John W. Dienhart, PhD

Professor
The Boeing Frank Shrontz Chair of Business Ethics
Director, Albers Business Ethics Initiative
Director, Northwest Ethics Network

PhD, Ethics, University of Illinois at Urbana
AM, Philosophy, University of Illinois - Champaign-Urbana
BA, Philosophy, Roosevelt University

Phone: 206.296.5714

Office: Pigott 417

Email: dienharj@seattleu.edu

Department: Management

Web Address: http://fac-staff.seattleu.edu/dienharj

Teaching Areas: MBA-Master of Business Administration

Syllabus For:

MBA 512 Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

In the News:

John Dienhart was featured in an article in Philadelphia Daily News, "Bank acknowledges, and apologizes for, links to slavery," published on June 2, 2005.

John Dienhart was quoted in the Sydney Morning Herald article, "Click here for money," published on July 16, 2005.

John Dienhart was quoted in a Tacoma News Tribune story on the resignation of Safeco CEO Mike McGavick to explore running for US Senate, "Safeco’s CEO resigns to get in position for Senate run," published July 19, 2005. McGavick spoke at the Albers School in October, 2004.

July 11, 2005. John Dienhart has been reappointed to his third three-year term as the Frank Shrontz Endowed Chair in Business Ethics. John has done an excellent job in his first two terms, including reaching out to the business community via such programs as the Albers Business Ethics Initiative.

As part of the review process, John's record was reviewed by a committee composed of Fred Dekay (chair), Vidya Awasthi, Gail Lasprogata, Ruben Trevino, and Greg Prussia. The committee report stated the following: "The committee members commend Dr. Dienhart for his many accomplishments that have furthered the purposes of the chair. They expressed confidence that Dr. Dienhart will continue at this level of productivity and unanimously support his application for reappointment to the Shrontz chair." 

John Dienhart was featured in the KPLU Public Radio, "In-studio Q&A - Boeing, Stonecipher, and ethics laws," broadcasted on March 9, 2005.

John Dienhart was quoted in the Seattle Times, "Personal lives of executives under scrutiny," published on March 8, 2005.

John Dienhart was quoted in the Seattle P-I, "Analysis: Boeing conduct code worked properly, expert says," published on March 8, 2005.

John Dienhart was featured in the Puget Sound Business Journal, "There's a business-ethics story we're still waiting for," published on December 31, 2004.

John Dienhart was featured in the Seattle P-I,"Former Cutter & Buck president pleads guilty," published on December 17, 2004.

John Dienhart, the Frank Shrontz Chair for Business Ethics, gave a talk in August at the Society for Business Ethics on “The Ethics of Corporate Ethics Programs.” In September, he presented “Personal and Organizational Ethics” to the Washington State Health Care Executive Forum and “Transparency, Leadership and Ethics” to the annual meeting of Philanthropy NW. And this month, Dienhart presented to the Boeing Corporate Ethics Group, “Relationships between Universities and Business: How We Learn from Each Other.” 

- Broadway Madison 
October 11, 2004 

John Dienhart was featured in the Puget Sound Business Journal, "In Global Arena, Execs Need Cross-culture Skills," published on November 26 - December 2, 2004 edition.

John Dienhart was quoted in the US News and World Report America’s Best Graduate Schools July 2004 edition about how business ethics is finding its way in to MBA curricula. 

John Dienhart was featured in an article in the Snohomish County Business Journal, "Trust essential for a business to function well," published on July 1, 2004.

The Albers Business Ethics Initiative, under John Dienhart’s guidance, held its first Franks Shrontz Workshop on Business Ethics, on May 27, 2004 at Seattle University.  “Organizations on the Leading Edge: Building Ethical Cultures from Within,” was a half-day seminar that demonstrated research and best practices for integrating ethics into the operations of business, non-profit and government organizations.  More than 70 representatives from Northwest businesses, government agencies and non-profit groups attended.

John Dienhart helped the Puget Sound Business Journal organize a seminar on corporate governance held April 21, 2004. “The New Challenges of Corporate Governance” was held at the Bell Harbor Conference Center and featured Terry Thomas, Director of Ethics and Business Conduct at MCI. John served as a panelist and Albers was a co-sponsor of the event. 

