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