16+-+Ethical+Decision+Making+in+Business

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In the above video showing some clips from NBC's The Office, the employees of Dunder Mifflin Paper Co. present a comedic rendition of a company seminar on business ethics gone terribly wrong. While the video is intended solely for comedic purposes and is entirely fake, it does address some ethical issues in the workplace by showing us how NOT to act. (Ryan Weaver)

**WHAT ARE BUSINESS ETHICS?** Business ethics are essentially formal and informal values, morals, and principles that people use to govern their decision making process in the workplace. These ethics are the basis on which professionals make their decisions. However, business ethics may differ or vary from any given company to the next, which is why there are often some "gray areas." Additionally, different people hold different ideals to be their ethical standards. (Ryan Weaver)



DEALING WITH AN ETHICAL DILEMMA While the law defines what is legal and what is not, moral rights and wrongs may not be so clear. When faced with an ethical dilemna lovetoknow.com presents a series of four questions one can ask themselves to make an ethical decision. (by Ryan Weaver)
 * 1) Is my decision a truthful one?
 * 2) Is my decision fair to everyone affected?
 * 3) Will it build goodwill for the organization?
 * 4) Is the decision beneficial to all parties who have a vested interest in the outcome?

If all of the above questions can truthfully be answered "yes" then it is safe to assume the decision in question is an ethical one. It is also important to consider ideals, obligations, and consequences when making ethical decisions. (Class Lecture Notes)
 * **IDEALS** - values you believe in or stand for
 * **OBLIGATIONS** - responsibilities you have to everyone involved
 * **CONSEQUENCES** - beneficial or harmful results of your action

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE MAKE UNETHICAL CHOICES? Many people are lured into making unethical decisions as they have fallen victim to groupthink.This basically occurs when individuals try and conform their views, opinions, and actions to coincide with that of the entire group. In the ethical situation, groupthink may prevent individuals from challenging the company on policies or procedures which he/she may view as unethical. If the company as a whole behaves unethically, than individuals will almost certainly follow suit instead of challenging what is widely accepted. Groupthink can often me mistaken for teamwork, and peer pressure always plays a large role in groupthink. (by Ryan Weaver)

APPROACHES TO ETHICAL DECISION MAKING Business employers and employees are constantly being faced with ethical decision making in the workplace. Because of the stressful and intense work atmosphere you are not always given much time to make these decisions and the results often have very big impacts to the companies. There are several approaches you can make when faced with an ethical decision that could help you to make the right choice.

There are four approaches that you can consider that will help you make the right decision for you.

**Utilitarian** - This approach focuses on the action that will result in the greatest good for the greatest amount of people.

**Moral Rights** - This approach focuses primarily on moral principles, regardless of what the consequences may be. There is no real grey area in this view, it is more just right or wrong and compromising is not an option.

**Universalism** - This approach is much like the golden rule which has two parts. First, you need to determine if an action would apply to all people in every situation. Next, you would determine if you would be ok with someone applying this action to you.

**Cost-Benefit** - This approach has you balance the cost of the action with the benefit of the action and see what you have to give up and what you gain from this action.

Ethical decision-making is rarely easy, especially in the business work place. There are several approaches available for analyzing all of the different kinds of ethical decisions. Sometimes one approach will be more appropriate than another. By taking time to analyze the different possibilities and approaches you are more likely to make a decision you believe.

<span style="color: rgb(0,0,255);">http://business.lovetoknow.com/wiki/A_Definition_for_Business_Ethics ** Class Notes on Representing Your Company & Business Ethics
 * Resources:

<span style="font-size: 150%; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif;">WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF ETHICAL DECISIONS IN BUSINESS SETTINGS?? -Jason Miles <span style="color: rgb(0,0,255);"><span style="color: rgb(0,0,255);">+ In business situations, there are typically two perspectives that are involved in the decision making process + The first is known as the **shareholder's** perspective, and this perspective is somewhat self explanatory. As the shareholder, the primary goal in the situation is for he or she to protect their assets and to make the decision that is in their best interest for the situation. The phrase "best interest" basically means that the shareholder will make the decision that will maximize his or her investment or input to the organization, reaping as much benefit as possible.

On the other hand, another perspective in this situation is commonly known as the **stakeholder's** perspective, or the perspective of the company that is interacting with the shareholders. When the stakeholders make their decisions, a number of factors influence which decision these companies will make because they are thinking of the impacts that the decisions will have both inside and outside of the company. This ties in with the critical phrase "corporate social responsibility". In essence, this phrase means that the businesses must take into account the needs of all of the different shareholder groups in the "equation" and to make the decision that will affect both the shareholders with a direct and indirect investments at stake. Resources: []



<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 140%; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black', Gadget, sans-serif;">SO WHAT ARE SOME SITUATIONS...? <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;">1. You hear word from a co-worker that she is tired of the manager being overly- assertive in situations where it is not needed; basically the manager's position has "gone to his head". The co-worker has claimed she is going to sue the company for the treatment she has been receiving, so what do you do? - The correct decision in this case is to take the co-worker aside and to try and calm her down and to stop making comments about suing the company. In addition, you should say a professional word to the manager and inform him that his actions are affective the company negatively.

2. You are working for a company and there has been evidence insider theft. There are only two people, the manager and the cashier, have access to the cash drawer where the theft has been taking place, and the evidence is pointing to the manager. The catch is that you have been friends with the manager for quite some time, long before you both began working for the company. He obviously denies the claims, but there is evidence proving that the cashier couldn't have been stealing the money. What do you do? -The correct decision is to make a formal (anonymous) accusation to the company president as this would be in the best interest of the company that has a direct effect on your financial situation.

