BUSINESS ETHICS

SESSION 1

Questions to Ponder
Why Business Ethics is called so?
Is it Moral Science? Can morality be taught?
Ordinary people, Ethical Transgressions, Ethical
Dilemmas( Locksmith, New York Art Gallery)
More to being dishonest than doing a simple CBA
(cost benefit analysis)
Fudge Factor Theory: Reconciling Ego Motivation
and Financial Motivation
Non-monetary Stealing
Collaborative Cheating
Ethical Dilemmas at Different Stages of your
Professional Life

Five BE Myths
Its Easy to Be Ethical
Unethical Behaviour in Business is Simply the
Result of Bad Apples
Ethics Can be Managed Through Formal Ethics
Codes and Programs
Ethical Leadership is Mostly about Leader
Integrity
People are Less Ethical Than They Used to Be

Good People, Good Managers

Good People Often
Let Bad Things
Happen. Why?
Ethical Fading: The
Ford Pinto Case
Ill-conceived Goals:
Sear Roebuck Case
Motivated Blindness:
Credit Rating
Agencies
Indirect Blindness:
Merck Case
The Slippery Slope
Overvaluing
Outcomes

Why Good Managers make

Bad Ethical Choices: The Four
Rationalisations
Activity is Within Reasonable Ethical
and Legal Limits
Drawing the line but How far is too far?
Where is the line? (Oscar Wilde
Morality, like art means drawing a line
somewhere)
Leaders leaving things unsaid and
luring subordinates
Its in the Best Interest of
Individuals/Corporations
Parochial view of interests
Not only results but how are they
arrived is equally important
Activity is safe and will be never
found out
Conscience alone isnt enough and so
measures needed to improve
governance
Helps the Company

Moral Muteness
Definition: Reluctance to use moral expressions publicly
to identify and guide decision-making even they are
acting morally (silk and Vogel: Morality is a live topic for
individual managers but it is close to a non-topic among
groups of managers)
Morality and Speech
Why Moral Muteness? 1) Threat to Harmony (extreme
cases can lead to whistle blowing) 2) Threat to Efficiency
3) Threat to Image of Power and Effectiveness
Consequences: 1) Creation of Moral Amnesia 2) Moral
Stress 3) Neglect of Abuses ( Ignoring moral values,
moral ideals not pursued and Unresolved moral
dilemmas)

Relations Between Moral Action and Speech

Actions follow
Normative
expectations
Moral terms
used in
Speech

Moral
Terms Not
Used in
Speech

Congruent Moral
Conduct

Moral
Muteness

Actions Do Not Follow

Normative expectations

Hypocrisy, Moral
Weakness

Congruent Immoral or
Amoral Conduct

Moral Stress
Relevance of Self-Efficacy: Degree to which people
believe they are free to act as they deem fit in
pursuit of some goals in organizations-If they face
hurdles they experience moral stress and therefore
low self-efficacy
Kristen Bells Study: Role Conflict, Job Autonomy,
Co-worker Support, Customer Satisfaction, Moral
Stress
Moral Stress Impact: a) Employee Satisfaction b) Job
Satisfaction c) Turnover Intentions
Environmental
MoralIndividual
Stress= IG + EVR
Variables like
Goals/Values

demands/resourc
es

Concluding Thoughts
With all new ideas and steps there are bound to be
challenges
Initiating Change and Keeping Faith: The RAMA
Effect
Any new initiatives and new departures from status
quo involves 4 step process which can be summed
up in the acronym RAMA
R: Refusal/Resistance/Rejection
A: Annoyance(despite annoyance people realize that
there may be something in ideas being propagated)
M: Mellowing the opposition
A: Acceptance