Ethics & Values

Article: Managing to Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethic Myths

Author: Linda Klebe Treviño; Michael E Brown

Dr. Thomas Tang

Presented by: Yunfan “Vick” Guo

Have you cheated or told a lie?

Question 1

Learn about the authors Learn about this article Discuss our experiences about ethics How other people view ethics Summary

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Linda Klebe Treviño;Michael E Brown

About the Author

Linda Klebe TreviñoPh.D. in Management, 1987, Texas A & M University M.L.S., 1972, Rutgers University B.A., French language and literature, Douglass College, Rutgers University,

1971 Chair, Department of Management and Organization Smeal College of Business The Pennsylvania State University, 1999-2003 Acting Chair, Spring, 2004 Professor of Organizational Behavior Smeal College of Business The Pennsylvania State University, 1997 –Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior, 1993 - 1997 Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior, 1987 - 1993

Who?

Trevino addresses important topics such as: How widespread is cheating in business schools? Why is widespread cheating in business schools especially troubling? What factor has the largest effect on students’ decision to cheat? Has cheating increased or decreased over time? How strong is the link between cheating among business students and

unethical behavior among business leaders? What can business schools do to deal with cheating? How can a business school go about creating a culture of integrity and

responsibility? HONORS: Phi Beta Kappa Beta Gamma Sigma Best Paper Award, Academy of Management Review, 1993 Best Paper Award, Social Issues in Management Division, Academy of Management meeting, 1996, with K. Butterfield and G. Weaver Best Paper Award, Social Issues in Management Division, Academy of Management meeting, 2000, with M. Brown and G. Weaver Connelly Visiting Scholar in Business Ethics, Georgetown University, Fall, 1995 Franklin H. Cook Faculty Fellow in Business Ethics, 2000 - Chair, Invited Fellows, Ethics Resource Center, 2004 -

Ph.D., The Pennsylvania State University (2002): Research and teaching interests include business ethics and leadership.

Dr. Brown's research has appeared in a number of leading journals such as the Journal of Applied Psychology, The Leadership Quarterly, Business Ethics Quarterly, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 

His work on ethical leadership is being used in the ethics training and leadership development programs of a number of corporations. He has collaborated with companies in the office supply, health care, and financial services industries to study the practice of ethics and leadership.

Dr. Brown provides ethics, leadership, and team building training to businesses and other organizations through Penn State's office of Continuing Education.

Michael E Brown

Is Ethic?

Definition of ETHIC the discipline dealing with what is good and bad

and with moral duty and obligation a set of moral principles: a theory or system of

moral values  a set of moral issues or aspects

http://www.merriam-webster.com

What…

Are we talking about ethics?

In the financial world, every investment has an ethical dimension.

Why…

If you answered “yes” on question 1, do you consider it was (they were) ethical?

Question 2

MYTH 1: IT IS EASY TO BE ETHICAL MYTH 2: UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN BUSINESS

IN SIMPLY THE RESULT OF “BAD APPLIES” MYTH 3: ETHICAL CAN BE MANAGED

THROUGH FORMAL ETHICAL CODES AND PROGRAMS

MYTH 4: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IS MOSTLY ABOUT LEADER INTEGRITY

MYTH 5: PEOPLE ARE LESS ETHICAL THAN THEY UESD TO BE

Managing to Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethic Myths

Decisions are complex Moral awareness is required Multi-stage

◦ Moral awareness◦ Moral judgment◦ Moral motivation◦ Moral character

Organizational context

MYTH 1: IT IS EASY TO BE ETHICAL

How much does your ethic worth?

Question 3

“…ethics can’t be taught or even influenced in adults because adults are autonomous moral agents whose ethics are fully formed by the time they join work organizations, and they can’t be changed.”

Above is not true. Those who are challenged to wrestle with ethical

dilemmas in their work will develop more sophisticated ways of thinking about such issues, and their behavior will change as result.

MYTH 2: UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN BUSINESS IN SIMPLY THE RESULT OF “BAD APPLIES”

FNA vs. CNA

CODES OF ETHICSBy joining their professional organizations, people who work in the field of accounting agree to uphold the high ethical standards of their profession. Each of the major professional associations for accountants has a code of

ethics. The Code of Professional Conduct of the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA), the national professional association for CPAs, sets forth

ethical principles and rules of conduct for its members. The principles are positively stated and provide general guidelines that CPAs (or any

professionals, for that matter) should strive to follow. The rules of conduct are much more explicit as to specific actions that should or should not be

taken. The Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) Standards of Ethical Conduct applies to practitioners of management accounting and financial management, and the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) Code of

Ethics applies to its members and to Certified Internal Auditors (CIAs).

MYTH 3: ETHICAL CAN BE MANAGED THROUGH FORMAL ETHICAL CODES AND PROGRAMS

“…certain individual characteristics are necessary but not sufficient for effective ethical leadership…in order to develop a reputation for ethical leadership, an executive must be perceived as both a “moral person” and a “moral manager”.”

MYTH 4: ETHICAL LEADERSHIP IS MOSTLY ABOUT LEADER INTEGRITY

Moral Person: Moral Manager: (leader’s behavior) (directs followers’ behavior)- Traits - Role Modeling

honesty, integrity, trust visible ethical action- Behaviors - Rewards/Discipline openness, concern for people, holds people

accountable personal morality for ethical conduct

- Decision-making - Communicating values-based, fair conveys an “ethics/values” message

The following result is researched and developed by: Linda K. Trevino, Ph.D.

According to a poll released by PR in summer 2002, 68% surveyed believe that senior corporate executives are less honest and trustworthy than they were a decade ago.

Students cheating hasn’t been changed much during last 30 years

Alan Greenspan, American economist who served as Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States from 1987 to 2006, says: It is not that humans have become any more greedy than in generations past. It is that the avenues to express greed [have] grown so enormously

MYTH 5: PEOPLE ARE LESS ETHICAL THAN THEY UESD TO BE

does your ethic exist?

Conscience

“For some violations of responsibilities, other person punishes us, for some our consciences punish us and for some there is no punish.”

-“Moral Responsibilities”

Where…

Author: Linda & Michael Article: Managing to Be Ethical: Debunking

Five Business Ethic Myths People & Connections

Recap

Questions… …األسئلة सवा�लों�… Preguntas… des questions…问题 ?

http://www.darden.virginia.edu/corporate-ethics/pdf/cv-trevino.pdf

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ethic

http://www.enotes.com/business-finance-encyclopedia/ethics-accounting

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