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Ethics and Culture
Module 2
LIS 580: Spring 2006
Instructor- Michael Crandall
Roadmap
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What is ethics?
Ethics in the workplace
Organizational culture and social
responsibility
Diversity in the workplace
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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The Wall Street Journal WorkplaceEthics Quiz
Source: Wall Street Journal, 21 October 1999, pp. 81–84. Ethics Officer Association, Belmont, Mass.; Ethics
Leadership Group, Wilmette, Ill.; surveys sampled a cross-section of workers at large companies and nationwide.
FIGURE 2–1
G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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The Meaning of Ethics
• Ethics
– The study of standards of conduct and
moral judgment; also, the standards of right
conduct.
• Normative Judgment
– A comparative evaluation stating or
implying that something is good or bad,
right or wrong, or better or worse.
• Morality
– A society’s accepted norms of behavior.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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Moral Philosophies
G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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The Ethical Continuum
Low
High
Source: Source: Michael Boylan, Business Ethics
(Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001), p. 119.
FIGURE 2–2
G.Dessler, 2003
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Ethics and the Law
• Important Points:
– Something may be legal but not right
(ethical)
– Something may be right (ethical) but not
legal.
G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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What Influences Ethical
Behavior At Work?
Individual
Factors
Organizational
Factors
Ethical Work
Behaviors
Top
Management
Ethics Policies
and Codes
G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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Raytheon Company’s Quick
Ethics Test
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Is the action legal?
Is it right?
Who will be affected?
Does it fit company values?
How will it “feel” afterwards?
How will it look in the newspaper?
Will it reflect poorly on the company?
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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Checklist 2.1
How to Foster Ethics at Work
 Emphasize top management’s
commitment.
 Publish an ethics code.
 Establish compliance mechanisms.
Involve personnel at all levels.
 Train employees.
 Measure results.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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What Is Organizational Culture?
• Organizational Culture
– The characteristic set of values and ways of
behaving that employees in an organization share.
• Patterns of Behavior
– Ceremonial events, written and spoken comments,
and actual behaviors of an organization’s members
that create the organizational culture.
• Values and Beliefs
– Guiding standards of an organization that affirm
what should be practiced, as distinct from what is
practiced.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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Components of Organizational
Culture
• Signs and Symbols
– Practices and actions that create and sustain a
company’s culture.
• Stories
– The repeated tales and anecdotes that
contribute to a company’s culture by illustrating
and reinforcing important company values.
• Rites and Ceremonies
– Traditional culture-building events or activities
that symbolize the firm’s values and help convert
employees to these values.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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Managers And Social
Responsibility
• Social Responsibility
– The extent to which companies should and do
channel resources toward improving the quality of
life of one or more segments of society other than
the firm’s own stockholders.
• Managerial Capitalism
– The classic view is that a corporation’s main
purpose is to maximize profits for stockholders.
• Stakeholder Theory
– Business has a social responsibility to serve all the
corporate stakeholders affected by its decisions.
G.Dessler, 2003
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A Corporation’s Major
Stakeholders
FIGURE 2–5
G.Dessler, 2003
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Managers And Social
Responsibility (cont’d)
• Moral Minimum
– The idea that corporations should be free to
strive for profits so long as they commit no
harm.
• Stockholders versus Stakeholders?
G.Dessler, 2003
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How to Improve the Company’s
Social Responsiveness
• Corporate Social Audit
– A rating system used to evaluate a corporation’s
performance in meeting its social obligations.
• Whistle-blowing
– The activities of employees who try to report
organizational wrongdoing.
• Social Responsibility Networks
– Organizations that promote socially responsible
business practices and help managers to establish
socially responsible programs.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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Managing Diversity
• Managing Diversity
– Planning and implementing organizational systems
and practices to manage people in a way that
maximizes the potential advantages of diversity
while minimizing its potential disadvantages.
– Cultural diversity contributes to improved
productivity, return on equity, and market
performance.
• Diverse
– Describes a workforce comprised of two or more
groups, each of which can be identified by
demographic or other characteristics.
G.Dessler, 2003
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Bases for Diversity
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Racial and Ethnic
Gender
Older workers
People with disabilities
Sexual/affectional orientation
Religion
G.Dessler, 2003
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Barriers in Dealing with Diversity
• Stereotyping
– Attributing specific behavioral traits to
individuals on the basis of their apparent
membership in a group.
• Prejudice
– A bias that results from prejudging someone on
the basis of the latter’s particular trait or traits.
• Ethnocentrism
– A tendency to view members of one’s own
group as the center of the universe and to view
other social groups less favorably than one’s
own.
G.Dessler, 2003
March 30, 2006
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Barriers in Dealing with Diversity
(cont’d)
• Discrimination
– A behavioral bias toward or against a person
based on the group to which the person belongs.
• Tokenism
– Appointing a small number of minority-group
members to high-profile positions instead of more
aggressively achieving full group representation.
• Gender-Role Stereotyping
– Usually, the association of women with certain
behaviors and possibly (often lower-level) jobs.
G.Dessler, 2003
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Activities Required to Better
Manage Diversity
FIGURE 2–7
G.Dessler, 2003
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LIS580- Spring 2006
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Wrapup
• Management is part of life in an organizational
society
• Knowing how it works can help you achieve
your goals: personal, professional, and social
• Ethical and social responsibility is affected by
managerial actions and inaction
• Your choices as a manager build an
organizational culture that reflects your
decisions and values
• Take charge to make changes
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Ghoshal’s Thesis
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Different Approaches
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Next Time
• A week on planning– Tuesday’s topic is
“decision making”
– Read Chapter 3 and assigned article
• First discussion!! Be sure to read the case
• Think about these questions as you read
– Why is a decision so hard in this case?
– What process might have made it easier?
– Could something have been done earlier in the
process to avoid the complications?
– Who should be responsible for the decision?
– If you had to decide what to do next to resolve this
problem, how would you go about it?
March 30, 2006
LIS580- Spring 2006
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