Values and Ethics

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Values and Ethics

• Facing Ethical Challenges in the Workplace

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Outline of Topics

• What are values and ethics?
• What factors should be considered in situations
  involving ethical challenges?
• What frameworks guide ethical decision making?
• What are the typical ethical challenges we face?
• How can we encourage more ethical behaviors in
  our schools and organizations?

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The role of values in our behavior

• Broad preferences that guide our actions
• Terminal and instrumental values (ends vs. means
  values)
• Intrinsic and extrinsic work values (or, do you
  live to work or work to live?)
• Special case Ethical values at work

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What is the definition of ethics?
Ethics the set of principles or values of
right and wrong that guide our conduct

• They are NOT legal principles or laws
• Some laws may be unethical, while some ethical
  principles may be unlawful

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Factors to consider to determine ethical nature
of acts or decisions on stakeholders

• Magnitude of consequences
• Social consensus
• Probability of harmful or helpful effect
• Temporal immediacy
• Proximity of effect
• Effect on average person

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Three Levels of Personal Moral Development
(Kohlberg)
Most adults are here
Level 3 Post-conventional Follows internalized
universal principles of justice and right.
Balances concern for self with concern for others
and the common good. Acts in an independent and
ethical manner regardless of expectations of
others.
Level 2 Conventional Lives up to expectations
of others. Fulfills duties and obligations of
social system. Upholds laws.
Level 1 Pre-conventional Follows rules to
avoid punishment. Acts in own interest. Blind
obedience to authority for its own sake.
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Situational Factors that Affect Ethical Action

• Beliefs, norms, and values of the organizational
  culture
• Pressures and threats from managers
• Power and authority structuresno checks and
  balances
• Unrealistic goals

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Ethical Approaches

• Utilitarianism or Consequence-based ethics
• Proponents John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham
• The greatest good for the greatest number of
  people
• The end justifies the means
• Moral consequences moral behavior

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Ethical Approaches

• Theory of duties/obligations/rights
• Proponent Immanuel Kant
• Acts should be based on upholding certain
  principles
• Preserving individual rights and human dignity is
  foremost
• Kants categorical imperative or the Golden
  Rule
• Act only on that maxim by which you can at the
  same time will that it should become a universal
  law

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Ethical Approaches

• Theory of justice or fairness
• Proponent John Rawls
• Act with fairness and equity towards everyone
• Equal basic liberties should accrue to all
• Inequalities that do exist should benefit the
  least advantaged members of society
• Due process or procedural justice

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Ethical Approaches

• Ethics of care
• Proponent Carol Gilligan
• Consideration is given to preserving caring
  relationships
• Specific relationships given more particularistic
  treatment (parents, friends, family, etc.)

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Model of Moral Action
Recognition of an Ethical Challenge
Motivation to Act Ethically
Decision to Act Ethically
Moral Action
What might stop individuals from completing this
process?
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Ethical Decision Making
Gather the facts
Is the act or policy acceptable according to the
four ethical norms?
No on all criteria
No on one, two, or three criteria
Yes on all criteria
Are there overriding factors?
No
Yes
The act or policy is ethical
The act or policy is not ethical
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What are the typical ethical challenges we face?

• Write down a situation in which you feel you have
  been ethically challenged?
• What did you decide to do?
• Are you satisfied with what you did? Or, would
  you do things differently now?

Self assessment Ethical decision making skills
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What Typical Moral Dilemmas Do Managers Face?

• Failing to act when one observes unethical
  behavior
• Carrying out decisions/orders that you clearly
  believe are wrong
• Acting unethically because everyone else is
  doing it
• Falsifying data to meet deadlines, quality
  standards, avoid extra work, etc.
• Reducing safety and quality standards for
  products sold in other countries with less strict
  laws

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What Typical Moral Dilemmas Do Managers Face?

• Making phone calls, surfing the internet, playing
  computer games, doing personal business on
  company time
• Lying about being sick or late
• Stealing office supplies for personal use
• Padding expense accounts or stealing monetary
  resources from the company
• Harassment of other employees, including e-mail
• Failure to walk the talk or the say-do gap

Moral Dilemmas MBA Students Report
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Ethical Treatment of Employees

• Pfeffer, Ch. 9 Why spy on your employees?
• Should companies use electronic monitoring of
  employees to reduce use of company time for
  personal uses?
• How can one decide if this an ethical solution to
  a workplace problem?

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Business Schools and Ethical Behavior

• What does Pfeffer have to say about business
  schools and ethics (Ch. 28)?
• Cheating
• Levels of cheating
• Reasons for cheating

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Moral Competency Research

• Four year longitudinal study in three university
  business schools
• Examined the effects that ethics teaching has on
  student moral reasoning and moral judgment
  competence
• Examined what faculty are doing in their courses
  with regard to ethics teaching

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Preliminary Results

• Ethical cultures are positively related to better
  moral reasoning among students
• Ethics codes might be an important part of
  developing an ethical culture
• Women students report higher moral reasoning than
  men students
• Student participation in discussing ethics in
  class may be helpful in developing moral
  competence (decision making)

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Preliminary Results

• Between 30 to 53 of business faculty reported
  that they had witnessed unethical behavior among
  other faculty
• Between 55 to 71 of business faculty reported
  witnessing unethical behavior among students
• Between 59 to 74 of students reported witnessing
  unethical behavior among their fellow students

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Practical Steps to Ethical Decision Making
Select and hire ethical employees
Establish a code of ethics
Train employees to make ethical decisions
Create an ethical climate or culture
Set up effective compliance and whistleblower
programs