Dr. Scott Quatro, associate professor of management in the Department of Business at Covenant College, has co-edited the book Executive Ethics: Ethical Dilemmas and Challenges for the C-Suite, published by Information Age Publishing.
With co-editor Dr. Ronald Sims, professor of organizational behavior in the Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary, Quatro has put together an impressive group of experts who delve into the essential elements of executive business practice. “This timely volume is unified in its collective voice, but uniquely diverse in its independent voices, as it draws on the wisdom and experiences of twenty-nine different contributors from both industry and the academy,” writes Dennis Bakke in the book’s foreword. Bakke is the author of Joy at Work and a recent chapel speaker at Covenant College.
“I felt that the contemporary climate of corporate scandal demanded that this book be written,” says Quatro. “In fact, the book is really a product of the Covenant College community, which makes it all the more gratifying for me.” Quatro credits the students in his Business Ethics Seminar course with catalyzing the idea for the book. “Their engaging and curious dialogue convinced me that the book needed to be written,” he says.
Several of Quatro’s colleagues from the Covenant College faculty and administration, including President Niel Nielson, Covenant College Foundation President Frank Brock, and Assistant Professor of Economics Lance Wescher, contributed key chapters to the book. The book’s afterword is provided by William Pollard, former CEO and chairman of The ServiceMaster Company and invited speaker for the 2007 Brock Lecture Series at Covenant College.
Executive Ethics will be a valuable practitioner resource for current and rising C-suite executives, and is also ideal for use in MBA or advanced undergraduate courses in business ethics or strategic management.
The book takes some appropriate risks, Quatro says. “Business ethics is not a ‘black or white’ subject,” he explains. “In fact, much of business ethics is about learning to deal effectively with the ‘gray.’
“The book also takes the risk of addressing the legitimate and central role that religion plays in executive ethics. . . The collective voice of this book contends that a false dichotomy between the ‘secular’ world of executive business practice and the ‘sacred’ world of private religious faith is not valid, and in the end simply doesn’t work.”
Quatro notes that the volume both implicitly and explicitly investigates business as a critical component of God’s creation. “In the end,” he says, “I trust that God will use the book as a contribution toward ‘making all things new’ in the C-suites of corporate America.”
Executive Ethics is can be purchased here.