ethics, corporate responsibility, and sustainability chapter five copyright © 2015 mcgraw-hill...
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Ethics, Corporate Responsibility,
and Sustainability
Chapter Five
Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
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Learning Objectives
LO1 Describe how different ethical perspectives guide decision making
LO2 Explain how companies influence their ethics environment
LO3 Outline a process for making ethical decisionsLO4 Summarize the important issues surrounding corporate
social responsibilityLO5 Discuss reasons for businesses’ growing interest in the
natural environmentLO6 Identify actions managers can take to manage with the
environment in mind
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It’s a Personal Issue
If the employer pays for the computer and the time you spend sitting in front of it, is it ethical for you to use the computer to do tasks unrelated to your work?
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Ethics
Ethical issue Situation, problem, or opportunity in which an
individual must choose among several actions that must be evaluated as morally right or wrong
Business ethics The moral principles and standards that guide
behavior in the world of business.
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Caux Principles
Kyosei living and working
together for the common good, allowing cooperation and mutual prosperity to coexist with healthy and fair competition
Human dignity concerns the value of
each person as an end, not a means to the fulfillment of others’ purposes
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Ethical Systems
Egoism An ethical system defining acceptable behavior
as that which maximizes consequences for the individual
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Ethical Systems
Kohlberg’s model of cognitive moral development Perspective that what is moral comes from what
a mature person with “good” moral character would deem right.
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Business Ethics
Ethical climate In an organization,
the processes by which decisions are evaluated and made on the basis of right and wrong
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Danger Signs
1. Excessive emphasis on short-term revenues over longer-term considerations.
2. Failure to establish a written code of ethics.3. A desire for simple, “quick fix” solutions to
ethical problems.4. An unwillingness to take an ethical stand that
may impose financial costs.
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Danger Signs (cont.)
5. Consideration of ethics solely as a legal issue or a public relations tool
6. Lack of clear procedures for handling ethical problems.
7. Responding to the demands of shareholders at the expense of other constituencies
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Corporate Social Responsibility
Economic responsibilities To produce goods and services that society wants
at a price that perpetuates the business and satisfies its obligations to investors.
Legal responsibilities To obey local, state, federal, and relevant
international laws
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Corporate Social Responsibility
Ethical responsibilities Meeting other social expectations, not written as
law.