Denis Collins (business ethicist)

Denis Collins (business ethicist)
Denis Collins (born January 12, 1956) was an American business ethicist and tenured professor of business at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin.
Biography
Denis Collins was born in the Bronx and raised in Carlstadt, New Jersey. He received a B.S. in business administration from Montclair State University in 1977, an M.A. in philosophy from Bowling Green State University in 1987, and a PhD in business environment and public policy from the University of Pittsburgh in 1990. He specialized in business ethics, teaching it at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the University of Bridgeport, and Edgewood College.
He is a terminal cancer survivor, husband and father.
Optimal Ethics System Model
Collins' Optimal Ethics System Model is a compilation of what he says are best practices for achieving a morally healthy organization (preventing unethical or illegal behavior). They typically take the form of step-by-step instructions, like recipes. Collins offers empirical evidence that sustained financial success requires implementation of this model.
The Optimal Ethics System Model offers best practices in five categories:
Hiring practices
Procedures for recruiting individuals who demonstrate and sustain ethical behavior over time
Orientation practices
Procedures for orienting new employees to a code of ethics and conduct
Procedures for orienting new employees to an ethical decision-making framework
Training practices
Procedures for teaching ethics
Operating practices
Procedures for nurturing respect for employee and customer diversity
Systems for reporting ethical misbehavior
Procedures for ethical leadership and management (rewarding ethical behavior)
Procedures for engaging and empowering employees to achieve superior performance
Procedures for managing interaction with the natural environment
Procedures for conducting meaningful community outreach
Evaluation practices
Procedures for continually improving best practices
Books
Collins has authored or edited articles and essays on business ethics, social responsibility, participatory management, and service learning; he has also authored, co-authored, and co-edited several books:
Business Ethics: How to Design and Manage Ethical Organizations
Essentials of Business Ethics: Creating an Organization of High Integrity and Superior Performance
Behaving Badly: Ethical Lessons from Enron
Gainsharing and Power: Lessons from Six Scanlon Plans
Sustaining the Natural Environment: Empirical Studies on the Interface Between Nature and Organizations
Ethical Dilemmas in Business
Board service
Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society, 2004–2007
Journal of Business Ethics, 2003–
Journal of Academic Ethics, 2002–
Organization & Environment, 1996–1999
International Association for Business and Society, 1995
Social Issues in Management Division, Academy of Management, 1995–1998
Awards
2011 Samuel Mazzuchelli Medallion for cultivating intellectual and spiritual resources to empower others, Edgewood College
2010 MBA Outstanding Faculty Award, Edgewood College
2009 Estervig-Beaubien Outstanding Professor Award, Edgewood College
Three times voted the outstanding MBA faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in BusinessWeek's survey of alumni
Finalist for the Academy of Management Distinguished Educator Award
References
External links
Collins’ faculty webpage
Collins’ Business Ethics: How to Design and Manage Ethical Organizations webpage
Collins’ Essentials of Business Ethics: Creating an Organization of High Integrity and Superior Performance webpage
American philosophy academics
1956 births
Living people