BUS 682 Ch. 4,5,6

Due to ethical diversity, employees will often interpret situations differently and will vary in their responses to an ethical issue. Discuss the variations in employee conduct.

10% of employees will take advantage of situations to further their own personal interests. These employees are often referred to as "bad apples" and are more likely to manipulate, cheat, or be self-serving when the benefits gained from misconduct are greater than the penalties. 40% of workers go along with the work group on most decisions. These employees are most concerned about the social implications of their actions and desire to be accepted in the organization

What can a company do to influence its employees' opportunity for unethical behavior?

A company policy that fails to specify the punishment for employees who violate the rules provides an opportunity for unethical behavior.

What is corporate culture, and how is it conveyed in an organizational setting?

A set of values, norms, and artifacts shared by members or employees of an organization. Culture may be conveyed formally in employee hand books, codes of conduct, memos, and ceremonies, but it also expressed informally through dress codes, extracurricular activities, and anecdotes.

What is an ethical issue? Describe seven categories of ethical issues and provide examples of specific situations that may occur within each category.

An ethical issue is a problem, situation, or opportunity requiring an individual, group, or organization to choose among several actions that must be evaluated as right or wrong, ethical or unethical. Abusive or Intimidating Behavior: "Did you guys hook up last night?" Misuse of company time and resources: sending personal emails, shopping on Amazon. Conflict of interest: Bribery: a student who tried to bribe a professor to pass him. Discrimination and sexual harassment: a company hired 90 percent of men workers, and only 10 percent of women workers. Fraud: purchasing schemes Privacy: companies often use cookies or other devices to engage in online tracking, and many websites use consumer information to improve services.

Why did Congress enact the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? What are the major provisions and benefits of the Act?

Because the wake of Enron and WorldCom, during probes into financial reporting fraud at many of the world's largest companies, investigators learned that hundreds of public corporations were not reporting their financial results accurately. It protects investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. Requires codes of ethics for senior financial officers; code must be registered with the SEC Requires that corporate board of director' audit committees consist of independent members with no material interests in the company Requires CEOs and CFOs to certify that their companies' financial statements are true and without misleading statements.

Define business ethics and discuss its relationship with laws, regulations, and legal issues

Business ethics comprises and principles and standards that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in the world of business. Business ethics, laws, regulations, and legal issues are rules, standards, and principles regarding what is right or wrong.

Define business ethics and discuss its relationship with laws, regulations, and legal issues.

Business ethics comprises and principles and standards that guide the behavior of individuals and groups in the world of business. Business ethics, laws, regulations, and legal issues are rules, standards, and principles regarding what is right or wrong.

What advantages does self-regulation have over government regulations? Are there ways in which government regulations are superior? Explain.

Establishment and implementation of such programs are usually less costly, and their guidelines or codes of conduct are generally more practical and realistic. Furthermore, effective self-regulatory programs reduce the need to expand government bureaucracy. Yes, government regulation are strict to nonmember firms to abide by a trade association's industry guidelines or codes.

Describe two moral philosophies and how each would impact an employee's decision in a business situation.

Ethical formalism is a class of moral philosophy that focuses on the rights of individuals and on the intentions associated with a particular behavior rather than on its consequences. It would consider it unacceptable to allow a coalmine to continue to operate it some workers became ill and died of black lung disease Justice theory is a class of moral philosophy that related to evaluations of fairness or the disposition to deal with perceived injustices of others. Justice primarily addresses the issue of what individuals feel they are due based on their rights and performance in the workplace.

Describe the three factors that influence ethical decisions in business, and provide an explanation of how they affect employees in the workplace.

Individual factors: significant factors that affect the ethical decision-making process include an individual's personal moral philosophy, motivation, and other personal factors such as gender, age, and experience. Ethical formalists contend that there are some things that people should not do, even to maximize utility. For example, an ethical formalist would consider it unacceptable to allow a coalmine to continue to operate if some workers become ill and died of black lung disease. Organizational relationships: people learn to settle ethical issues not only from their individual backgrounds but also from others with whom they associate in the business environment. Organizational culture depends on company strategy because it prioritizes stakeholders. For example, Marriott prioritizes employees to provide exceptional service for customers. Opportunity is a set of conditions that limits barriers or provides rewards. Rewards, or positive reinforcers, include pay raises, bonuses, and public recognition, whereas reprimands, pay penalties, demotions, and even firings act as negative reinforcers.

What are some of the requirements of ethical leadership?

Individuals should model corporate values, place the organization's own interests above their own, understand their employees, develop tools for reporting, and recognize the limitations of organizational rules and values. Ethical leaders should never ignore issues of misconduct. Ethical leaders must be proactive in anticipating, planning and acting to avoid potential ethical crises. Ethical leaders should be role models.

Describe the four types of communication and why they are important to ethical leadership.

Interpersonal communication - most common 2 or more people Small group communication - Nonverbal communication - Body language Listening - Because an important tool for formal reporting is an anonymous ethics hotline employees can use to report concerns. Informal discussion are incredibly important in identifying ethical risk areas as concerns are frequently expressed through casual conversations.

What are the major provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act?

Its provisions include increasing the transparency of financial institutions, creating a bureau to educate consumers about financial products and protect them from deceptive financial practices, implementing added incentives for whistle-blowers, increasing oversight of the financial industry, and regulating the use of derivatives.

