Ethics: Chapter 2 (23-38)

• Why be Ethical?
  
  • Organizations must care about ethics because workers depend on them to help define the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
    
  • We live in a world community and we're all connected to each other -- our future depends on our caring enough.
    
• The Motivation to be Ethical
  
  • Behavioral economists say that people are not only less rational than classical economists assumed but moral. There is evidence that people act for altruistic or moral purposes that seem to have little to do with cost/benefit analyses.
    
  • "The Moral Dimension"
    
    • Human action has two distinct sources:
      
      • The pursuit of self-interest
        
      • Moral commitments
        
    • People are motivated by both economic and moral concerns
      
  • As human beings and members of society, all of us are hardwired with a moral and ethical dimension as well as self-interested concerns.
    
• The Media Focus on Ethics and Corporate Reputation
  
  • Can the media really influence an organization's image? Yes.
    
  • The most admired companies have great leaders and outstanding employee relations, and they stayed out of legal and ethical trouble
    
• Industries care about ethics
  
• Executive Leaders care about ethics
  
  • Former chairman of IBM said:
    
    • There is no escaping this fact: the greater the measure of mutual trust and confidence in the ethics of a society, the greater its economic strength.
      
  • Robert D. Haas -- chairman of Levi Strauss
    
    • The hard stuff (selling pants) and the soft stuff (company's commitment to workforce) are becoming increasingly intertwined.
      
  • Joe Paterno
    
    • We're in it for the long-run. You can cut corners but it won't pay off in the long-run.
      
• Managers care about ethics
  
  • Many employees perceive the message to be that all that matters is reaching objectives and not how you get there. Today's managers have to work extra hard to communicate the idea that ethical conduct is expected, even in the midst of competition.
    
• Employees care about ethics: Employee attraction and commitment
  
  • Employees are more attracted to ethical organizations.
    
    • This makes employees more loyal and dependable, and even more inspired.
      
  • Workers translate the ethics of the company into how they're personally treated.
    
  • 94% of Harvard MBA students said they would be willing to forgo financial benefits to work for an organization with a better reputation for ethics and corporate social responsibility.
    
• Individuals care about ethics: reputation counts
  
  • Success depends on one's ability to work effectively with others and trust greases the wheels of working relationships with peers.
    
• Does Society Care? Business and Social Responsibility
  
  • Corporate Social Responsibility has four kinds of responsibility that must be considered simultaneously:
    
    • Economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic
      
• Economic Responsibilities
  
  • The economic responsibility refers to a business's primary function as a producer of goods and services that consumers need and want, while making an acceptable profit.
    
• Legal Responsibilities
  
  • Business is expected to carry out its work in accordance with the law and government regulations.
    
• Ethical Responsibilities
  
  • These are the responsibility to do what's right and avoid harm.
    
• Philanthropic Responsibilities
  
  • These responsibilities engage the corporation's participation in activities that promote human welfare or goodwill.
    
    • Donations of time and money, etc.
      
  • Trump said "in business you must give something back" and "giving is its own reward"