Significant Others

1
Significant Others

• Roles and Responsibilities

2
Interpersonal Relationships

• Org.s consist of individuals and groups of
  people working together to achieve objectives
• Relationships among these individuals and among
  groups is important for proper functioning of
  business and play a key role in business ethics

3
Significant Others...

• superiors, peers, and subordinates in the
  organization who influence the ethical decision
  making process
• have an influence on ethical decision making in
  the organization

4
Corporation as a Moral Agent...

• organizations can be held accountable for the
  conduct of their employees and for all business
  decisions and outcomes
• the organization is responsible to society for
  its collective decisions and actions
• organizations must be responsible for the
  correctness of all policies

5
Variation of Employee Conduct...

• 10 of employees follow their own values and
  beliefs
• 40 try to follow company rules and policies
• 40 go along with the work group
• 10 take advantage of the situation if the
  penalty is low and risk of being caught is low

6
Implications of Employee Conduct...

• employees use different approaches to making
  ethical decisions
• a large percentage of employees (50) will either
  go along with coworkers or take advantage of the
  situation
• organizations must provide communication and
  control mechanisms to maintain an ethical climate

7
Socialization

• Process through which a person learns the values
  and behavior patterns considered appropriate by
  an org. or group
• Powerful influence on ethical behavior
• Conflict may arise when values and norms taught
  through socialization contradict an employees
  personal values
• Formal informal processes

8
Role Relationships

• Role - a part that a person plays in an org. It
  refers to a persons position in the org. and the
  behaviors others expect from him/her due to that
  position

9
Role-Set

• Total of all role relationships in which a person
  is involved because of his/her position in the
  firm.
• Understanding role-set may help predict ethical
  behavior of the person
• The greater the distance between the decision
  maker a significant other, the less likely the
  sig. other is to influence ethical behavior
• Immediate superior and top management

10
Differential Association

• People learn ethical or unethical behavior while
  interacting with others who are part of their
  role-sets or intimate personal groups
• Unethical behavior is likely to result if person
  associates with those who behave unethically
• Superiors have a strong influence on subords
• Young mgrs. tend to go along with superiors to
  demonstrate loyalty

11
Responsibility Roles

• Responsibilities define a role
• Accountability
• A position of trust, in which others depend on
  your skills and abilities
• Includes authority a set of relationships
  (subordinates superiors)
• May experience conflict between roles

12
Types of morally questionable managerial acts

• Non-role (against-the-firm)
• embezzlement stealing supplies
• Role-failure (against-the-firm)
• superficial performance appraisals
• Role-distortion (for-the-firm)
• bribery price fixing
• Role-assertion (for-the-firm)
• using nuclear technology

13
Opportunity Creates Ethical Dilemmas...

• opportunity is the set of conditions that limits
  unfavorable behavior or rewards favorable
  behavior
• a person who behaves unethically and is rewarded
  (or not punished) is likely to continue to act
  unethically

14
What creates opportunity?

• A person who has knowledge can exploit that
  knowledge
• long-time employees trainers mentors
• A persons status within an org.
• Persons external to the org., such as financial
  auditors

15
Conflict

• Occurs when it is not clear which goals or values
  take precedence...those of the individual, the
  organization, or society

16
Personal-Org. Conflict

• Whistle-blowing
• Employee rights to privacy
• Employee rights to safe working environment

17
Whistle-Blowing...

• exposing an employers wrongdoing to outsiders,
  such as the media or government regulatory
  agencies
• whistle blowers often receive negative
  performance appraisals, become organizational
  outcasts, and lose their jobs
• companies often establish internal whistle-blower
  reporting mechanisms

18
Personal-Societal Conflict

• Criminals violate societys laws
• New laws may be developed to define minimum level
  of ethical behavior

19
Org.-Societal Conflict

• Marketing of new questionable products
• Advertising appeals
• Three options
• Fight (ex political action)
• Flee (take operations elsewhere)
• Compromise

20
Research findings

• Peers and top managers are the most influential
  factors in organizational ethical decision making
• Association with those who are unethical,
  combined with the opportunity to act unethically,
  is a major influence on ethical decision making