Summarize the most significant points you have learned about business ethics

Apply the 8-step decision making model to describe an ethical dilemma you have observed or experienced on the job or in a business, organization, association, community group, etc.

1. Gather the facts. When making an important business decision, it is necessary to gather relevant facts. Ask yourself such questions as, "Are there any legal issues involved here?" "Is there a precedent in our firm with respect to this type of decision?" "Do I have the authority to make this decision?" "Are there company rules and regulations governing such a decision?"

2. Define the ethical issue. The ethical issues in a given decision are often more complicated than suggested at first glance. When faced with a complex decision, it may be helpful to talk over the ethical issues with another person. The ethical issues might involve common ethical problems such as:

        Lying to customers

        Job discrimination

        Sexual harassment

        Offering or accepting bribes or kickbacks

        Overstatement of the capability of a product or service

        Use of corporate resources for personal gain

3. Identify the affected parties. When faced with a complex ethical decision, it is important to identity those who will feel the impact of the decision. Brainstorming may be helpful to identity all the parties affected by a given decision. Major corporate decisions can affect thousands of people. If a company decides to shut down a plant and outsource manufacturing to a low-wage country, thousands of individuals and many different parties are affected. Workers lose their jobs, suppliers lose their customers, the local government loses out on tax revenues, and local merchants lose many of their customers.

The people affected by the decision to delay expense-account reimbursements include the workers owed the money and their families. In some instances, the creditors of the workers owed money may also receive late payments.

4. Identify the consequences. After you have identified the parties affected by the decision, the next step is to predict the consequences for each party. It may not be necessary to identity every consequence. Yet it is important to identity the consequences with the highest probability of occurring and those with the most negative outcomes. Both short-term and long-term consequences should be specified. The company closing a plant might create considerable short-term turmoil but might be healthier in the long term. A healthy company would then be able to provide for more workers. The short-term consequences of delaying expense reimbursements might be a few grumbles; ill will probably will be created for the long term. The symbolic consequences of an action are important. Every action and decision sends a message (the message is a symbol of something). If a company moves manufacturing out of a community to save on labor costs, it means that the short-term welfare of domestic employees are less important than the welfare of shareholders. Delaying expense-account reimbursements symbolize more concern about optimizing cash flow than treating employees fairly.

5. Identify the obligations. When making a complex decision, identify the obligations and the reason for each one. A manufacturer of automotive brakes has an obligation to produce and sell only brakes that meet high safety standards. The obligation is to the auto manufacturer who purchases the brakes, and more importantly to the ultimate consumer, whose safety depends on effective brakes. The ultimate reason for the obligation to make safe brakes is that lives are at stake.

6. Consider your character and integrity. A core consideration when faced with an ethical dilemma is to consider how relevant people would judge your character and integrity. What would your family, friends, significant others, teachers, and coworkers think of your actions? How would you feel if your actions were publicly disclosed in the local newspaper or through e-mail? If you would be proud for others to know what decision you made when you faced an ethical dilemma, you are probably making the right decision.

?7. Thinking creatively about potential actions. When faced with an ethical dilemma, put yourself in a creative-thinking mode. Stretch your imagination to invent several options rather than thinking you have only two choices—to do or not to do something. Creative thinking may point toward a third choice, or even more alternatives. Visualize the ethical dilemma of a purchasing agent who is told by a sales rep that he will receive a Blackberry as a token of appreciation if his company signs a contract. The agent says to himself, "I think we should award the contract to the firm, but I cannot accept the gift. Yet if I turn down the gift, I will be forfeiting a valuable possession that the company simply regards as a cost of doing business."

by thinking creatively, the agent finds another alternative. He tells the sales rep, "We will grant the contract to your firm because your product fits our requirements. I thank you for the offer of the Blackberry but instead please give it to the Southside Young Entrepreneur's Club in my name."   

8. Check your intuition. So far we have emphasized the rational side of ethical decision making. Another effective way of conducting an ethics screen is to rely on intuition. How does the contemplated decision feel, taste, and smell? Would you be proud of yourself or would you be disgusted with yourself if you made the decision? Of course, if a person lacks a conscience, checking intuition is not effective.

Describe which ethical approach (consequentialist, deontological, or virtue) you think was taken by the individuals involved and why.

Review your analysis of the ethical dilemma and the information you have learned in this course. Did the organization respond appropriately? Why or why not?