LES 305

Primum non nocere

"Above all, do no harm"

shareholders

owners of stock in a corporation

steroids

prescription medication often used illegally to increase the performance of competitive athletes

Ethical Egosim

Acting in our own self-interest and limiting our judgements to our own conduct, not the conduct of others

Inherence School of Social Responsibility

Advises managers to serve shareholders and to act only with shareholders' interests in mind.

Wall Street Journal Test

Am I in compliance with the law? What contribution does this choice of action make to the company, the shareholders, the community, and others? What are the short- and long-term consequences of this decision?

Blanchard and Peale

Is it legal? Is it balanced? How does it make me feel?

Front Page of the Newspaper Test

"Contemplating any business act, an employee should ask himself whether he would be willing to see it immediately described by an informed and critical reporter on the front page of his local paper, there to be read by his spouse, children, and friends."

Laura Nash

(1) Have you defined the problem accurately? (2) How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence? (3) How did this occur in the first place? (4) To whom and what do you give your loyalties as a person and as a member of the corporation? (5) What is your intention in making this decision? (6) How does this intention compare with the likely results? (7) Whom could your decision or action injure? (8) Can you engage the affected parties in a discussion of the problem before you make your decision? (9) Are you confident that your position will be as valid over a long period of time as it seems now? (10) Could you disclose without qualm your decision or action to your boss, your CEO, the board of directors, your family, or society as a whole? (11) What is the symbolic potential of your action if understood? If misunderstood? (12) Under what conditions would you allow exceptions to your stand?

Steps to Follow for Analyzing an Ethical Dilemma

1. Make sure you have a grasp of all of the facts available. 2. List any information you would like to have but don't and what assumptions you would have to make, if any, in resolving the dilemma. 3. Take each person involved in the dilemma and list the concerns they face or might have. 4. Develop a list of resolutions for the problem. 5. Evaluate the resolutions for costs, legalities, and impact. 6. Make a recommendation on the actions that should be taken.

Virtue Ethicists

Develop virtues and determine conduct by those virtues.

Virtue Ethicists (Plato and Aristotle)

Develop virtues and determine conduct by those virtues.

"Toes to the line" philosophy

Doing no more than what is required under the law while violating the spirit (or intent) of the law.

Divine Command Theory

Ethical standards are based upon religious beliefs

Rights Theory

Everyone has a set of rights and it is the role of government to enforce those rights.

Utilitarian Theory

Greatest good for the greatest number of people

Categorical Imperative (Kant)

One ought only to act such that the principle of one's act could become a universal law of human action in a world in which one would hope to live

Morals Clause

Part of a contract for actors, athletes and others that prohibits private conduct that would subject that person to public ridicule.

Contractarians and Justice

Putting ethical standards in place by a social contract; using rational thinking, people develop a set of rules for everyone

Methods avoid facing ethical dilemmas

Re-labeling (copyright infringement vs. peer-to-peer file sharing) and rationalizing.

Moral Relativist

Time-and-place ethics; making ethical choices based on the circumstances

Categories of Ethical Dilemmas

a. Taking things that don't belong to you. b. Saying things you know are not true. c. Giving or allowing false impressions. d. Buying influence or engaging in conflicts of interest. e. Hiding or divulging information. f. Taking unfair advantage. g. Committing acts of personal decadence. h. Perpetrating interpersonal abuse. i. Permitting organizational abuse. j. Violating rules. k. Condoning unethical conduct. l. Balancing ethical dilemmas.

censorship

according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), it is the "Suppression of words, images, or ideas that are "offensive"

Enlightened Self-interest School of Social Responsibility

advises managers to be responsible to shareholders by being responsive to the large society

stakeholders

groups of people who are impacted by a company's business decisions including customers, suppliers and the government

Invisible hand of social responsibility

role of business is to serve larger society and it does so best when serving shareholders only

social responsibility school of social responsibility

role of business is to serve larger society, so it should serve the needs of the larger society

Ethics

the unwritten rules we have developed for our interaction with each other