exam 3

According to assigned readings, what are some business effects of workplace bullying?

- higher absenteeism and illness - higher legal and medical costs - general workplace instability - arrive late/ leave early/ longer breaks - lower morale - higher employee turnover

What's the difference between informational conformity and normative conformity described in the clip about the Asch conformity experiment?

-normative conformity is based on one's desire to fulfill others expectations and gain acceptance -informational conformity is conformity under acceptance of evidence about reality which has been provided by others

what are scheins 10 learning culture characteristics

-proactivity -commitment to learning to learn -positive assumptions about human theory -belief that environment can be managed -commitment to truth through pragmatism and inquiry -positive orientation towards the future -commitment to full and open task relevant communication -commitment to cultural diversity -commitment to systemic thinking -belief that cultural analysis is a valid set of lenses for understanding and improving the world

What ethical dilemmas are presented by: 1) BP's violations of safety norms? 2) BP's choice to ignore data? 3) BP's use of corexit? 3) MMS's conflicts of interest?

1. not violating safety norms would have been much more expensive but they didn't value the lives of their employees because they were the people who would be directly affected by a disaster happening 2. they purposefully ignored data that could have prevented the disaster from happening because it would have cost more money and taken longer but endangered the lives of employees and harmed the environment and wildlife in the gulf 3. it was the cheaper option but they knew it would not be as safe 4. MMS may have wanted to do the right thing regarding calling BP out on safety regulations but they also wanted to make a profit as quickly as they could

What were some of the causes of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill? In particular, what were some of the major problems with: 1) financial/time pressures, 2) safety issues, 3) regulations/crisis management, and 4) workplace culture? How were these factors related?

1. they were only concerned with making a profit and did not value safety very much. The rig was getting delayed due to safety issues but people in charge didn't want to delay the production any longer so they continued even though they knew the rig wasn't safe 2. experts recommended 21 centralizers and BP went through with only 6 knowing that was very unsafe 3. they did not have adequate crisis management or regulations in place which resulted in 200 million gallons of crude oil into the gulf and the well wasn't capped until 87 days after the spill 4. the company was referred to as having "cowboy culture" and accounted for 829 of 851 industry wide safety violations. they prided themselves on making risky and unsafe decisions and encouraged doing whatever it takes to make a profit

What were the findings of the Asch conformity experiment?

Asch measured the number of times each participant conformed to the majority view. On average about 1/3 participants went along with the clearly incorrect majority on the critical trials

What happened with the Uber and NFL cases addressed in course materials?

Jameis Winston was accused of groping an uber driver. There was no disciplinary action in the law but Winston was suspended for multiple games. Uber was not very helpful in the process and didn't take any real measures to protect their employee

What does MMS stand for? What were the responsibilities of MMS? Did MMS have a conflict of interest? Please explain.

MMS stands for Minerals Management Service their responsibilities were to manage and regulate offshore drilling. There was a conflict of interest because collecting the leases from oil and gas are the federal government's second largest source of revenue. Therefore, MMS was sometimes more interested in making a profit than worrying about the safety concerns

What is the goal of an ethical culture?

a businesses priority is to make profits but they also foster the environment of the company and focus on issues other than profits such as the environment and making sure all employees feel included, accepted and comfortable within their work environment

What was the point of the "blue eyes-brown eyes" exercise described in class? Who designed this exercise?

after the death of MLK Jane Elliot wanted to show her students what discrimination felt like. Students were divided into blue eyes and brown eyes and on the first day blue eyed students were told they were smarter and nicer while brown eyed students were ridiculed for their behavior and didn't receive special privileges that the blue eyed kids were receiving. the next day roles were reversed and whichever group was told they were the superior group acted very mean to the other group of students while the other group of students who were told the other group were better performed worse on tests and fell into the idea that they were not as good

What's the difference between bullying and harassment? What are relevant federal laws?

bullying: unwelcome behavior, occurs over a period of time, meant to harm someone who feels powerless to respond, not all bullying is unlawful at federal level harassment: bullying because of race, religion, gender, sex, sexual orientation, disability, perceived disability, nationality or other reasons -code of conduct, workplace civility policy, bystander intervention training

Who devised the "Doll Test" and what was this test reveal?

created by Mamie and Kenneth Clark, many african american children chose preference to dolls with white skin over dolls with black soon which they argued revealed the negative effects of segregation

What is the "Veil of Ignorance?" Who devised this thought experiment? How does this apply to the topic of workplace culture and ethics?

