Final Exam Flashcards
DIER Framework
Dilemma
Identify alternatives
Evaluate alternatives
Resolution
How would we define “Business Ethics”?
“A set of moral principles; a theory or system of moral values.”
Standards and values in commerce
Utilitarianism
Greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people/ Happiness is the objective
Greatest Happiness Principle (utilitarianism)
actions are right in proportion as they tend to cause happiness, wrong as they tend to produce opposite of happiness. Happiness being pleasure and unhappiness being the absence of pleasure.
Consequentialist Theory/ John Stuart Mill suggests what?
is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are.
consequences are all that really matter
Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism because it focuses on the quality of outcomes/ if the outcome produces the greatest amount of happiness it is good. the result are way more important than the means
Trolley Problem: Utilitarianism
train hurtling down a track, you could either hit 1 person or 5. What do you? With utilitarianism you want to simply hit the one. This is because that would result in the greatest number of happiness since only one person will be affected.
Within utilitarianism what does John Stuart Mill suggest about pleasure?
There are levels to pleasure. A pleasure is of higher quality if people would choose it over a different pleasure even if it is accompanied by discomfort, and if they would not trade it for a greater amount of other pleasure.
Jeremy Bentham
1748-1832
- progressive British philosopher
- “good”= search for pleasure + avoidance of pain
- considered only quantity of pleasure
John Stuart Mill
1806-1873
- British Philosopher and political economist
Divine Command Theory
morality is ultimately based on the command/ character of God and that the morally right action is the one that God commands or requires.
Have to follow God’s commands to moral.
Natural Law
basically the idea that humans rationally know what is right and wrong, as opposed to other animals, and that that natural instinct is in accordance with God/ designed by God. Our spiritual nature has its own natural inclinations that lets us not do our other natural inclinations.
Good should be done and evil should be avoided.
Meritocracy
a social system where people receive social status or rewards because of what they achieve, rather than because of wealth or social class.
Pros:
Cons:
Needs Based Fairness
a party to a situation should receive a share of the resources or benefits based upon her level of need. The party that needs the resources or benefits the most would be entitled to the greatest share.
Pros:
Cons:
Equality
Everybody must be equal. Every outcome should be the same to maintain fairness.
Pros:
Cons:
Descriptive Egoism
all human motivation is self-interested/ aimed at benefitting oneself
Normative Egoism
the notion that one OUGHT to act only with self-interested motives/ aim to only benefit yourself
Six Stages of Moral Development (Kohlberg)
Pre-Conventional:
1) Obedience & Punishment: basically if you get punished then don’t do something and do something if you won’t get punished
2) Self-Interest: acting to further one’s own self-interest
Conventional:
3) Interpersonal Accord and Conformity: meet the expectations of others
4) Authority and Maintaining Social Order: upholding laws to meet societal expectations
Post Conventional:
5) Social Contract: Personal values used to achiever social consciousness
6) Universal Ethical Principles: self selection of universal moral principles.
Internal Stakeholders
Employees Officers: Day to Day Management Board of Directors: - Hire Officers - High-Level Decisions/ Vision - Stock options Shareholders: - Elect and Sue Directors
External Stakeholders (Direct)
- Creditors
- Suppliers
- Customers
External Stakeholders (Indirect)
- Government
- Community
- Environment
Shareholder Primacy Theory
A theory in corporate governance that basically says that the interest of the shareholders comes before and is first priority over all other stakeholder interests
Stakeholder Theory/ Corporate Social Responsibility/ Triple-Bottom-Line
- A view of capitalism that focuses n the interconnected relationships between a business and its customers, suppliers, employees, investors, communities, and others who have a stake in the organization.
- Is a business model that helps a company be socially responsible to itself, stakeholders, and the public.
- Focus on equality caring about profit, people and planet.
Business Roundtable Statement of 2019 on Corporate Purpose:
“Each of our stakeholders is essential. We commit to deliver value to all of them, for the future success of our companies, our communities and our country.”
Greenwashing
Spending more time and money claiming to be “green” through advertising and marketing rather than actually implementing business practices that minimize environmental impact
Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO)
were enacted in 1991 to provide just punishment and act as a deterrent to organizations from indulging in criminal wrongdoing. Also started to clarify the gov’ts expectations of what is considered to be an effective ethics and compliance program
- credits are given to companies who have an “effective ethics program”
- The FSGO guidelines focus on the prevention of crimes, and define an effective ethics program as one that “prevents and detects criminal conduct.”
