Chapter 5: Ethical decision making

EQ 5: Obedience to authority relates to the influence of corporate culture.

NO. Obedience to authority relates to the influence of significant others and supervisors.

EQ 4: The most significant influence on ethical behavior in an organization is the opportunity to engage in (un)ethical behavior.

NO. Significant others have more impact on ethical decisions within an organization.

EQ 1: The first step in ethical decision making is to understand the individual factors that influence the process.

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.

EQ 3: Core values are enduring beliefs about appropriate conduct.

YES. Core values are enduring beliefs about appropriate conduct.

EQ 2: "Opportunity" describes the conditions within an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior.

YES. Opportunity results from conditions that provide rewards or fail to erect barriers against unethical behavior.

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.

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. - Internal control: they control the events in their lives by their own effort and skill. - External control: see themselves as going with the flow because that is all they can do.

Moral Intensity

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

Individual Factors Affecting Ethics

- Gender: has no effect - Education: Those more familiarized with the ethical decision making process due to education or experience are likely to spend more time examining and selecting different alternatives to an ethics issue. - Nationality: Impossible to state that ethical decision making in an organizational context will differ significantly among individuals of different nationalities. - Age: older the better

Understanding ethical decision making

- Top level support for ethical behavior is instrumental in helping employees engage in their personal approaches to ethical decision making.• - Normative perspectives set forth ideal goals to which organizations should aspire.

Framework for Understanding Ethical Decision Making in Business

1. Ethical issue intensity, 2. individual factors, 3. organizational factors, and 4. opportunity -------> Business ethics evaluations and intentions -----> Ethical or unethical behavior

Organizational factors

Conditions in an organization that limit or permit ethical or unethical behavior. - Internal rewards: feelings of goodness and personal worth generated by performing altruistic or ethical acts. - External rewards: what an individual expects to receive from others in the social environment in terms of overt social approval, status, and esteem.

Ethical Issue Intensity

can be defined as the importance of an event or decision in the eyes of the individual, work group, and/or organization.

Descriptive approach

that examines how organizational decision makers approach ethical decision making.

ethical awareness

the ability to perceive whether a situation or decision has an ethical dimension

Normative approaches

we are talking about how organizational decision makers should approach an issue.