The Seven Layers of Integrity(R)

by George P. Jones and June Ferrill

"Can you teach people to behave ethically?" That's the question being asked by business leaders and business school administrators across America as our country witnesses a wave of financial scandals. The Seven Layers of Integrity(R) both answers that question and provides a model that serves as a learning tool and a decision-making mechanism. The authors believe people can be taught to behave ethically - and they start by examining the reason people raise this question in the first place. Common thinking is that by the time people reach adulthood their value systems are already in place - they are either ethical or not ethical. This is classic contemporary American thinking characterized by binary, mutually exclusive options; sound bite analysis; and an easy litmus test for the integrity of degree candidates, job applicants and business people. As with most ideas having these characteristics, it falls apart under even limited scrutiny. The solution to the business ethics problem lies in corporate culture, and the authors speak from their own familiarity, after years of business consulting, with the impact of corporate culture on human behavior. The number of ethical dilemmas available to the human race is without limits. Therefore, it is imperative that we teach people how to think about the decisions they may face. Management and employees need an understanding of how to analyze and resolve the day-to-day ethical questions encountered in a business setting. Standards of behavior do exist and The Seven Layers of Integrity(R) provides a method for examining those standards. But in addition, business people should have a process to use when encountering new territory, a model that helps to clarify their thinking and a basic understanding of how to recognize and resolve ethical problems in business operations.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1420866842
• ISBN13: 9781420866841
• Release Date: February 2006
• Publisher: Authorhouse
• Length: 142 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Rigorous Thought About Ethical Conduct

This is an exceptionally valuable and useful book. Despite the outrage and turmoil caused in recent years by corporate scandals, many people, including highly trained and responsible people, do not know how to think about their own ethical conduct and do not know that they don't. Often their professional education includes only cursory and perfunctory training, if that, on the codes of professional ethics that apply to them. They believe that since they are moral and ethical people they will know what is the right thing to do and will do it. This is a snare and a delusion. The right thing to do is often counter-intuitive and difficult to figure out, and errors can be catastrophic. The beauty of this book is that it provides a framework for systematic thought about the dilemmas of ethical conduct, not only those presented by ethical codes, but also those presented by conflicts between a person's professional obligations and his own personal ethical beliefs. Anyone who absorbs the authors' lessons can face these dilemmas without panic. The book would be an outstanding text for courses on professional ethical conduct, but would also repay close reading by anyone, in or outside of a course.

Thought-Provoking, Highly Relevant For Business Today

The Seven Layers of Integrity offers a clear thought-process that takes individuals and business people beyond the typical discussion of ethical behavior. This book presents seven logical steps for teaching people to think in terms of the variety business-related, environmental and emotional dilemmas they will face in behaving ethically. Additionally, it openly demonstrates that decisions on how to respond to these dilemmas are not always black and white. Authors George Jones and June Ferrill, Ph.D. use their long and varied professional experiences, and well-known and documented case studies to present a balanced and compellingly fresh and highly personal approach to behaving ethically. This is a quick and very important read for people at all levels of business - whether corporate or entrepreneurial.