Ethics Studies in Graduate Level Organizational Security
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1 ETHICS STUDIES IN GRADUATE LEVEL ORGANIZATIONAL SECURITY MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS: DEVELOPMENT OF A GROUNDED THEORY A dissertation presented by Daniel Adolf Augusto to The School of Education In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the field of Higher Education Administration College of Professional Studies Northeastern University Boston, Massachusetts June 2012 2 COPYRIGHT Daniel Adolf Augusto 2012 3 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to Dr. Neal Trautman, who has devoted much of his life to promoting ethics in public safety. Dr. Trautman has been a pioneer in bridging the gap between research and practice when it comes to ethics in law enforcement, and I have never met a person who was more generous with his time. 4 Abstract This study identified a grounded theory related to ethics in security management and ethics studies within graduate organizational security management programs in the United States. The study used data analysis of program curricula, course descriptions, and program websites, as well as interviews of program faculty and administrators to explore (1) how ethics studies are incorporated into graduate organizational Security Management program curricula in the U.S. and (2) how educators in graduate level organizational Security Management programs in the U.S. describe their definitions of ethics in security management, the role that ethics play in security management as a practice and as a profession, the role that ethics studies play in graduate organizational Security Management studies, instruction and evaluation methods for ethics studies within their programs, difficulties in teaching ethics, and barriers to incorporating ethics into a curriculum. The research findings resulted in the creation of a theoretical model for ethics in security management emphasizing a balance between various personal and professional factors. In addition, the findings resulted in a model for the role of ethics in organizational security, which is based on trust, and combines security’s heightened authority and access to information with increased exposure to potential ethical decisions, which result in significant personal, organizational, and professional consequences for ethical failure. The research findings also resulted in the creation of theoretical models depicting ethics studies in graduate Security Management programs and the role of ethics studies in the professionalization of security. Key words: ethics, security management, ethics studies, grounded theory, profession, corporate social responsibility. 5 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................................. 9 Significance of the Problem ...................................................................................................... 10 Practical and Intellectual Goals ................................................................................................. 13 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 14 Study Organization .................................................................................................................... 14 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................. 16 CSR Theory: A Framework for Ethics in Practice .................................................................... 17 Ethical CSR theory. ............................................................................................................... 17 The common good approach to CSR. .................................................................................... 18 Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development: A Foundation for Further Development ............. 22 The cognitive approach to development. ............................................................................... 22 Development of moral judgment according to Kohlberg. ..................................................... 23 Kohlberg’s levels and stages. ................................................................................................ 24 Emphasis on cognitive conflict and social interaction. ......................................................... 25 The Need for a Neo-Kohlbergian Approach ............................................................................. 27 Stages vs. schemas. ................................................................................................................ 28 Moral Judgment Interviews vs. the Defining Issues Test. ..................................................... 30 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 33 Chapter 2: Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 34 Ethics in Higher Education ....................................................................................................... 34 Professional Status and Security Management ......................................................................... 37 Organizational Security and Security Managers ....................................................................... 41 Security management. ........................................................................................................... 43 Ethics in security management. ............................................................................................. 45 Security Management as a Body of Work and a Field of Study ............................................... 47 Security management education. ........................................................................................... 48 Security management education and business education. ..................................................... 53 Ethics Studies in Business Education........................................................................................ 54 Prominence and need for ethics education within business programs. ................................. 56 Effects of ethics education on business students. .................................................................. 58 6 Methods of business ethics instruction. ................................................................................. 61 Applying the Research on Business Ethics Education to Security Programs ........................... 63 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 65 Chapter 3: Research Design ......................................................................................................... 71 Research Questions ................................................................................................................... 71 Research Method ....................................................................................................................... 72 Site and participants............................................................................................................... 73 Data collection. ...................................................................................................................... 75 Data analysis. ......................................................................................................................... 83 Validity and Credibility ............................................................................................................. 89 Ethical Considerations and Protection of Human Subjects ....................................................... 91 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 92 Chapter 4: Report of Research Findings ...................................................................................... 93 Phase I Findings ........................................................................................................................ 93 Research question 1 ............................................................................................................... 93 Phase II Findings ..................................................................................................................... 105 Research question 2a ........................................................................................................... 105 Research question 2b ........................................................................................................... 107 Research question 2c ........................................................................................................... 118 Research question 2d ........................................................................................................... 123 Research question 2e ........................................................................................................... 124 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 126 Chapter 5: Discussion ................................................................................................................ 127 Defining Ethics in Security Management ............................................................................... 128 The