Business Ethics Final
History of Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Discrimination
From 1776 until 1964 Caucasian males primarily employed and serviced people from their own national heritage and religious group Businesses began to diversify as they grew in size and expanded their markets Nonetheless, managers tended to hire and promote those employees who shared a common gender, race, ethnicity, or religious heritage
Empowering Through Group-Based Financial Incentives
Gainsharing Plans Cost savings are shared between the organization and its employees based on an agreed up formula. Profit Sharing Providing employees with a share of company profits is also ethical, motivating, and empowering When the company does well, the employees benefit financially.
Workplace Discrimination
Gender Discrimination Issues: Gender discrimination refers to treating an employee differently because of his or her gender. Stereotypes of women include being too physically weak, too sensitive, or too polite to perform certain job tasks. Men are stereotyped as being aggressive, less emotionally vulnerable, and task-focused rather than relationship-focused.
Workplace Discrimination
Gender Discrimination-Pregnancy: In 1978, Congress passed the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) to protect the civil rights of pregnant women. The PDA classified discrimination based on pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition as a form of gender discrimination. The PDA did not require that any specific amount of leave be extended to childbearing women beyond existing company policies
Code of Conduct Analysis
Many employees are not familiar with the details in Codes of Conduct. Code of conduct content: The ethics training workshop facilitator can use a game format to engage the minds of employees when educating them about Code of Conduct content.
Extent of Ethics Training
Many states mandate ethics training for lawyers, accountants, police officers, etc. Organizations may be tempted to eliminate ethics training as an extraneous expense when budgets are tight, but this is exactly when ethics training is needed most. "Save the organization" might sound heroic in the short term, but cutting ethical corners can come back to haunt the organization in the long term.
Extent of Social Responsibilities
Milton Friedman famously articulated the viewpoint that the only social responsibility for business is to maximize profits within the guidelines of the law. Friedman's narrow conceptualization of social responsibility has been criticized by many scholars.
Framing the Training Workshop
No "one-size-fits-all" ethics training program, but there exist general trends and best practices. Offer at least mandatory ethics training annually. Make the ethics training program content as specific as possible. Target specific behaviors and provide specific examples, but present the material in general terms so as not to offend any specific employee..
Government and Market Responses
Other Efforts Some U.S. states and city governments have signed their own versions of the Kyoto Protocol More than 850 mayors representing 80 million citizens have signed the U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement
Managerial Power and Leadership Styles
Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard fine-tuned the differences between authoritarian and participative leadership styles by noting that there is no one best way to manage everybody. Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership II Model Directing: employee has low competence and high commitment Coaching: employee has either low or some competence and lacks commitment Supporting: employee has moderate to high competence and variable commitment Delegating: employee has high competence and high commitment
Implementing a Diversity Initiative
Present a business case for the diversity initiative Create a shared vision statement Respectfully build from the past Create a sense of urgency Empower a change agent Gather political support Craft an implementation plan Develop enabling processes Evaluate the progress Reinforce the change
Workplace Discrimination
Sexual Orientation Discrimination Issues: Sexual orientation discrimination is not covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act Nonetheless, more than 15 states and 150 municipalities have passed laws prohibiting sexual orientation discrimination Some companies prove "domestic partnership" benefits to same-sex or different-sex couples, although they are not required to do so by federal or state law
Environmental Organizations
Social change often originates at the grassroots level where concerned citizens mobilize other citizens to take action Environmentalism has a long history in the United States, dating back to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution
Environmental Management System (EMS)
The EMS plan is a document that describes how the organization conducts environmental policy development, planning, implementation, monitoring and corrective actions, and management review. EMS is the basic component of ISO (The International Organization for Standardization) 14001
Ethical Leadership
The demonstration of normatively appropriate conduct through personal actions and interpersonal relationships, and the promotion of such conduct to followers through two-way communication, reinforcement, and decision-making.