- The FSGO standards, even though created in the context of sentencing in criminal cases, have become the de facto blueprint on how to implement ethics programs in the U.S.
- Seven Guidelines:
1) Have standards and procedures in place to prevent crimes.
2) The Governing Board shall have oversight overt the ethics program; there will be a high level “point person” for the program with direct access to the Board.
3) Don’t give discretionary authority to people in the organization who have a criminal history.
4) Need to train people on your standards.
5) There must be monitoring and auditing to detect crimes and to evaluate the program. There may be anonymous ways to report crimes without fear of retaliation.
6) Create Incentives and disciplinary measures for your ethics program.
7) After a crime occurs, don’t let it happen again.
Sin Stocks
Shares in companies that are involved in unethical practices, products or that exploit human weakness and vices.
Environmental Social Governance
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments.
Environmental criteria consider how a company performs as a steward of nature. Social criteria examine how it manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and the communities where it operates. Governance deals with a company’s leadership, executive pay, audits, internal controls, and shareholder rights.
Global Impact Investor Network
non-profit organization with global members that builds industry infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research to help accelerate the development of the impact investing industry
Global Impact Investor Network
non-profit organization with global members that builds industry infrastructure and supports activities, education, and research to help accelerate the development of the impact investing industry
Civil Rights Act of 1964
prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. … The Act prohibited discrimination in public accommodations and federally funded programs. It also strengthened the enforcement of voting rights and the desegregation of schools.
Title VII
prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin.
Minimum Wage
https://minimum-wage.procon.org/
Hierarchy of Savings
Duty of Loyalty
- Good faith
- avoid conflict
- All Tennessee employees owe a duty of loyalty to their employer. Among other things, that means they can’t compete with their employer while still employed. In addition, certain employees may be subject to noncompete agreements that restrict their activities both during and after their employment.
Non-Compete Agreement
clause under which one party agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition against another party.
Non-Solicitation
Non-solicitation, in contract law, refers to an agreement, typically between an employer and employee, that prohibits an employee from utilizing the company’s clients, customers, and contact lists for personal gain upon leaving the company.
FCPA: Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
-Payment/offer/promise to pay $$ or anything of value, directly or indirectly;
to any foreign official, politician, party official, candidate for office; (includes state owned entities
with a corrupt intent;
for the purpose of influencing one of these person’s official acts or decisions in violation of his or her lawful duty;
in order to assist in obtaining or retaining business.
OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration
government organization made in 1970 to ensure safe and healthful working conditions for workers by setting and enforcing standards and by providing training, outreach, education and assistance.
-Reports, inspections, fines
Right to Work
Under right-to-work laws, states have the authority to determine whether workers can be required to join a labor union to get or keep a job. … Labor unions still operate in those states, but workers cannot be compelled to become members as a requirement of their job.
Employee Monitoring with Consent (ECPA)
The ECPA merely sets the minimum restrictions on employee monitoring; individual states are free to impose greater limitations, and many have done so.
NLRB: National Labor Relations Board
The National Labor Relations Board is an independent agency of the federal government of the United States with responsibilities for enforcing U.S. labor law in relation to collective bargaining and unfair labor practices
Whistleblowing/ Anti-Retaliation/ Qui Tam
A whistleblower is a person, usually an employee, who exposes information or activity within a private, public, or government organization that is deemed illegal, illicit, unsafe, fraud, or abuse of taxpayer funds.
A proactive anti-retaliation program is designed to (1) receive and respond appropriately to employees’ compliance concerns (i.e., concerns about hazards or potential employer violations of one of the 22 laws) and (2) prevent and address retaliation against employees who raise or report concerns.
In a qui tam case, whistleblowers are typically rewarded between fifteen and thirty percent of the total recovered amount. This can result in a multi-million dollar whistleblower award in some cases.
Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1988
(100+ EEs and 50+ layoff = 60 days notice; not part-time or new/6mo)
is a US labor law which protects employees, their families, and communities by requiring most employers with 100 or more employees to provide 60 calendar-day advance notification of plant closings and mass layoffs of employees, as defined in the Act.
