Download ethical_behaviour_columbus_ppt

Today’s Journal Entry
 What
would motivate a top business
executive to go undercover in their own
company?
Ethical Behaviour
BOG 4E – Business Leadership,
Becoming a Manager
Ethics
 Ethics
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
Rules that help us tell the difference
between right and wrong and
encourage us to do the right thing.
Set standards of “good” or “bad” or
“right” or “wrong” in one’s conduct.
Values
 Values

Tell us what we think is important and
this in turn helps us make decisions
about right and wrong
• Example – if you value
trustworthiness it is unlikely you will
betray a friend
Morals
 Morals


Are the rules we use to decide what is
good and bad
Example – one of your moral rules may
be that stealing is wrong because it
harms the people you steal from
Ethical behavior
 Ethical
behaviour is based on values such
as:
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
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


Trustworthiness
Respect
Responsibility
Caring
Justice
Good Citizenship
Following moral rules
What is ethical behavior?
 Ethical behaviour is all about doing the
right thing
 Note: Legal behaviour is not necessarily
ethical behaviour.
 i.e. just because it is legal does not mean it is
ethical.
How can high ethical standards be
maintained?
 Business
 Code

should have a Code of Ethics
of Ethics is
document that explains specifically how
employees should respond in different
ethical situations
How can high ethical standards be
maintained?
 Moral Management

Managers should act in an ethical manner
and lead by example
How can high ethical standards be
maintained?
 Whistleblowers
Employees who inform officials or the
public about legal or ethical violations at
their company
Major Ethical Issues in Business
Today
 Fraud


Crime of lying or pretending
Bre – X
Major Ethical Issues in Business
Today
 Accounting


Scandals
Publicly exposed crime involving accountants
or senior executives who alter accounting
records for personal benefit
Enron
Major Ethical Issues in Business
Today
 Insider



Trading
Buying or selling shares in a company based
on confidential information
i.e. as an executive of a company you would
have access to information not available to
the general public, you can not use this
information to make or save yourself money.
Martha Stewart
Factors influencing ethical managerial
behavior—the person, organization, and
environment
Ethical Scenarios
A.
Bobby is filling out a job application. He
doesn’t think he is qualified for the job.
He sees another application and copies
some of the information down in order to
make his look better.
Ethical?
B. Jane works at a factory with a time clock
to record how many hours a day she works.
She found a way to add 45 minutes per day
to her timecard without anyone knowing.
She asks you if you would like to know how.
Ethical?
C. Two math students are preparing for their
exam. They are allowed to use a cheat
sheet for their test. One student asks the
other for help creating the sheet and said
they would make a copy for them too.
Ethical?
D. Tom heard the new Drake song on the
radio today. There are four songs from the
CD he likes, but thinks the rest aren’t very
good. He decides to download the four
songs from a music pirating website.
Ethical?
E. The school football team is playing in a
championship game in a couple of weeks.
Some players are considering purchasing
steroids to help give them a boost.
Ethical?
F. Samantha works for Microsoft. She
knows that a new operating system will be
announced next week. This will increase her
stock price, so she decides to purchase
more before the increase.
Ethical?
G. Conrad is the CEO of an investment firm.
He finds out that other executives are taking
company money and using it for personal
benefit. He can either inform the Board of
Directors/Government agencies, or not say
anything.
What would you do? Is this ethical?
H. Your colleague rarely completes work
assignments. You have been helping him
finish the last two projects. You want him to
stop asking you to help him because you
have work of your own to do.
Ethical?
I. You work in the quality control division of a
company. You have rejected some of the
parts that have come through your
department because they did not meet
company standards. Your boss tells you that
you should ignore the low standard parts.
Ethical?
Activity
 Research
one case of any of the three
types of ethical dilemmas. (Fraud,
Accounting Scandal, Insider Trading)
 Give me a description of what happened,
who was involved, the consequences for
guilty party, other employees, customers,
or anyone affected.
 Hand in when finished