Business Ethics Chapter 5
What is the Difference between Ethical Culture and Corporate Culture?
An important component of corporate, or organizational, culture is the company's ethical culture. Whereas corporate culture involves values and rules that prescribe a wide range of behavior for organizational members, the ethical culture reflects whether the firm also has an ethical conscience
5. Obedience to authority relates to the Influence of corporate culture. YES or NO
No. Obedience to authority relates to the influence of significant others and supervisors.
Research suggests that individuals are subject to six "spheres of influence" when confronted with ethical choices, what are they? How will the importance of each be determined?
The workplace, family, religion, legal system, community, and profession— and that the level of importance of each of these influences will vary depending on how important the decision maker perceives the issue to be
What do those with an External Locus of Control Believe?
Those who believe in external control (that is, externals) see themselves as going with the flow because that's all they can do. They believe that the events in their lives are due to uncontrollable forces. They consider what they want to achieve depends on luck, chance, and powerful people in their company. In addition, they believe that the probability of being able to control their lives by their own actions and efforts is low.
What are the 6 Leadership Styles?
1. The coercive leader 2. The authoritative leader 3. The affiliative leader 4. The democratic leader 5. The pacesetting leader 6.The coaching leader
What is another way to classify leadership styles?
Another way to consider leadership styles is to classify them as transactional or transformational.
What is said to be the reason that individuals perceive Ethical Decisions Differently.
Individual factors, organizational factors, and intentions, determine why different individuals perceive ethical issues differently
What is Locus of Control?
Locus of control relates to individual differences in relation to a generalized belief about how one is affected by internal versus external events or reinforcements. In other words, the concept relates to where people view themselves in relation to power.
4.The most significant influence on ethical behavior In the organization is the opportunity to engage in (un)ethical behavior. YES or NO
No. Significant others have more impact on ethical decisions within an organization.
1.The first step In ethical decision making is to understand the Individual factors that Influence the process. YES or NO
No. The first step is to become more aware that an ethical issue exists and to consider its relevance to the individual or work group.
How do Significant Others influence employees in the workplace?
Numerous studies conducted over the years confirm that significant others within an organization may have more impact on a worker's decisions on a daily basis than any other factor.20
Obedience to authority is another aspect of the influence that significant others can exercise, how?
Obedience to authority helps to explain why many employees resolve business ethics issues by simply following the directives of a superior. In organizations that emphasize respect for superiors, for example, employees may feel that they are expected to carry out orders by a supervisor even if those orders are contrary to the employees' sense of right and wrong
How does Opportunity affect Ethical Decisions making in the workplace?
Opportunity describes the conditions in an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior. Opportunity results from conditions that either provide rewards, whether internal or external, or fail to erect barriers against unethical behavior.
What are the characteristics of the affilitative?
The affiliative leader values people, their emotions, and their needs and relies on friendship and trust to promote flexibility, innovation, and risk taking.
What are the characteristics of the authoritative leader?
The authoritative leader—considered to be one of the most effective styles—inspires employees to follow a vision, facilitates change, and creates a strongly positive performance climate.
What are the characteristics of the coaching leader ?
The coaching leader builds a positive climate by developing skills to foster long term success, delegates responsibility, and is skillful in issuing challenging assignments.
What are the characteristics of the democratic leader?
The democratic leader relies on participation and teamwork to reach collaborative decisions. This style focuses on communication and creates a positive climate for achieving results.
What is the First Step to the Ethic Decision making process?
The first step in ethical decision making is to recognize that an ethical issue requires an individual or work group to choose among several actions that various stakeholders inside or outside the firm will ultimately evaluate as right or wrong.
What is Moral Intensity?
The individual's sense of the situation's moral intensity increases the individual's perceptiveness regarding ethical problems, which in turn reduces his or her intention to act unethically. Moral intensity relates to a person's perception of social pressure and the harm the decision will have on others.
What is Ethical-issue Intensity?
The intensity of an ethical issue relates to its perceived importance to the decision maker.2 Ethical-issue intensity, then, can be defined as the relevance or importance of an ethical issue in the eyes of the individual, work group, and/or organization. It is personal and temporal in character to accommodate values, beliefs, needs, perceptions, the special characteristics of the situation, and the personal pressures prevailing at a particular place and time
What is the primary characteristic of a successful leader?
The most successful leaders do not rely on one style but alter their techniques based on the characteristics of the situation. Different styles can be effective in developing an ethical culture depending on the leader's assessment of risks and desire to achieve a positive climate for organizational performance.
