...Ethical Perspectives University of Phoenix MGT/344 Organizational Behavior and Ethical Responsibility Stephen D. Kempisty December 4, 2008 Ethics maybe considered as a large field of study, however, it is generally designed to demonstrate to people “what is right or wrong in human behavior and conduct” (Thiroux, 2003). Ethics is also applicable to the ability to make choices, so the absence of this ability or opportunity to make a choice could be considered to be unethical behavior. Even though one is sometimes unaware of it, when choices are made there are standards competing, or ethical perspectives, that governs one’s behavior. My ethical perspective can be basically summed up into the saying ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’. An individual’s duty lies within doing what is morally right. My perspective recognizes that ethical principles must be at all times appropriate, regardless of the circumstances, and at all times must be committed to enhancing individual freedom. (ethics-twi.org). Ethical perspectives can be put into four categories. Each category will identify a different standard for making choices, and also makes reference to some interest that is valued or referred. Utilitarianism is often times referred to as situational ethics. The ‘right’ thing to do does not necessarily depend in ethical standards, but rather on the assessment of the situation, the alternative...
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...Ethics and ethical theories: a road map for teaching ethics in business schools Joan Fontrodona (IESE Business School, Spain), Manuel Guillén (University of Valencia, Spain), and Alfredo Rodríguez-Sedano (University of Navarre, Spain) Introduction A three-dimensional framework to explain ethical theories Ethical approaches of business firms Teaching ethics experiences using this framework Discussion of the teaching experiences Conclusions References 1 2 6 9 10 12 13 Introduction This paper tries to contribute, in some way, to the urgent need recently warned by Benedict XVI: “the university, for its part, must never lose sight of its particular calling to be a "universitas" in which the various disciplines, each in its own way, are seen as part of a greater unum. How urgent is the need to rediscover the unity of knowledge and to counter the tendency to fragmentation and lack of communicability that is all too often the case in our schools!”1 This seems to be a challenge for both, Catholic and non-Catholic universities. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework that helps to conceptualize ethics and to clarify the characteristics and limits of the different ethical theories. In other words, students without philosophical background will find here a synthetic “road map” of ethical approaches. This framework has been previously published in a book in Spain2. In this paper, authors will describe the model and discuss how it has been successfully tested...
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...operations/ethical issues on the stakeholders. Business ethics, issues, and conflicts revolve around relationships. Customers, investors and shareholders, employees, suppliers, government agencies, communities, and many others who have a stake, or claim, in some aspect of a company’s product, operations, markets, industry, and outcomes are known as stakeholders. They are both influenced by and have the ability to affect businesses. Stakeholders provide both, tangible and intangible recourses that are more or less critical to a firm’s long term success. The key stakeholders in this scenario are a) The customers who are mainly US male teenagers between 13 -19 years of age that would be exposed to nudity through a video game that with increased levels of intensity revealing nudity of a female game character. b) The Broadway Corporation is a stakeholder that is affected if the “Lucky” game development and introduction would be stalled or entirely taken off the market. Since “Broadway” is a corporation, the outcome of this scenario will affect the company as a whole. The consequences could be that the company would lay off employees due to the lack of revenue. The shareholders would start selling their shares if dissatisfied which would eventually cause the company’s stock price to fall. Suppliers that build the arcade equipment would be affected as well as the entire surrounding infrastructure since Broadway is one of the largest employers in the Las Cruces. Ethical Analysis: ...
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... The Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility: Toward the Moral Management of Organizational Stakeholders, Business Horizons, July-August 1991 For the better part of 30 years now, corporate executives have struggled with the issue of the firm’s responsibility to its society. Early on it was argued by some that the corporation' sole responsibility was to provide a maximum financial return to s shareholders. It became quickly apparent to everyone, however, that this pursuit of financial gain had to rake place within the laws of the land. Though social activist groups and others throughout the 1960s advocated a broader notion of corporate responsibility, it was not until the significant social legislation of the early 1970s that this message became indelibly clear as a result of the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and the Consumer Product Safety" Commission (CPSC). These new governmental bodies established that national public policy now officially recognized the environment. employees, and consumers to be significant and legitimate stakeholders of business. From that time on, corporate executives have had to wrestle with how they balance their commitments to the corporation' owners with their s obligations to an ever-broadening group of stakeholders who claim both legal and ethical rights. This article will explore the nature of corporate social...
