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Ethics Exam 1
Chapters 1-6
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is Organizational Ethics? Why is it important? | it is how an organization ethically responds to an internal or external stimulus. |
| What is the ultimate purpose of Organizational Ethics? | to create an ethical culture. |
| Who are stakeholders? | any person or organization that is affected by, or could affect, an organizationa's goal accomplishment. Primary Stakeholders are employers, employees, suppliers, etc. |
| What is ethics? | is the set of principles a person uses to determine whether an action is good or bad. |
| What are the most common unethical behaviors at work? | company resource abuse ($), abusive/intimidating behavior towards employees, lying to employees, email/internet abuse, discrimination, lying to outside stakeholders, falsifying time/expenses, etc. |
| Managers as victims of unethical behavior: | employees lie in resumes about their work history, education, and other credentials. Employees abuse email, web browser, fax machine, software, cell phone, copy machine, etc. |
| Operational Areas (ethical issues): | discrimination based on race/gender in dealings with suppliers, employees, customers, govt, or the public. |
| Example of Operational Areas Ethical Issues: | Some areas engage in unethical "game playing"...ex) accountants are pressured to overreport revenue to maximize profits and impress investors, while other accountants are pressured to underreport revenue to minimize taxable income. |
| The most economically vulnerable employees are low-wage workers? | True! |
| Costs associated with unethical acts: | legal costs, theft, recruitment and turnover costs, monitoring costs, reputation costs, and abusive treatment costs. |
| The most direct cost of unethical acts in business is lost business? | True! |
| Costs of Gatekeepers (credit rating agencies) | large credut rating agencies (Moody's and Standards & Poor's) intentionally overvakyed high-risk securities to win future business from firms benefitting ($$$) from high ratings. Tolerate until economy collapsed, costing billions of dollars and lawsuits.. |
| Employees Theft: | Minimal (personal emails, internet searches, and phone calls on company time), eventually add up. The biggest source of theft is employees, not customers/clients. |
| Monitoring Costs: | Once an employees has lied, they are closely monitored until trust is restored. Organizations incur additional monitoring costs from increased scrutinizy by clients, auditors, etc. Ex) companies reviewing email |
| Reputation Costs: | Severely damaged by lawsuits/accusations of unethical behavior in the media, or when customers register complaints with the BBB. Continuous negative publicity creates barriers for consumer engagement. |
| Abusive Treatment Costs: | Employees managed by an abusive boss respond in ways that result in additional costs to the organization. Employees tend to "get even" with the abusive boss by stealing $/products from the organization, etc. Reduced productivity. Lawsuits. |
| Recruitment and Turnover Costs: | Unethical organizations incur greater costs when recruiting employees/customers/suppliers/investor. The lack of loyalty forces the organization to provide some premium to offset their ethical deficiencies. |
| What do ethical organizations attract? | high-quality employees/customers/supplies/investors. Higher product/service quality. Higher levels of employee productivity. Less employee theft. Less need for employee supervision. Increased flexibility from stakeholders in times of emergency. |
| Human Nature: | the moral, psychological, and social characteristics of human beings. Categorized in 4 areas: Infants are born with prior knowledge of right and wrong, good, with inherited sin, and/or morally neutral. |
| Cognitive Development: | begins at egocentric (infants), then developed self-awareness (child), then socio-centric, then child understand good/bad, etc. (stages) |
| What influences cognitive development? | Usually their surroudings (parents and whatever stage they are going through). |
| Cognitive Dissonance: | occurs when an individual holds inconsistent/contradictory attitudes and beliefs, which creates an unpleasant state of mind. |
| Optimal Organization Performance: | (relates to cognitive dissonance) ... invidiauls relieve this moral discomfort (reach optimal performance) by reasoning at the next higher stage of moral development, which they admire. |
| Lying and Cheating and Consequences: | begin in childhood (grade school), continue through high school, and eventually through college..then through adulthood. |
| Lying and Cheating and Consequences -- Moral Imperatives: | principles compelling people to action, found in all cultures and major world religions. Despite constant moral messages, individuals conceal/falsify truths on a daily basis and lie when it is advantageous. |
| Lying and Cheating and Consequences -- Altruistic Behaviors: | the deliberate pursuit of actions intended to benefit the interest or welfare of others. Ex) opening doors for strangers, helping friends/family, making donations (sometimes anonymously). Actions continue through adulthood. |
