Group: Code 10+

BUSINESS ETHICS: Concepts and Cases Miguel G. VelasquezChapter 88.4 - 8.7

MGMT3035 ETHICS IN BUSINESS

8.4The Political Organization

Question

According to the political model of the business organization:

(a) individuals must have the same civil rights as they do in governmental organizations

(b) individuals have an absolute right to privacy(c) the power of corporate managers is limited to a certain extent by the countervailing power of unions(d) all of the above

8.5Employee Rights

Right to Privacy

Defined:

The right which people have to determine what, to whom, and how much information about themselves shall be disclosed to others.

Right to privacy

Right to privacy

Right to privacy contd…

Employee Right to Privacy

Is justified because of its protective and enabling functions

Requires considering relevance, consent, and methods when collecting information

Question

Which of the following is true?

(a) Employers who maintain inaccurate files on their employees are invading the employees right to privacy.(b) Employers who maintain incomplete or

inaccurate files are not invading the employees’ right to privacy.(c) Employers who maintain incomplete files on their employees are invading the employees right to privacy.(d) Employees with inaccurate information in their files have nothing to complain about.

Question

Since an employee freely chooses to work for a company, why is it considered an invasion of privacy when an employer implements electronic performance monitoring?

Freedom of Conscience

Freedom of Conscience

Defined:

The choice of an individual within an organization to inform of the harmful operations the organization may be causing to society.

Freedom of conscience

Freedom of conscience contd…

Is justified by the importance of religious and moral convictions

Implies whistle blowing is morally justified if:

1. the wrong is clear, 2. other methods have failed, 3. it will prevent the wrong, and 4. that the wrong is serious

Whistle blowing

Whistle blowing

Defined:

An attempt by a member or former member of an organization to disclose wrongdoing in or by the organization

Question

External whistle blowing:

(a) is always wrong, because employees have a contractual duty to be loyal to their employer(b) is sometimes moral, because employees have a moral obligation to prevent others from being harmed which overrides other duties(c) is always moral, because employees have duties to others which always overrides the duties of the firm(d) is always wrong, because it will have harmful effects on the whistleblower

Whistle blowing

Question

Under what conditions would you blow the whistle on wrongdoing in a corporation for which you worked? How bad would the offense have to be? Would you do it under any conditions, considering how extensive the effects of whistle blowing are on the individual involved?

Right to participatory management

Right to participatory management

Participatory Management

Defined:

A management style that emphasizes the inclusion of employees in evaluation and decision-making processes

Is based on the right to liberty Can mean open discussion, consultation,

or participation in policy decisions Requires the kind of participative

leadership of McGregor, Miles, and Likert

The right to participate

Right to due process

Defined

The right to a fair process by which decision makers impose sanctions on their subordinates.

Right to Due Process

The databank is slightly mistaken.

I’m not an alcoholic. I never attempted to assassinate the governor. I haven’t been married seventeen times.

I don’t owe $66,000 in gambling debts.

Defined:

The right to a fair process by which decision makers impose sanctions on their subordinates.

Right to due process

Right to due process

Is justified because without it all other rights are at risk

Requires a fair, multistep grievance procedure

Right to Unionize

Right to Unionize

The right of employees to freely associate with each other to establish and run unions for the achievement of their morally legitimate common goals.

Right to Unionize

8.6

Organizational Politics

Organizational Politics

The process in which individuals or groups within an organization use non-formally sanctioned power tactics to advance their own aims.

Organizational Politics

Organizational Politics

Organizational Political Tactics

Blaming or attacking othersControlling informationDeveloping a base for one’s ideas Image building IngratiationAssociation with the influentialForming power coalitionsEstablish favorable relationships

Organizational Political Tactics

We need to ask Are the use of the tactics socially

beneficial or harmful? Are they in treating others in a manner

consistent with their moral rights? Will they lead to an equitable

distribution of benefits and burdens? How will these tactics affect the web of

relationships within the organization.

Prolonged prevalence of these tactics have long-term debilitating effects on the quality of relationships in an organization

Effects of Political Tactics

Question

Which of the following political tactics is clearly unethical?(a) Tactics that involve the pursuit of personal goals.(b) Tactics that involve inefficiency and waste.(c) Tactics that are manipulative.(d) none of the above

The Caring Organization

An organization in which the dominant moral concepts are those that arise from an ethic of care.

Caring model of the organization

Focused on the “person” not on “profit” or “quality”

It is Personal; it involves particular individuals engrossed at a subjective level, in caring for other particular individuals

It is growth –enhancing for the cared -for .It moves the organization toward the development of their full capacities. Within the defines of there needs.

Characteristics

Example

Question

An organization based on caring relationships:(a) undertakes caring as an end in itself(b) undertakes caring in order to achieve greater profits(c) helps to develop itself and allows it to grow to its full capacities.(d) will always outperform other types of organizations.

Thank You