John Dienhart contributed the article, "To work, corporate ethics must start at the top," printed in the Puget Sound Business Journal, April 16, 2004.

John Dienhart's co-authored article, “Strategic Leadership of Ethical Behavior in Business", will appear in the Academy of Management Executive Journal later this year.

John Dienhart led a two-day workshop, and presented to Costco’s Quality Assurance group and buyers of health and beauty products in February, 2004. The topic was Ethical Decision Making and Corporate Culture.

John Dienhart was featured in an article in the Seattle P-I, "2003 was the year of corporate crooks" published on December 23, 2003.

John Dienhart contributed to an article by the Puget Sound Business Journal," Seattle U expands effort to teach business ethics," published on November 28, 2003.

John Dienhart contributed to an article by the Daily Journal of Commerce, "Seattle University is offering businesses help with ethics," published on November 19, 2003.

John Dienhart has been selected as a Fellow of the Ethics Resource Center, one of the most prestigious and well-connected ethics centers in the world. John is one of just a few academics to have achieved this distinction. 

Dr. Dienhart was featured in the San Francisco Business Times on May 2, 2003 in an article titled: "Rewriting rules after a season of scandal."  Also picked up by: Nashville Business Journal, Dayton Business Journal, Cincinnati Business Courier, Business Journal of Charlotte, Business First of Louisville, Atlanta Business Chronicle, Pittsburgh Business Times, Pacific Business News, Philadelphia Business Journal, Sacramento Business Journal, Business Journal of Milwaukee, St. Paul Business Journal, and Greater Triad Business Journal

John Dienhart was quoted in an article in PR News, "Earn your employees trust when releasing financial statements," published March 24, 2003

John Dienhart was quoted in a March 25, 2003 Associated Press story on the Enron scandal book published by Sherron Watkins. The story appeared in The Seattle Times under the headline, “Would Board Have Listened? Enron Voice of Doom Reflects.”

John Dienhart was featured in a Puget Sound Business Journal article, "Getting a grip on the Sarbanes-Oxley," on March 17, 2003.

John Dienhart, Frank Shrontz Endowed Chair in the Albers School, and Richard Purcell, chief privacy officer at Microsoft, arranged a panel on Electronic Privacy and Ethics for the Washington State Ethics Program last December. Dienhart spoke to the contractual approach to e-commerce ethics and Purcell addressed international standards of e-commerce privacy. 

John Dienhart was featured in an article by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 
"Bizarre breadth to Znetix case," Wednesday, February 5, 2003.

John Dienhart was on the steering committee for a conference on corporate integrity and responsibility organized by the Health Care Compliance Association. The conference was held at the Microsoft Campus in November, 2002. He organized and chaired a session at the conference on Integrating Ethics and Compliance programs.

John Dienhart had his article "Who Are Our Hair Dressers: A Plea for Institutions and Action," accepted for publication by the Business Ethics Quarterly. The paper describes a successful program to alert African-American women about breast cancer. It also challenges business ethicists to devise creative ways to effectively communicate their message about the importance of business ethics.

The article, "Everett arena hits conflict", featuring John Dienhart appeared in the Everett Herald, Monday, December 9, 2002.

John Dienhart is quoted in the article Enron exec Sherron Watkins resigns (Seattle PI, Nov 16, 2002), picked up and published by 

Toronto Star
Miami Herald
CNN.com
Newsday
Austin American Statesman
ABC News.com
Baltimore Sun
Montgomery County Record
Raliegh News
Hilton Head Island Packet
Washington Post
San Francisco Chronicle
Times Daily
Lakeland Ledger
Sarasota Herald Tribune

John Dienhart was featured (with photo) in these two articles: 
Classes dealing with business ethics have new relevance in business schools
How would you act if you were in their shoes? (Both articles appeared in The Seattle Times, Oct 27, 2002)

SmartPros picked it up and ran it as University business professors explore ethical gray areas (SmartPros Accounting, Oct 29, 02) and the Institute of Management Accountants thought so highly of the October 27th Seattle Times article on the teaching of business ethics featuring John Dienhart that they incorporated it into their web-site, and included it in the premier issue of their new electronic newsletter. 

