Business & Society Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management Eighth Edition Archie B. Carroll Ann K. Buchholtz © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 1 Chapter 8 Personal and Organizational Ethics © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 2 Learning Outcomes 1. Understand the different levels at which business ethics 2. 3. 4. 5. may be addressed. Differentiate between consequence-based and duty-based principles of ethics. Enumerate and discuss principles of personal ethical decision making and ethical tests for screening ethical decisions. Identify the factors affecting an organization’s ethical culture and provide examples. Describe and explain actions, strategies, or “best practices” to improve an organization’s ethical climate. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 3 Chapter Outline • Ethics Issues Arise at Different Levels • Personal and Managerial Ethics • Managing Organizational Ethics • From Moral Decisions to Moral Organizations • Summary • Key Terms • Discussion Questions © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 4 Levels at Which Ethical Issues May be Addressed Personal level • Situations faced in our personal lives outside the context of our employment. Organizational level • Workplace situations faced by managers and employees. Industry or profession level • A manager or organization might experience business ethics issues at the industry or professional level. Societal and global levels • Managers acting in concert through their companies and industries can bring about constructive changes. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 5 Personal and Managerial Ethics There are three major approaches to ethical decision making 1. Conventional Approach • Discussed in chapter 7. 2. Principles Approach • • Managers desire to make decisions based on more than is provided by the conventional approach to ethics. A principle of business ethics is an ethical concept, guideline, or rule that assists you in taking the ethical course. 3. Ethical Tests Approach • Discussed later in this chapter. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 6 Types of Ethical Principles or Theories Teleological theories • Focus on consequences or results. Deontological theories • Focus on duties. Aretaic theories • Focus on virtue. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 7 Utilitarianism • A teleological principle that focuses on acts that produce the greatest good for the greatest number. Strengths Weaknesses Forces thinking about the general welfare of stakeholders Ignores actions that may be inherently wrong Allows personal decisions to fit into situational complexities May conflict with the notion of justice Difficult to formulate satisfactory rules for decision making © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 8 Kant’s Categorical Imperative • A duty-based, deontological, principle. Formulations: 1. Act only on rules that you would be willing to see everyone follow. 2. Act to treat humanity in every case as an end and never as a means. 3. Every rational being is able to regard oneself as a maker of universal law. We do not need an external authority to determine the nature of the moral law. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 9 Principle of Rights Moral rights • Rights that we ought to have based on moral reasoning. Principle of rights • Focuses on examining and possibly protecting individual moral or legal rights. • A negative right is the right to be left alone. • A positive right is the right to something. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 10 Principle of Justice • Involves considering what alternative promotes fair treatment of people. Types of justice • Distributive • Compensatory • Procedural • Rawlsian © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 11 Ethical Due Process Process fairness 1. Have employees been given input into the decision process? 2. Do employees believe the decisions were made and implemented in an appropriate manner? 3. Do managers provide explanations when asked? Do they treat others respectfully? Do they listen to comments being made? © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 12 Rawls’s Principles of Justice 1. Each person has an equal right to the most basic liberties compatible with similar liberties for others. 2. Social and economic inequalities are arranged so that they are both: Reasonably expected to be to everyone’s advantage, and Attached to positions and offices open to all. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 13 Ethic of Care and Virtue Ethics Ethic of care/Principle of caring • Traditional ethics focus too much on the individual self. • Views the individual as relational, not individualistic– similar to stakeholder theory. Virtue ethics • Focuses on individuals becoming imbued with virtues. • Based on Aristotle and Plato. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 14 Servant Leadership Servant leadership • Based on the moral principle of serving others first, such as employees, customers, and community. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 15 The Golden Rule • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule is: 1. Accepted by most people. 2. Easy to understand. 3. A win-win philosophy. 4. A compass when you need direction. