Chapter 9

Question 1

9.1: Briefly suggest the difference between ‘principle-based ethics’ and ‘situational-based ethics’ at a personal level

Answer 1

Principle-based ethics defines the way that we behave as an individual based around our personal beliefs and principles.
These might come from religious or other ‘rule-based’ principles, or just be based around the principles that we develop ourselves as we go through life. This might be called our personal moral DNA.

Situational-based ethics suggests that the way we behave and the decisions we make will be based more upon the particular circumstances that surround us, than on a set of immutable principles.

Most human beings operate at both levels throughout their lives. We build a set of principles, but these are challenged and evolve through different situational experiences.

Question 2

9.2: Suggest what is meant by the ‘reputation’ of an organisation and where it comes from.

Answer 2

Reputation is defined as the beliefs or opinions that are generally held about someone or something.

As reputation is based on the views of others, the reputation of an organisation will be based around the views of its
various stakeholders; these of course may differ, depending on the stakeholder expectation and perspective.

Generally an organisation that is held to have a good reputation will be maximising how it satisfies its stakeholder
expectations, particularly in the way in which the organisation behaves towards its employees and how they in turn
behave towards people across all aspects of the organisational supply chain

Question 3

9.3: What is meant by the acronym CSR and how is it demonstrated by an organisation?

Answer 3

CSR stands for corporate social responsibility.

It can be defined as the obligation that any organisation has to develop and implement its strategy with a positive
awareness of how that strategy is likely to affect society. To achieve this, an organisation needs to have a wide and
conscious awareness of the social issues and norms that are affecting society at any point in time.

Question 4

9.4: Differentiate between the ‘laissez-faire’ stance and the ‘shaper of society’ stance recognised by Johnson in consideration
of CSR.

Answer 4

In a ‘laissez-faire’ stance, an organisation will just get on with its ‘life-as normal’, focused on driving profitability and
shareholder value. Its CSR approach will be to achieve the minimum required to comply with regulation and expectation.
The mode is defensive because the organisation will find reasons to avoid additional expenditure on CSR activities.

In a ‘shaper of society’ stance, an organisation and/or its key leadership team will be seen as visionaries who have the
ability to influence social change. Such organisations will have an empowered workforce, with each member expected to
play their part within CSR. The mode is defining because the organisation will establish benchmarks and best practice for
others