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Timothy L. Fort

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Timothy L. Fort
Born1958 Edit this on Wikidata
Alma mater
OccupationUniversity teacher, economist, ethicist Edit this on Wikidata
Employer

Timothy L. Fort (born 1958) is the Eveleigh Professorship in Business Ethics at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.[1] Fort is considered a founder in the field of business and peace.[2][3] Fort has twice won the Academy of Management's Best Book Award in the area of Social Issues in Management (SIM): for Business, Integrity, and Peace in 2010,[4] and for The Diplomat in the Corner Office in 2016.[2] He also was a finalist for the award with Alexandra Christina in 2018 for Sincerity Edge: How ethical leaders build dynamic businesses (2017).[5][6] Fort received the Distinguished Career Faculty Award of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business in 2022 and was nominated for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize.[1]

Early life and education

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Fort attended the University of Notre Dame (B.A.'80, M.A.'84) and Northwestern University ('83, '95).[7] He earned both a Juris Doctor and a PhD in Theology from Northwestern University.[8]

Career

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Fort held the Bank One Assistant Professorship of Business Administration at the University of Michigan where he taught from 1994-2005. Fort served as the Lindner-Gambal Professor of Business Ethics at George Washington University (GWU) from 2005-2013.[9]

Fort then became the Eveleigh Professor of Business Ethics at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.[1] As of 2022,[10] Fort also became an Affiliated Scholar with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.[11]`

Fort's work is considered foundational in the field of business and peace research.[2][3] He has written more than 80 articles and 15 books.[12] During the 1990s, Fort focused on ethical thinking and behavior within corporations. He developed the idea of viewing a business as a mediating institution, a community with its own values and ethics. This idea is developed in his book Ethics and Governance: Business as Mediating Institution (2001).[13] He also emphasized the need for such a culture to support behaviors such as raising and listening to difficult concerns, and questioning and challenging authority.[14]

Fort worked with Cindy A. Schipani to publish The Role of Business in Fostering Peaceful Societies (2004). Their work is credited with forming a basis for the UN Global Compact, helping to establish the field of business and peace, and providing a foundation for peacebuilding research in management.[3]

In 2010, Fort won the Academy of Management's Best Book Award in the area of Social Issues in Management (SIM) for Business, Integrity, and Peace (2007).[4] Fort approaches the relationship between business and society from an interdisciplinary perspective. He argues that the key principle underlying socially acceptable business behavior is the sense of trust between a business and society. He categorizes trust into three types: Hard Trust (legal compliance and following of government regulations), Real Trust (a corporate culture based on norms of natural law, justice, and moral integrity), and Good Trust (an individual employee's sense of moral or spiritual excellence based in meaningful work).[8]

Fort argues that businesses reduce the likelihood of violence and create a more peaceful society through socially responsible activities such as creating jobs, providing equitable pay, avoiding corruption, and community building. Both company and society then benefit from operating under peaceful conditions.[8] Some critics have argued that Fort's view is overly optimistic, and underestimates the potential for businesses to adapt to and benefit in the short term from a dysfunctional status quo.[15] Others suggest that businesses vary widely, ranging from local businesses to multinationals, in ways that need to be considered when studying their operation and impact.[16]

In 2016, Fort won the Best Book Award for Social Issues in Management (SIM) from the Academy of Management for The Diplomat in the Corner Office: Corporate Foreign Policy (2015).[17] In it, Fort provides a framework for the examination of business and peace. Companies are described as contributing to peace through peacemaking (e.g. helping to settle disputes), peacekeeping (e.g. maintaining an agreement), and peacebuilding (long-term activities that incrementally enhance peace). Peace entrepreneurs see the promotional of peace as fundamental to their mission. Peace instrumentalists see a peaceful society as aligned with their strategic interests as a business. Unintentional contributors can benefit society by following ethical business practices, even if they do not identify peace as an explicit goal.[18] Fort is credited with offering "a new and compelling perspective" on the leadership role to be taken by multinational businesses in promoting peace in the countries in which they work.[19]

The sincerity edge: how ethical leaders build dynamic businesses (2017) was a finalist for the SIM Book Award in 2018.[5] It discusses both exceptional organizations and ethical failures. Sincerity is described in terms of the extent to which an organization recognizes and lives out values of integrity, trust, and authenticity as goods in and of themselves. The sincerity edge has been described as "a thoughtful, well-researched text that challenges and encourages the best in organizations and individuals".[20]

