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MGF5020Semester 2, 2014

Business Ethics in a Global Environment

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Tutorial 8

Week 9

ATTITUDES TO WORK IN ORGANISATIONSA new work ethic

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Our Discussion Today

1.A new work ethic2.Exam Preparation3.Expectations for Week 94.Guided Reading: Shaw, W. H. & Barry, V. (2013) Moral

Issues in Business (12th edn.)Wadsworth: Cengage Learning, pp. 179-180 (‘A New Work Ethic?’).

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1. What attitudes to work are presented in this case? a contempt for customers, indifference to quality and service, unrealistic expectations about the world of work, a get away with what you can attitude, employee theft, work place deviant behaviour, getting on with getting mine, disdain towards managers and supervisors, mistreating customers, spamming

2. How do you evaluate these attitudes from a moral point of view?

Moral Response:

Emotion = natural instinctive state, different from cognition, developed by human beings (and animals) in reaction to circumstances (feelings)

Intuition = cognitive ability to use adaptive recognition unconsciously (cf. deliberate, explicit reasoning)

Discussion

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3. If you disagree with these attitudes, on what basis do you do so? What norms are you referring to in order to make this judgement?

4. Where do your reference norms come from? What are their sources?

5. How can you explain the attitudes and behaviours described in this case? What are their sources?

6. Compare the sources identified at (4) and (5). Which ones are better justified, and on what grounds?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVghzuaeptY

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• ‘Imagine that you are the CEO of a global corporation. This corporation has a few branches where work attitudes have changed in the ways described in “A New Work Ethic?”. – What will you do to address this issue.– Focus on discourse ethics and postmodern

ethics, but you may wish to open it to other principles as well.

Exam Part B

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Discourse Ethics

is a procedure for resolving conflicts and reaching agreement in practice aims to solve ethical conflicts by

providing a process of norm generation through rational reflection on the real life experiences of all relevant participants.’ (Crane & Matten, 2010)

is a procedural moral theory… that attempts to develop normative orientations for practical purposes based on the idea of fair dialogs.’ (Beschorner, 2006)

• Postmodern Ethics

Moral decisions are based on narratives of experience not on principles

As moral decisions are subject to non-rational processes, they are less controllable and predictable.

Ethics is not a given code but a constant learning process

• Ethical systems are constructed within societies. Every culture, thus, has its own set of moral standards arising from the various influences within each particular group. Moreover, morality is not stagnant; it changes, adapts, and is constantly evolving according to the dictates of the group (Bauman, 1993)

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Exam Practice

Here is a Practice Plan: Week 10

• Topics: Week 1-6 Week 11

Topics: Week 7-11 Week 12

All

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• Lecture Topic: Sources of moral decency

• Tutorial Topic: Ethical aspects of leadership in business

• Prescribed Readings: Breakey, H. (2013) ‘Ethical Reflections on Meanness’, Australian Ethics, Dec2013:1-3.

Macklin, R. (2007) ‘The morally decent HR manager’. In Pinnington, A., Macklin, R. & Campbell, T.

(eds.) Human Resource Management: Ethics & Employment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.

266-275.

Hartman, L. P., DesJardins, J., MacDonald, C. (2014). Business Ethics: Decision Making for

Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility. NewYork: McGraw-Hill Irwin, pp.206-210 (the

‘Greg Smith and Goldman Sachs’ case)

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Thank you!

Have a good week