Business Ethics

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School

University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) *

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Course

610

Subject

Business

Date

May 10, 2024

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pdf

Pages

6

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5/17/23, 1:43 PM Business Ethics https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/scor/uncurated/mba/2218-mba610/learning-topics/business-ethics.html?ou=730060 1/6 Learning Topic Business Ethics Weber (2008) offers a practical seven-step framework for ethical decision making. His illustrative example of a plant closing and layoff decision is helpful in understanding how this framework may be applied when confronted with an ethical dilemma for which there is no perfect solution. The task of creating and nurturing an ethical organizational culture requires leaders and managers to be proactive and strive to reduce the likelihood of ethical misconduct and the need to address an ethical dilemma. As Meinert (2014) writes, this is not a small challenge. Referencing the 2013 National Business Ethics Survey, she reports that "41 percent of US workers said they observed unethical or illegal misconduct on the job." What makes this an even bigger challenge is that managers may be the primary contributors to workplace misconduct, according to Ethics Compliance Initiative president Patricia Harned (Meinert, 2014). In response to this challenge, the Society for Human Resource Professionals (SHRM) Foundation published a book titled Shaping an Ethical Workplace Culture as a complementary resource. The author, Stephen Olson (2013), offers a simple explanation of ethics, provides guidance on how to assess one's workplace culture, identifies the building blocks of an ethical workplace, and describes three types of cultures typically found in organization—those focused on compliance, those that adopt a positive perspective toward ethics, and those that qualify as virtuous (i.e., those pursuing the "highest standards and levels of compliance").
5/17/23, 1:43 PM Business Ethics https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/scor/uncurated/mba/2218-mba610/learning-topics/business-ethics.html?ou=730060 2/6 Treviño (2008), one of the leading scholarly contributors to the work on ethical culture and climate, emphasizes the importance of integration between an organization's formal and informal systems and processes. She defines ethical culture as a "subset of the overall organizational culture that represents the interplay of multiple formal and informal cultural systems that either work together or at cross- purposes to support ethical or unethical conduct." Formal systems consist of ethics codes, ethics training, and specific incorporation of attention to ethics in the organization's decision-making processes and in performance appraisals. Informal systems include leaders and managers modeling behaviors, and shared organizational stories of success in handling difficult ethical situations. Another very simple explanation of an ethical culture and climate is offered by Michael C. Hyter, a senior partner at Korn Ferry: "What it means to me is an environment that makes it easy to do the right thing and makes it difficult to do the wrong thing" (Meinert, 2014, p.3). . References Meinert, D. (2014). Creating an ethical culture (cover story). HR Magazine, 59(4), 22 - 27. http://ezproxy.umgc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=bth&AN=95094188&site=ehost-live&scope=site Olson, S.D. (2013). Shaping an ethical workplace culture. SHRM Foundation: Alexandria, Va. Treviño, L. (2008). Ethical culture and climate. In R. W. Kolb (Ed.), Encyclopedia of business ethics and society (Vol. 5, pp. 777-778). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412956260.n298 Weber, J. (2008). Ethical decision making. In R. W. Kolb (Ed.), Encyclopedia of business ethics and society (Vol. 5, pp. 779-781). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd. doi: 10.4135/9781412956260.n299
5/17/23, 1:43 PM Business Ethics https://leocontent.umgc.edu/content/scor/uncurated/mba/2218-mba610/learning-topics/business-ethics.html?ou=730060 3/6 Business Ethics (http://link.galegroup.com.ezproxy.umgc.edu/apps/doc/CX3273100095/GVRL? u=umd_umuc&sid=GVRL&xid=698eface) Ethical Culture and Climate (http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.4135/9781412956260.n298) Ethical Decision Making (http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.umgc.edu/10.4135/9781412956260.n299) Resources
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