Home > Contemporary Business > Vol 1 No 1 December 2012 Abstract 1
Integrating Narrative Fiction with Business Ethics to Enhance Moral Reasoning Applying an Ethical Framework and Case Discussion Instructional Model
Michael Fontaine
Review of Contemporary Business Research, 1(1), pp. 01-14.

Abstract
The use of fiction in business education is by no means a new methodology, but seemingly, one that has not been universally embraced as an effective learning tool. The purest may even suggest that fiction has little or no place in serious business curricula. An academic commentator notes: The relationship between literature and ideas, for using literature as a social evidence or testimony, is not new. Dillard (1982), observed that the fiction writer is a thoughtful interpreter of the world who does not use traditional research or criticism to interpret, but who, instead, produces an object of art which itself must be interpreted. What fiction offers, however, according to Dillard, is a way of dealing “with things limited disciplines of thought either ignored completely or destroyed by methodological caution.” The question ultimately is not whether fiction is used as a learning tool; but how best used. In essence, how do we cook the vegetables without losing the nutrients in the process?

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Fontaine, Michael. (2012). Integrating Narrative Fiction with Business Ethics to Enhance Moral Reasoning Applying an Ethical Framework and Case Discussion Instructional Model. Review of Contemporary Business Research, 1(1), pp. 01-14.

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Dr. Michael Fontaine is a writer and educator. He spent a number of years early in his professional career as a journalist/editor and photojournalist writing articles and shooting photos for newspapers in the Midwestern Region of the United States. He is a tenured Associate Professor and Chair of the College of Management and Business at National Louis University in Chicago, Illinois where he has served for twenty-five years as a fulltime faculty member. Dr. Fontaine’s disciplinary specialty is Marketing Management and his research areas of interests are marketing of not-for-profit and social services organizations; global marketing and ethics. He also writes fiction and has published two novels that chronicle the human condition and triumph of the human spirit. Recreationally, he is an avid tennis player, enjoys music, fine dining and stimulating conversation. He currently resides in the Chicago land area.