PMGT 582 Book Report

For this assignment, you will need to read one of the books on the next page (or an alternative book that I approve). Then using the key fundamental arguments from your reading, recommend and justify a response to the following ethical dilemma. The best responses will: Clearly dene the key ethical insights from your reading; Articulate a specic response to the dilemma presented; and, Defend the response using the key insights from the reading. Because this paper requires you to distill the book and apply it, the paper may not be longer than 1,250 words. This limit is intended to help you focus your arguments on the essential.

Dilemma
Your supervisor has alerted you that your department will be closed in two months and your employees will be laid off. You, however, will receive a promotion. You promise your supervisor that you will keep this information strictly condential until the HR department is prepared to conduct the layoffs legally. One of your employees, who is an excellent performer and a personal friend, has just approached you and said, What can you tell me about these rumors about layoffs? Im getting ready to close on a new house in two days. I really need to know if Im still going to have a job. You have no time to think. How will you respond?

Book List
Some of these books are considered to be classics in the eld. Others are very new, reecting current advancements in understanding ethics. You will be a better and smarter person if you read them seriously. There are many other equally good books out there and I encourage you to look around and propose others. This list is a great start and I have provided a very brief description of each book to aid your decision. Aristotle. 1998. Nicomachean Ethics, trans., W.D. Ross. New York: Oxford University Press. This is the best and most accessible translation of one the worlds best books. It is Aristotles statement on virtue ethics, upon which much of our thinking about ethics derives. It is an amazingly relevant book, even 2300 years later. 275 pages. Bazerman, Max & Tenbrunsel, Ann. 2012. Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It, Princeton: Princeton University Press. A leading business pschologist, Bazermans research has focused largely on the psychology of ethics. This book summarizes his, and others, research in a practical and useful way. He emphasizes our patterns of irrational behavior that lead to unethical choices and offers solutions to our psychological weaknesses. Haidt, Jonathan. 2012. The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion, New York: Pantheon Books. Haidt has done groundbreaking research into moral intuition, leading to critical insights into how our emotions not only inuence our ethical choices but are essential to our capacity for ethical behavior. In light of the philosophical assertion that ethics be well reasoned, Haidt reminds us that how we feel about ethics is as important as what we think about ethics. Kant, Immanuel. 1988. Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals, trans., T.K. Abbott. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books. Although its only 97 pages, this is arguably one of the more important books on ethics in the modern era. It is a reasonably tough read, and quite philosophical, but is an exceptionally important book. I recommend reading it with a companion primer. 97 pages. MacIntyre, Alisdair. 1984. After Virtue, 2nd Ed. Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press. The denitive modern statement on virtue ethics. Philosophical, but very important if you want a comprehensive discussion of virtue ethics. 275 pages. Mill, John Stuart. 1863. Utilitarianism. Multiple sources. Consider getting some combination of Utilitarianism and On Liberty, just to have his other watershed piece. This is another short one, that is arguably one of the best ethics statements in modern times (both Kant and Mill loom large in every aspect of ethics today). Very powerful piece, although I recommend a primer with this one as well. 71 pages. Norton, David. 1976. Personal Destinies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. A colleagues personal recommendation he calls it potentially a life-changer if you read with care. He combines the thinking of Aristotle with Abraham Maslow (the hierarchy guy) to expand on a theory known as eudaimonism, that posits that our ultimate goal in life is to nd our potential and achieve it. A super book. 385 pages. Smith, Adam. 1982. The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Fund. Smith (the founder of modern capitalism) is best known for his book The Wealth of Nations. This companion to that book is his ethics statement. Very underappreciated and often ignored by the hypercapitalists, it should be read by every person involved in a free market economy. Reasonably easy read, given its origins (1790). 385 pages.