Publications

The question of how to lead successfully and responsibly is crucially important in our uncertain, high-pressure, turbulent world. In this book, Joseph Badaracco answers this question in practical and, at times, provocative ways. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Leadership Style

02 Jul 2024
Book

Five Essential Elements to Build the Capital You Need to Lead

people begin to see that you're worth their investment. As you build leadership capital, the other forms of capital will also begin to come your way as others start to invest more and more in you. But you have to make that initial investment. From The Treasure You Seek... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

25 Jun 2001
Lessons from the Classroom

Machiavelli, Morals, and You

how they should be governed, what they should worship, and how they should have power over their lives. Leadership is a struggle by flawed human beings to make some important human values real and effective, in the world as it is.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Spirit at Work: The Search for Deeper Meaning in the Workplace

-and sometimes contradictory-mindsets that the idea of melding the two seems almost absurd. Moreover, in a culture that counts religious pluralism and the separation of church and state among its most hallowed principles, integrating the two makes some people... View Details

Keywords: by Marguerite Rigoglioso

19 Jan 2021
In Practice

Leadership Advice for Biden: Restore a Sense of Calm

Joseph R. Biden Jr. becomes the 46th president of the United States at a time when the nation is grappling with several sober realities at once: a deadly pandemic that is claiming the lives of thousands of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2023
Book

Your True Moral Compass: Defining Reality, Responsibility, and Practicality in Your Leadership Moments

By: Joseph L. Badaracco

This book presents a new, powerful, and practical way of making final decisions on the hard, complex, uncertain problems of life and work. What if you have looked at the data, talked with trusted colleagues, and applied all the relevant managerial and ethical... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Decisions; Work-Life Balance; Values and Beliefs

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

February 1994
Case

Kathryn McNeil (A)

Charles Foley, vice president of the computer retailing firm Sayer MicroWorld, must decide whether or not to fire his employee, Kathryn McNeil, a 37-year-old product manager who has been unable to work as many hours as her colleagues due to her status as a single... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Employees; Work-Life Balance; Resignation and Termination; Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry

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

1997
Book

Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose between Right and Right

Keywords: Decision Making

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

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

2003
Chapter

Right versus Right: Dealing with Ethical Dilemmas in Business

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions

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

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