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What is Ethics?
 Trytel Case - Call Center
• High turnover – voluntary and involuntary
terminations (4 for drinking before/during shift)
• Turnovers costly in terms of training and
decreased capacity to handle volume
• Ryan – 10 year employee, punctual, one absence
in 10 years, trainer and mentor to new
employees
 Recently has been drinking at lunch
 His work has not been affected
 Not clear he understood policy against drnking
 Issues
that may be relevant to action to
be taken against Ryan;
• Center is understaffed anyway and Ryan’s firing will make it
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worse
Ryan’s firing will leave the center without its best
trainer/mentor (who takes on those jobs without additional $
Others have been fired for drinking on the job – if Ryan is not
fired, it will change the precedent
Ryan’s actions violate company policy and company has a zero
tolerance policy
Ryan’s actions are the result of personal problems
Other employees know Ryan has been drinking and that
people have been fired fro what Ryan did
 Issues
(continued):
• Ryan will have a hard time finding a comparable new job if he
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is fired
Ryan will not have health insurance if he is fired
As Ryan’s manager, you could lose your job if you don’t follow
company policy
Ryan is the most dependable employee
No manager has ever successfully challenged a company
policy
If Ryan is fired, there is no money to advertise for a
replacement for 6 months
 Managers’ positions:
• Asha- fire Ryan, ne violated company policy and
others have been fired for the same thing
• Bernard – don’t do anything – no affect on work,
good work record
• Carlos – refer the HR – they will fire him the
right way
• Dimitri – talk to Ryan privately and warn him –
he may not be aware that he has violated policy
 What
would you do?
 What
factors are relevant?
 Is
there a difference between following
company policy and acting ethically?
 Is
your gut reaction and ethical
considerations different here?
 Ethics
is about moral development and
moral decision-making
 Business ethics is about moral-decisionmaking
• Is there a difference between personal ethics
and business ethics?
• Do gut reactions matter more in personal
situation or business situations?
 Ethics
philosophers
• John Locke (late 17th century)
 Theory of Rights
 People have God-given, unalienable rights
(Declaration of Independence)
 It’s possible for a person to consider and preserve the
rights of others and still act to benefit your self
 Alicia’s new car and Jesse
 Is that really an example of the Theory of Rights?
 Was Jesse really thinking about Alicia’s rights or was Jesse
thinking about the consequences to him?
 Ethical
philosophers
• Immanuel Kant (mid-18th century)
• Categorical imperative
• An act is ethical only if it would be ethical if
everyone did it
• An act is ethical only if the reason for doing the
act is to do the right thing
• Implications for corporate social responsibility
(CSR) – results are not what counts, motivation is
 Ethics
philosophers
• Jeremy Bentham/John Stuart Mills (19th century)
• Utilitarianism/consequentialism
• Consequences of an act determine the ethics of
the act
• An act is ethical if it results in the greatest good
for the greatest number of people compared to
other actions
• Ends justify the means
 Ethical
philosophers
• John Rawls (20the century)
• Theory of Justice
• An act that violates a person’s right to justice and
fairness is unethical
• Ends do not justify the means if someone’s right
to justice and fairness is violated
Lawrence Kohlberg – moral development
Level 1: Pre-conventional
Step 1: Reaction to punishment - internal
Step 2: Seeking rewards - internal
Level 2: Conventional
Step 1: Good boy/girl – external perception
Step 2: Law & order – external focus
Level 3: Post-conventional
Step 1: Social contract – external effect
Step 2: Universal ethics – completely external
 Application of Kohlberg’s theory
• Beth gains inside information that can be
financially beneficial to her
 Avoid punishment – using the information is illegal –
will see get caught?
 Seek reward – she can make money using the
information – is that financial gain worth taking the
chance that she will get caught?
 Good girl – what will others think if they know she
used the information?
 Law & order – she knows using the information is
illegal – is that enough to keep her from using it?
 Application
of Kohlberg’s theory
• Social contract – she knows using the
information is wrong – does she obey the social
contract that says we can’t do things that we
know are wrong.
• Universal ethics – she knows using the
information will adversely affect others and that
the world-wide financial system depends on
people not improperly using information – does
she look out for herself or society as a whole