Chapter 7 - Trust, Justice, and Ethics

cognitive moral development

As people age and mature, they move through several states of moral development, each more mature and sophisticated than the prior one more mature stages means better moral judgement

Distributive Justice Rules

equity vs equality vs need

moral judgement

reflects the process people use to determine whether a particular course of action is ethical or unethical

Reputation

reflects the prominence of its brand in the minds of the public and the perceived quality of its goods and services Takes a long time to build but can be asily damaged A firm's reputation is one of its most prized possessions

We gauge the track record of an authority along three dimensions, what are they?

ability, benevolence, and integrity

Ethics

the degree to which the behaviors of an authority are in accordance with generally accepted moral norms when employees perceive high levels of ethics, they believe that things are being done the way they "should be" pr "ought to be" done. Can be used to explain why authorities decide to act in a trustworthy or untrustworthy manner

Trust

the willingness to be vulnerable to a trustee based on positive expectations about the trustee's actions and intentions ie: If a customer trusts the quality of a company's products or services, that customer is willing to accept the consequences of paying money to the company

Procedural Justice Rules

voice - do employees get to provide inout into procedures? correctability - Do procedures build in mechanisms for appeals? consistency - Are procedures consistent across people and time? bias suppression - Are procedures neutral and unbiased? representativeness - Do procedures consider the needs of all groups? accuracy - Are procedures based on accurate information?

Trust is rooted in 3 different kings of factors:

•Disposition-based •Cognition-based •Affect-based

Corporate Social Responsibility

A perspective that acknowledges that the responsibility of a business encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and citizenship expectations of society the foundation of any business is profitability •Legal component •Ethical component •Social component

moral principles used in the principled stage

Consequentialist: Utilitarianism and Egoism Nonconsequentialist: Ethics of duties, Ethics of rights, and virtue ethics

Types of Trust Over Time

Disposition-Based Trust for new relationships, and then most relationships become cognition based trust relationships as you gain knowledge about their ability, benevolence, and integrity, and then in a select few relationships you will form an emotional bind and get the affect-based trust

Informational Justice Benefits

Explaining the reason for pay cuts, termination, etc helps prevent lawsuits and loss of dollars and theft Long, sincere explanation for pay cut resulted in less theft than a short, impersonal explanation for pay cut

Interpersonal Justice Rules

Respect - Do authorities treat employees with sincerity? Propriety - Do authorities refrain from improper remarks?

What are the two types of interactional justice?

Interpersonal Informational

Informational Justice Rules

Justification - do authorities explain procedures thoroughly? Truthfulness - are those explanations honest?

General Dimension: Potential for Harm

Magnitude of Consequences - How much harm would be done to other people? Probability Effect - How likely is it that the act will actually occur and that the assumed consequences will match prediction? Temporal Immediacy - How much time will pass between the act and the onset of its consequences Concentration of Effect - Will the consequences be concentrated on a limited set of people, or will they be more far-reaching?

Dimensions of Moral Intensity

Potential for harm and Social pressure

General Dimension: Social Pressure

Social Consensus- How much agreement is there that the proposed act would be unethical? Proximity - How near (in a psychological or physical sense) is the authority to those who will be affected?

Trust Vs. Risk

Trust = willing to be vulnerable Risk = actually becoming vulnerable (by accepting a job or buying a product)

Trust Propensity

a general expectation that the words, promises, and statements of individuals and groups can be relied upon A facet of disposition based trust If you don't have trust propensity you will become suspicious Too much trust = too trusting The problem with being too suspicious you will think everyone is out to get you, I don't want to collaborate with you Too trusting may lead to people taking advantage of you,

four-component model

argues that ethical behaviors result from a multistage sequence beginning with moral awareness, continuing on to moral judgement, then to moral intent, and ultimately to ethical behavior unethical behavior can be triggered by characteristics of a person or the situation

Ethical component of corporate social responsibility

argues that organizations have an obligation to do what is right, just, and fair to avoid harm

citizenship component of corporate social responsibility

argues that organizations should; contribute resources to improve the quality of life in the communities in which they work

legal component of corporate social responsibility

argues that the law represents society's codification of right and wrong and must therefore be followed

Economic exchange relationships

based on narrowly defined, quid pro quo obligations that are specified in advance and have an explicit repayment schedule lack trust, narrowly defined, quid pro quo obligations. impersonal and resemble contractual agreements