Awards and honors

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Bibliography

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  • Fort, Timothy L. (1987). Law and religion. Jefferson, N.C: McFarland. ISBN 0899502652.
  • Fort, Timothy L. (2001). Ethics and governance: business as mediating institution. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195137604.
  • Fort, Timothy L.; Schipani, Cindy A. (2004). The role of business in fostering peaceful societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521832624.
  • Fort, Timothy L. (2007). Business, integrity, and peace: beyond geopolitical and disciplinary boundaries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521862981.
  • Fort, Timothy L. (2008). Prophets, profits, and peace: the positive role of business in promoting religious tolerance. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300114676.
  • Fort, Timothy L., ed. (2011). Peace through commerce: a multisectoral approach. Dordrecht: Springer Netherland. ISBN 9789400702363.
  • Fort, Timothy L. (2014). The Vision of the firm : its governance, obligations, and aspirations : a textbook on the ethics of organizations. West Academic Pub.: St. Paul, MN. ISBN 9780314286499.
  • Fort, Timothy L. (2015). The diplomat in the corner office: corporate foreign policy. Stanford, California: Stanford Bussiness Books, an imprint of Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804786379.
  • Frederiksborg, Alexandra von; Fort, Timothy L. (2017). The sincerity edge: how ethical leaders build dynamic businesses. Stanford: Stanford university press. ISBN 9780804797450.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Timothy L. Fort". New Leaf Literary. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  2. ^ a b c "The Diplomat in the Corner Office". Stanford University Press. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Joseph, Jay; Maon, François; Uribe‐Jaramillo, Maria Teresa; Katsos, John E.; Lindgreen, Adam (2024-09-17). "Business, Conflict, and Peace: A Systematic Literature Review and Conceptual Framework". Journal of Management Studies. doi:10.1111/joms.13139. ISSN 0022-2380.
  4. ^ a b c "Faculty Focus: Ethics is in the DNA of every program, every course, and we put it first" (PDF). The Intersection of Business and Society. George Washington University. p. 10. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Awards - Social Issues Management". Academy of Management. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  6. ^ ""Alexandra Christina, Countess of Frederiksborg; Fort, Timothy L. (2017), 'The Sincerity Edge: How Ethical Leaders Build Dynamic Businesses', Stanford University Press"". De Gruyter. 2017-09-05. doi:10.1515/9781503603356/html. ISBN 978-1-5036-0335-6. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
  7. ^ "Faculty Directory". Kelley School of Business. Retrieved 21 November 2024.
  8. ^ a b c Frederick, William C. (January 2010). "Business, Integrity, and Peace: Beyond Geopolitical and Disciplinary Boundaries, by Timothy L. Fort. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007". Business Ethics Quarterly. 20 (1): 134–137. doi:10.5840/beq201020110.
  9. ^ "Timothy L. Fort: IU Alliance: Indiana University". IU Alliance of Distinguished and Titled Professors. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  10. ^ "Timothy L. Fort". Kelley School of Business. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  11. ^ "How Can Business Help Peace, with Tim Fort". Business Fights Poverty. March 5, 2024. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  12. ^ "Timothy Fort Archives". Network for Business Sustainability (NBS). Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  13. ^ Mayer, Don (June 2004). "Fort's 'Business as Mediating Institution'—A Holistic View of Corporate Governance and Ethics". American Business Law Journal. 41 (4): 595–619. doi:10.1111/j.1744-1714.2004.04104005.x.
  14. ^ Shalala, D. E. (2004). "The Buck Starts Here". Public Integrity. 6 (4): 349–356.
  15. ^ Ganson, Brian (31 January 2023). "Shared value as shared power: Business in South Africa's democratic transition". South African Journal of Business Management. 54 (1). doi:10.4102/sajbm.v54i1.3639.
  16. ^ Joseph, Jay; Katsos, John E.; Daher, Mariam (2021). "Local Business, Local Peace? Intergroup and Economic Dynamics". Journal of Business Ethics. 173 (4): 835–854. doi:10.1007/s10551-020-04515-3. ISSN 0167-4544.
  17. ^ a b "2016 Division and Interest Group Awards". Academy of Management. Retrieved 22 November 2024.
  18. ^ Katsos, John E.; AlKafaji, Yass (March 2019). "Business in War Zones: How Companies Promote Peace in Iraq". Journal of Business Ethics. 155 (1): 41–56. doi:10.1007/s10551-017-3513-7.
  19. ^ Gillespie, T. R. (2016). "Fort, Timothy L.: The diplomat in the corner office: corporate foreign policy". CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 53 (8): 1205.
  20. ^ Mckenzie, T. M. (2018). "The sincerity edge: how ethical leaders build dynamic businesses". CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 55 (8): 977.
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