Question

"Which course of action does the most good and the least harm?" This is one of the questions to be asked by managers while making an ethical decision according to the decision-making model drawn heavily from the thoughts of Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. Discuss the nature and purpose of this question.

Answer 1

Badaracco uses texts like Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Sophocles' Antigone and Joseph Conrad's The Secret Sharer to help students understand issues of leadership, decision making and moral judgment. Badaracco also examines these issues in his next book Questions of Character: Illuminating the Heart of Leadership Through Literature (Harvard Business School Press, April 2006).

Recently, Harvard Business Review graduate editor Diane Coutu met with Badaracco for a varied discussion of what leaders can learn from literature.