Publications

February 1991 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Ann Hopkins (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Ilyse Barkan

Intended to help students understand the many barriers organizations face as their members and their management ranks grow more diverse. As a case on business ethics, it encourages students to discuss what "fairness" and "diversity" mean when an organization is also... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams

01 Feb 2001
News

What Makes a Good Leader

research in leadership has helped to define the field. Five of these experts — Joseph L. Badaracco, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, John Kotter, Nitin Nohria, and David A. Thomas — agreed to help the Bulletin answer... View Details

Keywords: Management

January 1991 (Revised January 1992)
Supplement

IBM-Fujitsu Settlement

Describes the decision by the arbitrators chosen to resolve the intellectual property dispute between IBM and Fujitsu. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Intellectual Property; Business or Company Management; Conflict Management

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Web

Impact Stories - Impact Stories

Raffaella Sadun Play Alumni Student Mentorship Match Associate Director Tracy Perry Health Care Entrepreneurship Halle Tecco Switching Careers into Health Care Joel Vidal-Phillips 15 Dec 2024 HBS Magazine After Ozempic Re: Kate Mulroney (MBA 1984); View Details

1997
Book

Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right

Keywords: Decision Making

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June 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Morality and Consequences

Consists mainly of excerpts from Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill. Mill explains what utilitarianism is and gives his rationale for accepting it as a moral philosophy. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Outcome or Result; Value

January 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Background Note

Personal Values and Professional Responsibilities

Describes some of the classic conflicts managers face in trying to live and work by their personal values and uses Hirschman's "exit, loyalty, and voice" framework to suggest ways for resolving these conflicts. View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Personal Development and Career; Conflict of Interests; Conflict and Resolution

May 1990 (Revised April 1991)
Background Note

Dirty Hands

A one-paragraph excerpt from a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Describes in the words of one character, the ethical problem of "dirty hands": the problem that doing the morally superior thing in some circumstances inevitably involves doing some things that are morally wrong.... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Management; Problems and Challenges; Personal Characteristics; Value

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2003
Chapter

Right versus Right: Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in Business

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions

October 1993 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Conflict on a Trading Floor (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

A junior salesperson on FirstAmerica Bank's trading floor is assisting a top salesperson, Linda, on a deal to finance the construction of a new cruise ship for Poseidon Cruise Lines. While the terms of the deal are being worked out, he realizes Linda has taken... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage

October 1990 (Revised April 1991)
Case

RU 486 (A)

Describes the factors faced by Roussel UCLAF, a French drug company, in deciding whether and how to market a controversial new drug, RU 486, which is often called "the French abortion pill." Roussel's decision involved its relations with the French government, its... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Ethics; Product Launch; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Performance; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; France; Germany; United States

Web

General Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

(also listed under Entrepreneurial Management) John Batter Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 John Batter Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 Leadership and Happiness Arthur Brooks Spring 2025 Q3 1.5 The Moral Leader Joseph Badaracco Fall... View Details

October 1993
Case

Analyst's Dilemma (A), The

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

A young investment banker returns home one night to find that her roommate and best friend has been laid off from Universal Bank because Universal is shutting down its capital finance group. Her roommate makes her promise to keep this information confidential because... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Leveraged Buyouts; Conflict of Interests; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk and Uncertainty

Web

AASU50 - Alumni

50th Anniversary Keynote Speech, by Henry Louis Gates Jr. Can AI Combat Biases Against Women and People of Color? (Barry Libert presentation) Entrepreneurial Action & The Case for Optimism (Bill Sahlman... View Details

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

New Economy Ethics: YouKnowIt.com

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Kim Slack

Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Media; Networks; Internet

August 2024
Background Note

Your True Moral Compass

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

This note explores the concept of a "moral compass" for making difficult decisions in leadership roles. It argues that the standard view of a moral compass as a simple, internal guide is inadequate for complex situations. Instead, it proposes that our true moral... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Decision Choices and Conditions

01 Jun 2006
News

Faculty Books

Questions of Character by Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. (HBS Press) Professor Badaracco... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

March 2013 (Revised March 2015)
Case

iMatari

By: Joseph L. Badaracco and Matthew Preble

In late 2012, recent Harvard Business School graduate Hannah Lopez is given the opportunity to lead entry into a new market for Plámo, a company that created startup companies in Europe and emerging markets based upon existing successful business models. She had only... View Details

Keywords: Ethical Behavior; Ethical Judgment; Entrepreneurship; Imitation; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Europe; Middle East