Third Annual Fall Ethics Symposium 2008

Personal and Professional Integrity in Business

This is the third year of our annual Fall Ethics Symposium, a joint undertaking by the CPPE, Sacramento State University, and Cosumnes River College. It is also the first year that this Symposium has added the RCA Program (through a grant from the Sacramento Region Community Foundation) as an official event sponsor.

This year's topic focuses on the very timely and important matter of business responsibility. As investment banks fail and financial institutions falter on Wall Street, as sovereign wealth funds purchase greater controlling shares in major economic institutions, as people default on mortgages and credit cards, and as corporations push for ever greater governmental bail-outs and tax reductions while rejecting greater governmental oversight, the questions of corporate accountability, CEO responsibility, and individual morality come to the surface. What can be done? How can we be sure the people who make economic decisions which shape the world and our lives are making those decisions for good reasons? An important answer is, "Be sure those individuals have integrity, be sure they conduct their business as professionals... ethical professionals."

This Symposium will bring together scholars and practitioners with expertise in business ethics, to discuss the role of integrity in business decision-making.

This Symposium will be a day-long event, scheduled for Monday, October 20th, 2008. It will be held on the Sacramento State University campus, in the Hinde Auditorium of the University Union. for a campus and parking map please link here.

This year the symposium has been organized by:
CRC, Dr. Rick Schubert, 2008 Symposium Executive Director
CSUS, Dr. Russell DiSilvestro, 2008 Symposium Director

We would like to thank our Official Sponsors:
Sacramento Region Community Foundation
Office of the President, Cosumnes River College
Office of the President, Sacramento State University

Official Program

Monday, October 20th , 2008

8:30-9:00 a.m. Reception, Redwood Room (Light refreshments served.)
9:00-9:30 Opening Remarks, Hinde Auditorium
Dr. Christina M. Bellon, Director, Center for Practical and Professional Ethics
Dr. Joseph Sheley, Provost, Sacramento State University
Dr. Francisco Rodriguez, President, Cosumnes River College
Dr. Rick Schubert, Symposium Executive Director, Cosumnes River College, Philosophy Dept

9:30-10:50 a.m. Keynote Address
Dr. Edwin Hartman, Stern School of Business, New York University
"Aristotle on Character and Integrity" Abstract

11:00-11:50 a.m. Session I
Dr. Hakan Ozcelik and Dr. Amy Mickel, College of Business, Sacramento State University
"When Executives Get Angry: The Importance of Anger and Its Triggers to Ethical Awareness and Sensitivity" Abstract

12:00-1:20 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30-2:45 p.m. Session II
Dr. Kimberly D. Elsbach, Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis
"Images of Strong Leadership: Possibilities and Pitfalls" Abstract

3:00-4:15 p.m. Session III
Rebekah Donaldson, President, Business Communications Group, LLC
"The New Rules of Business Communications -- business ethics and the rise of business blogs" Abstract

4:30-5:15 p.m. Closing Roundtable Discussion
Presenters participate in an informal roundtable session to connect important issues raised during the day. The audience will have the opportunity to direct questions to all the presenters.

5:20pm Reception, Redwood Room

Meet Our Speakers

Edwin M. Hartman is Visiting Professor of Business Ethics and Director of the Paduano Seminar in Business Ethics in the Stern School of NYU, where he teaches in the Markets, Ethics, and Law Program. He has undergraduate degrees in philosophy from Haverford College and in classics from Oxford University, a Ph.D. in ancient philosophy from Princeton, and a Wharton MBA. Professor Hartman has written many articles and three books, of which the most recent is Organizational Ethics and the Good Life (Oxford), named Book of the Year (2003) by the Social Issues in Management Division of the Academy of Management. He was president of the Society for Business Ethics in 2006-7.

Dr. Amy Mickel is an associate professor of organizational behavior in the College of Business Administration at California State University, Sacramento. Her research interests include: life-quality and work-life issues, emotions, topics related to money, and interactive teaching techniques. Her articles have been accepted for publication in journals such as Academy of Management Review, Human Relations, Journal of Management Education, and Journal of Management Inquiry. Dr. Mickel earned her doctorate in organizational behavior and human resource management from University of Washington and her bachelor’s degree in sociology from UCLA.

Dr. Hakan Ozcelik is an assistant professor in the College of Business Administration at the California State University, Sacramento. He has received his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of British Columbia, Canada. He holds a double-major degree in management and political science, and an MBA from Bosphorus University, Turkey. His current research interests revolve around understanding the role of emotions in organizational life, focusing on such topics as emotional climate and fit; emotions and decision making; emotions and communication; and discrete emotions such as anger and loneliness. Some of this research is published at prestigious academic outlets, including papers in Organization Science and the Journal of Managerial Psychology; two book chapters (one from Sage Publications, edited by R. Kramer from Stanford University; the other from Emerald Group Publishing, edited by W. Zerbe, C. Hartel, and N. Ashkanasy); two conference papers (Best Papers Proceedings of the Academy of Management), and a book review in International Journal of Work Organization and Emotion. He has taught courses in business communications, organizational behavior, and management.

Dr. Kimberly D. Elsbach is Professor of Management and Chancellor's Fellow at the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University in 1993. She studies how people form impressions and images of each other and their organizations. Her book, Organizational Perception Management, was recently published by Lawrence-Erlbaum Associates Press. Prior to her academic career, Kim worked as an Industrial Engineer for the Quaker Oats, Co. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where her office was located next to the Aunt Jemima Butter Syrup line. This arrangement helped solidify her decision to leave the glamour of corporate America for life as an academic. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa in 1985, and swam for Iowa from 1981-1985. Her favorite pastimes are hanging out with her 9-year old son and surfing with her husband in Hawaii.

Rebekah Donaldson has been a business to business (B2B) marketer since 1995, and set out in 2001 to establish a B2B marketing consulting firm fluent in marketing strategy, Web technologies, lead generation, and public relations. She heads Business Communications Group LLC, the only Sacramento marketing consulting company specializing in B2B marketing services. Since 2001, AeA, Allstate, Surewest, Sutter Health and 50 other firms have consulted her firm for guidance that builds trust and accelerates sales. Her blog is Red On Marketing, published at http://blog.b2bcommunications.com.