Ethics Chapter 5

Types of institutions

1. Political 2. Economic 3. Social

The liberty principle (equality principle)

A principle that states that each person has basic rights that are compatible to the basic liberties of others.

Education

Generally, the more_____ or work experience people have, the better they are at making ethical decisions.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations

Mandated sentences created by congress for use by judges when imposing sentence (recent Supreme Court decisions have overturned the mandatory nature of the guidelines). Contains a liability formula judges use as a guideline regarding illegal activities of corporations.

Nationality

The legal relationship between a person and the country in which he or she s born. Just how this affects ethics is hard to determine.

Gender

The link between this and ethical decision making shows that in many aspects there are no differences. However, when there are, women tend to be more ethical than men. Women rely on relationships Men rely on justice or equity

Factors that affect ethical awareness

1. Gender 2. Education 3. Work experience 4. Nationality 5. Age 6. Locus of control

Veil of ignorance

A thought principle used by John Rawlsthat examined how individuals would formulate principles if they did not know what their future position in society would be.

Descriptive approach

An approach that examines HOW organizational decision makers approach ethical decision making.

Obedience to authority

Another aspect of the influence significant others can exercise. This helps explain why many employees resolve business ethics issues by simply following the directives of a superior. In organizations that emphasize respect for superiors, employees may feel they are expected to carry out ordrs by a supervisor even if those orders are contrary to the employees' sense of right and wrong.

Internal locus of control

Believe they control the events in their lives by their own effort and skill, viewing themselves as masters of their destinies and trusting in heir capacity to influence their environment. Suggested to be positively correlated with ethical decision making.

Opportunity

Describes the conditions in an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior. It results from conditions that either provide rewards whether internal or external, or fail to erect barriers against unethical behavior.

immediate job context

Opportunity relates to this. It is where an individual works, whim they wor with, and the nature of the work. It includes motivational "carrots and sticks" that superiors use to influence employee behavior.

Age

We believe that older employees with more experience have greater knowledge to deal with complex-industry specific ethical issues. Younger managers are far more influenced by organizational culture than older managers.

Six spheres of influence individuals are confronted with ethical choices

1. The workplace 2. Family 3. Religion 4. Legal system 5. Community 6. Profession

The difference principle

A principle that states economic and social equalities (or inequalities) should be arranged to provide the most benefit to the least-advantaged members of society.

Corporate Culture

A set of values, norms, and artifacts, including ways of solving problems that members (employees) of an organization share. Involves values and norms that prescribes a wide range of behavior for organizational members.

Ethical Culture

Reflects the integrity of decisions made and is a function of many factors, including corporate policies, top management's leadership on ethical issues, the influence of coworkers, and the opportunity for unethical behavior.

Locus of control

Relates to individual differences in relation to a generalized belief about how you are affected by internal versus external events or reinforcements. It relates to how people view themselves in relation to power.

Moral intensity

Relates to individuals' perceptions of social pressure and the harm they believe their decisions will have on others.

External locus of control

See themselves are going with the flow because that is all they can do. They believe the events in their lives are due to uncontrollable forces. hey consider what they want to achieve depends on luck, chance, and powerful people in their company. They believe the probability of being able to control their lives by their own actions and efforts is low. Suggested to be negatively correlated with ethical decision making.

Ethical awareness

The ability to perceive whether a situation or decision has an ethical dimension. Costly problems can be avoided if employees are able to first recognize whether a situation has an ethical component.

Ethical issue intensity

The relevance or importance of an event or decision I the eyes of the individual, work group, and/or organization. The more likely individuals perceive an ethical issue as important, the less likely they are to engage in ethical behavior. (flagging issues as high in ethical importance could trigger increases in employees' ethical issue intensity).

Normative approaches

This examines what ought to occur in business ethical decision making. The world "_____" is equivalent to an ideal standard. Therefore, when we discuss these types of approaches, we are talking about how organizational decision makers should approach an issue. This approach is concerned with general ethical values implemented into business. Concepts like fairness and justice are very important.

significant others

Those who have influence in a work group, including peers, managers, coworkers, and subordinates. They help workers on a daily basis with unfamiliar tasks and provide advice and information in both formal and informal ways.