How can the Opportunity for employees to behave unethically be minimized?
The opportunity that employees have for unethical behavior in an organization can be eliminated through formal codes, policies, and rules that are adequately enforced by management.
Who are the Significant Others as it pertains to work groups?
Those who have influence in a work group, including peers, managers, coworkers, and subordinates, are referred to as significant others.
How Do Transformational Leaders motivate employees?
Transformational leaders strive to raise employees' level of commitment and to foster trust and motivation. Transformational leaders communicate a sense of mission, stimulate new ways of thinking, and enhance as well as generate new learning experiences. They consider employee needs and aspirations in conjunction with organizational needs. They also build commitment and respect for values that provide agreement on how to deal with ethical issues.
2. Opportunity describes the conditions within an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior. YES or NO
Yes. Opportunity reslts from conditions that provide rewards or fail to erect barriers against unethical behavior.
3. Transactional leaders negotiate compliance an ethics YES or NO
Yes. Transactional leaders barter or negotiate with employees.
What is Ethical Culture Comprised of?
Ethical culture is a function of many factors, including corporate policies on ethics, top management's leadership on ethical issues, the influence of coworkers, and the opportunity for unethical behavior. Within the organization as a whole, subclimates can develop within individual departments or work groups, but they are influenced by the strength of the firm's overall ethical culture, as well as the function of the department and the stakeholders it serves.17
What is a worker's Immediate Job Context?
Where they work, whom they work with, and the nature of the work. The immediate job context includes the motivational "carrots and sticks" that superiors use to influence employee behavior. Pay raises, bonuses, and public recognition act as carrots, or positive reinforcements, whereas demotions, firings, reprimands, and pay penalties act as sticks, the negative reinforcements.
What are the 7 Habits of Strong Ethical Leaders?
1. Ethical leaders have strong personal character. 2. Ethical leaders have a passion to do right. 3. Ethical leaders are proactive. 4. Ethical leaders consider stakeholders' Interests. 5. Ethical leaders are role models for the organization's values. 6. Ethical leaders are transparent and actively involved In organizational decision making. 7. Ethical leaders are competent managers who take a holistic view of the firm's ethical culture.
What is Corporate Culture?
A corporate culture can be defined as a set of values, beliefs, goals, norms, and ways of solving problems that members (employees) of an organization share. As time passes, stakeholders come to view the company or organization as a living organism, with a mind and will of its own.
What are the characteristics of the pacesetting leader?
The pacesetting leader can create a negative climate because of the high standards that he or she sets. This style works best for attaining quick results from highly motivated individuals who value achievement and take the initiative.
What has the study of Locus of Control determined as it relates to Ethical Decision Making?
Current research suggests that we still can't be sure how significant locus of control is in terms of ethical decision making. One study that found a relationship between locus of control and ethical decision making concluded that internals were positively related whereas externals were negative.15 In other words, those who believe that their fate is in the hands of others were more ethical than those who believed that they formed their own destiny.
What are the characteristics of the coercive leader ?
The coercive leader demands instantaneous obedience and focuses on achievement, initiative, and self-control. Although this style can be very effective during times of crisis or during a turnaround, it otherwise creates a negative climate for organizational performance.
How can employees be influenced to stay away from unethical and questionable behavior?
The perceived importance of an ethical issue has been found to have a strong influence on both employees' ethical judgment and their behavioral intention. In other words, the more likely individuals are to perceive an ethical issue as important, the less likely they are to engage in questionable or unethical behavior.9 Therefore, ethical-issue intensity should be considered a key factor in the ethical decision-making process.
What factors in a business can influence the perception of ethical-issue intensity?
The perception of ethical-issue intensity can be influenced by management's use of rewards and punishments, corporate policies, and corporate values to sensitize employees. In other words, managers can affect the degree to which employees perceive the importance of an ethical issue through positive and/or negative incentives.8
What do those with a Internal Locus of Control Believe?
Those who believe in internal control (that is, internals) believe that they control the events in their lives by their own effort and skill, viewing themselves as masters of their destinies and trusting in their capacity to influence their environment.
How do Transaction Leaders motivate employees?
Transactional leaders attempt to create employee satisfaction through negotiating, or "bartering," for desired behaviors or levels of performance. transactional leaders focus on ensuring that required conduct and procedures are implemented. Their negotiations to achieve desired outcomes result in a dynamic relationship with subordinates in which reactions, conflict, and crisis influence the relationship more than ethical concerns. Transactional leaders produce employees who achieve a negotiated level of performance, including compliance with ethical and legal standards.
