Chapter 4 Flashcards
Ethics is defined as
Standards of moral behavior; that is, behavior accepted by society as right versus wrong.
What basic morale values are considered right?
Integrity, respect for human life, self-control, honesty, courage, and self sacrifice are right
What actions are considered in opposition to basic morale values?
Cheating, cowardice, cruelty
What three questions should you ask yourself when making decisions
- Is it legal and within company policy?
- Is it balanced and fair?
- How will I feel about myself?
How do ethics and legality differ?
Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is ethical. Ethics reflects proper relationships with one another.
How do people learn ethical behavior
Caught more than taught. By seeing what others do not what they say. Starts at the top with leaders
Trust and cooperation between workers and managers must be based on?
Fairness, honesty, openness, and moral integrity.
What are compliance-based ethics codes?
Ethical standards that emphasize preventing unlawful behavior by increasing control and by penalizing wrongdoers
What are integrity based ethics codes?
Ethical standards that define the organization’s guiding values, create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior, and stress a shared accountability among employees
What are six steps to improving U.S. business ethics?
- Top management must adopt and support a code of conduct.
- Employees must understand that expectations for ethical behavior begin at the top and that senior leadership expects everyone to act accordingly
- Managers and others must be trained on ethical implications
- An ethics office must be set up for anonymous communication.
- All outside suppliers, sub-contractors, etc must be told about the ethics program.
- Must be enforced in a timely manner.
What is a whistleblower?
An insider that reports illegal or unethical behavior
The concern businesses have for the welfare of society, not just their owners Is called what
Corporate social responsibility. (CSR)
What do detractors think about CSR?
That the only social responsibility a business has is to make it’s investors money. Using investor money for anything else is like stealing from investors.
What do advocates say about CSR?
That businesses owe their profits and success to society and can’t survive without society and that CSR will return better investements in the long run.
What is corporate philanthropy
includes charitable donations to nonprofit groups of all kinds.
What is Corporate social initiatives?
enhanced forms of corporate philanthropy. They are more directed towards a companies competencies
What is corporate responsibility
In clouds essentially everything that has to do with acting responsibly within society.
Corporate policy related to CSR is what?
Refers to a firms position on social and political issues.
What are four customer rights?
- safety
- to be informed
- right to choose
- Right to be heard
A low cost was to communicate a companies CSR
Social media
Define insider trading
An unethical activity in which insiders use private company information to further their own fortunes or those of their family and friends.
how do companies get respect from employees?
By giving it
For some companies, charity is not enough. What else do they do?
Environmental cleanups, building community toilets, providing computer lessons, caring for elderly, and comporting underprivileged children.
What is a social audit
a systematic evaluation of an organizations progress toward implementing socially responsible and responsive programs.
A problem when conducting social audits is knowing how to conduct it and measure a firms effects. What are some considerations? 6 items
environment, product safety, community relations, military weapons contracting, international operations and human rights.
What five types of groups serve as watch dogs to CSR?
- Socially conscious investors
- Socially conscious research organizations
- Environmentalist
- Union officials
- Customers
How are U.S. businesses demanding socially responsible behavior from international suppliers?
By demanding they adhere to U.S. human rights and environmental standards.