devised by John Rawl, the veil of ignorance is that you don't know what type of person you will be in this society and that from behind the veil you would choose a much fairer society and there would not be as many instances of extreme richness in society unless it directly benefitted the poor. It applies because there are many people who are born more well off than others and learning to be accepting of everybody's background, who they are now and their financial status will be very beneficial to workplace culture

What is social intelligence, according to Jerome Popp?

different from general intelligence(reasoning and memory); empathetic capacity; gives us compassion and a conscience

In what ways does diversity benefit business, according to the 2020 McKinsey Report?

diverse and inclusive companies are more likely to make better, bolder decisions. They have also been shown to be better at innovating and anticipating shifts in consumer needs and patterns

What was the significance of the Discussion Board videos (due 10/22) to workplace culture and ethics?

it addresses many stereotypes that humans have such as fathers aren't as nurturing and boys should only wear boy colors and reveals that those stereotypes are not accurate and reveals how we judge people based on how first assumptions when there is really much more to them

What is the difference between leadership and management, according to John Kotter?

leadership is about coping with change and management is about coping with complexity

What are some of the ways we are different from one another?

physical appearance, ethnicity, beliefs, religion, race

what are 3 examples of 3M innovations discovered through failure or accident

scotchguard fabric protector, wet-dry sandpaper, post-it notes

What is Robert Bea's assessment of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster?

that the disaster was totally preventable and it happened due to a management problem

What are the relationships between BP, Transocean, Schlumberger, and Halliburton?

they are all in the crude oil business and played a part in the BP oil spill

How do Zappos core values align with Schein's learning culture characteristics?

they are both not focused on corporate culture but more focused on customer service and employees working with "one mind" where they all can contribute and be on the same page with decisions

What was Joseph DesJardins' point about Boy Scouts traits and Virtue Ethics?

they don't say a boy scouts as X Y and Z but they describe characteristics of a boy scout such as kind, trustworthy, honest which helps to shape good character among the boy scouts

What have 3M, Zappos, and Starbucks done to foster ethical and learning cultures in the workplace? How do these companies' decisions and cultures align with Utilitarianism, Respect for Persons, Virtue Ethics, and Schein's learning culture characteristics?

they have created strong conduct codes and put an emphasis on company cultures and fostering a healthy environment and not putting as strong of an emphasis on profits. utilitarianism- because they want to maximize profits but they stay within boundaries and don't break rules. respect for persons- they foster creative environments where people aren't afraid to speak out and can do their own research and projects for the company. virtue ethics- the companies value their employees and don't just treat them as worker bees and as a means to a profit but value their opinions and work along the way. schein's learning culture- they value communication and opinions of employees at all levels and appreciate the work they are doing to help the company

What does it mean to say that the "normalization of deviance" affected BP's decision-making processes?

they normalized bad and dangerous decisions within their company so therefore they didn't take safety into consideration when making decisions and only focused on profits

What is the "cowboy culture" described by Hoffman and how was it related to BP's decision-making? Are there ethical implications to this sort of culture?

they pride themselves on taking high-risk jobs in politically sensitive countries. they didn't have safety precautions set in place and they were arrogant and proud of the systems they had in place

What was BP's track record in safety issues?

they were responsible for 829 of 851 industry wide safety violations identified as "willful" by OSHA

What recommendations would a virtue ethicist make to BP in the aftermath of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?

to focus more on company culture and put more focus on treating their employees as people instead of just workers. They would want the company to value the employees more and take their opinions into consideration instead of just making decisions that put all of them in harms way

What insights do utilitarianism, respect for persons, and virtue ethics provide about business culture?

virtue ethics: growth and development utilitarianism: maximize utility and happiness respect for persons: treat others with respect

How do Schein's learning culture characteristics reflect virtue ethics, utilitarianism, libertarianism, and Kant's respect for persons (especially treating people as ends in themselves)?

virtue ethics: value people's opinions and backgrounds and use those opinions to make ethical decisions utilitarianism: if they can maximize all employees happiness by valuing their opinions then it will maximize everybody's pleasure libertarianism: they allow employees to make their own decisions and do their own research as long as it is going to benefit the company respect for person: don't just use employees to make a profit but value what they have to say and the efforts that they make for the company to be profitable, successful and happy

What are some ways to address abusive workplaces, according to Nagele-Piazza?

workplace civility policy, code of conduct, have good policy and enforce policy, model behavior, foster an organizational culture that promotes inclusion, bystander intervention training, workplace civility, promote respect for others

Are any of these ethical questions related to BP's company culture? If so, how?

yes they are all related because their decisions to not follow safety precautions ignore data, opt out for cheaper products and the conflict of interest all relate to their company culture because they often took risks to make a quicker profit rather than taking the safe route