Step 1- Understanding Moral Standards

When presented with a potential ethical conflict, most

people refer to their immediate intuitive response to first
determine which actions are right or wrong, good or
bad, fair or unjust.
The problem is that our moral standards are subjective
and we may not be able to justify them (with the rational
basis we have come to value). I may feel like it is always
wrong to lie, but you have no problem with a lie to spare
someones feelings. We sometimes can agree to
disagree.
However, agreeing to disagree is not acceptable in some
scenarios
 Hosmer, 107-111
What can we do to resolve a large scale moral dilemma
in the case of building a Hydroelectric dam in Quebec
that will benefit millions at the expense of an
identifiable group? The differing goals, norms, beliefs
and values amongst stakeholders is going to shape their
view(s) on the appropriateness of the proposed
hydroelectric dam
In groups, briefly discuss (with depth, substance, and
detail) the current discourse surrounding either:
Recreational marijuana

Naloxone
 The understanding and expectations of health officials are
going to differ markedly from those who think marijuana is a
social ill; the expectations of the public may differ markedly
from those who are trying to minimize the public health
opioid crisis.
We must rely/exercise on our rational and critical faculties
and use moral reasoning to navigate these issues.
(Further influences on ethical behaviour: education;
religion; media; peers; legal systems)
 Moral reasoning depends upon:
Good critical thinking skills; Familiarity with basic moral
values
Impediments to critical thinking: loyalty; herd instinct;
provincialism; prejudice; wishful thinking; and self-deception
(delusion; denial; rationalization; procrastination).
To engage in moral reasoning one has to:
Define moral issue or decision; Consider applicable value
judgements; Gather all relevant information; Identify the
stakeholders involved; Identify harms/benefits to
stakeholders; Develop possible alternative solutions;
Determine practical constraints; Decide on action
Step 2: Recognize All Moral Impacts
(Hosmer: 5-6)

Stakeholder Analysis involves identifying

stakeholders, and identifying their:
Harms; Benefits and/or
Rights exercised; Rights denied
Who are our potential stakeholders when
we seek to allow OTC Naloxone? What
are their:
Harms and/or benefits
Rights Exercised and/or denied
Sexty, 49
This process allows us to identify stakeholders, their stakes,
the challenges they present, and allows us to understand our
responsibilities, and craft the best strategies for addressing
these vetted concerns. Identifying and addressing
stakeholders, and their concerns, is a perpetual cycle.
Managers Responsibilities, 59
Stakeholders: An individual, or group, who can influence,
and/or is influenced by the achievement of an organizations
purpose. List of stakeholders:
Owners; Directors; Employees; Customers/Consumers; Suppliers;
Educational Institutions; Religious Groups; Charities; Your
Competition; Government; Media; NGOs; Professional Organizations;
Unions; Society and the Public at large; Dealers, distributions,
franchises; Lenders and creditors; shareholders
7
Categorizing Stakeholders,
56
Primary Stakeholders (direct stake, influential, higher level of
accountability, ie. Shareholders; employees).
Secondary (stake is more representational of public or special
interests than direct, but may still be extremely influential with
a lower level of accountability, ie. Local communities;
government and regulators; social activist groups).
Secondary can become primary, as they can represent legitimate
public concerns that make it impossible for them to be ignored
(environmental protection regulators became primary stakeholders in
Chrysler overnight; for the Amazon, privacy advocates are emerging
as secondary stakeholders).
There are also primary and secondary non-social stakeholders
(Primary: natural environment; future generations; animals.
Secondary: environment interest groups, animal welfare
organizations).
58
Conflicts may exist among stakeholders (think
Health Canada vs Tobacco shops vs parents when it
comes to stakeholders in the tobacco industry) the
goals of various groups differ and may not be
compatible with those of the corporation.
As a manager, to whom do you give priority to?
Some stakeholders have more power than others
(with driverless cars, Transport Canada has more
power than car dealerships) and there may be a
shifting of power among the groups at various times
Arguments for and against the Stakeholder Concept, 59
 Chapter 4 Basic Stakeholder Analysis