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...Potter PHIL 213 Ethical Universalism vs. Ethical Relativism Ethical universalism and ethical relativism are two types of meta-ethical views, meaning the two theories attempt to understand the reason behind ethical properties, attitudes, boundaries and judgements. Ethical universalism can be viewed as an ideal world, while ethical relativism explains a more realistic perspective on why different cultures can view the same actions differently. The two delve more into the essential meaning of a theory rather than just simply labeling actions as right or wrong. Ethical universalism is the theory that there is a universal ethic that applies to all people, no matter the individual's history, preferences, traits or circumstances, and is applied to that individual at all times. Universalism principles are principles for everyone, all humans are granted equal rights therefore share the same values and views on what is right and wrong. Universalism is based on the idea that a rational test or standard can be applied to any ethical dilemma, however that rational test can vary among different groups of people. For example, a Utilitarian person would determine if an action is right by asking “does my action create the maximum good for the maximum number of people?” In a Utilitarians eyes, this action would be good and “universal”, but in another person's eyes this action could be morally or ethically wrong. That’s why I believe that there is little to no moral universalism. Because...
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...examine the Ethics Awareness Inventory and the ethical profile they are most closely aligned with and least closely aligned with. They were then asked to compare their personal values to the values of Kudler Fine Foods. Therefore, this paper will examine the Williams Institute Ethics Awareness Inventory self-assessment, the results of Tracey Adams, a University of Phoenix student, and how her values compare to the values of Kudler Fine Foods. People make decisions in their business and personal life and must rely on their values to make ethical decisions. How can ethics be categorized or defined? Ethics are defined by The Williams Institute as “a branch of philosophy, is concerned with morality, moral problems and moral judgments, dealing with such elusive terms as values, right and good. It deals with issues beyond the realm of traditional rules and customs and unconscious habits” (The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, 2008). The Ethics Awareness Inventory provides test takers with two ethical perspectives: one they are most aligned with and one they are least aligned with. These perspectives make up the acronym CORE (Character, Obligation, Results, and Equity). The character perspective focuses on what it is good to be rather than what it is good to do. The individual’s character is more important than their duty, conduct or actions. This individual has solid virtues and intrinsic worth. The obligation perspective focuses on the individual’s duty and obligation...
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...considering stakeholders requirements. It will also explain how the writer ethical viewpoint has evolved all through the program. Role of Ethics and Social Responsibility in Strategic Planning Ethics are the belief and moral rules that vary from an individual to another individual. Ethical philosophy if deliberated rigorously throughout strategic plan can lead into remarkable results. Ethics and social responsibility play a critical role in developing a strategic plan. Values, standards, norms, and rules to accomplish an accurate avenue in attaining strategic objectives are based on ethics. Social accountability is associated to the social norms and policy that if measured through the strategic planning, can outline the foundation of reliability. Ethics participate in an essential role in gathering the diverse requirements of internal and external stakeholders (Sims, 2003). These two key aspects execute a basic role in establishing a workable strategic plan. Ethics and social responsibility support in ensuring an agreement with the special requirements of stakeholders. These are as follows : • Ethical code of conduct: Ethical codes of conduct acknowledge all through strategic plan help in ensuring right and moral activities. This aid the organization in fulfilling the desires of employees, customers, communities, shareholders, and governmental bodies (Duckworth & Moore, 2010). • Ethical guidelines: Ethical guidelines correlated to rules, regulation, and norms also take on an important...
