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BU288 Final > Ethics in Organizations > Flashcards

Ethics in Organizations Flashcards

1
Q

Ethics

A
  • Code of moral principles and values that governs the behaviors of a person or group with respect to what is right or wrong
  • Ethical values set standards as to what is good or bad in conduct and decision making
  • Most ethical dilemmas involve conflict of the needs of the part and the whole.
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2
Q

Ethical behaviour -

A

honest communication, fair treatment, special consdieration, fair competition, responsibility to organization, corporate soical responsibility, respect for law

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3
Q

3 Ethical Principels/ Decison Criteria

A
  • Utilitarian
  • rights
  • justice
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4
Q

Utilitarian

A
  • Behavior is ethical if it delivers the greatest good to the greatest number of people
  • Focuses on outcomes; ends justify the means
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5
Q

Rights

A
  • Behavior is ethical if it respects the fundamental rights shared by all human beings
  • e.g., Charter of Rights and Freedoms, free speech, due process, privacy, life and safety, etc.
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6
Q

Justice

A
  • Behavior is ethical if it is fair and impartial in its treatment of people
  • Impose and enforce rules fairly (procedural justice)
  • Equity
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7
Q

Advantages and Disadvantages
Utilitarian

A
  • Promotes efficiency, productivity
  • Ignores rights of some individuals
  • Difficult to apply to values that cannot be easily quantified (e.g., health, life, employment)
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8
Q

Advantages and Disadvantages
Rights

A
  • Protects individuals from injury consistent with freedom and privacy
  • Creates overly legalistic environment
  • Hinders productivity and efficiency
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9
Q

Advantages and Disadvantages
Justice

A
  • Protects interests of under-represented and less powerful
  • Encourages sense of entitlement
  • Difficult to agree on the definition of “fairness”
  • Reduces risk-taking, innovation and productivity
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10
Q

Causes of Unethical Behaviour

A
  • bounded ethically
  • bottom line mentality
  • whistle - blowing
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11
Q

Bounded ethically

A
  • the psychological process by which people come to engage in behaviour that violates their own ethical standards
  • Can be personability, gain, extreme performance pressure, role conflict, strong organizatonal identification, competition, organizational and industry culture
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12
Q

Bottom line mentality -

A

a narrow focus on organizatioanl economic indicators such as profits or stock price to the exclusion of espoud or organizational values and fair procedures

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13
Q

Whistle-blowing

A

disclosure of illegetiate practices by a current or former organizational that may be able to take action to correc these practices

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14
Q

Ethical Behaviours (themes)

A

Ethics are particularly apparent when managers must make decisions related to:
- honest communication
- fair treatment
- fair competition
- responsibility to organization
- corporate social responsibility
- respect for the law

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15
Q

Honest communication

A

evaluate employees candidly, advertise honestly, etc.

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16
Q

Fair treatment

A

-pay equitably, do not use people as scape-goats
Special consideration
- help the disabled, long-term employees, etc.

17
Q

Fair competition

A

e.g., avoid bribes and kickbacks, do not fix prices, etc.

18
Q

Responsibility to organization

A

act for the good of the org, not out of self-interest, etc.

19
Q

Corporate social responsibility

A

do not pollute, think about community impact, etc.

20
Q

Respect for the Law

A

do not bribe others, follow labor/taxation laws.

21
Q

Causes of Unethical Behaviours
lecture

A
  • “bad apple” - personality causes
  • “bad barrel” - situatonal causes
22
Q

“Bad Apple”

A
  • Need for power, Machiavellianism, Risk taking, Moral identity
  • personaility causes
23
Q

“Bad Barrel”

A
  • Situational causes
    Gain (e.g., anticipation of reward or lack of punishment)
    Role conflict (remember Challenger engineers?)
    Competition/Scarce Resources
    Pressures to conform
    Social modeling
    Anonymity/Lack of accountability
    Organization/Industry Culture
24
Q

Signaling Theory

A
  • Evolutionary theory
  • Applies when there is information asymmetry between sender and receiver
  • High cost (honest) signals communicate fitness (and survivability)
  • Ethical initiatives signal the fitness of the organization
  • Actions signal the ethical nature of the leaders and the business
25
Q

Ethical/Unethical Beahviours Send Signals

A

Leadership that demonstrates normatively appropriate behaviors through actions and relationships. Ethical leaders promote ethical conduct through communication, reinforcement, and decision-making.

26
Q

Ethical/Unethical Beahviours Send Signals
Positively related to:

A

Subordinate ethical behavior, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, organizational voice (i.e., suggestions for positive change), trust in leader, job performance

27
Q

Ethical/Unethical Beahviours Send Signals
Negatively related to:

A

Subordinate work stress, deviance, turnover

28
Q

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A

Refers to management’s obligation to make choices and take action so that the org contributes to the welfare and interest of all organizational stakeholders

29
Q

CSR Seen to relate to:

A
  • respect for the environment
  • relationship between the business and society
  • sustainable economic development
  • fair treatment of employees, suppliers, customers, communitites
  • adhering to ethcial values
30
Q

How do Employees Respond to CSR

A
  • Employee perceived CSR of their organization
  • Evaluation of an organization’s social performance
  • Captures perceptions of met responsibilities toward employees, consumers, government, the public, and environment
31
Q

CSR Positively related to:

A

Organizational trust, organizational identification, work engagement, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, job performance, citizenship behaviors

32
Q

CSR Negatively related to:

A

Turnover intentions, organizational deviance

33
Q

Sources of Ethical Values in Orgs

A
  • personal ethics - role of leaders
  • org culture - embed ethical values
  • org systems - employee selection, prescene of ethics codes
  • external stakeholders - reward/value ethical behaviour
34
Q

Formal Structure

A

Assigning ethics committee or ethics officer

35
Q

Disclosure Mechanisms

A
  • Visibly reward ethical acts and punish unethical ones
  • Provide protective mechanisms so that employees are able to discuss ethical dilemmas and report behavior against the code of ethics
36
Q

Code of Ethics

A

Used by an increasing number of organizations
Not enough to have a policy, must also be followed

37
Q

Training programs

A
  • formal structure

BU288 Final (6 decks)

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