ba 300 exam 2

Objectivism - focuses on 2 things

Be rational and be all that you can be

be rational

Objectivisim - rand believed that americans tend to get sloppy because of what?

She thinks americans get tend to be sloppy by believing that peoples intuitions or emotions give them reason or cause to change our way of interacting with one an other

She believed the only way to convince someone of your decision is through what?

She believed that the only way you should be conniving someone of your decision is through reason

Biggest pro of objectivism

* Reinforces personal responsibility
* -Very important for people to take responsibility for themselves and develop through productive energy to help yourself with the pros and cons in your life

biggest con of objectivism

\-Individualistic and judgmental

\-They think it is too self centered

\-they want people to be more community oriented and they think that rand it too focused on the self

what is an example of a company creating their culture on objectivism ?

\-Motive Communications

\-this company said we want competitive people, we want independent people, we don't want people who needs pats on the back

Objectivism pushes what values to the limit?

american values

objectivism values capitalism

Integrative Social Contract Theory

Decision Rule: decision is ethical if it is compatible with ethical rules of community I am doing business with\=\> meaning ethical norms are authentic, permit exit, allow community voice/input and are legitimate so they do not conflict with a hyper norm

Integrative Social Contracts Theory pro and con

Pro:-its adaptability

\-that you care about the local culture

\-Gives you more respect for local cultures, helps you see how other people live

\-Adapts to variations in local norms within some global limits

Con: concept of a hyper norm is vague; theory can be impractical

\
*accepts a community's ethical norms as legitimate ONLY to the extent that they do not conflict with a hyernorm*

what are the the two hyper norms of integrative social contract theory?

1. you need to respect the dignity of all human beings
2. Respect human rights

Example of integrative social contract theory

levi strauss had kids working as seamstresses in bangladesh

* people saw this as violating human rights
* levis pais for the kid workers education and told them they can come back after school and work for them

Ethic and care focuses on what two things?

Focus on relationships and responsibilities

Ethics and care

more on how it focuses on relationships

\-your relationship with your spouse kids peers your colleagues coworkers - take care of those people - do not treat those as abstract people

\-if sam the supplier isn't delivering in time- go talk to him

\-he says that his son got hurt thats why things aren't on timeand your response - as someone who is relationship oriented - say no problem we will make do etc.

Biggest pro of ethics and care

\-protects the weak and dependent

\-the theory cares about those less advantaged

Biggest con of ethics and care

* it can neglect justice
* if someone does something wrong, you try to find causes/ feel sorry for them --> enables their bad behavior

What are care ethics?

care ethics emphasize how ethical reflection should focus on the quality of caring relationships

What did the feminist gilligan argue about the language of individual rights and justice?

She argued that the language of individual rights/justice did not accurately capture how people - especially women understand ethics in terms of concrete relationships and responsibilities interwoven in life

why did Feminist gilligan not agree with psychologist Kolbergs stages of moral development?

she argued that it represented a male bias and that women tend to speak with a different moral voice

Ethics of care is both blank thoery and blank theory

a descriptive phycological theory

a normative theory

Corporation def

Legal entity chartered by the state with rights and responsibilities apart from the persons running or working for the corporation"

in a corporation with shareholders there is a seperation of what

Separation of ownership and control

what are the 2 perspectives that must be kept in mind with corporations?

1. the shareholders value
2. the stake holder theory

what is the shareholders value?

maximize profits within the law and morality

the shareholder have taken a risk and you owe them this (max profits)

what is the stakeholder theory

Advance the interests of all stakeholders (even at the expense of profit)

The shareholders are a piece of the puzzle, if they do not get money this time or as much as they could thats fine if it means that employees or customers get more than what they bargain for

At IPO shareholders invest in the promise of max shareholder value within legal and moral constraints in exchnage for what

in exchange for taking on the firms residual risk

the promise stays with shares as they chage from person to person over time

what are the 3 arguments for the shareholders value

legal argument

economic imperative

ethical justifications

2 types of ethical justifications

efficiency - resources pulled to their most valued uses

liberty - individuals are free to participate or not

2 challenges to shareholders value

1. difficult to self rely on self interested business peopleto act on others behalf: market mechanisms are required to rein them in
2. shareholder value supporters think that part of corporate responsibilityis creating effective corporate governance mechanisms to portect long term interests of shareholders

Corporate Social Responsibility def

"Commitment to corporate actions beyond maximizing profits within the law" (and morality)

what is instrumental CSR

Instrumental/Strategic: How corporations should engage in CSR programs in order to maximize profits within legal and moral constraints

ex: a conpnay says lts do this fun run! we will have promotional things- we will increase public visibility and public relations—> more money for us and breast cancer research

Normative CSR

Normative: How corporations should engage in CSR programs because it's the right or moral thing to do, even at the expense of profits

they argue from a different moral perspective the corporations should be taking this on them selves

Shareholders- you're using our money to take care of somebody else!

arguments against normative CSR 4

* violated uses -shareholders money without their consent
* -presumes that mangers have better moral skills than share holders
* -weakens managements accountability to shareholders
* distracts management from its primary purpose

Impact of normative CSR

Whos expectations are undermined?