Stakeholder Engagement:
Efforts by a corporation to understand and involve relevant
individuals, groups, or organizations by considering their moral
concerns in strategic and operational initiatives.
Corporation can better understand stakeholders by asking:
1. Who are our stakeholders?
2. What are their stakes?
3. What opportunities and challenges do they present to the
firm?
4. What responsibilities (economic, legal, ethical, and
philanthropic) does our firm have to all its stakeholders?
5. What strategies or actions should our firm take to best deal
with stakeholder challenges and opportunities?
 Stakeholder Management Capability

The ability of managers to:

identify stakeholders and their influence;
develop the organizational practices to
understand stakeholders; and
undertake direct contact with stakeholders.
76
 Stakeholder Matrix Mapping
A technique of categorizing an
organizations stakeholders by their
influence according to two variables;
usually involves plotting them on a two-by-
two matrix:
Y Axis: Oppose or support corporation
X Axis: Importance of stakeholders
Stakeholder Matrix Mapping
79
Having identified the 4 categories of stakeholders through this
analysis, we can then draft strategies to handle them effectively.
Strategies for problematic stakeholders: target moderates with
educational programs, adjust corporate plans to accommodate
stakeholders, and prepare defensive plans if coalitions of stakeholders
form
Strategies for antagonistic stakeholders: identify potential coalitions
and take defensive action, prepare for undermining of supporters,
anticipate nature of objections and develop counter arguments, engage
selective stakeholders in bargaining and determine plans to gain
support
Strategies for low-priority: provide educational programs and promote
involvement with supporters.
Strategies for supportive stakeholders: provide information to reinforce
position and ask supporters to influence indifferent stakeholders
In Groups

Identify the primary and secondary

stakeholders in OTC Naloxone or
legalized recreational marijuana, and
then plot them on the
Position/Importance Matrix (77).
To be handed in
Stakeholder Salience, 82

Lets say you are the CEO of Canadas biggest tobacco

company. Lawyers representing Canadian provinces are
waiting in the lobby to speak to you about pending
lawsuits; Health Canada is on the phone waiting to
speak to you about further restrictions on the use of
tobacco; parents, angry at what they say are ads that
are aimed at teens, are protesting in the parking lot;
employees, unhappy with their wages, are threatening
to strike; the firm that designed the logo for a
discontinued line of light cigarettes is awaiting an email
response about payment; a representative for tobacco
retailers arrives and wants to discuss rising costs; and an
ex-executive, fired for repeated documented instances
of sexual harassment, has shown up in the lobby
demanding access to the corporate jet.
To whom do we respond to first, and why?
Stakeholder Identification and Salience,
80

We can prioritize stakeholders using a 3-

point typology:
Power: Ability to get firm to do something that it
would not otherwise do based on force, threat,
incentives, etc.
Legitimacy: Perception or assumption that actions
of firm are desirable, proper, or appropriate
Urgency: Degree to which stakeholders claim or
relationship calls for immediate attention
Stakeholder Identification and Salience
 Stakeholder Identification and Salience

Examples of Stakeholder Types:

Latent stakeholders: Managers may not
recognize their existence (have one attribute)
Expectant stakeholders: Require more
attention from managers (have two attributes)
Definitive stakeholders: Management must
address the claims of these stakeholders
immediately (have three attributes)
Non-stakeholders (have no attributes)
83 Source: Mitchell et al., 1997
 Relationships with stakeholders ought to be reciprocal,
and evolving; corporations should be prepared to
collaborate with their stakeholders (87).peat
The relationship between stakeholders and corporations
can be seen as social capital (88). Social capital is any
aspect of a corporations organizational arrangements
that creates value and facilitates the actions of
stakeholders within and external to the corporation
It is the trust and goodwill existing between the corporation
and its stakeholders.

Chapter Summary, 91
the process
 Assignment #1
Writing assignment.
You will have the option of choosing between 2
options to apply the first 3 steps of our 7 step
process to identify, define and characterize the
moral problem.
Students will provide a review of the main features
of the case; complete a stakeholder table; provide
stakeholder analysis (an expansion of the
stakeholder table, where we go into greater detail
about why each stakeholder is primary or secondary,
their particular stakes); and a power/interest grid.
 In your stakeholder analysis, students must also
explain each stakeholders moral impact, and
explain benefits, harms, rights exercised, and
rights denied.
Students must also state the moral problem in
question form (Step 3, next week) and explain
why it involves ethics/explain what type of
dilemma it is.
On the power/interest grid, students must plot
stakeholders according to their power (to affect
change in the situation) and interests (in the
dilemma).