John Dienhart presented Measuring the Effectiveness of Corporate Ethics Programs at the Society for Business Ethics with Frank Daly, Senior Ethics Officer for Northrop-Grumman in August. He also chaired a session at the Academy of Management titled Paradoxes in Organizational Life. Dienhart wrote, with Terry Thomas, Executive Director of the Seattle Ethics and Election Commission a chapter on Ethical Leadership for the text, Management, published by Wiley. The revised edition will appear in January. In October 2002, Dienhart gave presentations on Ethical Business Leadership to the CEO Group of NW Credit Unions and the local chapter of National Association of Credit Management. 

John Dienhart was in The Seattle Times on July 19th addressing new rules for CEO signoff on financial statements. 

John Dienhart was quoted in the The Seattle Times' newspaper column written by Steve Dunphy. John commented on the current leadership scandals at certain US firms.

John Dienhart will be a featured guest on the Ken Hamblin Show on KVI Radio 570 am on June 30, 2002, between 2 and 3 p.m., discussing massive accounting improprieties amidst the recent WorldCom disclosures.

John Dienhart was featured in the LA Times, June 27, 2002, discussing massive accounting improprieties amidst the recent WorldCom disclosures.

Dr. Dienhart will be doing a 20 minute interview on the NPR syndicated Tavis Smiley show on Monday, July 1, 2002. The Smiley show comes out of LA and is debuting in our area on Monday on KUOW. Smiley has been named by Time magazine as one of America's 50 most promising young leaders.

John Dienhart was quoted in an article on Enron in the March 16th edition of the Los Angeles Times.

Pr. Dienhart appeared on Northwest Cable News', Northwest Extra Live January 30, 2002.  Under discussion was Enron's fiascoes and how it relates locally.

John Dienhart is featured in an article by business writer Bryan Corliss, on Microsoft ghost-writing its support of its antitrust case.

http://www.heraldnet.com/Stories/02/1/29/15088406.cfm

John Dienhart hosted an on-campus meeting of the Northwest Ethics Network last Tuesday, January 14, 2002. This is a group of ethics officers from fourteen organizations, including Microsoft, Starbucks, Plumcreek Timber, Boeing, PeaceHealth, Regency Blue Cross, The Washington State Whistleblower Program and the City of Seattle Ethics and Elections Commission.

John Dienhart has just received notification from JAI Press that they will publish a new collection of readings he has edited, "The Next Phase of Business Ethics: Integrating Psychology and Ethics." Dienhart shares editorship with Dennis Moberg, Professor of Ethics and the Common Good at Santa Clara University and Ronald Duska, The LaMont Chair of Business Ethics at the American College. The book arrived October 25, 2001.

John Dienhart was quoted in the New York Times on October 19 and October 21st regarding Canada’s decision to override patent law and allow for the generic production of Bayer’s Cipro drug by a Canadian company.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/21/business/21DRUG.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/19/business/19CANA.html

Dienhart presented “Faith, Justice, and a Catholic Educational Mission” in New York City at the Seventh Annual International Conference Promoting Business Ethics, sponsored by the U.S. Vincentian Universities in September, 2001. While there, he co-chaired a session on “Ethics and the Academy.”

John Dienhart has been named Director of Northwest Ethics Network. NWEN consists of ethics and compliance officers from businesses, non-profits, and government. Seattle University will host four meetings over the next 12 months. 

Dienhart gave a Presidential Address to the Society for Business Ethics, in Washington DC in August, 2001. The title was “Who Are Our Hairdressers” (A Plea for Institutions and Action). The title of the talk came from a real case of a health care worker who used hairdressers to spread the word about breast cancer to their clients.

Dienhart made a plenary presentation, "Redefining Business, the Old-Fashioned Way," to the Boeing Safety, Health, and Environmental Affairs National Leadership Conference, May 3, 2001.

John Dienhart was funded by Georgetown University and DuPont to attend the First Summit on Workplace Safety, held at Georgetown University, March 29 and 30, 2001.  He served on two of the three expert panels that constituted the conference.  The conference was broadcast by C-SPAN, and can be seen on occasional re-broadcasts.