CEOs are paid 300 x more than the average employee
Principled Negotiation
Win/Win
1) Separate People from problems
2) focus on interest; not positions
3) Create options for mutual gain
4) Use Objective Criteria
BATNA: Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement
the most advantageous alternative that a negotiating party can take if negotiations fail and an agreement cannot be made. In other words, a party’s BATNA is what a party’s alternative is if negotiations are unsuccessful.
Critical Race Theory Tenants
1) “Racism is ordinary” (color-blind not cure) (systemic)
Issues with “neutrality;” e.g. 1st Am. (hate speech/victim)
2) “Interest convergence” (material and/or psychic benefits to dominant group; Brown v. Board even self-interested)
3) Race is “social construction” (not biological; outside of some physical traits; not intelligence or morality or personality. Disagrees with Charles Murray.)
4)“Intersectionality/anti-essentialism” (multiple identities)
Richard Delgado & Jean Stefancic (2001)
Derrick Bell (USC/Harvard/NYU Law)
Race, Racism and American Law (1970)
Kimberle Crenshaw (UCLA/Columbia Law)
Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings (editor, 1996)
Richard Delgado (UCLA/Colorado/Alabama Law)
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (co-author 2001)
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Business
Trainings
Hiring (Title VII & Rooney Rule)
Promotions & Pay
Policies & Support
Sustainability and Earth Jurisprudence
Fautisan Economics (Berry) - “We will keep on consuming, spending, wasting, and driving, as before, at any cost to anything and everybody but ourselves.”
“The problem with us is not only prodigal extravagance but also an assumed limitlessness.”
“But once greed has been made an honorable motive, then you have an economy without limits. It has no place for temperance or thrift or the ecological law of return.”
“The hope that we can cure the ills of industrialism by the homeopathy of more technology seems at last to be losing status. We are, in short, coming under pressure to understand ourselves as limited creatures in a limited world.”
Tragedy of the Commons
when many people all share one limited resource/ these situations pit short term self interest against the common good and end badly for everyone. An individual can benefit themself. What is good for all of us is good for each of us.
Justice Theory
Locke, Rousseau and Rawls suggested that we need to submit to some restrictions to be free and that it is useful to have government entities (gov’t at the consent of the people)
Hobbes says that the state of nature is selfish and brutal so if we don’t restrict ourselves we will not thrive. need authoritarianism
John Rawls: Veil of ignorance
Restributive Justice
If you break a law you get punished
Restorative Justice
focuses on rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large
How do we rehabilitate the offender and restore the victim?
Procedural Justice
What is the appropriate process?
focuses on fairness within the courtroom
neutral judge and neutral jury
Non-Consequentialist Theory
a type of normative ethical theory that denies that the rightness or wrongness of our conduct is determined solely by the consequences of our acts or to the rules for which those acts conform
Non-Consequentialist Theory
a type of normative ethical theory that denies that the rightness or wrongness of our conduct is determined solely by the consequences of our acts or to the rules for which those acts conform
Rules and Duty
Deon= Duty in Greek
in deontology is an action is in accordance with a set rule than it is considered good while if it isn’t its bad. Deontology is based upon a clear set of rules.
Intention in Deontology
intention is just as important as the action itself.
So if somebody does something good with bad intent than the action is bad.
Goodwill in Deontology
Kant argues that no consequence can have fundamental moral worth; the only thing that is good in and of itself is the Good Will. The Good Will freely chooses to do its moral duty. That duty, in turn, is dictated solely by reason.
Categorical Imperative
The categorical imperative is an idea that the philosopher Immanuel Kant had about ethics. Kant said that an “imperative” is something that a person must do.
Three Propositions of Metaphysics of Morals)
- Kant argues that the will that acts from reason is the will guided by duty.
- “an action done from duty has its moral worth, not in the purpose that is to be attained by it, but in the maxim according to which the action is determined.”
- “Duty is the necessity of an action done out of respect for the law.”
Interest Convergence
Interest convergence is a theory coined by the late Derrick Bell, law professor and spiritual godfather to the field of study known as critical race theory. Interest convergence stipulates that black people achieve civil rights victories only when white and black interests converge