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 16 A Sketch of Ethical Principles The Categorical Imperative The Conventionalist Ethic The Disclosure Rule The Golden Rule The Hedonistic Ethic The Intuition Ethic The Market Ethic The Utilitarian Ethic © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning The Means-Ends Ethic The Might-EqualsRight Ethic The Organization Ethic The Organization Ethic The Professional Ethic The Proportionality Principle The Revelation Ethic 17 Ethical Tests Approach Test of Common Sense Test of One’s Best Self Test of Making Something Public Test of Ventilation Test of the Purified Idea Big Four (greed, speed, laziness, or haziness) Gag Test © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 18 Improving Organizational Ethical Culture • Most organizations are a mix of compliance and emphasizing values like ethics. Concerns about the compliance orientation 1. Could undermine the ways of thinking or habits of mind that are needed in ethics thinking. 2. Can squeeze out ethics. 3. Managers many not consider tougher issues that a more ethics-focused approach might require. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 19 Effective Communication of Ethics Requires • Written and verbal communication • Candor • Fidelity • Confidentiality © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 20 Features of Ethics Programs • Written standards of conduct • Ethics training • Mechanisms to seek ethics advice or information • Methods for reporting misconduct anonymously • Disciplinary measures for employees who violate ethical standards • Inclusion of ethical conduct in the evaluation of employee performance © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 21 Ethics Officers • Are in charge of implementing ethics initiatives in the organization. • The position may be created in response to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which reduces penalties to those companies with ethics programs. • Problem with diminishing organizational status. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 22 Ethics Screen 1. Is it legal? 2. Is it balanced? 3. How will it make me feel about myself? © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 23 Ethics Quick Test 1. Is the action legal? 2. Does it comply with our values? 3. If you do it, will you feel bad? 4. How will it look in the newspaper? 5. If you know it’s wrong, don’t do it. 6. If you’re not sure, ask. 7. Keep asking until you get an answer. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 24 Codes of Conduct • A way of establishing standards of behavior and communicating them to managers and employees. • The single most important element of an ethics and compliance program. • A fairly recent phenomenon. • Codes of conduct positively affect corporate culture. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 25 Ethics Hotlines and Whistle Blowing • Employees must have outlets to anonymously report questionable behaviors. • Hotlines are the most common way to report corporate fraud. • Can be telephone, web, or email-based. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 26 Purposes of Ethics Training 1. Learn the fundamentals of business ethics. 2. Learn to solve ethical dilemmas. 3. Learn to identify causes of unethical behavior. 4. Learn about common managerial ethical issues. 5. Learn whistle-blowing criteria and risks. 6. Learn to develop a code of ethics and execute an internal ethical audit. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 27 Ethics Audits and Risk Assessments Ethics Audits • Intended to carefully review such ethics initiatives as ethics programs, codes of conduct, hotlines, and ethics training programs. Sustainability Audit • Helps to identify sustainability issues within an organization. Fraud Risk Assessment • Review processes that identify and monitor conditions that may pertain to the company’s exposure to compliance/misconduct risk and to review methods for dealing with concerns. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 28 Corporate Transparency Corporate Transparency • A quality, characteristic, or state in which activities, processes, practices, and decisions that take place in companies become open or visible to the outside world. • The degree to which an organization: Provides public access to information. Accepts responsibility for its actions. Makes decisions more openly. Establishes incentives for leaders to uphold standards. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 29 Board of Director Leadership and Oversight Leadership and oversight of ethical initiatives by boards is not a given. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act • Companies are required to protect whistleblowers without fear of retaliation. • It is a crime to alter, destroy, conceal, cover up, or falsify documents to prevent their use in a federal government lawsuit. © 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 30 Key Terms • Aretaic • Moral rights theories/principles • Negative rights • Categorical imperative • Opacity • Codes of conduct • Positive rights • Codes of ethics • Principle of justice • Compensatory justice • Principle of rights • Compliance orientation • Principle of utilitarianism • Corporate transparency • Procedural justice • Deontological • Process fairness theories/principles • Rights • Distributive justice • Risk assessments • Ethical due process • Servant leadership • Ethics orientation • Sustainability audit • Ethical tests • Teleological • Ethic of care theories/principles • Ethics audits • Transparency • Ethics officer • Utilitarianism • Ethics programs • Virtue ethics • Golden Rule • Legal rights© 2012 South-Western, a part of Cengage Learning 31
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