ch. 4
Proactive stance
The highest degree of social responsibility that a firm can exhibit. firms that adopt this approach take to hearth the arguments in favor of social responsibility. they view themselves as citizens in a society and proactively seek opportunities to contribute.
sarbanes-oxley act
a law passed in 2002 that requires CEO and CFO to personally vouch for the truthfulness and fairness of their firms financial disclosure
political action committee (PAC)
an organization created to solicit and distribute money to political candidates.
Managerial Ethics
are the standards of behavior that guide individual managers in their work
Regulation
governments attempts to influence business by establishing laws and rules that dictate what businesses can and cannot do.
Obstructionist stance
usually do as little as possible to solve social or environmental problems. (when they cross the ethical or legal line that separates acceptable from unacceptable practices, their typical response is to deny or avoid accepting responsibility.
Defensive stance
whereby the organization does everything that is required of it legally, but nothing more. Most consistently with the arguments used against social responsibility.
Arguments for social responsibility
1) business created problems and should therefore help solve them. 2) corporations are citizens in our society 3) business often has the resources necessary to solve problems. 4) business is a partner in our society, along with the government and the general population.
3 steps for applying ethical judgement to situations
1) gather the relevant factual information 2) determine the most appropriate moral values 3)make an ethical judgement based on the rightness of wrongness of the proposed activity or policy
Arguments against social responsibility
1. the purpose of business in the US society is to ferrite profit for owners. 2. involvement in social programs gives business too much power. 3. there is potential for conflicts of interest. 4. business lacks the expertise to manage social programs.
corporate social audit
a formal and thorough analysis of the effectiveness of a firms social performance.
code of ethics
a formal, written statement of the values and ethical standards that guide a firms actions
procedural justice
individual perceptions of the fairness used to determine various outcomes. (being evaluated by someone familiar with the job versus someone who is not)
philanthropic giving
is the awarding of funds or gifts to charities or other worthy causes.
ethical compliance
is the extent to which the members of the organization follow basic ethical (and legal) standards of behavior.
Accomodative stance
meets its legal and ethical obligations but will also go beyond these obligations in selected cases.
organizational stakeholder
person or organization who is directly affected by the practices of an organization and has a stake in its performance.
Distributive justice
refers to people perceptions of the hairiness with which rewards and other valued outcomes are distributed within the organization.
informational justice
refers to the perceived fairness of information used to arrive at decisions.
interpersonal justice
relates to the degree of fairness people see i nhow they are treated by others in their organization.
whistle-blowing
the disclosure by an employee of illegal or unethical conduct on the part of others within the organization.
Legal compliance
the extent to which the organization conforms to local, state, deferral, and international laws.
Organizational justice
the perceptions of people in an organization regarding fairness.
Social responsibilities
the set of obligations an organization has to protect and enhance the societal context in which it functions.
lobbying
the use of persons or groups to formally represent a organization or group of organizations before political bodies to influence the government
