MANAGING SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY
AND ETHICS

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 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss what it means to be socially responsible and what
factors influence that decision.
2. Explain green management and how organizations can go
green.
3. Discuss the factors that lead to ethical and unethical
behavior.
• Develop your skill at creating trust in work groups.
4. Describe management’s role in encouraging ethical
behavior.
 Know how to make good decisions about ethical dilemmas.

5. Discuss current social responsibility and ethics issues.

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 FROM OBLIGATION TO RESPONSIVENESS
TO RESPONSIBILITY

• Social Obligation – the obligation of a

business to meet its economic and legal
responsibilities and nothing more.
• Classical view – the view that management’s
only social responsibility is to maximize
profits.

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 FROM OBLIGATION TO RESPONSIVENESS
TO RESPONSIBILITY (CONT.)
• Socioeconomic view – the view that
management’s social responsibility goes beyond
making profits to include protecting and
improving society’s welfare.
• Social responsiveness – when a firm engages
in social actions in response to some popular
social need.

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 FROM OBLIGATION TO RESPONSIVENESS
TO RESPONSIBILITY (CONT.)

• Social responsibility
– a business’s
intention, beyond its
legal and economic
obligations, to do the
right things and act in
ways that are good for
society.

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 SHOULD ORGANIZATIONS
BE SOCIALLY INVOLVED?
 Social Screening – applying social criteria
(screens) to investment decisions.
• SRI funds usually will not invest in
companies involved in liquor, gambling,
tobacco, nuclear power weapons, price
fixing, fraud, or in companies that have
poor product safety, employee relations,
and environmental track records.

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 EXHIBIT 6-1
ARGUMENTS FOR AND AGAINST SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY

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 GREEN MANAGEMENT AND
SUSTAINABILITY
• Green Management – managers
consider the impact of their
organization on the natural
environment.

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 HOW ORGANIZATIONS GO GREEN

• Legal (or Light Green) Approach – firms

simply do what is legally required by obeying
laws, rules, and regulations willingly and
without legal challenge.
• Market Approach – firms respond to the
preferences of their customers for
environmentally friendly products.

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 HOW ORGANIZATIONS GO GREEN
(CONT.)
• Stakeholder Approach – firms work to meet
the environmental demands of multiple
stakeholders—employees, suppliers, and the
community.
• Activist Approach – firms look for ways to
respect and preserve the environment and be
actively socially responsible.

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 EXHIBIT 6-2
GREEN APPROACHES

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 MANAGERS
AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
 Ethics – principles, values, and
beliefs that define right and wrong
behavior.
• Many decisions managers make
require them to consider both the
process and who’s affected by the
result.

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 EXHIBIT 6-3
FACTORS THAT DETERMINE ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

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 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR
 Stage of Moral Development
– Preconvention level – a person’s choice
between right or wrong is based on personal
consequences.
– Conventional level, ethical decisions rely on
living up to the expectations of others.
– Principled level, individuals define moral
values apart from the authority of the groups
or society in general.

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 EXHIBIT 6-4
STAGES OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT

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 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
Characteristics
 Individual
– Values – basic convictions about what is right
and wrong.
– Ego Strength – a personality measure of the
strength of a person’s convictions.
– Locus of Control – a personality attribute
that measures the degree to which people
believe they control their own fate.

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 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
Culture
 Organization’s
– Organization’s culture consists of the shared
organizational values. These values reflect what the
organization stands for and what it believes in as well
as create an environment that influences employee
behavior ethically or unethically.
– Values-based management – the organization’s
values guide employees in the way they do their jobs.

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 FACTORS THAT DETERMINE ETHICAL
AND UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR (CONT.)
– six characteristics determine
 Issue Intensity
issue intensity or how important an ethical
issue is to an individual:
– Greatness of harm
– Consensus of wrong
– Probability of harm
– Immediacy of consequences
– Proximity to victim(s)
– Concentration of effect

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 EXHIBIT 6-5 ISSUE INTENSITY

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 ETHICS IN AN INTERNATIONAL
CONTEXT
• Ethical standards are not universal
– Social and cultural differences determine
acceptable behaviors.
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
– It is illegal to corrupt a foreign official, yet
“token” payments to officials are
permissible when doing so is an accepted
practice in that country.