The shareholders expectations are undermined

A co has already made its promises, the CSR folks some in saying we want to make you a CSR company

From now on we wont max shareholders value if we are a CSR co

the shares will go down

Stakeholder theory

advance the interest of all stakeholders even at the expense of profit

You want to look at what stakeholders want and you might give less to shareholders to benefit stake holders

Stakeholder Theory

def of stakeholders

Entities significantly affected by the firm's activity, such as employees, customers, shareholders, the community or broader society, the environment, and suppliers"

what are the ethical justfications of stakeholders theory

\-powerful corps can help alleviate global inequalities

* stakeholder approach leadsto more liberty for the vulnerable
* capitalism will only be efficient if the masses buy into it
* shareholders dont do the real work
* consider non western values economic actors pursue what is sufficient

the powerful argument of stakeholders

A corporation's purpose is to "use its resources to advance the interests of all those who are most affected by its corporate activities"

employees, customers, community

It should use their vast wealth to benefit those groups

with great power comes what

great responsibility

The powerful arguement of Stakeholders in regards to corps being global

* alot of corporations are global —> goes beyond governments
* -they have a reach that governments cant match
* -because they have the power todo that they should take on social problems that governments can not

2 key CSR distinctions

1. Repair externalities/"do no harm," but not responsible for general social problems
2. Advance the common good, "whether or not it's directly related to their core business"

what are 4 pieces of evidence that CSR is gaining is popularity ?

Socially responsible investing (many people put their money in stocks that are CSR)


1. CSR-related shareholder proposals
2. Non-governmental organizations(WHO, World Bank)

4)Benefit corporations: Special legal status for for-profit businesses that include social responsibility in their core mission

What are 2 types of government intervention (CSR)

Limited intervention

Significant intervention:

what is Limited intervention

limited interventions (gov intervention) includes 2 approaches:

1) Top-down process: International organizations (e.g., the UN) specify norms endorsed by executives

2)Bottom-up processes: "Ethical norms are rewarded by the purchasing decisions of consumers and investors"

I do good business and my customers and investors are happy with it

Gov intervention-

significant intervention

CSR as legal mandate (e.g., codetermination laws)

done more in europe

where employees can form boards of directors in a company by law because the CSR stake holder position of th employees is so strong - counterweight of shareholder power

Corporate Responsibility

focus of stakeholder and focus of shareholder

stakeholder - Advance the interests of all stakeholders (even at the expense of profit)

shareholder - Maximize profits within the law (and morality)

what are the 6 whistleblowing triggers?

- truth being violated

- trust being violated

-Employee or customer rights being violated

- harm being done or about to be done

-you reputation at state

- your orgs rep at state

-breaking the law

Before whisteblowing make sure to do these 5 things

- make sure its a serious issue

-assemble all the facts

- check to make sure facts are accurate

- ask peers or manager for advice

- see a law or policy about to be violated

7 steps of whistelblowing

1) tell your manager

2) discuss with your family

3) take it to next level

4) contact your companies ethics officer

5) Consider going out of your chain of command

6) get help outside of the company

7) leave the company

Virtue Ethics draws inspiration from what?

greek philospher artistotle

Virtue ethicisits focus not just on choices and actions but

the nature of the persons character

An example of focusing on someone as having an ethical or unethical character as opposed to focusing on the assessment of acts

someone could assess the same action by two people - someone being insensitive or rude

One person has the tendancy of acting this way

the other does does not ( you may learn, this person has a serious illness in the family)

For the first person, this action reflects their character

virtue ethics expresses the idea that ethics is about having what?

about having virtue - the quality of having a good character

what is the opposite of virtue?

vice - having a bad character

What are Eudaimonistic theories?

goal oriented or teleogical approaches to ethics that focus their study on how to cultivate virtues to achieve the end of a well live life

Eudamonia

happiness/human flourishing

Eudaimonistic theories focus on the theory and often include traits such as what

honestly, kindness, temperance, loyalty, courage, tolerance, forgiveness