History of Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Discrimination
The transformation from an indigenous to a nonindigenous population occurred through waves of new immigrants seeking to improve their living conditions, except for African Americans who arrived prior to the Civil War through captivity and enslavement
Managerial Power and Leadership Styles
Theory X assumed that the average person disliked work, avoided responsibilities, and did as little as possible unless induced by monetary incentives. Theory Y managers assumed people usually enjoyed mental and physical activities, were self-directed, desired challenging and interesting work, and welcomed additional work-related responsibilities.
Managers as Ethical Role Models
Three aspects of daily organizational life significantly impact an employee's ethical performance: The behaviors of organizational executives, managers, and direct supervisors Work goals Employee performance appraisals
Competitive Advantages of Diversity Management
To attract and retain diverse customers To attract and retain diverse employees To achieve cost reductions To enhance decision making, problem solving, and creativity To increase stakeholder goodwill
What does trust do?
Trust eliminates psychological barriers separating employers and employees. Trust creates economic benefits through enhanced individual and organizational performance. Hard-earned trust can quickly disappear when violated, which can hamper organizational performance.
Who to Train
Upper-level managers establish the overall ethics tone that is then filtered throughout an organization. Ethics training can help organizational leaders achieve consensus on how to address difficult situations they encounter. Direct supervisors have the most immediate impact on the ethics of subordinates.
Web-Based Ethics Training
Web-based training offers a simple method for making employees aware of the most common ethical issues Facilitator-guided face-to-face interactions may complement web-based training
Pyramid of Social Responsibility
According to Archie Carroll, a socially responsible business is profitable, law abiding, ethical, and a good corporate citizen
Self-Categorization
According to self-categorization theory, individuals define themselves in relation to others based on a "self-identity" or "social identity" factor and form binding relationships with people who categorize themselves similarly Problems arise when dissimilar people are treated as inferior or excluded Individuals typically self-identify in terms of race, ethnicity, or gender
Managerial Power and Leadership Styles
An authoritarian leadership style refers to demanding blind submission to someone in authority. Employees are tightly controlled and their opinions are not respected. These restrictions inhibit individual creativity and contribute to a culture of dependency
The Workshop Facilitator
An ideal workshop facilitator is someone the participants trust and who has the requisite skills to create a safe learning environment. HR staff, informal leader, or outside consultant can be a facilitator.
Ethical Culture Assessment
Annually assessing the organization's ethical performance based on its Code of Ethics offers an opportunity for employees to discuss relevant ethical issues related to work activities Alternatives are "Corporate Ethical Values," "Ethical Culture," and "Ethical Climate" surveys. Self-Assessment and Improvement Process (SAIP) International City/County Management Association (ICMA)
Environmental Trends and Climate Change
Climate Change According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, "the primary cause of global warming is from human activity, most significantly burning of fossil fuels to drive cars, generate electricity, and operate our hoes and businesses" Climate Change Impacts Altered weather patterns have increased the frequency and severity of droughts and flooding in summer, and snowstorms in winter, which damage the economy
Workplace Discrimination
Customers and employees who differ from others according to some prominent characteristic—race, gender, ethnicity, age, or religion—often report not being respected by the dominant social group. Workplace segregation can reinforce prejudices toward members of other groups
Diversity Training
Diversity necessitates expanding an employee's comfort level beyond his or her own race, ethnicity, or gender. Helping employees overcome their biases against diverse people requires training. Exhibit 7.3 highlights some common diversity training problems that can arise from within, or between, dominant and subordinate workplace groups
Managerial Power and Leadership Styles
During the 1950s, Douglas McGregor differentiated between two different management approaches referred to as "Theory X" and "Theory Y" Theory Y managers could get the most out of employees by having employees involved in the decision-making process.
Evolving Dimension
individuals can be categorized according to evolving characteristics as well as permanent ones
Embezzlement
is a particular type of theft and fraud whereby an employee steals money from his or her employer
Ethical Ideology
measures whether a person tends to be "principled" (deontology) or "expedient" (relativism) when responding to an ethical dilemma
Idealism/Relativism
measures whether a person tends to be an "idealist" or "relativist" when responding to an ethical dilemma
Personality Dimension
personality theorists and researchers have reached a general consensus on a "Big Five Personality Model" consisting of five different personality aspects. ex) Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
Permanent Dimension
refers to physical attributes or inclinations, people are born with that do not naturally change over time
Theft
refers to taking someone's property without their permission.
