Transcript ethics session 3 personal and situational influences

Making Decisions in Business Ethics
Descriptive Ethical Theories
Overview
• Examine the question of why ethical and unethical
decisions get made in the workplace
• Determine what an ethical decision is
• Review prominent ethical decision-making models
• Discuss the importance of differences between
individuals in shaping ethical decision-making
• Critically evaluate the importance of situational
influences on ethical decision-making (issues and
context based)
• Identify points of leverage for managing and
improving ethical decision-making in business
Descriptive Ethical Theories
Descriptive business ethics theories seek to
describe how ethics decisions are actually
made in business, and what influences the
process and outcomes of those decisions.
What is an ethical decision?
Main factors in deciding the moral
status of a situation
• Decision likely to have significant effects on
others
• There is a choice, and alternatives are
possible
• The Decision is perceived as ethically
relevant by one or more parties
Models of ethical decision-making
Stages in ethical decision-making
Ethical decision-making process
Recognise
moral
issue
Make
moral
judgement
Establish
moral
intent
Engage in
moral
behaviour
Source: Derived from Rest (1986), as cited in Jones (1991).
Distinct stages. You don't necessarily go through all of this in a single process.
Influences on ethical decision-making
Two broad categories: individual and situational
(Ford and Richardson 1994)
• Individual factors - unique characteristics of the
individual making the relevant decision
– Given at birth
– Acquired by experience and socialisation
• Situational factors - particular features of the
context that influence whether the individual will
make an ethical or unethical decision
– Work context
– The issue itself including
• Intensity
• ethical framing
Influences on ethical decision-making
Two broad categories: individual and situational
(Ford and Richardson 1994)
• Individual factors
• Situational factors
What could these things involve? Discuss
Framework for understanding ethical
decision-making
Individual factors
Recognise
moral issue
Make moral
judgement
Establish
moral intent
Situational factors
Engage in
moral
behaviour
Limitations of ethical decision-making
models
• Models useful for structuring discussion and
seeing the different elements that come into play
• Limitations
– Not straightforward or sensible to break model
down into discrete units
– Various stages related or interdependent
– National or cultural bias
• Model is intended not as a definitive
representation of ethical decision-making, but as
a relatively simple way to present a complex
process
Individual influences on ethical decisionmaking
Individual influences:what, how and how much?
Individual influences on ethical decision-making
Age and gender
• Age
– Results contradictory
– However experiences may have impact
• Gender
– Individual characteristic most often researched
– Results contradictory
• These categories too simplistic
National and cultural characteristics
• People from different cultural backgrounds likely
to have different beliefs about right and wrong,
different values, etc. and this will inevitably lead
to variations in ethical decision-making across
nations, religions and cultures
• Hofstede (1980; 1994) influential in shaping our
understanding of these differences – our ‘mental
programming’:
–
–
–
–
–
Individualism/collectivism
Power distance
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity/femininity
Long-term/short-term orientation
Education and employment
• Type and quality of education may be
influential
– E.g. business students rank lower in moral
development than others and more likely to cheat
• ‘Amoral’ business education reinforces myth
of business as amoral
Psychological factors
Cognitive moral development (CMD) refers to
the different levels of reasoning that an individual
can apply to ethical issues and problems
• 3 levels (details over the next two slides)
• Criticisms of CMD
– Gender bias
– Implicit value judgements
– Invariance of stages
An individual’s locus of control determines the
extent to which they believe that they have
control over the events in their life
Stages of cognitive moral
development (I)
L
evel
Stage
E
xplanation
Individualsdefinerightand
w
rongaccordingtoexpected
rew
ardsandpunishm
entsfrom
authorityfigures
Illustration
W
hilstthistypeofm
oralreasoningisusually
1 O
bedience
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ithsm
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ecanalso
and
seethatbusinesspeoplefrequentlym
ake
punishm
ent
unethicaldecisionsbecausetheythinktheir
com
panyw
ouldeitherrew
ardit orletitgo
unpunished(seeG
ellerm
an1986).
I Preconventional
Instrum
ental Individualsareconcernedw
ith
A
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ployeem
ightcoverfortheabsenceof
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nim
m
ediateinterestsand aco-w
orkersothattheirow
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ight
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hether subsequentlybecoveredforinreturn–a
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yback, I’llscratchyours”
ordealstheym
aketoachieve
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reviñoandN
elson1999).
thoseinterests.
Interpersonal Individualsliveuptow
hatis
A
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ployeem
ightdecidethatusing
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com
panyresourcessuchasthetelephone, the
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im
m
ediatepeersandthoseclose internetandem
ailforpersonalusew
hilstat
II C
onventional
andm
utual
tothem
w
orkisacceptablebecauseeveryoneelsein
expectations
theirofficedoesit.
Individuals’considerationofthe Afactorym
anagerm
aydecidetoprovide
4 Socialaccord expectationsofothersbroadensto em
ployeebenefitsandsalariesabovethe
andsystem socialaccordm
oregenerally,
industrym
inim
uminordertoensurethat
m
aintenance ratherthanjustthespecific
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ployeesreceivew
agesandconditions
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.
deem
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Source: Adapted from Ferrell et al. (2002); Kohlberg (1969); Trevino and Nelson (1999)
Stages of cognitive moral
development (II)
Level
III
Stage
Explanation
Illustration
5
Social
contract
and
individual
rights
Individuals go beyond identifying
with others’ expectations, and
assesses right and wrong
according to the upholding of
basic rights, values and contracts
of society.
