Business Ethics-Chapter 5

Ethical culture

Reflects whether the firm has an ethical conscience; is a function of many factors

Obedience to authority

Helps to explain why many employees unquestioningly follow superior's orders

Normative approaches

How organizational decision makers should approach an issue

Normative Considerations in Ethical Decision Making

Most organizations develop a set of core values to provide enduring beliefs about appropriate conduct; By incorporating stakeholder objectives into corporate core values, companies begin to view stakeholders as significant

Immediate job context

Where employees work, with whom they work, and the nature of the work

Descriptive approach

examines how organizational decision makers approach ethical decision making

Ethical decision making process

gender, education, nationality, age

Immediate job context

opportunity relates to individuals' immediate job context, where they work, whom they work with, and the nature of the work

External locus of control

seen as going with the flow because that is all they can do; events are due to uncontrollable forces

Ethical awareness

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

John Rawls

was one of the most influential philosophers in his research on how principles support the concept of justice

Internal locus of control

believe they can control events; are masters of their destinies and trust in their capacity to influence their environment

Corporate culture

A set of values, norms, and artifacts that members of an organization share

Veil of ignorance

A thought experiment that examined how individuals would formulate principles if they did not know what their future position in society would be

Individual Factors

People base their ethical decisions on their own values and principles of right or wrong

Moral Intensity

Relates to a person's perception of social pressure and the harm his/her decision will have on others

Locus of Control

Relates to individual differences in relation to a general belief about how one is affected by internal versus external events or reinforcements

Opportunity

The conditions in an organization that limit/permit ethical/unethical behavior; Opportunities for misconduct can be reduced by establishing formal codes, policies, and rules

Ethical-Issue Intensity

The perceived relevance or importance of an ethical issue to the individual, work group, and/or organization

Significant others

Those who have influence in a work group