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...Ethical Choice What is an Ethical Choice Florette T. Willis English 1010 Ms. Styron February 1, 2011 What is an Ethical Choice Place yourself in the position of “Trina,” a pregnant, 20 year old single mother of two children and sole care taker of her aging father. Although she works as a healthcare aide, she has difficulty making ends meet. To make matters worse, her mother’s medical bills have become unbearable and the apartment is too crowed for her new baby. As she walks to McDonald’s on a mission to satisfy cravings, she sees a 2010 Cadillac Seville drop off a well dressed man and speed away. He drops his wallet in front of her and disappears into the crowd. To her amazement, the wallet is filled with hundred dollar bills, various credit cards and personal identification items. In an instant, she must decide to either chase the man or slip the wallet into her purse. If she returns the money to the man, she loses an opportunity to handle her responsibilities and alleviate some financial stress. However, keeping the money isn’t fair to the man, regardless of his apparent financial condition. She questions whether she is actually stealing since she found the money. Is it wrong to keep it and maybe mail the credit cards and identification? What would you do in this situation? Ethics is the inner guiding moral principles and values people use to analyze a situation in deciding between right and wrong. (Jones, 2007) It can also indicate the correct form of behavior...
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...Social responsibility and managerial ethics You may be wondering, “Why should I care about corporate social responsibility or managerial ethics or whether or not my employees have health care benefits? Aren’t these the types of issues philosophers worry about?” To answer this question, you only need to pick up a recent newspaper or business magazine. Everything from Wall Street trading scandals to accounting frauds at AIG, Lehman Brothers, Enron, Parmalat, Satyam, WorldCom, Tyco, and Global Crossing to corporate cover-ups and massive oil spills from British Petroleum’s offshore drilling rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico seem to be in the press daily. For example, Citicorp lost billions in market value when it was revealed that a group of traders in the firm’s London office had manipulated the bond market: A small set of traders disrupted the European bond market by placing 188 sell orders simultaneously (approximately $20 billion worth of bonds) on August 2, 2004 in about 18 seconds. This drove the price of bonds, in general, down dramatically. The prices continued to drop even after the Citibank traders stopped selling. Just a few minutes later, the same traders then bought the bonds back at much cheaper prices than they had been sold. This new buying triggered buying by other traders, and prices rose. In the process, Citibank traders made about $20 million in profits in under five minutes. Although the employees did not do anything illegal, their behavior...
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...Chapter 1: Perspective on Business Ethics and Values * Identify the good, tragic, comic, satirical and farcical elements in the way in which people and organization deal with matters of ethics and morality * Stakeholder theory * Business case for business ethics * Arguments about the moral status of business and organization Moral conflict between self-interest and public duty, between social and environment duty what takes precedence? Should a business case be proven before an organization commit to appeal fund or should behave in a socially responsible way, beyond the requirement of law because it is the right thing to do? It would seem logical that a company would benefit from socially responsible conduct such as renewable resources, promoting fair trade, empowering gender fairness in employment and support the community in which they operate. However, the translation of benefits into economic profits is not guaranteed. For some consumers the buying decision is influenced by the social image of the company but by the value they get from the trade. Various factors can be employed to measure the corporate social responsibility performance are Dow Jones Sustainability Index, SERM rating and EIRIS. Stakeholder Theory: What responsibilities or obligation does an organization owes to its stakeholders? How should an organization cater to the competing need of different stakeholders? What legitimate interests justify a group of people being regarded as stakeholders...
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...how others approach ethical decision making (The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, 2012). “Ethics awareness inventory is designed to assist individuals with achieving specific objectives enabling an individual to understand and care about what is right or good, compare, and decide alternatives, form opinions about actions morally appropriate to take, and acquire the skills to justify decisions or ethical grounds” (The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, 2012, p. 1). Understanding the importance of an individual’s own personal ethical perspective is an important area that individuals should be aware of and understand as well, the relationship between personal and professional ethics are also areas important to be aware of and understand. The ethics awareness inventory consists of four categories of ethical thoughts used to determine the profile of an individual, which should reflect the individual’s beliefs. After taking the multiple question inventories it is apparent that the ethical profile most closely aligned to is (O) obligation, and the ethical profile least closely aligned is (E) equity (The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, 2012). The ethics perspective of (O) obligation, “individuals who most closely aligned with obligation tend to base his or her ethical perspectives on an individual’s duty or obligation to do what is morally right” (The Williams Institute for Ethics and Management, 2012, p. 4). The ethical style is individuals...
