UNNC DMO--Business Ethics

unnc Designing and Managing Organisations 部分笔记

Edward Wray- Bliss

Law—limited in its reach, not always effectively enforced . Might be circumvented. Might be blind to damaging events

A gap between how we want organization to behave and how the law ensures that they behave

Organization should behave ethically. This gap concerns ethics

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) undertaken by business community to make it clear that they are not just concerned with profit.

Appointing managers/directors with CSR responsibilities

Developing and publicizing ethical statements, policies or codes of practice

Joining environmental or other public groups/forums

Publicizing a track record of good corporate governance

Making well-publicized donations of money, time or resources to charities and other good causes‘

Linking the business brand with good‘ images e.g. protecting the environment (marketing etc)

To justify its existence the field of business ethics must address:

– The problem of relevance

– The problem of conscience

– The problem of translation

The problem of relevance （connedting ethics with business in a context where manypeoplesee them as separate）

Is Ethics‘ and business‘ a contradiction?

Friedman (1970)

– the only social responsibility of business is to increase its

profits

– Social responsibility is a personal issue, ethics should stay

out the business.

The problem of conscience

I. Assume ethics is relevant for business, Who should decide what ethics is relevant and how to enforce them?

anizations appear to lack mechanisms(E.g. fear of God, karma因果报应, salvation拯救 etc) to encourage ethical behaviour。 Individuals have

The problem of translation

unnc Designing and Managing Organisations 部分笔记

I. Are the languages of ethics and business commensurable?可以同单位度量的

II. Ethics is philosophical, abstract (so irrational?) concerned with goodness virtue

III. Business is practical (so rational?) concerned with efficiency output cost, rely on measurement, calculability

Business cannot to measure something as intangible as ethics.

Three pronlems are a challenge for business ethics

Overcoming the problem of relevance

2 arguments—social , economic

1. Business is a part of social world. Stakeholder theory : while

shareholders demand profit, other stakeholders have equally valid demands, it would be unethical for business to breach.

e.g. employees—safe working environment consumers—product safe reasonably priced product. These are an implied ethical contract.

Stakeholder (rather than shareholder) model (e.g. CSR)

Being ethics—self interested

2. Economic—ethics is a business opportunity.

Ethics can—attract more loyal staff customers, a unique selling point develop a strong brand

Ethical business is good business

Overcoming the problem of conscience

– Management as the ethical conscience

The right to define and enforce the organization‘s

ethics

(but, can we rely on management?) Is business ethic education really working?

Overcoming the problem of translation

Overcome by simplifying ethics to that which can be easily managed E.g. ethical codes/policies

Ethics—a single organizational wide, unitarist series of rules

Other philosophical frameworks

Utilitarianism

– ethical value of an act based on its consequences

– acts that lead to the greatest good for greatest no of people

are judged to be moral

unnc Designing and Managing Organisations 部分笔记

disadvandge: good outcome is what, how to measure```

Stakeholder theory (a utilitarianist variation)

– considers the interests of different groups: employees,

environment, local community‘‘

Disadvantage: a paralysis of indecision

Although try to find ethic rules to guide behavior, but who

decide the rules, rules reflect their self-inteseted?

Deontology 道义论(Kant‘s view： universalizability)

– ethical duties can be worked out through logic and reason

– ends in itself, no other consequences. Individuals will act

ethically without hesitation or regard to personal

risks ,friendship or others

Justice

– focus on rights and fairness (cf. Deontology相同点：

formulate universal rights 不同点： Deontology focus on

observance of rational ethic duties, justice focus on more

emotional and emotive issue of fairness)

Virtue

– focus on the character of the person who acts

if individuals lack virtue, they would not behave ethically. Moral education and character of managers.

Relevant studies

Arnold and Bowie (2003) sweetshops and respect for persons‘ (textbook, pp. 517-518) persons should be respected because they have dignity. They have dignity because they are capable of moral activity.

Richardson and Curwen (1995) – the 1987 Herald of Free Enterprise ferry disaster

Free market economic system contributes to inappropriate

management beliefs Free market principles help sustain inappropriate beliefs about the nature of organizations and kinds of culture and systems…..which contribute to disasters‘

The implications from the studies

Arnold and Bowie (2003): multinational corporations are failing to meet their responsibility to employees; MNC should be in a prime position to improve business ethics. Working conditions: breach of labour law, overtime, discrimination, environment protection, health E.g. Kader toy company, 200 employees were killed in 1993

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