Transcript Chapter 3 Slides

The analytical method of legal requirements can be summarized very simply
in the statement that everyone should always obey the law. The law in a
democratic society can be said to represent the minimal moral standards
of that society, and those minimal moral standards should recognize the
nature and understand the worth of individual human beings. You may
or may not agree with the extent of those standards, or the degree of that
recognition and understanding, but - the legal argument continues --you
cannot really fault a person who obeys the law. You may feel that a person
within an organization who faces a complex moral problem in which some
people are going to be harmed and harmed badly, or have their rights eroded
and eroded harshly, should go beyond the law. That person, however, may
disagree with you. He or she may say, "We plan to optimize returns for our
firm and benefits for our society. If you don't like that outcome, get together
with a majority of your fellow citizens and pass a new law, which more fully
recognizes the nature and understands the worth of other people, and we will
obey the provisions of that new law. But, until that happens please do not
lecture us on the superiority of your moral standards. We see nothing wrong
with what we are doing, and evidently other people don't either for what we
are doing is currently legal and approved by a majority of the population."
There is a lack of a direct
relationship between moral
standards and legal
requirements. The statement
"It's not against the
law"should not totally settle
the matter.
The Importance of Values
Judgment
Content
Stability
Intensity
Types of Values
Terminal
Values
Instrumental
Values
Dominant Work Values in
Today’s Workforce
Religious/cultural
& political context
Individual exposure
to cultural context
- family units
- peer groups
- formal organizations
Individual persons,
Small groups
Formal organizations
Political processes
Legal system
w/changing norms,
w/similar norms,
w/consensus norms
w/conflicting norms
w/standard norms
beliefs & values
beliefs & values
beliefs & values
beliefs & values
beliefs & values
Individual exposure
to economic context
- family units
- peer groups
- formal organizations
Economic, social &
political context
Corporate Social Responsibility
Stakeholder View
Stakeholder Group Addressed and Affected
CSR
Component
Owners Con- Employees Community Others
sumers
Economic
1
4
2
3
5
Legal
3
2
1
4
5
Ethical
4
1
2
3
5
Philanthropic
3
4
2
1
5
Understanding the Four Components
Responsibility
Legal
Societal
Examples
Expectation
Required
Be profitable. Maximize sales,
minimize costs, etc.
Required
Obey laws and regulations.
Ethical
Expected
Economic
Discretionary Desired/
(Philanthropic) Expected
Do what is right, fair and just.
Be a good corporate citizen.
Why is this view that laws represent the
combined moral judgments of members of
our society popular among many people?
Because it is so simple and direct,
and offers a basis for choice that can
be ascribed to others without
accepting responsibility oneself "I
don't like it but it's the law" is an easy
evasion of responsibility.
Can you think of a situation that is
clearly not illegal and yet can easily be
seen to be unethical
(i.e., water and air pollution before
passage of the various pollution control
laws as one example and racial, gender
or age discrimination before passage of
civil rights legislation as another)?