| Why do good people behave unethically? -- Reason 1 & 2 | A good person may not have intended to generate the resultant unethical outcome. A good person may choose one set of values over a competing set of values. |
| Why do good people behave unethically? -- Reason 3 & 4 | A good person may justify the unethical act based on a reason considered more compelling (ex: co. survival). A good person may choose not to prevent an unethical act for compelling reasons (ex: fear of being fired/retaliation). |
| Unintended Ethical Behaviors: | could result from insufficient knowledge, situational ambiguity, etc. Ex) someone being overwhelmed by deadlines (providing work assistance could be unethical if your work is more important than theirs, but you're unethical if you don't offer it.) |
| Choosing between Competing Values: | Truth vs Loyalty; Individuals vs Community; Short Term vs Long Term; Justice over Mercy. |
| Intentional Unethical Behaviors: | people behave unethically to avoid punishment and receive praise..Meeting financial objectives. Meeting schedule pressures. Wanting to be a team player. |
| Failure to Report Unethical Behaviors: | fear of being labeled or viewed negatively by others (complainer, troublemaker, tattletale); fear of damaging relationships; fear of retaliation; fear of being blamed, etc. |
| Wage & Compensation Ethical Issues: | employees may offset wage increases by reducing other benefits; other companies try to offset compensation disparities by offering employees an extensive benefits package. |
| Stakeholder Rights - What have they done? | reflects a growing sense of entitlement among employees/citizens to be treated in an ethical manner. |
| Stakeholder Rights? | OSHA; Securities Investor Protection Act; Poison Prevention Packaging Act; EPA; Consumer Product Safety Commission, etc. |
| Federal Sentencing Guidelines: | issued by President Bush with the intention of encouraging, though not requiring, managers to implement policies/procedures that reinforce ethical behaviors. |
| Federal Sentencing Guidelines -- Why is it important? | these guidelines are based on the best practices for ethics compliance programs, which, if implemented, could reduce the occurrence of unethical/criminal activities. |
| Optimal Ethics Systems Model | synthesizes various approaches into a systematic framework for reinforcing ethical behaviors, and reducing ethical risks, throughout the workplace. Creates/sustains a culture of trust. |
| What can the Optimal Ethics Systems Model achieve? | a reduction in unethical or illegal behavior ... and tells you whether to discipline or fire the employee. |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 1: Ethics Screen Notice | Notifying potential job candidates about the organization's ethics screen attract ethical employees and discourages morally egregious people from applying (background and reference checks). |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 2: Legal Ground Rules | Gather and use information in a way that does not discriminate among job candidates based on their race, color, religion, gender, national origin, age, or disability..Equal Employment Opportunity..4/5 rule. |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 3: Behavioral Information | More reliable than attitudinal surveys. Resumes; Reference Checks; Background Checks; Integrity Tests (honesty tests). |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 4: Personality Traits & Related Characteristics | personality tests offer a much broader psychological understanding of the job candidate (identify ethical/unethical behaviors)..Conscientiousness-measures responsibility, dependability and work ethic is the best predictor for job performance. |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 5: Interview Questions | employer is more sensitive to false cues that might indicate the candidate is lying. Provides a realistic preview of the job environment. |
| Ethics Screen Process -- Step 6: Post-Interview Tests | drug and polygraph tests as a final test of the job finalist's integrity. |
| Integrity Tests: | also referred to as "honesty tests", typically gather information about the job candidate's behaviors and attitudes toward unethical workplace activities, such as theft... "strongly agree -- strongly disagree" type. |
| What's the problem with the "socially appropriate answer"? | individuals know what answer they "should" write down, and they do so, even if they don't believe it personally. The "best" answer is usually obvious and as a result individuals lie and score high on the test. |
| Personality Traits: | measures: conscientiousness; organizational citizenship behavior; bullying; social dominance orientation. |
| The "Big Five Model" measures: | extraversion (energetic/ambitious); agreeableness (likeable/friendly); conscientiousness (responsible/dependable); emotional stability (secure/low anxiety); openness to experience (curious/imaginative). |
| Mental Disability Tests | diagnose personality disorders, hysteria, paranoia, schizophrenia, and depression. Disabilities are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Tests are NOT a valid way of determining the ethics of job candidates. |
| When are Mental Health Tests recommended? | (sometimes even mandated by law); when jobs involve high levels of stress, personal risk, and responsibility, such as nuclear power plant operators, armed security guards, or air traffic controllers. |
