Business Ethics

1
MB021Organizational Behavior
Prof. Fabio Fonti
Lecture 19 Business Ethics
2
Agenda

• Announcements
• Team debate
• Business Ethics
• Video
• Mid-semester feedback

3
Leadership and Power report
Q -- I was just wondering if we have to answer
all the suggested questions you outline on the
assignment sheet from the web. I just found that
all the questions were not applicable to my team,
but i wanted to make sure it is not mandatory to
answer all those questions. A -- You should try
to address as many of those issues as possible.
If they are not applicable, though, just mention
which ones are not applicable in a brief
paragraph (kind of "In my team, there are
certain power/leadership dynamics that are not
present ... "). Mentioning why they are not
present is a valid addition to the report, and
would actually encourage you to do so.
4
Other announcements

• Problems with accessing website
• - first, always try to refresh your page
• - report right away
• - tell me what happens and what browser you are
  using
• Next Tue., deadline for submitting articles for
  Individual
• Bonus Points
• - if interested, need to see me before then, to
  check on articles
•  
• Admin feedback form
• - wanted to do last Thu., but most of you were
  gone
• Always check schedule from now on

5
Each organization has a different culture (i.e. a
set of shared values and beliefs that guide its
members actions). Therefore, what is
considered ethical in one organization is
different from what might be considered ethical
in another. Instead of ethics or business ethics,
we should talk more specifically of Nike ethics
or Sears ethics.
6
Ethics
The code of moral principles and values that
governs the behaviors of a person or a group
with respect to what is right or wrong
7
Culture and ethics

• Organizations shape ethics like other values
• Ethics vs. Legality?
• Ethics are determined by organizations we spend
  time in
• Religious organizations
• Military
• Schools and colleges
• Greek organizations
• Responsibility of leadership to ensure right
  values are held (through managerial ethics)
• Competing ethical frameworks for managers
• Utilitarian theory (or utilitarianism)
• Personal rights/liberty
• Distributive and procedural justice

8
Forces shaping managerial ethics
9
A framework for moral decision making

• Get the facts. Whose facts?
• Facts tell us what is, but not what ought to be
• We focus on 4 approaches to deal with moral
  issues
• Utilitarian
• Rights
• Justice
• Common good
• Ethical relativism

10
Utilitarianism

• One must achieve the greatest good for the
  greatest number.
• Places public good over private good.
• Looks at the consequences of our actions.
• Possible harmful to minorities and individuals,
  sacrificed for a majority.
• The ends justify the means.

11
Rights

• A right is a justified claim to others.
• The justification of the claim must be accepted
  by society.
• Actions are wrong to the extent that violate the
  rights of individuals.
• Humanity must be treated as an end and not as a
  mean.
• Based on Kant. Act only for the sake of duty.
  The ends do not justify the means.
• If an individual has a moral right, then it is
  morally wrong to interfere with that right even
  if large numbers of people would benefit.
• Rejects acts that harm minorities or individuals.
  
• Conflicting rights? Decide for the most important.

12
The Common Good

• Rawls Certain general conditions that are
  equally to everybodys advantage.
• Health care system, peace among nations,
  unpolluted environment, and so forth.
• Problems
• Is the very idea of a common good inconsistent
  with a pluralistic society?
• How do we deal with free-riders?
• What about my rights as individual?

13
Justice

• Justice means giving each person what she or he
  deserves.
• Following Aristotle, individuals should be
  treated the same, unless they differ in ways that
  are relevant to the situation in which they are
  involved.
• Distributive justice. What is it? To each person
  
• An equal share
• According to individual need
• According to that person s rights
• According to individual effort
• According to societal contribution
• Pay attention to both procedures and results

14
Ethical relativism

• Ethical relativism is the theory that holds that
  morality is relative to the norms of ones
  culture.
• The same actions have different meanings for
  people in different cultures.
• Problems
• How can we strive for universal human rights?
• How can we challenge the status quo in our own
  society?