Principles of Management
Chapter 5 ETHICS, CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, AND SUSTAINABILITY
PowerPoint Image Slideshow
Learning Outcomes
After reading this chapter, you should be able to answer these
questions:
1. What are ethics and business ethics?
2. What are the types of values that motivate ethics at the individual level?
3. What are major ethical principles that can guide individuals and organizations?
4. Why is ethical leadership important in organizations?
5. What are differences between values-based ethics and compliance in
organizations?
6. What purpose can CSR (corporate social responsibility) offer to organizations and
society?
7. What ethical issues do organizations and individuals encounter in the global
environment?
8. What future near-term forecasts will affect ethical and corporate conduct of
organizations?
Minority Report
As discussed in Section 5.1, classic
science fiction film The Minority
Report tells a story in which the
misapplication of technology ends up
jeopardizing individual rights, privacy,
free will, and choice. The key issue
introduced into the narrative of The
Minority Report is whether or not it’s
ethical to arrest, charge and sentence
a person before they commit a crime
that a future technology was
supposedly capable of predicting
with almost precise accuracy.
View this short clip to see this in
action. Although the scenario in this
movie may seem far-fetched, one
reason for the popularity of this and
many other film series from
Terminator to The Matrix is likely
connected to a fear of technology
gone wild where AI (artificial
intelligence) threatens humanity.
Minority Report
1. Who should decide or be the judge when these kinds of conflicts come
up?
2. In The Minority Report, what are the dangers of letting algorithms make
life and death choices instead of humans?
Exhibit 5.2 A Framework for Classifying Levels of Ethical Analysis
Source: Adapted from Matthews, John B., Goodpaster, Kenneth E., and Laura L. Nash. (1985). Policies and persons: A casebook in business ethics, 509. New York: McGraw- Hill.
2. What types of values affect business
ethics at the individual level?
CONCEPT CHECK
1. What are terminal and instrumental
values?
2. What are ways organizations can
employ values to induce people to
make ethical choices?
Workplace Ethics
View the video on the next • Taking things that don’t belong to you.
slide and then reflect • Saying things you know are not true.
upon each of the
opportunities to respond • Giving or allowing false impressions.
truthfully or not faced in • Buying influence or engaging in a conflict of
the scene as depicted by
the character named interest.
Nancy. Using this list of • Hiding or divulging information.
unethical business
activities from • Taking unfair advantage.
researchers from Brigham • Committing improper personal behavior.
Young University, describe
into which categories on • Abusing power and mistreating individuals.
this list Nancy’s behavior • Permitting organizational abuse.
would be classified.
• Violating rules.
• Condoning unethical actions.
Workplace Ethics
Exhibit 5.4 Strategic Organizational Alignment
(Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)
Code of Ethics
Watch both interviews on the next slide where members of the American
Association of Professional Landmen explain their Code of Ethics and
Standards of Practice, and the CFP (Certified Financial Planner) Board's CEO
Kevin Keller and General Counsel Leo Rydzewski discuss details and insights
on their new (as of 2018) Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct.
As Exhibit 5.6 illustrates, culture plays an important integrating role in
organizations both externally and internally. Strategy, structure, people,
and systems all are affected by an organization’s culture. Some companies
have their codes of ethics framed and hung on office walls, included as a
key component of employee handbooks, and/or posted on their corporate
websites.
Code of Ethics
Code of Ethics
1. After watching the interviews and reviewing the codes from other
organizations, do you think that formal codes and standards make
employees behave in a more ethical manner?
2. Some people believe that formal codes do help influence better
behavior, but that others think that they are little more than public
relations gimmicks. If senior management abides by the code of ethics
and regularly emphasizes the code to employees, do you think this will
likely have a positive influence on behavior?
3. Do you believe that formal codes of ethics are effective tools to influence
an organization’s culture to be more ethical and transparent overall?
Exhibit 5.6 Role of Culture in Organizational Alignment
(Attribution: Copyright Rice University, OpenStax, under CC-BY 4.0 license)
5. What are the differences between
values-based ethics and compliance
in organizations?
CONCEPT CHECK
1. In what ways do law and compliance
complement ethics in organizations?
2. How does stakeholder management
differ from stockholder management?
Exhibit 5.8 Stakeholder Map
Source: Freeman, R. Edward. (1984). Strategic management: A Stakeholder approach, 25. Boston: Pitman. Reproduced with permission of the author.
Exhibit 5.9 MNE Global Stakeholder Management Issues and Ethical
Concerns
Source: Copyright © Joseph W. Weiss, Bentley University, Waltham, MA. 2014.