| Interview Questions: Previous Ethical Dilemmas | Ask job candidates about previous ethical acts/situations at their previous employer. If they have not experienced any, then turn situations into hypothetical ones.. "What would you do if...?" |
| Interview Questions: Visual Lie Detection | Ask questions and observe physical behavior. Some bodily/verbal tendencies may suggest lying, but not enough truth to generalize the person being inverviewed. Sometimes eye contact may be avoided bc the individual is shy, etc.. |
| Interview Questions: Realistic Job Previews | are honest descriptions of daily work activities that highlight both the exciting and tedious aspects of the job. Helps employee avoid "entry shock" when encountering something they were not aware about. Leads to higher levels of employee satisfaction. |
| Drug Testing | urine tests; hair strand tests; saliva tests ... can be invasive, but is needed. Easy to administer and relatively inexpensive. |
| Code of Ethics | briefly describes broad ethical aspirations. Values Statement (similar to 10 commandments). A few general principles to guide behavior that could fit on a business card. |
| Code of Conduct | more extensively describes acceptable behaviors for specific situations that are likely to arise. Often developed by an employee with legal expertise. Applies the Code of Ethics to a host of relevant situations. |
| What's included in a Code of Ethics? | things like: respecting all owners, customers, employees, suppliers, community members, and the natural environment. Describe what people want to be like. Help guide the decision maker. |
| What's included in a Code of Conduct? | might list several specific laws relevant to different areas of organizational operations that employees will obey. Provides specific examples; addresses situations dealing with confidentiality, sexual harrasment, termination of services, etc. |
| Why are the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct important? | It's usually the first step in formalizing an ethics program. Demontrates managerial concern for ethics. Conveys a particular set of values and obligations. Meet legal requirements and industry trends. Positive impact on employee behavior. |
| Code of Ethics content: | expresses the principles that define an organization's ideal moral essence. Easy to understand and inspirtational. Ex) respect, fairness, caring, citizenship, responsibility, trustworthiness, etc. |
| Problems with writing International Codes of Ethics? | issues with bribes(illegal) and facilitating payments(legal). Some business executives maintain that it is inappropriate/arrogant for the U.S. to impose its moral values on other nations. |
| Creating Codes of Ethics: | May use the "Code of Ethics Toolkit" to make their own. It is better for each company to create one specifically for them, instead of simply copying anothe company's book. 13 Step Process (in textbook). |
| Strategic Planning: | The Strategic Plan integrates an organization's mission with its vision and provides clear direction on how the organization will progress from its current situation to a highly desired future situation. |
| Should codes be integrated into Strategic Planning? | Yes! The Mission Statements, Vision Statements, and Codes of Ethics serve unique purposes. Combined, these documents define the organization to internal and external constituents. |
| Code of Conduct Content: | addresses the wide range of legal expectations and ethical risks unique to an organization or job title. Addresses: conflicts of interest, corporate opportunities, confidentiality, protection; compliance with laws/regulations, reporting illegal acts. |
| Who should be involved in developing the Code of Conduct? | top-level executives, corporate lawyers, and human resource personnel. |
| Business Gratuity | present, gift, hospitality, or favor for which fair market value is not paid by the recipient. A fine line exists b/w a business gratuity/courtesy and a bribe. |
| When does a business gratuity become a bribe? | When the object of value unduly influences buying decisions. |
| some employees mistakenly assume that they have a "reasonable expectation of privacy" to the content of their workplace email communications. Employers must monitor employee email in order to protect their company. | |
| Implementing an Effective Code Communication Strategy | Eliminates moral confusion. Connect the code to the co. strategy; mention the code in job announcements; introduce the code in orientation; discuss the code in trainings; link code adherence to promotions; distribute the code annually, etc. |
| Code of Ethics Assesment: | Should be done ANNUALLY. This make the code a living document by assessing how well the organization and its employees live up to it. Then use employee feedback as the basis for improvement changes in policies and practices. |
| Individual Characteristics associated with Ethical Behavior? | age, education level, gender, locus of control (control events), machiavellianism(ends justify the means), moral development, nationality, philosophy/value orientation, religion, work experience. |
