The Ethics of Organizational Transformation: Mergers, Takeovers, and Corporate Restructuring (National Conference on Business Ethics//Proceedings)

In the wake of major insider trading scandals on Wall Street and serious debates over the benefits of corporate mergers and takeovers, ethics in business has become a topic of paramount importance--both in the corporate world itself and in the business school community. This volume presents a discussion by a distinguished group of corporate executives and academic specialists of the ethical issues involved in mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers. The result of a major conference sponsored by the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College, the book seeks to relate ethical and philosophical considerations to the pragmatic concerns of business operation. In their provocative exploration of the issues involved, the contributors address such subjects as employee interests, stakeholder welfare, managerial ethics, the problem of insider trading, and more. Divided into five major sections, the volume begins with several chapters that offer an overview of ethical and moral issues in organizational transformations. The second section presents corporate, labor, and government views of the issues involved and includes chapters by Edward L. Hennessy, Jr. of Allied-Signal; Daniel W. Sherrick of the UAW; and David T. Scheffman of the Federal Trade Commission among others. In the following chapters, the contributors address ethical aspects of the strategies and tactics used to effect mergers and takeovers, paying particular attention to their impact on management and employee interests. Section Four presents some alternative approaches to corporate restructuring, while the final section includes actual case studies of the relationship between ethical issues and practical bottomline business concerns. Must reading for corporate executives and financial experts involved in the business of mergers and takeovers, this book is also an ideal supplemental text for graduate courses in business ethics.