Section C Ethics

Question 1

Development and most referenced
approaches to ethics

Answer 1

• The first ethical precepts must have been passed down by word of mouth from parents and elders, but as societies learned to use the written word, they began to set down their ethical beliefs.
• There where different types of approaches to ethics, like:
  Antic ‘eye for an eye’;
  Ten Commandments;
  Modern:
  Consequentialism - judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are, (including utilitarianism - greatest happiness for greatest amount o people)
  Deontological theories - assume that some choices cannot be justified by their effects—that no matter how morally good their consequences, some choices are morally forbidden

Question 2

What is ethics?

Answer 2

• It is part of philosophy and is also called moral philosophy

-the discipline concerned with what is morally good/right and bad/wrong

• is concerned by fundamental issues of practical decision making, such as how should we live? Shall we aim at happiness or at knowledge, virtue, or the creation of beautiful objects? If we choose happiness, will it be our own or the happiness of all?

Question 3

Reasons for ethical behaviour

Answer 3

Creating positive image in general (which will cover different perspectives: customers, investors, government etc). In particular:
1. Building up customer loyalty
2. Developing positive /motivating work environment
3. Reducing legal risks
4. Meeting customers growing expectations
5. Meeting partners (suppliers, alliance etc) growing expectations
5. Increasing profits

Question 4

Adverse effects of ethical behaviour

Answer 4

1. Costly, at least in the short term
2. Competitors may respond, to maintain their position, which may mean additional cost or lost benefit
3. As company becomes selective with regard to suppliers (your product may be ethical, if all its components are ethical) , some of them, who may not meet company’s new ethical objectives, may respond to protect their orders.

Question 5

CSR?

Answer 5

-Concept that a business has an obligation to operate in a way that will have a positive impact on society.
-The CSR policy is based on the companies intention to be a good ‘corporate citizen’, setting standard for others
- More likely to be a sustainable business model

Question 6

How the company’s ethical stance is influenced by stakeholders?

Answer 6

No company can make decisions without involvement of human beings, who have some moral stance.
The companies ethical stance will depend on the power and interest levels of its stakeholders and on their individual moral.

Question 7

Is `good working conditions’ a universal value?

Answer 7

What is considered `good’ is already controversial and different theories explain it differently. The difference becomes even more wide-ranging for different places/regions/nations/cultures and times/eras.

Question 8

What is social sustainability?

Answer 8

The need to take human factors into account internally (e.g. workers expectations, understanding of business ethics) or externally (e.g. local communities’s expectations, understanding of business ethics) for a business to survive long-term

Question 9

HR vs ethics?

Answer 9

Not only should businesses treat their employees ethically, today it must do so. With the Internet, people have greater ability to send and receive information. As a result, businesses have to be careful to act in an ethical manner – or at the least to create that appearance.

Ethics is a factors at many areas of HR:
● Hiring - selection (non-discrimination)
● Remuneration (merit-based, non-discriminatory)
● Health and safety
● Maintenance of relations (non-discrimination in
promotions)
● Dismissal and redundancies (non-discrimination,
fairness)

Question 10

Offshoring vs ethics?

Answer 10

● it means redundancies at original place, making people unhappy
● On the one hand, it means raising employment in a law-wage, probably less developed country

Question 11

Leadership with rewards and punishments vs ethics?

Answer 11

May be controversial.

Question 12

R&D & ethical issues:

Answer 12

● genetically modified?
● stem cells?
● animal experiments?

Question 13

Marketing research & ethical issues

Answer 13

●Deceptive practices, such as

not telling customers that information is being collected when they visit a website
misrepresenting research numbers by changing database numbers.
Any other action that uses lies and deception to get information.

●Invasion of privacy

Unprecedented ability of new technologies to find, collect, store and match personal information. The process of targeting can have an effect on personal freedom.

●Breaches of confidentiality

Companies regularly share information about customers with partners. Without prior permission, they may just give the option to opt-out. Ethically, any unauthorized disclosure of customer information is problematic.

●Objectivity
Researchers own opinions may bias their work and contribute to the continuation of stereotypes in advertising.

Question 14

Marketing/ads vs Ethics

Answer 14

1. Ethical advertising is not only a a moral choice but also a pragmatic business decision – the reputation and sales of a business can be severely affected if advertising methods are found to be misleading or offensive.
2. Many countries have a regulating body to monitor advertising. In such a way some part of ethics adopted by the society is guarded by law.

Question 15

Disadvantages of offshoring?

Answer 15

● Ethical issues, such as reducing workplaces in the home state

● plus cultural and/or
● language barriers
●

Question 16

What 3 wide-ranging factors should the operations managers take into account when making decisions to meet 3 pillars of sustainability?

Answer 16

Economic to ensure economic sustainability

Social to ensure social sustainability

Ecological to ensure environmental sustainability

Question 17

What is social sustainability?

Answer 17

The need to take human factors into account internally (workers) or externally (local communities) for a business to survive long-term

Question 18

Benefits of Tripple bottom line reporting?

Answer 18

Aims to have positive impact on the world

May boost employee retention as workers may appreciate favorable working conditions

May result in greater external funds from investors

May result in greater sales from customers who otherwise can not decide between two similar products.

As businesses become more and more regulated, sudden changes in environmental or labour law may not have a shocking effect on companies which approached the issues throughout longer time - long-term efficiencies may be achieved

Question 19

limitations of Tipple bottomline reporting?

Answer 19

May be more difficult to assess non-financial inputs or outputs

Lack of comparability as opposed to improved comparability of financial measures (through global standardisation of accounting practices)

May result in competing strategies, making it difficult to easily pivot from one plan to another

Will likely increase the cost of operations due to needing to find alternative products or processes

Question 20

Disadvantage of globalization for local communities

Answer 20

1. Profits are repatriated - foreign companies pay taxes and salaries, but the profits may be totally taken out from the host country
2. Local culture or products may suffer or change through the appeal of globally advertised values
3. Brain drain - to other countries
4. Loss of market share of local businesses