| Ethics Beliefs and Sensitivities -- Belief | a mental state that guides behaviors. Ex) working hard - some work hard and believe that it generates positive feelings/emotions, while others prefer a leisure lifestyle. |
| Ethics Beliefs and Sensitivities -- Ethical Sensitivity | refers to an individual's awareness that a particular situation raises ethical concerns. Impact behavior and the lives of other people. Ex) how much effort an employee exerts at work. |
| Individual Characteristics associated with Ethical Behavior? | age, education level, gender, locus of control (control events), machiavellianism(ends justify the means), moral development, nationality, philosophy/value orientation, religion, work experience. |
| Ethics Beliefs and Sensitivities -- Belief | a mental state that guides behaviors. Ex) working hard - some work hard and believe that it generates positive feelings/emotions, while others prefer a leisure lifestyle. |
| Ethics Beliefs and Sensitivities -- Ethical Sensitivity | refers to an individual's awareness that a particular situation raises ethical concerns. Impact behavior and the lives of other people. Ex) how much effort an employee exerts at work. |
| Ethical Intuition | a quick insight independent of any reasoning process about right and wrong. |
| Theory of Planned Behavior | according to it, formulating an intention to act ethically is a function o a person's attitudes towards the behvior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. |
| Issue's Moral Intensity | refers to issue-related factors, rather than individual or organizational factors, that are likely to determine the magnitude of a person's moral approval or disapproval. |
| 6 Factos influencing Issue's Moral Intensity: | magnitude of consequences; social consensus; probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity, concentration. |
| Theory of Planned Behavior | according to it, formulating an intention to act ethically is a function o a person's attitudes towards the behvior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control. |
| Issue's Moral Intensity | refers to issue-related factors, rather than individual or organizational factors, that are likely to determine the magnitude of a person's moral approval or disapproval. |
| 6 Factos influencing Issue's Moral Intensity: | magnitude of consequences; social consensus; probability of effect, temporal immediacy, proximity, concentration. |
| Organizational Characteristics | code of ethicsl ethical climate/culture; organization size; rewards and sanctions |
| Ethical Intention | is determining mentally to take some action that is morally appropriate. Influence by: ethical intuitions, values, virtues, norms, behavioral controls, etc. |
| Rational Ethical Decision Making | Rotary International's Four-Way Test or Raytheon's Ethics Quick Test |
| Rotary International's Four-Way Test | provides a simple framework for analyzing the ethical dimension of a decision. Truth; Fair; Goodwill; Beneficial? |
| Raytheon's Ethics Quick Test | act responsibly; consider ethical principles; trust your judgment; obey the rules; notify appropriate persons; identify impact on stakeholders. |
| Rational Ethical Decision Making | Rotary International's Four-Way Test or Raytheon's Ethics Quick Test |
| Rotary International's Four-Way Test | provides a simple framework for analyzing the ethical dimension of a decision. Truth; Fair; Goodwill; Beneficial? |
| Raytheon's Ethics Quick Test | act responsibly; consider ethical principles; trust your judgment; obey the rules; notify appropriate persons; identify impact on stakeholders. |
| 6 Ethical Theories | Egoism; Social Group Relativism; Cultural Relativism; Utilitarianism; Deontology; Virtue Ethics |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Egoism | ex) if the action furthers my interests, then it is right. If it conflicts with my interests, then it is wrong. Causes a guilty-conscience, high anxiety. |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Social Group Relativism | ex) if the action conforms to the social group norms, then it is wrong. vice-versa. Interferes with organization performance (depts.) |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Cultural Relativism | ex) if the action conforms to the law, then it is right. vice-versa. Laws conflict with one another; just bc something is legal doesn't mean it's ethical. |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Utilitarianism | ex) if the action is beneficial to the greatest number of people affected by it, then it is right. Sometimes confines the way of thinking (think of employment ex). |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Deontology | ex) is the action something that everyone should do? If yes, then it is right. Focusing solely on respecting the interest of stakeholders is not always achievable/desirable. |
| 6 Ethical Theories -- Virtue Ethics | ex) if the act strengthens moral character, then it is right. Different virtues generate different requirements and sometimes the requirements conflict with one another. |
| Universal Values | Do unto others as you would have them do to you; thou shall not commit sexual impropriety; thou shall not steal; thou shall not lie; thou shall not kill. |
| Universal Values | |
| Universal Values | |
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