Ch. 5 (Managerial Ethics)

ethics

standards of conduct, which originate from some external group or source such as society, in general, or business, in particular

morals

standards of conduct that originate within the individual

business ethics

• Is concerned with rightness, wrongness, fairness or justice of actions, decisions, policies, and practices that take place within a business context or in the workplace

• Is the study of practices in organizations and is a quest to determine whether these practices are acceptable or not

Descriptive ethics

• involves describing, characterizing, and studying morality

• focuses on what is occurring

Normative ethics 

• Focuses on what ought or should be occurring

• Demands a more meaningful moral anchor than just “everyone is doing it”

Ethical relativism

one picks and chooses which source of norms one wishes to use based on what will justify current actions or maximize freedom

Research of illegal corporate behavior focuses on two questions:

1. What leads firms to behave illegally?

2. What are the consequences of engaging in illegal behavior?

Immoral Management

• An approach devoid of ethical principles and an active opposition to what is ethical

• The operating strategy of immoral management is focused on exploiting opportunities for corporate or personal gain

Moral Management

Conforms to highest standards of ethical behavior or professional standards of

conduct

Amoral Management

Different in nature from the others, it has two kinds:

• Intentional: Does not consider ethical factors.

• Unintentional: Casual or careless about ethical factors.

Characteristics of a Immoral “manager”

These Managers:

• Intentionally do wrong

• Are Self-centered and self-absorbed

• Care only about self or organization’s profits or success

• Actively oppose what is right, fair, or just

• Exhibit no concern for stakeholders

• Are the “bad guys”

• An ethics course probably would not help them.

Characteristics of Moral “manager”

These Managers:

• Conform to the highest standards of ethical behavior or professional standards of conduct.

• Ethical Leadership is commonplace.

• Their goal is to succeed within the confines of sound ethical precepts.

• Demonstrate high integrity in thinking, speaking and doing.

• Follow both the letter and the spirit of the law.

• Possess an acute moral sense and moral maturity.

• Moral managers are the “good guys.

Positive Ethical Behaviors of Moral Leaders

• Giving proper credit where it is due.

• Being straightforward and honest with other employees.

• Treating all employees equally.

• Being a responsible steward of company assets.

• Resisting pressure to act unethically.

• Recognizing and rewarding ethical behavior of others.

• Talking about the importance of ethics and compliance on a regular basis.

Characteristics of Amoral Managers

Intentionally Amoral Managers

• Don’t think ethics and business should “mix.”

• Business and ethics exist in separate spheres.

• A vanishing breed.

Unintentionally Amoral Managers

• Don’t consider the ethical dimension of decision-making.

• Don’t “think ethically.”

• Have no “ethics buds.”

• Well intentioned, but morally casual or unconscious.

• Ethical gears are in neutral

Population hypothesis

The distribution of the three models approximate a normal curve, with the

amoral group occupying the large middle part of the curve and the moral and

immoral categories occupying the tails.

Individual hypothesis

Within the individual manager, these three models may operate at various times

and under various circumstances

Making Moral Management Actionable

• The characteristics of immoral, moral and amoral management provide benchmarks for managerial self-analysis, and help managers recognize the need to move from the immoral or amoral ethic to the moral ethic.

• Amoral management is a morally vacuous condition that can easily be disguised as an innocent, practical, bottom-line philosophy. But it is the bane of the management profession.

• Most managers are not “bad guys,” but managerial decision-making cannot be ethically neutral. Both immoral and amoral management must be discarded and the process of developing moral judgment begun.

Ethics of Care

Women’s moral priorities:

• Relationship maintenance

• Hurt avoidance

Moving in an out of three levels:

• Self

• Establish Connections and Participate

• Needs of Others

Web of Values

Religious values

Philosophical values

Cultural values

Legal values

Professional values

Norms prevalent in business include:

• Respect for the authority structure

• Loyalty to bosses and the organization

• Conformity to principles and practices

• Performance counts above all else

• Results count above all else

Moral imagination

searching out places where people are likely to be harmfully affected by adverse decision making or behaviors of managers

Moral identification and ordering

ability to see moral issues as issues that can be dealt with

Moral evaluation

understand the importance of clear principles, develop processes for weighing ethical factors, and develop the ability to identify likely moral and economic outcomes

Tolerance of moral disagreement and ambiguity

hear, discuss, and be respectful toward other people’s views

A four-component model for ethical decision making and behavior built upon

Kohlberg’s ideas:

• moral awareness wherein a moral issue must be recognized

• making a moral judgment

• establishing moral intent, that is, resolving to place moral issues ahead of other concerns

• moral action (taking action on the moral concerns)