Social Exchange Relationships

based on vaguely defined obligations that are open-ended and long term in their repayment schedule •have increased trust, characterized by mutual investment, going above and beyond expectations. characterized by mutual investment, employees are to go above and beyond their duties in exchange for fair and proper treatment by authorities

Merely ethical behavior

behavior that adheres to some minimally accepted standard of morality ie: obeying labor laws and complying with formal rules or contracts

especially ethical behavior

behaviors that exceed some minimally accepted standard of morality ie: charitable giving or whitelblowing

moral attentiveness

captures the degree to which people chronically perceive and consider issues of morality during their experiences view the world through lens of morality

Trustworthiness

defined as the characteristics or attributes of a trustee that inspire trust Our trust begins to be based on cognitions we've developed about the authority's "track record" If that track record has shown the authority to be trustworthy, then vulnerability to the authority can be accepted

Integirty

defined as the perception that the authority adheres to a set of values and principles that the trustor finds acceptable Authorities will have a sound character. They have good intentions and strong moral discipline, authorities keep their promises

Ability

defined as the skills, competencies, and areas of expertise that enable an authority to be successful in some specific area ie: trusting a new doctor and their ability to know the difference between a scalpel and a retractor

abusive supervision

defined as the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviors, excluding physical contact interpersonally unjust actions create this

When outcomes are bad, procedural justice becomes ___________.

important

Procedural Justice has _________ ______________ on reactions when outcome favorability is high.

little impact

Affect-based Trust

meaning that it depends on feelings toward the authority that go beyond any rational assessment Trust rooted in emotion rather than reason Based on an emotional bond with the trustee Acts as a supplement to other types of trust Put simply, we trust them because we like them

Cognition-Based Trust

meaning that it's rooted in a rational assessment of the authority's trustworthiness

Disposition-Based Trust

meaning that your personality traits include a general propensity to trust others

Trust has a _____ effect on job performance

moderate positive

Trust is ____________ correlated with task performance

moderately

moral awareness

occurs when an authority recognizes that a moral issue exists in a situation or that an ethical code or principle is relevant to the circumstance

whistle-blowing

occurs when former or current employees expose illegal or immoral actions by their organization especially ethical because whistle-blowers face potential retaliation by members of the organization

Moral Intent

reflects an authority's degree of commitment to the moral course of action

ability to focus

reflects the degree to which employees can devote their attention to work, as opposed to "covering their backside," "playing politics," and "keeping an eye on the boss"

Justice

reflects the perceived fairness of an authority's decision making When employees perceive high levels of justice, they believe that decision outcomes are fair and that decision-making processes are designed and implemented in a fair manner can be used to explain why employees judge some authorities to be more trustworthy than others Trustworthiness can sometimes be difficult to judge, especially early in work relationships. Justice-relevant acts can serve as behavioral evidence of trustworthiness.

Distributive Justice

reflects the perceived fairness of decision-making outcomes •Gauged by perceived fairness of outcomes such as pay, promotions, and assignments •Equity typically the norm (that is, more inputs typically lead to more outcomes)

Procedural Justice

reflects the perceived fairness of decision-making processes fostered when authorities adhere to rules of fair process

Informational Justice

reflects the perceived fairness of the communications provided to employees from authorities

Interpersonal Justice

reflects the perceived fairness of the treatment received by employees from authorities how authorities treat them as the procedures are implemented

Prescriptive Thread

scholars in philosophy debating how people ought to act using various codes and principles

Descriptive Thread

scholars relying on scientific studies to observe how people tend to act based on certain individual and situational characteristics

moral principles

serve as prescriptive guides for making moral judgements

Trust has ____ effect on organizational commitment

strong positive

Procedural justice tends to be a _________ driver of reactions to authorities than distributive justice

stronger

benevolence

the belief that the authority wants to do good for the trustor, apart from any selfish or profit-centered motives when authorities care for employees, are concerned about their well-being, and feel a sense of loyalty to them

moral identity

the degree to which a person self-identifies as a moral person

moral intensity

the degree to which an issue has ethical urgency A particular issue is high in moral intensity if the potential harm is perceived to be high ie: an act that can result in death is more morally intense than an act that could result in illness

employees can judge the fairness of an authority's decision making along 4 dimensions

•Distributive justice •Procedural justice •Interpersonal justice •Informational justice

Stages of cognitive moral development

•Preconventional stage focuses on consequences of actions for the individual •Conventional stage references the expectations of one's family and society •Principled stage the most advanced, uses a set of defined, established moral principles

Some studies of business ethics focus on two threads which are:

•Prescriptive •Descriptive