Exam I Flashcards
What are the three components of the Smeal Honor Code?
- We will aspire to high ethical standards
- we will hold each other accountable
- we will not engage in any improper academic or professional actions
Today and tomorrow
What was the important takeaway from the spiderman clip shown in class?
“With great power comes great responsibility”
Ethics is in 4 major playing fields, what are they?
PONG Personal Organizational National Global
We talked about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, what was the main takeaway?
You need to know that you can personally be responsible for the actions in the business world. How you run yourself in uniform is just as important as when you are a civilian
Why is Adam Smith important to Business Ethics?
Economist but also wrote “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” before his publishing of “The Wealth of Nations”
He talked about how free markets would work if everyone acted ethically and responsibly instead of greedily looking out for themselves
What information would you seek out if looking for Business Ethics Trends on the Fortune 1000?
The Ethics Resource Centers national business ethics survey - comes out every 2 years
ERC Data shows misconduct in the workplace….
has decreased since 2011 but 60% of misconduct come from management
Change the mindset of Dilbert video - “Management doesn’t have ethics training!!”
What were the 4 main statistics Ron John highlighted from the Business Resource Center?
Observed misconduct - down (good)
Reporting misconduct - down (bad)
Perceived pressure to commit misconduct - down (good)
Received retaliation from reporting misconduct - down (good)
Ron John showed us a graph from the Business Resource Center on Perceived Pressure to Commit Misconduct, what did is show?
Perceived pressure has gone down from 28% to 9% from 1994-2013
There was a spike during the financial crisis that has since decreased
According to the ERC what are the 5 most frequent observed types of misconduct?
- Abusive behavior (18%)
- Lying to employees (17%)
- Discrimination (12%)
- Internet misuse (12%)
- Conflict of interest (12%)
Ron John asked the question “Is there such a thing as right and wrong?” What was the big takeaway?
There are underlying principles we as humans can all see as right and wrong
DONT BE WISHY WASHY ON ETHICS - Lead with your values and never say “it depends”
Cultural Relativism
My values will change depending on where I am or where I live
Ethical Imperialism
My values will stick with me at all ways and at all times no matter where I am or who I am with
The Ethics definition we were given has 3 parts - what are they?
- Set of Principles
- Right Conduct
- Underlying Values
“A set of principles of right conduct based on underlying values”
What are the PSU values?
P - penn state community R - responsibility R - respect I - integrity D - discovery E - excellence
What is the textbook definition of business ethics?
Behavior, actions, policies, and practices that take place within a business context that are concerned with morality and fairness
What is the individual ethical decision making process look like?
- Ethical awareness
- Ethical judgement
- Ethical behavior
We talked about ethics in college, what was the main takeaway?
We want to act ethically but also want to please other people
You need to have humility because the minute you say “I’ve got this” is the minute you have lost. You need to have an underlying base of ethics so when factors change you can make a solid decision
Ron John highlighted three characteristic of Millennials in the workplace, what are they?
- we report just as much
- we are more likely to experience retaliation
- we report to informal channels more than formal channels
What was the main takeaway from our discussion on moral disengagement in college?
70% of students say they have cheated - we know it’s wrong but it has become a norm… meaning we are morally disengaged when it comes to certain things like cheating
What are the three “worlds” of ethics?
Corporate
Personal
College
What is the most basic assumption we can make when talking about ethics?
Most people want to behave ethically in every situation but sometimes won’t due to outside influences
What is the main leadership competency taught in BA342?
Ethical decision making
What does EAP mean to Ron John?
Excellent performance
Academic Integrity
Professional Behavior