This volume is a selection of papers from the 20th annual 'Australian Association for Professional and Applied Ethics' Conference. Topics covered include athletes as role models, sports ethics and sports governance, the separation of powers as an integrity mechanism, and virtues in just war theory.

Why do some people achieve ethical excellence while others fail? For example, how did Gloria Lewis overcome a lifetime of difficulty and go on to found a non-profit focused on feeding the homeless while Danny Starrett, despite a seemingly ideal childhood, became a rapist and murderer? Why did some Germans rescue their Jewish neighbors while others stood by? One recent study found that four personal variables, taken together, differentiated Nazi-era bystanders from rescuers with startling 96.1% accuracy: social responsibility, altruistic moral reasoning, empathic concern, and risk-taking—traits related to ethical excellences (virtues) like justice, benevolence, and courage. Drawing from the combined wisdom of classical Socratic and Confucian philosophy, recent work in psychology, and the lived experience of recognized moral heroes, the book focuses on how each of us can work toward ethical excellence, becoming more like Lewis and neighbor-rescuers than like Starrett and Nazi-era bystanders. The ancient Socratic and Confucian philosophical traditions offer surprisingly sophisticated advice regarding moral education. Because research in psychology helps us assess the feasibility of cultivating virtue in ourselves and those we influence, Ethical Excellence focuses on combining sound philosophical analysis of ethical virtue and related concepts with relevant empirical research on how these concepts are manifested and developed in everyday practice. Willpower, for example, contributes to development of temperance or moderation, grit relates to perseverance, and empathy is connected to benevolence. Finally, the study of ethically exceptional people—moral heroes or exemplars—serves as living proof that ethical excellence is possible, and exemplars can provide inspiration to attempt it ourselves and guidance regarding how to do so successfully. Relevant stories and excerpts from the author’s own interviews with award-winning ethical exemplars complement the use of philosophical virtue theory and psychological research on virtue-relevant practice. Together, these three approaches—philosophy, psychology, and biography—help to triangulate” ethical excellence and its achievement, presenting a much clearer and more complete picture than we can get from any one of these methods alone.

This book addresses the question: how can institutions develop and maintain a good purpose? And how can managers contribute to this endeavour? Twelve contributions explore this question, using MacIntyrean inquiry as a basis for exploring four main themes: Can management be considered a practice in the MacIntyrean sense? What is the role of specific virtues in the development of a virtuous institution? What are management vices and what are the conditions in which they flourish? And, can we use MacIntyrean ideas to consider the management of all forms of institutions? The volume is an international and multidisciplinary collection, with contributions from well-known writers in the field of management ethics, and innovative contributions that use MacIntyrean inquiry as a lens to examine fields such as hospitality, user generated music content and social sustainability. The papers are unified by their concern for the achievement of organizational excellence and integrity through ethical management. Unlike single author texts this edited volume brings together multiple perspectives on the topic of virtue ethics in management. In doing so, it explores the topic both more deeply and more widely than a single author can do. Because of its breadth, this book has the potential to become a turn-to research tool for those interested in virtue theory’s relevance to other academic interests such as organizational behavior (including motivation theory and social psychology), literature, contemporary social issue criticism, and business management. “Editors Harris, Wijesinghe, and McKenzie have crafted a tight, slim, and thematically consistent volume that will be indispensable to scholars and students with twin interests in business and virtue ethics. In particular, those working with MacIntyre’s ideas will find the thorough and complimentary explorations and applications of his ideas to serve, overall, as a cornerstone for their own work." Brenden E. Kendall (2014), Harris, H., Wijesinghe, G., & McKenzie, S. (Eds.). (2013). The Heart of the Good Institution: Virtue Ethics as a Framework for Responsible Management. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, in Michael Schwartz , Howard Harris (ed.) Achieving Ethical Excellence (Research in Ethical Issues in Organizations, Volume 12) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.155 - 161

