Ethics and Social Responsibility

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Ethics and Social Responsibility

• chapter four

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Learning Objectives

1. Explain the relationship between ethics and the
   law
2. Differentiate between the claims of the different
   stakeholder groups that are affected by managers
   and their companies actions
3. Describe four rules that can be used to help
   companies and their managers act in ethical ways

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Learning Objectives

1. Discuss why it is important for managers to
   behave ethically
2. Identify the four main sources of managerial
   ethics
3. Distinguish between the four main approaches
   toward social responsibility that a company can
   take

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The Nature of Ethics

• Ethical Dilemma
• quandary people find themselves in when they have
  to decide if they should act in a way that might
  help another person even though doing so might go
  against their own self-interest

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The Nature of Ethics

• Ethics
• The inner-guiding moral principles, values, and
  beliefs that people use to analyze or interpret
  a situation and then decide what is the right
  or appropriate way to behave

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Dealing with Ethical Issues

• There are no absolute or indisputable rules or
  principles that can be developed to decide if an
  action is ethical or unethical
• Neither laws nor ethics are fixed principles

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Stakeholders and Ethics

• Stakeholders
• The people and groups that supply a company with
  its productive resources and so have a claim on
  and stake in the company.

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Types of Company Stakeholders
Figure 4.1
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Stockholders

• Want to ensure that managers are behaving
  ethically and not risking investors capital by
  engaging in actions that could hurt the companys
  reputation
• Want to maximize their return on investment

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Managers

• Responsible for using a companys financial
  capital and human resources to increase its
  performance
• Have the right to expect a good return or reward
  by investing their human capital to improve a
  companys performance
• Frequently juggle multiple interests

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Managers

• Problem has been that in many companies corrupt
  managers focus not on building the companys
  capital and stockholders wealth but on
  maximizing their own personal capital and wealth

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Employees

• Expect to receive rewards consistent with their
  performance
• Companies can act ethically toward employees by
  creating an occupational structure that fairly
  and equitably rewards employees for their
  contributions

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Suppliers and Distributors

• Suppliers expect to be paid fairly and promptly
  for their inputs

• Distributors expect to receive quality products
  at agreed-upon prices

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Some Principles from the Gaps Code of Vendor
Conduct
Table 4.1
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Customers

• Most critical stakeholder
• Company must work to increase efficiency and
  effectiveness in order to create loyal
  customers and attract new ones

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Whole Foods Stakeholder Approach to Ethical
Business
Figure 4.2
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Community, Society, and Nation

• Community
• Physical locations like towns or cities in which
  companies are located
• A community provides a company with the physical
  and social infrastructure that allows it to
  operate
• A company contributes to the economy of the town
  or region through salaries, wages, and taxes

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Example Houston Non-Profits

• Many Houston area were adversely affected by the
  demise of Enron
• Many were dependent on donations from Enron
• The arts community was especially hit hard

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Ethical Decision Making
Figure 4.3
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Practical Decision Model

• Does my decision fall within the acceptable
  standards that apply in business today?
• Am I willing to see the decision communicated to
  all people and groups affected by it?
• Would the people with whom I have a significant
  personal relationship approve of the decision?

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Why should managers behave ethically?

• The relentless pursuit of self-interest can lead
  to a collective disaster when one or more people
  start to profit from being unethical because this
  encourages other people to act in the same way

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Some Effects of Ethical/Unethical Behavior
Figure 4.4
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Trust and Reputation

• Trust
• willingness of one person or group to have faith
  or confidence in the goodwill of another person

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Trust and Reputation

• Reputation
• esteem or high repute that individuals or
  organizations gain when they behave ethically

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Sources of Ethics
Figure 4.5
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Societal Ethics

• Societal Ethics
• Standards that govern how members of a society
  should deal with one another in matters involving
  issues such as fairness, justice, poverty, and
  the rights of the individual
• People behave ethically because they have
  internalized certain values, beliefs, and norms

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Occupational Ethics

• Occupational Ethics
• Standards that govern how members of a
  profession, trade, or craft should conduct
  themselves when performing work-related
  activities
• Medical legal ethics

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Individual Ethics

• Individual Ethics
• Personal standards and values that determine how
  people view their responsibilities to other
  people and groups
• How they should act in situations when their own
  self-interests are at stake

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Organizational Ethics

• Organizational Ethics
• Guiding practices and beliefs through which a
  particular company and its managers view their
  responsibility toward their stakeholders
• Top managers play a crucial role in determining
  a companys ethics

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Social Responsibility

• Social Responsibility
• The way a companys managers and employees view
  their duty or obligation to make decisions that
  protect, enhance, and promote the welfare and
  well-being of stakeholders and society as a whole

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Approaches to Social Responsibility
Figure 4-6
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Approaches to Social Responsibility

• Obstructionist approach
• Companies choose not to behave in a social
  responsible way and behave unethically and
  illegality

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Approaches to Social Responsibility

• Defensive approach
• companies and managers stay within the law and
  abide strictly with legal requirements but make
  no attempt to exercise social responsibility

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Approaches to Social Responsibility

• Accommodative approach
• Companies behave legally and ethically and try to
  balance the interests of different stakeholders
  against one another so that the claims of
  stockholders are seen in relation to the claims
  of other stakeholders

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Approaches to Social Responsibility

• Proactive approach
• Companies actively embrace socially responsible
  behavior, going out of their way to learn about
  the needs of different stakeholder groups and
  utilizing organizational resources to promote the
  interests of all stakeholders

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Why Be Socially Responsible?

1. Demonstrating its social responsibility helps a
   company build a good reputation
2. If all companies in a society act socially, the
   quality of life as a whole increases

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Role of Organizational Culture

• Ethical values and norms help organizational
  members
• Resist self-interested action
• Realize they are part of something bigger than
  themselves

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Johnson Johnson Credo
Figure 4.7
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Ethics Ombudsman

• Responsible for communicating ethical standards
  to all employees
• Designing systems to monitor employees conformity
  to those standards
• Teaching managers and employees at all levels of
  the organization how to appropriately respond to
  ethical dilemmas

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Video Case Whose Life is It Anyway?

• Do you think it is ethical for Scotts or other
  companies to fire employees who smoke, even if
  they only smoke outside of work?
• In implementing Scotts health initiatives, does
  Hagedorn put the interests of one group of
  stakeholders above those of another?