3. You are working two positions for a company and the job has begun to be far too strenuous for you to endure. The company has decided to find a replacement for one of the positions you are working too take some of the load off of you. One candidate that appears to be the one the company will choose has admitted only to you that she has recently become pregnant. Obviously you are reluctant to let the company hire her because she will be on maternity leave after the child is born and you will have to work both positions again until another replacement is found. The company has decided that she is the best candidate for the position, so what do you do? -In this situation, the best decision to make is to not say anything at all. This is because you will be creating a privacy issue if you notify the company of something that the candidate told you personally and also because hiring the woman will be in the best interest of the company. <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif;"> Resources: []


 * __Michael Ebaugh - Ethics Managemnt Responsibilities__**

8 Guidelines for Managing Ethics in the Workplace
The following guidelines ensure the ethics management program is operated in a meaningful fashion: 1.**Recognize that managing ethics is a process.** Ethics is a matter of values and associated behaviors. Values are discerned through the process of ongoing reflection. Therefore, ethics programs may seem more process-oriented than most management practices. Managers tend to be skeptical of process-oriented activities, and instead prefer processes focused on deliverables with measurements. However, experienced managers realize that the deliverables of standard management practices (planning, organizing, motivating, controlling) are only tangible representations of very process-oriented practices. For example, the process of strategic planning is much more important than the plan produced by the process. The same is true for ethics management. Ethics programs do produce deliverables, e.g., codes, policies and procedures, budget items, meeting minutes, authorization forms, newsletters, etc. However, the most important aspect from an ethics management program is the process of reflection and dialogue that produces these deliverables. 2. **The bottom line of an ethics program is accomplishing preferred behaviors in the workplace.** As with any management practice, the most important outcome is behaviors preferred by the organization. The best of ethical values and intentions are relatively meaningless unless they generate fair and just behaviors in the workplace. That's why practices that generate lists of ethical values, or codes of ethics, must also generate policies, procedures and training that translate those values to appropriate behaviors. 3. **The best way to handle ethical dilemmas is to avoid their occurrence in the first place.** That's why practices such as developing codes of ethics and codes of conduct are so important. Their development sensitizes employees to ethical considerations and minimize the chances of unethical behavior occurring in the first place. 4. **Make ethics decisions in groups, and make decisions public, as appropriate.** This usually produces better quality decisions by including diverse interests and perspectives, and increases the credibility of the decision process and outcome by reducing suspicion of unfair bias. 5. **Integrate ethics management with other management practices.** When developing the values statement during strategic planning, include ethical values preferred in the workplace. When developing personnel policies, reflect on what ethical values you'd like to be most prominent in the organization's culture and then design policies to produce these behaviors. 6. **Use cross-functional teams when developing and implementing the ethics management program.** It’s vital that the organization’s employees feel a sense of participation and ownership in the program if they are to adhere to its ethical values. Therefore, include employees in developing and operating the program. 7. **Value forgiveness.** This may sound rather religious or preachy to some, but it’s probably the most important component of any management practice. An ethics management program may at first actually increase the number of ethical issues to be dealt with because people are more sensitive to their occurrence. Consequently, there may be more occasions to address people’s unethical behavior. The most important ingredient for remaining ethical is trying to be ethical. Therefore, help people recognize and address their mistakes and then support them to continue to try operate ethically. 8. **Note that trying to operate ethically and making a few mistakes is better than not trying at all.** Some organizations have become widely known as operating in a highly ethical manner, e.g., Ben and Jerrys, Johnson and Johnson, Aveda, Hewlett Packard, etc. Unfortunately, it seems that when an organization achieves this strong public image, it's placed on a pedestal by some business ethics writers. All organizations are comprised of people and people are not perfect. However, when a mistake is made by any of these organizations, the organization has a long way to fall. In our increasingly critical society, these organizations are accused of being hypocritical and they are soon pilloried by social critics. Consequently, some leaders may fear sticking their necks out publicly to announce an ethics management program. This is extremely unfortunate. It's the trying that counts and brings peace of mind -- not achieving an heroic status in society.

6 Key Roles and Responsibilities in Ethics Management
Depending on the size of the organization, certain roles may prove useful in managing ethics in the workplace. These can be full-time roles or part-time functions assumed by someone already in the organization. Small organizations certainly will not have the resources to implement each the following roles using different people in the organization. However, the following functions points out responsibilities that should be included somewhere in the organization. 1. **The organization's chief executive must fully support the program.** If the chief executive isn't fully behind the program, employees will certainly notice -- and this apparent hypocrisy may cause such cynicism that the organization may be worse off than having no formal ethics program at all. Therefore, the chief executive should announce the program, and champion its development and implementation. Most important, the chief executive should consistently aspire to lead in an ethical manner. If a mistake is made, admit it. 2. **Consider establishing an ethics committee at the board level.** The committee would be charged to oversee development and operation of the ethics management program. 3. **Consider establishing an ethics management committee.** It would be charged with implementing and administrating an ethics management program, including administrating and training about policies and procedures, and resolving ethical dilemmas. The committee should be comprised of senior officers. 4. **Consider assigning/developing an ethics officer.** This role is becoming more common, particularly in larger and more progressive organizations. The ethics officer is usually trained about matters of ethics in the workplace, particularly about resolving ethical dilemmas. 5. **Consider establishing an ombudsperson.** The ombudsperson is responsible to help coordinate development of the policies and procedures to institutionalize moral values in the workplace. This position usually is directly responsible for resolving ethical dilemmas by interpreting policies and procedures. 6. **Note that one person must ultimately be responsible for managing the ethics management program.**