Chapter 3 - Managing Ethics and Diversity
The Nature of Ethics
Ethical Dilemmas
The quandary people find themselves in when they have to decide if they should act in a way that might help
another person or group even though doing so might go against their own self-interest.
Moral scruples: thoughts and feelings that tell a person what is right or wrong.
Ethics: The inner guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs that people use to analyse or interpret a
situation and then decide what is the right or appropriate way to behave.
Ethics and the Law
Neither laws nor ethics are fixed principles, they are relative
Ethical beliefs change as time passes
Ethical beliefs lead to the development of laws to prevent certain behaviors
Not being illegal does not make behavior ethical
Stakeholders and Ethics
Stockholders
People and groups that supply a company with its productive resources and so have a claim on and stake in
the company, they are affected by how a company and it's managers behave.
When they buy a stock of a company, they become its owner. There are interested in a way a company
operates because they want to maximize the return on their investment
Manager
Managers are a vital stakeholder group because they are responsible for using a company’s financial, capital,
and human resources to increase its performance and thus its stock price. Managers have a claim on an
organizations because they bring to it their skills, experience, and expertise. They have the right to expect a
good return or reward by investing their human capital to improve a company’s performance. Such rewards
include good salaries and benefits, the prospect of promotion and a career, and stock options and bonuses
tied to company performance. They bear the responsibility to decide which goals on an organization should
pursue and they have to juggle the interest of all stakeholders. These sometimes difficult decisions challenge
managers to uphold ethical values because some decisions that benefit certain stakeholder groups (managers
and stockholders) harm other groups (individual workers and local communities).
Employees
People who work in the company; expect rewards for their work. Companies need to develop training,
recruitment and fair system that does not discriminate against employees and that employees believe are fair.
Suppliers and Distributors
Essential cooperating companies; suppliers expect to be paid fair and distributors expect to receive a quality
product at agreed-upon prices. Many ethical issues arise in how companies contract and interact with their
suppliers and distributors. Important issues concerning product quality and safety specifications are governed
by the contracts a company sign with its suppliers and distributors.
The Nature of Ethics
Ethical Dilemmas
The quandary people find themselves in when they have to decide if they should act in a way that might help
another person or group even though doing so might go against their own self-interest.
Moral scruples: thoughts and feelings that tell a person what is right or wrong.
Ethics: The inner guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs that people use to analyse or interpret a
situation and then decide what is the right or appropriate way to behave.
Ethics and the Law
Neither laws nor ethics are fixed principles, they are relative
Ethical beliefs change as time passes
Ethical beliefs lead to the development of laws to prevent certain behaviors
Not being illegal does not make behavior ethical
Stakeholders and Ethics
Stockholders
People and groups that supply a company with its productive resources and so have a claim on and stake in
the company, they are affected by how a company and it's managers behave.
When they buy a stock of a company, they become its owner. There are interested in a way a company
operates because they want to maximize the return on their investment
Manager
Managers are a vital stakeholder group because they are responsible for using a company’s financial, capital,
and human resources to increase its performance and thus its stock price. Managers have a claim on an
organizations because they bring to it their skills, experience, and expertise. They have the right to expect a
good return or reward by investing their human capital to improve a company’s performance. Such rewards
include good salaries and benefits, the prospect of promotion and a career, and stock options and bonuses
tied to company performance. They bear the responsibility to decide which goals on an organization should
pursue and they have to juggle the interest of all stakeholders. These sometimes difficult decisions challenge
managers to uphold ethical values because some decisions that benefit certain stakeholder groups (managers
and stockholders) harm other groups (individual workers and local communities).
Employees
People who work in the company; expect rewards for their work. Companies need to develop training,
recruitment and fair system that does not discriminate against employees and that employees believe are fair.
Suppliers and Distributors
Essential cooperating companies; suppliers expect to be paid fair and distributors expect to receive a quality
product at agreed-upon prices. Many ethical issues arise in how companies contract and interact with their
suppliers and distributors. Important issues concerning product quality and safety specifications are governed
by the contracts a company sign with its suppliers and distributors.