Why do some people achieve ethical excellence while others fail? For example, how did Gloria Lewis overcome a lifetime of difficulty and go on to found a non-profit focused on feeding the homeless while Danny Starrett, despite a seemingly ideal childhood, became a rapist and murderer? Why did some Germans rescue their Jewish neighbors while others stood by? One recent study found that four personal variables, taken together, differentiated Nazi-era bystanders from rescuers with startling 96.1% accuracy: social responsibility, altruistic moral reasoning, empathic concern, and risk-taking—traits related to ethical excellences (virtues) like justice, benevolence, and courage. Drawing from the combined wisdom of classical Socratic and Confucian philosophy, recent work in psychology, and the lived experience of recognized moral heroes, the book focuses on how each of us can work toward ethical excellence, becoming more like Lewis and neighbor-rescuers than like Starrett and Nazi-era bystanders. The ancient Socratic and Confucian philosophical traditions offer surprisingly sophisticated advice regarding moral education. Because research in psychology helps us assess the feasibility of cultivating virtue in ourselves and those we influence, Ethical Excellence focuses on combining sound philosophical analysis of ethical virtue and related concepts with relevant empirical research on how these concepts are manifested and developed in everyday practice. Willpower, for example, contributes to development of temperance or moderation, grit relates to perseverance, and empathy is connected to benevolence. Finally, the study of ethically exceptional people—moral heroes or exemplars—serves as living proof that ethical excellence is possible, and exemplars can provide inspiration to attempt it ourselves and guidance regarding how to do so successfully. Relevant stories and excerpts from the author’s own interviews with award-winning ethical exemplars complement the use of philosophical virtue theory and psychological research on virtue-relevant practice. Together, these three approaches—philosophy, psychology, and biography—help to triangulate” ethical excellence and its achievement, presenting a much clearer and more complete picture than we can get from any one of these methods alone.

This book offers easy access to the everyday ethics problems that occur in the medical care of children. It contains practical guidance on how physicians and other healthcare practitioners may manage both straightforward and complex ethics problems. The book provides a readable and comprehensive introduction to ethics issues for beginners and is also extremely valuable to experienced practitioners.This work covers important "classical" ethical issues such as privacy, confidentiality, truth telling, and discusses the elements of the relationships that might exist between parents and healthcare providers. However, the book also provides a resource for new and emerging areas of bioethics. These include issues arising in the new population of children who are beginning to survive the neonatal and infant periods with a multitude of problems – “children with medical complexity". Finally, it also includes a section on the advantages and pitfalls of social media use.

The author gives us a vision of educational reform that transcends standards, curriculum, and instructional strategies. He argues for a paradigm shift-a schoolwide embrace of an "ethic of excellence" and with a passion for quality describes what's possible when teachers, students, and parents commit to nothing less than the best. The author tells exactly how this can be done, from the blackboard to the blacktop to the school boardroom.

Society faces an unprecedented number of complex problems and challenges. Author M. C. Ferdowsian believes that the most impactful problems of our times deal with ethics, decades of greed and irresponsibility, and the urgent need to develop an ethical and high-performing business community. These problems take center stage in our everyday lives, thereby affecting our work performance, and our physical and mental health. Ferdowsian addresses the debilitating problems we are facing today and presents the panacea of the wounds of society, Ethical Solutions. A comprehensive book on ethics, Ethical Solutions attempts to create a principled and high performing business community by systematically embedding values into business operations and organizational governance. It encourages readers to fully understand how ethics impact one's performance and leadership leading everyone to ethical, individual, and organizational excellence. Ethical Solutions further provides a set of next generation long-term solutions necessary to systematically address many closely linked organizational problems. The ethical values are sure to develop a corporate culture that is conducive to high-performance, superior leadership/management, good decision-making and problem resolution, thus achieving an ideal society. Rich with facts and thought-provoking issues, discover the trends and events that will further develop society making it a better place to live in.