The public affairs manager of a food
manufacturer may decide to reveal which of
the firm’s products contain genetically
modified ingredients out of respect for
consumers’ rights to know, even though they
are not obliged to by law, and have not been
pressurised into by consumers or anyone else.
6
Universal
ethical
principles
Individuals will make decisions
autonomously based on selfchosen universal ethical
principles, such as justice,
equality, and rights, which they
believe everyone should follow.
A purchasing manager may decide that it
would be wrong to continue to buy products
or ingredients that were tested on animals
because he believes this doesn’t respect
animal rights to be free from suffering.
Postconventional
Personal values, integrity & moral
imagination
Personal values
• ‘an enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or
end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable
to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or endstate’ (Rokeach 1973:5)
Personal integrity
• Defined as an adherence to moral principles or values
Moral imagination
• Concerned with whether one has “a sense of the variety
of possibilities and moral consequences of their
decisions, the ability to imagine a wide range of possible
issues, consequences, and solutions” (Werhane, 1998:76)
Situational influences on
decision-making
Situational influences : what, how
and how much?
Type of
factor
Factor
Influence on ethical decision-making
Moral intensity
Reasonably new factor, but evidence suggests significant effect on ethical decisionmaking.
Fairly limited evidence, but existing studies show strong influence on some aspects of
the ethical decision-making process, most notably moral awareness.
Strong evidence of relationship between rewards/punishments and ethical behaviour,
although other stages in ethical decision-making have been less investigated.
Good general support for a significant influence from immediate superiors and top
management on ethical decision-making of subordinates.
Issue-related
Moral framing
Rewards
Authority
Contextrelated
Bureaucracy
Work roles
Significant influence on ethical decision-making well documented, but actually
exposed to only limited empirical research. Hence, specific consequences for ethical
decision-making remain contested.
Some influence likely, but lack of empirical evidence to date.
Organizational
culture
Strong overall influence, although implications of relationship between culture and
ethical decision-making remain contested.
National Context
Limited empirical investigation, but some shifts in influence likely.
Situational influences on ethical
decision-making
Type of
factor
Factor
Influence on ethical decision-making
Moral intensity
Reasonably new factor, but evidence suggests significant effect on ethical decisionmaking.
Fairly limited evidence, but existing studies show strong influence on some aspects of
the ethical decision-making process, most notably moral awareness.
Strong evidence of relationship between rewards/punishments and ethical behaviour,
although other stages in ethical decision-making have been less investigated.
Good general support for a significant influence from immediate superiors and top
management on ethical decision-making of subordinates.
Issue-related
Moral framing
Rewards
Authority
Contextrelated
Bureaucracy
Work roles
Significant influence on ethical decision-making well documented, but actually
exposed to only limited empirical research. Hence, specific consequences for ethical
decision-making remain contested.
Some influence likely, but lack of empirical evidence to date.
Organizational
culture
Strong overall influence, although implications of relationship between culture and
ethical decision-making remain contested.
National Context
Limited empirical investigation, but some shifts in influence likely.
Moral Intensity
• Jones (1991:374-8) proposes that the intensity of
an issue will vary according to six factors:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Magnitude of consequences
Social consensus
Probability of effect
Temporal immediacy
Proximity
Concentration of effect
Moral framing
• The same problem or dilemma can be perceived
very differently according to the way that the
issue is framed
– Language important aspect of moral framing (using
moral language likely to trigger moral thinking)
How ethical decisions are justified:
rationalization tactics
Systems of reward
Adherence to ethical principles and standards
stands less chance of being repeated and
spread throughout a company when it goes
unnoticed and unrewarded
• “What is right in the corporation is not what is right in
a man’s home or in his church. What is right in the
corporation is what the guy above you wants from
you. That’s what morality is in the corporation” (Jackall,
1988:6)
Authority and Bureaucracy
Authority
• People do what they are told
to do – or what they think
they’re being told to do
• Recent survey of
government employees
(Ethics Resource Center, 2008: 9):
– 20% think top leadership is
not held accountable
– 25% believe top leadership
tolerates retaliation against
those reporting ethical
misconduct
– 30% don’t believe their
leaders keep promises
Bureaucracy
• Jackall (1988), Bauman
(1989, 1993) and ten Bos
(1997) argue bureaucracy
has a number of negative
effects on ethical decisionmaking
– Suppression of moral
autonomy
– Instrumental morality
– Distancing
– Denial of moral status
– HOW? And how could
this be improved?
Work roles and organizational norms
and culture
Work roles
• Work roles can
encapsulate a whole set
of expectations about
what to value, how to
relate to others, and
how to behave
• Can be either functional
or hierarchical
Organizational
norms and culture
• Group norms delineate
acceptable standards of
behaviour within the
work community
– E.g. ways of talking,
acting, dressing or
thinking
application
Elastic REAL case study
Edmodo: Business schools case study