Fraud
the use of one's occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization's resources or assets
Organizational Dimension
these defining characteristics, which can be either unchanging or evolving.
History of Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Discrimination
Each newly arriving immigrant group was met with prejudice and fear from many among the existing population The success of Italian and Spanish explorers attracted explorers from England, the Netherlands, and France Each European nationality ruthlessly competed against one another for the best trading posts and settlements 1845-49 three-quarters of a million poor Irish immigrants arrived, fleeing the potato famine. Irish immigrants were discriminated against not only because of their nationality, but also their religion: Roman Catholicism. Chinese people began arriving in the mid-1800s, drawn by the allure of getting rich from the California Gold Rush and jobs building the transcontinental railroad
Ethical Leadership
Employee Feedback Being ethical, without being perceived by others as ethical, is problematic Sometimes the fault lies with managers who may be unaware that some of their actions are being interpreted as unethical Creating employee feedback systems that gather information about ethical perceptions symbolizes the importance of ethics to the organization
Benchmark to an Ideal Employee
Employees need to know in advance what managers expect of them. Have each manager independently develop a list of behavioral attributes an ideal employee would possess. Share these lists with other managers in small groups and combine similar items under the same heading. Then present the composite profile of an ideal employee to subordinates for the purposes of self-assessment feedback.
Employee Empowerment
Empowerment refers to giving employees decision-making authority, which can be further solidified with an ownership stake in the organization. Many organizations have three types of employees in terms of workplace attitudes and behaviors Go-getters are fully engaged with the work experience. Fence-sitter put in a good day's work for a good day's pay. Adversarials have an unfavorable attitude to both the nature of work and authority
Environmental Trends and Climate Change
Environmental Trends Organizations not only meet the needs of consumers, but also are one of the largest consumers of the Earth's resources. Fossil fuels are used to light and heat buildings, operate machinery, and transport products.
Level of Moral Development Analysis
Ethics training can help employees better understand their own ethical profile One of the most important ethics measures—level of moral development— remains an elusive concept to measure Other ethics measures: Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) Defining Issues Test (DIT) Moral Content Test (MCT) Managerial Moral Judgment Test (MMJT) Moral Reasoning Inventory (MRI)
Workplace Discrimination
Harassment: Harassment is defined as "unwelcome conduct that is based on race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age, disability or genetic information" Harassment becomes unlawful when the conduct is severe or pervasive enough to create a work environment that a reasonable person would consider intimidating, hostile, or abusive All EEO laws carry a stipulation that it is illegal to take retaliatory adverse action against someone who complains to an employer, manager, or law official about a discrimination issue
Engaging Employees
Herzberg's Motivation - Hygiene Factors: Employees will not maintain long-term engagement if they are not satisfied with their jobs. Frederick Herzberg and his colleagues interviewed 203 accountants and engineers employed at various companies about their job satisfactions and dissatisfactions. Herzberg concludes that job satisfaction is not a linear concept.
Organization and Work Goals
Holistic Organizational Goals The Balanced Scorecard contains quantifiable non-financial performance measures in terms of the customer, internal business processes, employee learning, and employee growth. Triple Bottom Line takes into account an organization's ecological performance, social performance, and financial performance.
History of Ethnic and Religious Diversity and Discrimination
Illegal (Undocumented) Immigrants: A contentious aspect of local, state, and national law is the treatment of undocumented, or illegal, immigrants. In 1921 the Emergency Quota Act placed limits on the number of immigrants admitted into the United States. Illegal immigrants account for 5.4 percent of the national labor force.
Government and Market Responses
International Agreements In 1987, President Reagan signed the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to phase out chlorofluorocarbons that erode the ozone. In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol established a goal of reducing worldwide greenhouse gas emissions 5 percent below the 1990 level by 2012. Cap and Trade Cap and Trade combines federal controls that limit the amount of pollution permitted with the establishment of a market in which businesses can trade licenses to pollute.
Organizational Trust
a positive attitude that another member of the organization will be fair and not take advantage of one's vulnerability or dependency in a risky situation