What are some ways that businesses can influence the government?

Lobbying, political action committees, and campaign contributions are some of the tools businesses employ to influence the political process.

Describe some ways that organizational leaders can develop an ethical culture.

Managing the ethical culture. take responsibility for an ethical culture and implementation. Clear Expectations for employees What is Okay and Not Okay, always try to follow company policies and rules. Normative considerations of ethical decision-making, understanding how ethical decision are made. Providing a vision and recommendations for improving ethical decision-making. Ethical leaders can help reduce these perceived power difference through frequent employee communication. This interaction creates more beneficial relationships with employee, making them more comfortable in bringing up issues of concern to their supervisors. Leader-follower congruence occurs when leaders and followers share the same organizational vision ethical expectations, and objectives. A crucial way to communicate ethical values to employees is through codes of ethics and training to familiarize employees with ethical decision-making process. The development of organizational values, both stakeholders and the organizational culture impact the development of organizational values. For example, Marriott organizational values are put people first, pursue excellence, embrace change, act with integrity and serve our world.

Define normative approaches and discuss how they relate to ethical decision-making

Normative approaches are concerned with how organizational decision-makers should approach an ethical issue. It is concerned with providing a vision and recommendations for improving ethical decision-making. Strong normative approaches in organizations have a positive relationship to ethical decision-making.

Define normative approaches and discuss how they relate to ethical decision-making.

Normative approaches are concerned with how organizational decision-makers should approach an ethical issue. It is concerned with providing a vision and recommendations for improving ethical decision-making. Strong normative approaches in organizations have a positive relationship to ethical decision-making.

According to results from the National Business Ethics Survey, what are the types of misconduct commonly found in the workplace?

Observed misconduct, abusive behavior, lying to stakeholders, conflict of interest, pressure to compromise standards, report observed misconduct, experience retaliation for reporting.

Describe the five types of leadership power. Why are they important?

Reward power - incentive Coercive Power - punishment, bribe Legitimate power - Whatever it takes Expert power - knowledge based Referent Power - perceive ones as their owns Because its use can raise ethical issues. Power refers to the influence that leaders and managers have over the behavior and decisions of subordinates.

Discuss the Sherman Antitrust Act, Clayton Antitrust Act, and Federal Trade Commission Act and explain how the three acts are interconnected.

Sherman Antitrust Act passed in 1890, is the principal tool employed by the federal government to prevent businesses from restraining trade and monopolizing markets. Congress enacted the Clayton Antitrust Act in 1914 to limit mergers and acquisitions that have the potential to stifle competition. The Clayton Act also specifically prohibits price discrimination, tying agreements, exclusive agreements, and the acquisition of stock in another corporation where the effect may be to substantially lessen competition, or tend to create a monopoly. Federal Trade Commission Act more broadly prohibits unfair methods of competition. More significantly, the law created the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers and businesses from unfair competition. These three acts are protect on business activities and consumer

What are the social reasons for regulation? What are the economic reasons for regulation?

Social reasons: To protect natural and social resources. Social demands for equality in the workplace. Special-interest group crusades for safer products. Economic reasons: to protect consumers from unethical business practices. To restrict destructive or unfair competition.

What new issues of consumer and business protection have arisen from the increasing use of the Internet and other technology?

Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act were proposed to prevent copyright infringement over the internet. Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998, which extended existing copyright laws to better protect " digital" recordings of music, movies, and the like. Concerns about the collection and use of personal information, especially regarding children, resulted in the passage of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 2000.

What additional legal issues must a company contend with when it engages in commerce beyond its own borders?

The North American Free Trade Agreement lift tariffs (taxes on imports and exports) on virtually all goods traded among the US, Canada, and Mexico. The European Union to promote free trade among its members.

How can a strong compliance program act as a buffer to keep employees from committing crimes and protect the company's reputation? What are the key elements of the program?

There are strong LEGAL incentives for the companies. If they act in good faith they can avoid prosecution (going to court) & receive praise for handling the situation. (good image) This all goes back to the foundation of the FSGO (Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations) enacts the 7 steps 1. Establish codes of conduct (identify key risk areas). 2. Appoint or hire high-level compliance manager (ethics officer). 3. Take care in delegating authority (background checks on employees). 4. Institute a training program and communication system (ethics training). 5. Monitor and audit for misconduct (reporting mechanisms). 6. Enforce and discipline (management implementation of policy). 7. Revise program as needed (feedback and action)

Describe the changes in the political system and the resulting rise of special-interest groups.

This new act limited the amount of contributions parties could donate to political campaigns, and it implemented rules for how corporate and labor treasury funds could be used in federal election. These increasingly powerful special-interest groups now focused on getting candidates who could further their own political agendas elected

What are the differences between transactional leadership and transformational leadership? In what type of situation would each be useful?

Transactional leadership attempts to create employee satisfaction through negotiating for levels of performance or "bartering" for desired behaviors. Transformational leaders attempt to promote activities and behavior through a shared vision and common learning experiences. They both can positively influence the organizational climate.

Why is emotional intelligence important?

Understanding feelings or emotions helps managers so that the feelings and/or emotions do not get in the way of effective decision making