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...the moral value of human conduct and of the rules and principles that ought to govern it; moral philosophy. This definition implies that one individual may see one thing ethical while another may see it unethical. Most of all individuals develop their own rules of personal ethics based upon a wide-ranging variety of sources and faith systems. Everybody develops and obtains their logic of right and wrong via the way they have been brought up to believe. Because there are many views of what is ethical and unethical, Lawrence Kohlberg developed the stages of moral development. The stage of moral development makes it obvious how a person will make judgment on ethical dilemmas within an organization. Kohlberg suggest that an individual progresses through these stages during their lifetime. There are six stages of moral development, and the stages are divided into three levels of development. The first level of development is called the “pre-conventional” level. On this particular level, an individual assesses ethical issues based on idea of avoiding punishment and seek personal reward. The second level is called “conventional” level. In this next stage a person assesses ethical issues on the basis of the fairness to others and a desire to conform to societal rules and expectations. Now, the highest level is called the “principled level. When at this level a person is likely to apply principles, such as utilitarian, deontological, or justice, to ethical issues...
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...Ethical Role of the Manager In a broad construction of the ethical role of the manager, managing and leading can be said to be inherently ethics-laden tasks because every managerial decision affects either people or the natural environment in some way—and those effects or impacts need to be taken into consideration as decisions are made. A narrower construction of the ethical role of the manager is that managers should serve only the interests of the shareholder; that is, their sole ethical task is to meet the fiduciary obligation to maximize shareholder wealth that is embedded in the law, predominantly that of the United States, although this point of view is increasingly accepted in other parts of the world. Even in this narrow view, however, although not always recognized explicitly, ethics are at the core of management practice. The ethical role of managers is broadened beyond fiduciary responsibility when consideration is given to the multiple stakeholders who constitute the organization being managed and to nature, on which human civilization depends for its survival. Business decisions affect both stakeholders and nature; therefore, a logical conclusion is that those decisions have ethical content inherently and that managerial decisions, behaviors, and actions are therefore inherently ethical in nature. Whenever there are impacts due to a decision, behavior, or action that a leader or manager makes, there are ethical aspects to that decision or situation. While some skeptics...
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...culture and perspectives with those they visit or those that come to their borders. Today, with the widespread use of Internet, digital information, and focus on international business, the positive effect of globalization is much more apparent as well as the challenges it presents to countries with different ethical cultures. While most would assume that people in another land speaking a different language, following a different religion, and eating different food would more than likely perceive and behave differently from than our own; the truth is that even though these differences may be perceived, very little is done to actually understand them appropriately unless it is deemed necessary. However, what is quickly becoming equally apparent, for international businesses and corporations to deal successfully with a foreign contractor, business, or even government; the proper measures must be taken to understand the differences in ethical perception and to work to accommodate those differences. Failure to do so leave many of these companies and businesses vulnerable for international ethical dilemmas that are quickly brought to global attention by international media sources; where the wide-spread use of the Internet and digital communication have helped companies grow internationally, now any unaddressed unethical practice or issue from businesses can be heard and commented on around the world. Cultural difference begins with the ethical variations of perspectives or business...
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...within the Hershey’s Company. Although Hershey’s mission statement provides a simple goal that encompasses acknowledgment of global market share with the sweet moments of happiness provided in every aspect of Hershey’s daily endeavors, a strict code of ethical business conduct forms the underlying fabric that governs all endeavors. Commitments The Hershey’s company understands the scope of responsibilities included with company success as its global influence demands considerable resource utilization. These responsibilities extend past bottom line profit to supporting various charities focused on providing for the needs of children. Hershey’s Code of Ethical conduct contains detailed information as mentioned by, (Code of Ethical Business Conduct, n.d.) “Attempts to address most common legal and ethical issues that we might encounter” To Fellow Employees The foundation of Hershey’s success starts with its employees as they enable the continued functionality that provides the core of Hershey’s influence and make endeavors possible by performing all daily operations. Providing a safe work environment while promoting diversity demonstrates a duty-based ethical belief system understands various consequences that requires Hershey’s to hold themselves accountable to its employees...
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