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 EXHIBIT 6-6
THE TEN PRINCIPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS
GLOBAL COMPACT

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 ENCOURAGING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR

• Employee Selection – an opportunity to

learn about an individual’s level of
moral development, personal values,
ego strength, and locus of control.
• Code of ethics – a formal statement of
an organization’s primary values and
the ethical rules it expects its
employees to follow.

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 EXHIBIT 6-7 CODES OF ETHICS

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 EXHIBIT 6-7 CODES OF ETHICS
(CONT.)

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 EXHIBIT 6-8
A PROCESS FOR ADDRESSING ETHICAL DILEMMAS

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 ENCOURAGING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
(CONT.)
– doing business ethically
 Leadership
requires a commitment from top managers
because:
– they’re the ones who uphold the shared
values and set the cultural tone.
– they’re role models in terms of both words and
actions.
– what they do is far more important than what
they say.

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 ENCOURAGING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
(CONT.)
 JobGoals and Performance Appraisal
– Unrealistic goals provide stress which may
pressure ethical employees to do whatever is
necessary to meet those goals.
– If performance appraisals focus only on
economic goals, ends will begin to justify
means.
– To encourage ethical behavior, both ends and
means should be evaluated.

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 ENCOURAGING ETHICAL BEHAVIOR
(CONT.)
• Ethics Training – seminars, workshops, and similar
ethics training programs to encourage ethical
behavior.
• Independent Social Audits – evaluate decisions and
management practices in terms of the
organization’s code of ethics.
• Protective Mechanisms – allow employees who
face ethical dilemmas to do what’s right without fear
of reprimand.

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 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND
ETHICS ISSUES IN TODAY’S WORLD
 Managing Ethical Lapses and Social
Irresponsibility
– One survey reported that among 5,000 employees: 45
percent admitted falling asleep at work and 22 percent
said they spread a rumor about a coworker.
– Another showed that 26 percent of college and
university business majors admitted to “serious
cheating” on exams and 54 percent admitted to
cheating on written assignments.

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 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS
ISSUES IN TODAY’S WORLD (CONT.)
 Ethical Leadership – managers must
provide ethical leadership. What managers
do has a strong influence on employees’
decisions whether to behave ethically.
• Protection of Employees Who Raise Ethical
Issues:
– Whistle-Blower – individuals who raise
ethical concerns or issues to others

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 EXHIBIT 6-9
BEING AN ETHICAL LEADER

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 SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS
ISSUES IN TODAY’S WORLD (CONT.)
 Social Entrepreneur – an individual or
organization who seeks out opportunities to
improve society by using practical, innovative,
and sustainable approaches.
• Corporate Philanthropy – can be an effective
way for companies to address societal problems.
• Employee Volunteering Efforts – a popular
way for businesses to be involved in promoting
social change.

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 REVIEW LEARNING OBJECTIVE 6.1

• Discuss what it means to be socially

responsible and what factors influence that
decision.
– Social obligation – a firm engages in social
actions because of its obligation to meet certain
economic and legal responsibilities.
– Social responsiveness – when a firm engages in
social actions in response to some popular social
need.

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 REVIEW LEARNING OBJECTIVE 6.2

• Explain green management and how

organizations can go green.
– Different approaches
• Light green
• Market approach
• Stakeholder approach
• Activist or dark green approach

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 REVIEW LEARNING OBJECTIVE 6.3

• Discuss the factors that lead to ethical and

unethical behavior.
– Factors that affect ethical and unethical behavior
include
• an individual’s level of moral development
• individual characteristics
• structural variables
• organizational culture
• issue intensity

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 REVIEW LEARNING OBJECTIVE 6.4

• Describe management’s role in

encouraging ethical behavior.
– The behavior of managers is the single most
important influence on an individual’s decision to act
ethically or unethically.
– Other ways include employee selection, a code of
ethics, using means and ends for goals and
performance appraisal and ethics training.

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 REVIEW LEARNING OBJECTIVE 6.5

• Discuss current social responsibility and

ethics issues.
– Ethical leaders also are honest, share their
values, stress important shared values, and use
the reward system appropriately.
– Managers can protect whistle-blowers
(employees who raise ethical issues or concerns)
by encouraging them to come forward.

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COPYRIGHT © 2016 BY PEARSON
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