I was intrigued with the promise of a particular Harvard Business Review article byMichael Porter and Claas van der Linde(1995) ldquoGreen and Competitive Ending the StalematerdquoThe environmentrsquos well-being is a defining societal and business challenge Most businessstudents see only a distinct polarization of choices pro-business OR pro-environment In aneffort to explore this important topic and the possibility of compromise (a market-basedenvironmentalism) I introduced a theme of ldquobusiness and the environmentrdquo in my businesscommunication courses The highly respected Harvard Business Review was showing businessstudents a different expectation for business

Soon after this The Body Shop CEO Anita Roddick was a guest speaker at UCSB Shedescribed the corporate citizenship her company practices and I was impressed enough toresearch more about her company and her CERES affiliates (like Ben and Jerryrsquos and Patagonia)I discovered an excellent book that provided numerous models of corporate citizenship fromfinancially successful firms Companies with a Conscience (Scott amp Rothman 1992) A filmdeveloped by the Online Business Ethics Certificate Program that focuses on the stellarcorporate citizenship of New Belgium Brewing Company (2002) became another inspiration forboth teachers and students

Because I was also teaching engineering students I encountered the tragic story of theChallenger launch decision and engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos role in it Because Boisjoly believesstrongly that students can learn from the ethical mistakes in the past he has developed materials(like his website with original documents accessible) to help others see what communicationsurroundedmdashand might have prevented-- this disaster Both the websites of the Online EthicsCenter (2003) and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing (2000) provide excellentcase materials I also recommend some specific articles (Winsor 1988 Elliot 1990) and a bookchapter (Tufte 1997) along with the film GroupThink (1991) for teachers who are willing toincorporate one case report into their business communication course The Winsor Elliot andTufte sources focus specifically on communication weaknesses that contributed to theChallenger disaster

6

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 7: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

As my research expanded from corporate social responsibility to professional ethics I was ableto tap ABCrsquos website and the excellent annotated bibliography gathered by Dr Linda GinterBrown (1994) ldquoTeaching Ethics in Business Communication coursesrdquo This source as well asthe two 1990 and 1997 special issues from the Journal of Business Communication gave me theprofessional ldquoendorsementrdquo to continue integrating ethics and corporate citizenship into all of myprofessional writing coursesAnother source that has been of particular value is the online Business Ethics journal And fromthat I learned of the distance-learning course in Business Ethics offered by Dr OC Ferrell andthe College of Business at Colorado State University I took that course in fall of 2002 long afterIrsquod begun to research on my own about corporate citizenship and business ethics The coursematerials (including Ferrellrsquos 2002 textbook Business Ethics) were excellent and so were mycolleagues and teacher Many of the course participants were employed as corporate ethicsofficers and the online discussions were insightful and provided a unique education We wereable to work on a number of ethics cases and discussed the then-new Sarbanes-Oxley Act

So my advice to other business communication teachers is to start small (one assignment withfour or five associated readings or use of the film GroupThink with the communication articlesassociated with the Challenger case) and learn as you go Ronald R Simsrsquo (2002) bookTeaching Business Ethics for Effective Learning is a very helpful guide for teachers (seeespecially chapters 1 and 8) Also McDonald and Donleavy (1995) have an interesting articlewhich ultimately suggests that teaching ethics can result in ldquoachieving ethical awareness andsensitivity in studentsrdquo IF the teacher is careful and aware of some obstacles If you wish tocontinue expanding your knowledge and skills in teaching these topics there are professionalassociations and training seminars that you can take The Association for Practical andProfessional Ethics provides both an annual conference and quarterly publications (please seehttpwwwindianaedu~appe)

While I am encouraged at the growing number of articles linking business communicationethics and corporate social responsibility there is still much for communication teachers andresearchers to learn and to develop I agree with ABC colleague Lamar Reinsch (1997 p 222)who encourages us to borrow from other disciplines as we advance our research and coursecurriculum As researchers we need more specific evidence that time spent on these topics doestransfer eventually to a studentrsquos professional behavior and organizational leadership

What I know thus far has encouraged me to continue integrating topics of professional ethics andcorporate citizenship into my business writing courses I have asked students to comment aboutthese topics on their anonymous course evaluations So far I have never received a complaintbut I have sometimes received thanks and compliments for introducing these More positively Ihave seen how inspired many of students became when learning about ldquogood companiesrdquo Thestudents incorporated many aspects of good corporate citizenship in their business plans andconsultant reports-- and in their career plans This raising of student expectations seems good tome

7

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 8: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

For now I my intentions are to continue educating myself on these topics and to design anassessment tool to more accurately evaluate the value of this approach Until I get moremeasurable data I share Challenger engineer Roger Boisjolyrsquos hope that study of ethicalchallenges and organizational decisions can create some good so that students become ldquoaware ofwhat to expect when you commence your careersrdquo (quoted in Elliot1990)

References

Argenti P amp Forman J (2002) The power of corporate communication New York McGraw Hill

Association for Practical and Professional Ethics httpwwwindianaedu~appe

Badaracco J L (1997) Defining moments When managers must choose between right and right Boston MA Harvard Business School Press

Blanchard Ken (1998 February) The new bottom line [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved October 102003 from httphttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122805200html

