MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS ETHICS

Term Paper Part 1

"Monsanto Attempts to Balance Stakeholder Interests"

*Read & Review the Monsanto case in your text to use as part of your research.

*Add to the text case by doing current research on Monsanto

*Read & Review the applicable sections of the most current Annual 10K Report as submitted to the Securities & Exchange Commission.

*Read & Review the Monsanto letter to the shareholders as found in the Annual Stockholder's Report

*Listen to any messages from the CEO that can be found on YouTube.

*Conduct additional research as necessary to review and address the material below as it applies to Monsanto for this assignment.

>Benefits of Business Ethics

*Contributes to Employee Commitment?
*Contributes to Investor Loyalty?
*Contributes to Customer Satisfaction?
*Contributes to Profits?

>Interactions Between Company and Stakeholders (examples below)

*Employees?
*Customers?
*Investors?
*Suppliers?
*Community?
*Environmental Groups?
*Government Agencies?
*Special Interest Groups?
*Mass Media?
*Competitors?
*Shareholders?
*Trade Associations?

>Steps of Social Responsibility

*Economic?
*Legal?
*Ethical?
*Philanthropic?

>Implementing a Stakeholder Perspective

*STEP 1 - Assessing the Corporate Culture?
*STEP 2 - Identify Stakeholder Groups?
*STEP 3 - Identify Stakeholder Issues?
*STEP 4 - Assessing Organizational Commitment to Social Responsibility?
*STEP 5 - Identifying Resources and Determining Urgency?
*STEP 6 - Gaining Stakeholders Feedback?

>Shareholder Issues

*Core values
*Shareholder participation in electing directors
*Executive compensation
*Legal compliance
*Lobbying and political activities
*Reputation management
*Integrity in collecting and managing data
*Supply chain relationships and human rights

>Foundational values for identifying ethical issues

*Integrity
*Honesty
*Fairness

>Specific Types of Observed Misconduct in Business - Issues & Dilemmas

*Misuse of company time
*Abusive Behavior
*Lying to employees
*Company resource abuse
*Violating company internet use policies
*Discrimination
*Conflicts of interest
*Inappropriate social networking
*Health or safety violators
*Lying to outside stakeholders
*Stealing
*Falsifying time reports or hours worked
*Employee benefit violations
*Sexual harassment
*Fraud
*Consumer Fraud
*Financial misconduct
*Insider trading
*Intellectual property rights
*Privacy issues

>Voluntary Boundary, Core Practices, & Mandated Boundaries of Ethical Decisions

*Voluntary boundary
*Core practice
*Mandated boundary

<>Laws Regulating Competition (p.100)
<>Laws Protecting Consumers (p. 101)
<>Laws Promoting Equity and Safety

>Gatekeepers and Stakeholders

*Accountants
*Risk assessment
*Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX) Act

<>Promote transparency
<>Reduce conflict of interest
<>Increase accountability
<>Creation of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
<>Auditor & Analyst Independence
<>Whistle-Blower Protection

>Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations - (P.112)

*Develop & Disseminate a Code of Conduct to Every Member of the Organization
*High Ranking Personnel (ethics officer) Must Have Oversight Over the Ethics Program
*No One of Known Misconduct Can Hold a Position of Authority
*Create A Communication System for Disseminating Standards & Procedures
*Create Monitoring & Auditing Systems to Receive Reports On & Detect Misconduct
*Take Immediate Appropriate & Fair Disciplinary Actions Against Direct & Indirect Offenders
* When Violations are Discovered Modifications to the Ethical Compliance Program, Additional Training on These Modifications, and Communication on This Specific Conduct Must be Implemented So That Similar Offenses May Be Prevented

>Highly Appropriate Core Practices

*Voluntary Responsibilities
*Cause-Related Marketing
*Strategic Philanthropy

>Normative Considerations in Ethical Decision Making of Corporate Strategies

>Application of one or more of the Philosophies Used in Business Decisions (Table 6-1 / P. 157)

REQUIRED FOR TERM PAPER PART 1:

Prepare a written report using the text criteria above. As you research the actions, professed practices, management standards, published information, and products and services of Monsanto, use the criteria above as a check list with which to examine and evaluate this organization. Use the Monsanto case in the text as a starting point then supplement this with your research of the 2015 10K Annual Report to the SEC, Letter to the Shareholders, Letter to the Stakeholders, and any other sources that can be found to help you understand and learn about Monsanto. In other words, do you find any evidence of any of the chapter criteria above in this Monsanto case, 2015 10K Annual Report, Letter to the Shareholders, Letter to the Stakeholders, and other research? Write about what you find that connects with our chapter criteria above. This first paper is purely research so no proposals or suggestions are to be presented. This comes in the last paper of this semester. You may, however, describe what you find as evidence that Monsanto is or is not practicing what we are studying in the text. I would also expect to read about your critiques along the way as to what you believe are strengths or weaknesses. Again, proposals are covered later.

Prepare all of your report with proper college level English in a proper sentence structure and paragraph format and using APA guidelines. No abstract is needed. Be specific and current in your reporting of each of the criteria.Outlines are not acceptable as a report format for this assignment. Extraordinarily large quotes are not acceptable. Include a cover sheet and a reference page. Research 5 sites minimum for your research. Remember to consider the assigned research and your text as sources that need to be cited. Remember to show your name on your paper. Prepare your paper using Times New Roman 12 fonts in a double spaced format with a minimum of 1650 words. Enter this completed assignment into Blackboard and include all assignment materials in one file. Name your file "your last name - MGT 330 - TERM PAPER PART I".

• Your written work will be evaluated based on the following elements of writing, listed in order of importance:

- Focus: Concentration or emphasis on a subject or objective. May be addressed in the following terms: objectives of assignment, thesis, argument, main point, central theme, conclusions, or recommendations.

- Development: Support and/or elaboration of the focus. May include: explanation, description, analysis, narrative, exploration, use of source material or data, or discussion of methodology.

- Organization: Coherent order and grouping of material. May be addressed in the following terms: overarching structure, paragraph structure, or use of transitions.

- Style: Tone conveyed toward material and/or audience. May be addressed in the following terms: word choice, sentence structure, voice, or persona.

- Conventions: Adherence to standards of grammar, punctuation, spelling, and APA discipline-specific rules of formatting and citation.