Chapter 10: Ethical Culture, Governance and the Management of Ethics Flashcards
What are the two aspects of ethics in the organisational culture
Ethical climate: related to the perceptions of stakeholders on the ethical value system of the organization as reflected in their practices, policies and behaviors
Ethical culture: the values, beliefs, traditions and practices that are shared by the members of an organization i.e. focuses on a shared experience. the ethical culture of a business is reflected in the code of ethics
What are the 8 virtues of multi-dimensional model for measuring ethical culture (normative criteria)
1) Clarity: manage employees expectations i.e. clear division between ethical and unethical behaviour
2) Congruency of supervisors: good examples by people in positions of authority
3) Congruency of management: examples of ethical conduct by line managers
4) Feasibility: create an environment for ethical behaviour (work hours, budgets etc)
5) Supportability: support systems to help employees to follow ethical standards
6) Transparency: knowledge of clear and just consequences
7) Discussability: environment to discuss ethical issues
8) Sanctionability: consequences of both ethical and unethical behaviour
These 8 virtues can be subdivided into three categories:
- self-regulatory (clarity, congruency of managers and supervisors)
- self-providing (feasibility and supportability)
- self-correcting (transparency, discussability and sanctionability)
What is Victor and Cullen’s 2 Dimensions to ethical culture
1) Moral philosophy
2) Locus of analysis or perspective of decision-making
Explain the moral philosophy
1) egoistic or narcissistic: focuses mainly on self-interest, profit and efficiency which could become narcissistic.
2) caring or benevolence: focuses on friendship, team interest and social responsibility
3) deontological or principle based: focuses on personal morality, company rules and procedures, law and professional codes
Explain the locus of analysis or perspective of decision-making
1) individual or personal perspective: perceptions of stakeholders (e.g. benefit or gain of individual experiences)
2) local perspective; internal aspects and procedures of the organisation (e.g. benefit of the organisation)
3) cosmopolitan perspective: interaction between business and general society (e.g. benefit of society)
Name and explain the types of work climates in terms of trust
1) egotistical climate:
- focuses on self-interest, profit and efficiency (narcissistic), can create mistrust between internal and external stakeholders (ethical deficiency).
- associated with individualism, abuse of power, competitiveness etc.
- shareholder focused business theory
2) caring climate:
- focuses on welfare of the community (shared value), conductive to trust between stakeholders, commitment and support
- care, helpfulness, friendship, collective interest, goodwill and transparency
- stakeholder and stewardship theories (look beyond profit as a single aim)
3) deontological climate:
- formal with predetermined ethical principals, cognitive forms of trust i.e. personal morality, company policy and legislation
- associated with shareholder theories
What is the function of the ethics committee
1) Monitoring operations: compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, environmental health, and safety of society in relation to the operations of an organization etc.
2) Raising the attention of the board
3) Reporting to stakeholders
What are the two types of measuring instruments
Quantitative: collecting large samples of data by using measuring instruments such as e.g. questionnaires.
Qualitative: research that aims to understand a particular topic and uses interactive instruments such as, focus groups and interviews to collect information.
What is the aim of the measuring instruments
it is to provide data to substantiate the ethics climate and culture of an organisation
What are leadership positions and their functions
1) Board: responsible for governance, ethical direction and monitoring of operations
2) CEO: public figure and ethics role model
3) Ethics officers: managing the ethics offices, collecting data on ethical culture, reporting, training and identifying risks
4) Line managers: interpreting ethical culture to employees and ethical role model function
Homo economicus and Ubuntu
individualistic and rationalist view of humanity that is solely focused on making money. seeks self-interest at all cost, erodes personhood and communal identity and views humans as money making machines
