Typically people react emotionally much more severely to an
exploited conflict of interest when a person gains a personal benefit such as
through a bribe. If company, or even an office or department thereof, stands to
benefit inordinately, American society typically looks the other way on the institutional conflict of interest rather
than taking it apart. This may just be human nature. However, the troubling
institutional arrangements within an organization or between them may be
tolerated because of the erroneous assumption that conflicts of interest are
unethical only when they are exploited. Accordingly, the book provides a solid
grasp of the structure and essence of the conflict of interest in order to make
the case that it is inherently unethical. Examples of institutional conflicts
of interest readily come from business, with particular attention to corporate
governance and the financial sector, as well as from how business and
government relate, such as through regulation The reader should come away with
a sense of just how pervasive and ethically problematic institutional conflict
of interests are.
The book, Institutional Conflicts of Interest: Business and Public Policy, is available in print and as an ebook at Amazon.com
