Didáctica Moderna

the subjects were selected included individuals who were senior corporate leaders, ethics scholars, and leaders of corporate ethics program. A purposive subject selection was partially accomplished using a sample of convenience coupled with a snowball method, which allowed one subject to recommend another subject. The Molloy College Institutional Review Board has approved the method underlying this study and the researcher’s interaction with the Human Subjects.

A total of 32 subjects were interviewed from five US states (IL, NY, NJ, FL, HI). The subjects lived primarily in NY and IL (43.8% from NY;

40.3% from IL). Thirty-four percent (34.4%) of the subjects were women.

90.6% of the subjects are currently married with children. The subject groups were comprised of 22 senior line leaders, 5 ethics scholars/philoso-phers, and 5 corporate ethics program directors/leaders. The line leaders were very senior in rank. 68.2% of the line leaders held officer level posi-tions, defined as a Vice President, Sr. Vice President, President or C-level officer. Four of the subjects held positions as President or CEO. The subject group was mature with an overall average age of 51 years. The average age of 51 was consistent across the subject groups except for the ethics’ scholars, whose average age was 54 years. A more descriptive breakdown of the sub-ject demographics is reported inTable 1.

C. Data Collection

The data were collected using one-on-one in-depth interviews. The inter-views were conducted face-to-face except when a subject was unable to meet. Four interviews were therefore conducted by phone. The goal was to

Table 1

Subject Characteristics

Senior line leader

Corp. ethics director/leader

Ethics scholar

Total

Number of subjects 22 5 5 32

Age range (years) 32 57 47 62 41 65 32 65

Average age (year) 51 54 51 51

% of subjects with an earned MBA or doctorate

68.20 100 100 78.1

% of subjects married with children

95.4 100 60 90.6

% of female subjects 31.8 60 20 34.4

58 Maureen L. Mackenzie

research a level of saturation to the point of discovery of repetitive themes.

Once themes became repetitive, a level of confidence was derived with both breadth and depth. Thirty-two in-depth interviews were conducted, recorded using a digital recorder, and subsequently transcribed. Open-ended questions allowed each subject to express his or her views, experiences, and opinions related to the topic.

A schedule with 10 interview questions, and an 11th catch-all opportu-nity question, was created (see the appendix) to explore how future leaders could best be prepared to face the dilemmas that employment in organiza-tional life will present to them. The questions also addressed what employers expect from graduates, and ultimately, what should business management graduate and undergraduate programs teach and design, if the views of future employers are important variables.

The study design was intended to draw insights from those at the senior leadership level in organizations. Capturing the knowledge and experiences of in-force leaders, supplemented with the views of the corporate designers of ethics’ programs, offered direction to management curriculum designers. To gain a balanced view of this topic, insight was also drawn from those who study and teach ethics as a scholarly profession at the college level.

The interview questions fell into two categories—primary or academic and secondary or personal. Within the academic scope were included ques-tions directly related to the college processes by which students are prepared for job placement. As seen in the appendix, the questions included ones which probed—such as whether colleges are doing a satisfactory job in preparing graduates to face ethical dilemmas, and what are the expected learning outcomes of an ethics course?

Questions in the personal category explored the subjects’ personal views of various facets of business ethics. These insights will inform the academic scope as it illuminates the corporate culture. The interviewees were asked to share their own journey in gaining an education in ethical decision making.

Also, the subjects’ opinions were captured related to whether people have an ethical nature, or whether their ethical viewpoint is created from experiences.

D. Data Analysis

Content analysis was the method used to systematically reduce the data.

The researcher, as observer and co-participant, became immersed in the data, which is a feature of qualitative research. Themes were built through a repetitive process of identifying the smallest groupings of data (e.g., words

59 Educating Ethical Leaders

and sentences) and then through constant comparison revising the concep-tualized categories, which then served as the research outcomes for the study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). NVivo content analysis software was used to orga-nize the coding of the data elements, which allowed themes to be drawn out more effectively.