Professional and Business Ethics Through Film

This book considers ethical issues arising in professional and business settings and the role of individuals making decisions and coping with moral dilemmas. Readers can benefit from engagement in filmic narratives, as a simulated environment for developing a stance towards ethical challenges. The book starts by elaborating on critical thinking and on normative ethical theories, subsequently presenting the structure and cinematic elements of narrative film. These two avenues are tools for evaluating films and for discussions on various ethical problems in contemporary business, including: the corporate and banking financial machinations (greed, fraud, social responsibility); workplace ethical challenges (harassment, violence, inequity, inequality); professional and business ethical challenges (corruption, whistleblowing, outsourcing, downsizing, competition, and innovation); environmental and social issues; international business and human rights; and personal responsibility and identity challenges due to career pressures, loss of privacy and cyber harassment, and job structure changes in light of changing technology. 

“Professional and Business Ethics Through Films engages the reader through a series of provocative case studies, which are buttressed by an analysis of films related to this subject.  This helps remove the abstractness that so often hinders discussions of ethical theory. This book takes a multidimensional approach, combining philosophy, business training, and an encyclopedic knowledge of movies.  This book will be a big hit, particularly among students who have learned to learn through the visual arts.” (Mark Gibney, University of North Carolina-Asheville, Lund, Sweden)

“Aristotle taught that drama can help us grow ethically, and Professor Skorin-Kapov admirably builds on this insight.  Drawing on her unique expertise in both cinema and management, she analyzes a wide-ranging collection of business dilemmas depicted in film.  Best of all, she shows us how to move beyond our society’s uncritical acceptance of images on a screen and subject them to ethical scrutiny.” (John Hooker, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA)

“This insightful, highly original book makes a bold gambit: in an audiovisual age, film can serve as an instructive example to entertain ethical scenarios of business practice. It succeeds brilliantly.” (Mattias Frey, Professor of Film and Media, Co-Editor, Film Studies University of Kent, UK)

“This text is thoroughly researched and well-conceived.  Each chapter is carefully laid out to address theory and practice, with headlines cases such as Ford Pinto and more recently Volkswagen, Enron, the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, and the 2015 Flint MI water case.  There is a terrific variety of over 60 popular and classic movies, including many recent titles with which students will be familiar. This is a textbook that is extremely rich in philosophical content, with much for students (and instructors) to learn about ethics in general, and business ethics in particular, as well as aesthetics, that is, how to think well and talk intelligently and thoughtfully about film.” (Kimberly Blessing, PhD, Professor of Philosophy, SUNY Buffalo State)

Jadranka Skorin-Kapov is Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Integration of Business Education and Humanities (CIBEH) at Stony Brook University, USA. She has diverse background with three PhDs, in Operations Research, Philosophy, and Art History and Criticism. Skorin-Kapov is the recipient of five National Science Foundation grants, and the SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities.