Module 7 Flashcards
What are the different ethical perspectives?
-Moral Philosophy
-Universalism
-Egoism
-Utilitarianism
-Relativism
-Virtue ethics
Moral Philosophy
principles, rules, and values people use in deciding what is right or wrong.
Universalism
The ethical system stating that all people should uphold certain values that society needs to function
Egoism
An ethical system defining acceptable behavior as that which minimizes consequences for the individual
Utilitarianism
An ethical system stating that the greatest good for the greatest number should be the overriding concern of decision makers.
Relativism
Philosophy that bases ethical behavior on the opinions and behaviors of relevant other people.
Virtue ethics
Perspective that what is moral comes from what a mature person with “good” moral character would deem right.
Explain how companies influence their ethics environment
-Legal Environment
-Ethical Climate
-Avoiding danger signs that lead to unethical behavior
-Corporate ethical standards
-Ethics Code
-Ethics Programs
Outline a process for making ethical decisions.
-First you understand all moral standards and recognize all moral impacts including benefits/harms to others and right excised/denied
-Next define complete moral problem
-Then Determine the economic outcomes, consider the legal requirements, and evaluate the ethical duties
-Finally propose a convincing moral solution
Summarize the important issues surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR)
-equal opportunity
-pollution control
-energy and natural resource conservation
-consumer and worker protection
Jen and Bryce are colleagues who witnessed one of their team members, Jared, making a personal purchase over the Internet, which is prohibited in their company. The management had previously announced that those who report wrongdoing of fellow employees will be rewarded. Jen decided not to report Jared’s act to the management since it was done after hours. However, Bryce decided to do so with the hope of being rewarded.
According to Kohlberg’s model of cognitive moral development, Bryce can be categorized as being in the preconventional stage.
preconventional
Jen and Bryce are colleagues who witnessed one of their team members, Jared, making a personal purchase over the Internet, which is prohibited in their company. The management had previously announced that those who report wrongdoing of fellow employees will be rewarded. Jen decided not to report Jared’s act to the management since it was done after hours. However, Bryce decided to do so with the hope of being rewarded.
According to Kohlberg’s model of cognitive moral development, Jen can be categorized as being in the principled stage.
principled
preconventional stage
make decisions based on concrete rewards and punishments and immediate self-interest.
principled stage
see beyond authority, laws, and norms and follow their self-chosen ethical principles.
The order of the levels in the pyramid of global corporate social responsibility and performance from bottom to top is
economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic
Javi Torres, general manager of Fabricated Products, Incorporated, told his mentor, “I find it difficult to support our corporate social performance without corporate financial performance.” His mentor replied, “Javi, the accumulated evidence indicates that
social responsibility is associated with better financial performance.”
Laura Higgins, Chief Ethics Officer for WrightWay Corporation, told her CEO, “We must identify actions that will maximize profits while satisfying the demand for corporate social responsibility from multiple stakeholders. To do this, we should evaluate actions as we would all other investment decisions, by
performing cost–benefit analyses of the actions.”
“It’s not all about profit,” said Tom to his young accountant. “We have to always keep in mind the ‘triple bottom line’, and that means our stakeholders’ broader expectations of
economic, social, and environmental performance.”
The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
requires strict adherence to accounting rules.
____ is a danger sign that an organization may be allowing or even encouraging unethical behavior.
Excessive emphasis on short-term revenues instead of long-term considerations
A question associated with the “sunshine” ethical framework is
“How would you feel if your actions were highlighted in the media?”
Framework
One way to construct an effective ethics code is to
have executives talk about them and then live up to their statements about ethics.
“That toxic discharge is endangering the public! We need to immediately stop production!” warned Manuel. His manager, Philip, said, “Manuel, we can’t stop production to fix the leak. Our profits are behind plan this quarter and we will never meet the production schedule by shutting down. We got in trouble with the production manager last quarter for a similar action.” An unwillingness to take an ethical stand that may impose financial costs is a sign that the company has a(n) ________ that is conducive to unethical behavior.
ethical climate
ethical climate
the processes by which decisions are evaluated and made on the basis of right and wrong.
