Introduction
W1 Business Decision Making
and Ethics
Question: What were the ethics-related opportunities in this X case?
Source: [Link]
musk-twitter-visit-sink Entrepreneurship Vs Work-life balance?
[Link]
hours-at-high-intensity-or-leave-11668608923
Question: What are the ethical hazards and opportunities here?
"Subway's
Footlong is 1
Inch Short"
[Link]
coming-up-short
Question: Hazards and Opportunities?
"FTI Consulting
established that
transactions were
fabricated starting in April
2019 and that Luckin
Coffee’s net revenue was
overstated by more than
$190 million"
[Link]
The Nature of Business Ethics
What is "Ethics"? (Ghyller 2017)
The field of ethics is the study of how we try to
live our lives according to:
The study of how we
A standard of "right" or think AND behave
"wrong" towards others
Here we
apply it to
business
And how we would like
others to think
and behave towards us
Ethics and Morals:
Traditionally people often talk about
morals from a religious point of
view. Morality is often emphasised in
temples, churches, mosques, synagogues
Morals = related to right etc.
and wrong
However, philosophers often
Ethics = moral standards use the terms – ethics and
that indicate how people morals interchangeably
should act
Some challenges in business:
What is the basis for
those moral standards?
Harm vs help? Social stability?
Quality of life?
How do we practically
use those standards in
our specific contexts as
they arise?
How do we judge right Especially whilst running
from wrong? a business?
What is Business Ethics?
The application of
Research Conducting
standards of moral Studies Surveys
behavior to
business situations.
Descriptive Approach Describing the customs, attitudes, and rules that can be
observed when going into a business.
Setting Providing
standards Code of training
Two Main Conduct
Approaches/Activities:
Normative (Prescriptive) The evaluation of the degree to which customs, attitudes
Approach and rules can be said to be ethical.
Values
When standards When you try to
Moral standards
share similarities formalize those
usually come
in a community, principles into a code of
from your
we tend to be conduct, you are
background
called values creating a value system
Happiness
Intrinsic value Self-respect
Methods:
Health Policies and
A value can be said
Regulations
to have a particular
Codes of Conduct
worth
Money etc.
Instrumental Value Responsibility
Creativity
Value Conflicts
Values in conflict
with actions:
Lying is wrong But lying to protect
a human life?
Theft is wrong But theft to feed a
starving person?
Killing is wrong But killing in self-
defense?
Resolving Value
Conflicts
This is the complex
(and interesting)
part of business
ethics
What are the
special
circumstances Should we
? formalize
this in our
Where are code?
How do we
the
justify?
exceptions?
Ethical Theories:
Theories that Guide Ethics in
Business
Human civilization has led to much
Ethical Theories discussion of ethics for thousands of
years.
Origins are in ancient Chinese, Indian,
Greek, Roman and others.
However, there can be said to be
three main schools of thought.
These are:
Virtue Duty Consequence
Ethical Dilemmas
Ethical dilemmas offer a
way to really understand
ethics in practice
You might have ethical But how do they stand up
principles to reality in business?
So, the tension between
good principles and practice
can be considered a
dilemma
Resolving Dilemmas
It is often a matter of
These are not easy to
choosing the lesser
resolve
of two evils
As a manager or
other business
Fortunately, we do
leader, you will likely
have methods
have to deal with
(including this
many ethical
course) that will help
dilemmas in your
career
Business Ethics
Resources
News of Interest: Find the Facts - Discover the Narratives - Make Informed Decisions
Avoid hoaxes, go for broader information, and build better decision processes.
Some suggested methods:
New IT Solutions:
Seek Opposing
E.g. Community Identify Biases
Views
Notes e.g. Mediabias
e.g. Allsides
LINK
Smarter Search Build a heterodox
Take note of fact
Techniques: search habit
checkers
Keyword Modifiers (adjust your feed to
(Carefully!)
such as "debunked" include broader
Google Fact Check
or "Fact Check" views)
Avoid a
restrictive
information
bubble
Group Interaction: Expanding your Awareness
How can we build better information sources?
1. Write down a list of your 3 main news sources that have at least some business element
2. Check out each other's sources using your phone/device
3. What would you consider "new" sources that might add to your decision making?
Recommended Reading
Ghillyer, Andrew. Business Ethics Now. (6th edition, 2021). New York: McGraw-Hill.
ISBN-13: 978-1260262513
Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do About It. Max Bazerman and Ann Tenbrunsel
(2014). Available as an eBook via the library.
Local and Global Business Ethics Resources [Link]
Ethics and Compliance Initiative ECI [Link]
ICAC [Link]
3BL CSR (Corporate social responsibility) [Link]
Transparency International [Link]
More thoughts on the Twitter-to-X issue:
3 months to
make the
business work!
What decisions
do I need to What
make? opportunities
might arise?
Twitter X
Did the values change?
Did the purpose change?
Yao Yue Main Changes: Matt Taibbi
Labour Shadow banning
Case case
Work-life balance Transformative ambition
Equity Equality
More anti-hate-speech More anti-CSEM
Pro-Liberal Pro-Traditional/libertarian
info moderation info moderation
Economic Change:
Fully Private
Public Company
Ownership
More thoughts on the Footlong-Inch-short issue:
Advertising
Standards?
Trade
descriptions
Trust? Reputation?
How do we
resolve this?
Overview
Footlong? Or
Inch-short?
Change
Leadership and
Values
Outcomes
Take-away Points of Interest:
• Mastering Complexity:
• In your chosen career, what are the most likely complex issues you might have
to deal with in your decision-making?
• Opportunity Detection:
• How can you best discover business opportunities in ethically
complex situations?
• Value Seeking:
• How can you build a more intelligent "values radar" to add-value?
• Trap Detection:
• How can you best deal with those hidden ethics traps in your own career?