Boyle M (2002 February 19) What is the lsquoright stuffrsquo to be admired [ electronic version] Fortune Magazine Retrieved on March 4 2002 from

httpwwwfortunecomfortunemostadmiredarticles01511436986800html

Brown L G (1994) Teaching Ethics in Business Communication Courses Retrieved on September 4 2002 fromThe Association for Business Communication Web site The ABC Websitehttpwwwtheabcorgethicshtm

Business Ethics httpwwwbusiness-ethicscomcurrenthtm

Business Ethics Quarterly httpwwwsbaluceducenterssbeBEQhtm

Clark R and Lattal A (1993) Workplace ethics Winning the integrity revolution Lanham Maryland Rowman amp Littlefield Publishers Inc

Cuilla J B (1985) Do MBA students have ethics phobia Business and Society Review 53 (Spring)52-55

Davis M (1988) The special role of professionals in business ethics Business ampProfessional Ethics Journal 7(2) 51-62

Elliot N Katz E and Lynch R (1990) The challenger tragedy A case study in organizational communicationand professional ethics Business and Professional Ethics Journal 12 91-108

Ferrell OC Fraedrich J and Ferrell L (2002) Business ethics Ethical decision making and casesBoston Houghton Mifflin Company

8

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 9: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Goldberg B (1997) Creating an ethical culture Executive Excellence 14 (6) 11-12

Golen S Powers C TitkemeyerM (1985) How to teach ethics in a basic business communicationsclass Journal of Business Communication 22(1) 75-83

Green S amp Weber J ( 1997) influencing ethical development exposing students to the AICPA code of conductJournal of Business Ethics 16 (8) 777-790

Groupthink (1991) [Videotape and Leaderrsquos Guide] (Available from CRM Films)

Gunz S (1998) Are academics committed to accounting ethics education Journal of Business Ethics 17 11-45

Krohn F (1985) A general semantic approach to teaching business ethics Journal of Business Communication22(3) 59-67

Lawless Amy (2000) The Rhetoric of the Challenger Disaster A Case Study for Technical and ProfessionalCommunication Retrieved on October 10 2003 from the Association of Teachers of Technical WritingWeb site httpwwwattworgpage1purposehtml

Lewis PV (Ed) (1990) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 27(3)

Mahin L (1998) Critical thinking and business ethics Business Communication Quarterly 61 (3) 74

McDonald G and Donleavy G (1995 October) Objections to the teaching of business ethics [electronic access]Journal of Business Ethics Retrieved July 16 2003 from Proquestumicom

McPhail K(2001)The other objective of ethics education Rehumanising the accounting professionmdasha study ofethics education in law engineering medicine and accountancy Journal of Business Ethics 34 (34) 279-299

Nelson C and Cavey R eds (1991) Ethics leadership and the bottom line Croton-on- Hudson North River Press

New Belgium Brewing Company Inc Ethics and Social Responsibility (2002) [video] Available through theColorado State University Online Business Ethics Certificate Program

Oddo A (1997) A framework for teaching business ethics Journal of Business Ethics16 (3) 293-297

Online Ethics Center for Science and Engineering (2003) The Story of the Challenger Disaster includingSupporting Material Retrieved January 28 2003 fromhttponlineethicsorgmoralboisjolyRB-introhtml

Polonsky MJ (1998) Incorporating ethics into business studentsrsquo research projects A process approach Journalof Business Ethics 17 (11) 12-27

Porter M amp VanderLinde C (1995) Green and Competitive Ending the Stalemate Harvard Business Review 73(5) 120-134

9

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10

Page 10: Integrating Ethics and Corporate Citizenship into the

Proceedings of the 2003 Association for business Communication Annual ConventionCopyright copy 2003 Association for Business Communication

Program in Business Ethics amp Society ldquoEthics Curriculum Modulesrdquo Retrieved on June 9 2002 fromhttpwwwcbaunleduoutreachBusEthSocModuleshtml

Ralston S (ed) (1997) [Special issue Business Communication Ethics] Journal of Business Communication 34 (2)

Reinsch NL (1997) On the road to maturity Journal of Business Communication34 (2) 220-226

Scott M and Rothman H (1992) Companies with a conscience intimate portraits of twelve firms that make adifference New York Carol Publishing Group

Sims R (2002) Teaching business ethics for effective learning Westport CT Greenwood Publishing Group

Stodder G (1998 July) Goodwill Hunting [electronic version] Entrepreneur Retrieved on October 10 2003 fromhttpwwwentrepreneurcomarticle0462122899400html

Sweet W (1998 June) Educating Ethical Engineers IEEE Spectrum 36 (6) 51-62

Tufte E (1997) Visual and statistical thinking Visual Explanations Graphics Press Cheshire Connecticut pp 38-53

Winsor D A (1988) Communication failures contributing to the challenger accident an example for technicalcommunicators IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication 21 (3) 101-107

LEEANNE GIANNONE KRYDER is a Senior Lecturer for the University of California at Santa Barbara Sheteaches business technical and management communication at UCSB and in industry Prior to this she spenteleven years in the computer industry as a technical writer systems analyst and manager Research interests includetransfer of training instructional design online learning and professional ethics

10