Ethical standards and principles as they apply to business conduct and business decisions
- Deal chiefly with standards a company has (and that are elaborated in its code of ethics) about what is right and wrong insofar as the conduct of its business concerns and about what behaviors are expected of company personel.
- Are not materially different from ethical principles in general
The contention that the most important concepts of what is right and what is wrong are universal and transcend most all cultures, societies, and religions is representative of
ethical universalism
The contention that since different societies and cultures have divergent values and standards of right and wrong it is appropriate to judge behavior as ethical/unethical in the light of local customs and social mores rather than according to a single set of ethical standards
ethical relativism
The contention that ethical standards should be governed both by (1) a limited number of universal ethical principles that are widely recognized as putting legitimate ethical boundaries on actions and behavior in all situations and (2) the circumstances of local cultures, traditions, and shared values that further prescribe what constitutes ethically permissible behavior and what does not are the basic principles of
Integrative social contracts theory
An immoral manager is one who
- has no regard for so-called ethical standards in business and pays no attention to ethical principles in making decisions and conducting the company's business
- an immoral manager has few scruples, little or integrity, and is willing to do most anything when the risks are acceptable and the personal payoff is attractive.
An amoral manager is one who
- believes businesses ought to be able to do whatever the prevailing laws and regulations all them to do without being shackled by any ethical considerations;
- amoral managers view the observance of high ethical standards (doing more than what is required by law) as too Sunday schoolish for the tough competitive world of business.
A company's strategy needs to be ethical because
1. Because a strategy that is unethical in whole or in part is morally wrong and reflects badly on the character of the company personnel involved and
2. Because an ethical strategy is good business and in the self-interest of shareholders
Which one of the following is not among the penalties or costs that companies commonly incur when they are found to have engaged in ethical wrongdoing?
The penalties or costs include
Visible Costs: government fines and penalties, civil penalties arising from class-action lawsuits
Internal legal and investigative costs, costs of providing remedial education and ethics training to company personnel
Intangible
A company is said to be exercising social responsibility when it
balances strategic actions to benefit shareholders against the duty to be a good corporate citizen
Which of the following should not be on a company's menu to consider in crafting a social responsibility strategy?
Should: striving to employ an ethical strategy and observe ethical principles in operating the business; making charitable contributions, supporting worthy organizational causes, participating in community service activities, helping to make a difference in the lives of the disadvantaged, and trying to be better than quality of life in society at large; taking actions to protect or enhance the environment and, in particular, to minimize or eliminate any adverse impact on the environment stemming from the company’s own business activity; creating a work environment that enhances employees’ quality of life and makes the company a great place to work; building a workforce that is diverse with respect to gender, race, national origin, and perhaps other aspects that different people bring to the workplace.
The moral case for why businesses should act in a socially responsible manner
boils down to “it’s the right thing to do” – ordinary decency, civic-mindedness, and concern for the well-being of society should be expected of any business.
A solid business case can be made that companies should act in a socially responsible manner and adopt environmentally sustainable business practices because
1. such actions can lead to increased buyer patronage;
2. A strong commitment to socially responsible behavior reduces the risk of reputation-damaging incidents;
3. Socially responsible actions yield internal benefits (particularly concerning employee recruiting, workforce retention, and training costs) and can improve operational efficiency;
4. Well-conceived social responsibility strategies work to the advantage of shareholders
Once company manager have decided on a strategy, the emphasis turns to
converting it into actions and good results
The principal managerial components of the strategy execution process include which one of the following?
Included:
- staffing the organization and developing the resources, competencies, capabilities, and organizational structure to execute strategy successfully
- steering the needed resources to execution-critical value chain activities
- ensuring that policies and procedures facilitate rather than impede strategy execution
- adopting best practices and pushing for continuous improvement in how value chain activities are performed
The best two signs of good strategy execution are
whether a company is meeting or beating its performance targets and has attained real proficiency in performing strategy-critical value chain activities.
The three components of building an organization capable of good strategy execution are
1. Staffing the organization
2. Acquiring, developing and strengthening the resources, competencies, and capabilities important to good strategy execution
3. structuring the organization and work effort .
The most important consideration in putting together a strong top management team is to
fill key managerial slots with smart people who are clear thinkers, good at figuring out what needs to be done, skilled in managing people and getting things done, and accomplished in delivering good results
Once a company develops appealing competencies and competitive capabilities,
must be continually refreshed and recalibrated to remain aligned with changing customer expectations ever evolving competitive conditions and outcompete rivals
---In situations where rivals can readily copy the successful features of a company's strategy, the only durable path to competitive advantage is to
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