Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Instructor Manual
Chapter 11: Engaging and Empowering Ethical Employees
CHAPTER 11 LEARNING OBJECTIVES AND END OF CHAPTER QUESIONS
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
11.1 Explain the extent and benefits of employee engagement.
End of Chapter Question 1: How engaged are American workers and what are the
11.3 Compare and contrast how to ethically empower employees who possess each
of the three different work attitudes and behaviors.
11.4 Facilitate an effective team problem-solving process.
End of Chapter Question 4: How would you facilitate a team problem-solving
process? What are its advantages?
11.5 Describe how five group-based financial incentive systems operate and
empower employees.
End of Chapter Question 5: Explain how five group-based financial incentive
CHAPTER 11 OVERVIEW
A high-performing ethical organization is a community of people in which each employee has a
sense of belongingness and ownership, and feels respected and accountable. Some systems of
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
management treat nonmanagement employees with greater respect than others by actively
involving them in the decision-making process. Organizations with engaged and empowered
CHAPTER 11 LECTURE OUTLINE
Suggested Time: 2 to 3 hours of class time is recommended to present this chapter.
I. Chapter Question 1: How engaged are American workers and what are the
benefits of employee engagement?
II. Chapter Question 2: As a manager, how can you ethically engage employees
with their work tasks?
Human Needs
III. Chapter Question 3: Describe different techniques for managing go-getters,
fence-sitters, and adversarials.
Empowering Go-Getters, Fence-Sitters, and Adversarials
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
IV. Chapter Question 4: How would you facilitate a team problem-solving
process? What are its advantages?
Empowering Effective Teams
V. Chapter Question 5: Explain how five group-based financial incentive
systems—Scanlon-type gainsharing plans, profit sharing, stock option and
stock purchase plans, ESOPs, and worker-owned cooperatives—operate and
empower employees.
Scanlon-Type Gainsharing Plans
CHAPTER 11 SUPPORTING MATERIALS
Textbook Inserts
Ethical Dilemma Analysis
• What Would You Do: Unproductive Senior Manager
Tables and Figures
• Figure 11.1: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• Table 11.2: Workplace Attitudes and Behaviors
Self-Assessment (in Vantage only)
• Self-Assessment 11.1: Core Elements of Employee Engagement
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Thematic Boxes
• Up for Debate: $15 Employee Motivation
CHAPTER QUESTION 1: HOW ENGAGED ARE AMERICAN WORKERS AND
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
EXTENT OF EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
o Organizations need talented employees committed to task performance, organizational
goals, and the organization itself.
o Employee engagement is an emotional bond or attachment an employee has to the work
o A strong linkage exists between ethical organizations and employee engagement.
Researchers at the Ethics Resource Center and Hay Group report that employees in
organizations whose managers and supervisors have high ethical integrity, open and
honest communications, and high levels of accountability are more engaged in
CHAPTER QUESTION 2: AS A MANAGER, HOW CAN YOU ETHICALLY ENGAGE
EMPLOYEES WITH THEIR WORK TASKS?
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
ENGAGING EMPLOYEES THROUGH HUMAN NEEDS
• Some developmental psychologists and organization theorists maintain that individual
PAUL LAWRENCE
• Individuals are influenced by four innate subconscious drives, according to Paul
Lawrence:
1. The drive to acquire objects and experiences that improve our status relative to others
2. The drive to defend ourselves, our loved ones, our beliefs, and our resources from
harm
ABRAHAM MASLOW
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
• Developmental psychologist Abraham Maslow differentiated five categories of needs
every individual has: (1) physiological, (2) safety, (3) social, (4) self-esteem, and (5) self-
actualization.
• Maslow maintained that these five needs exist in the form of a hierarchy where
needs.
• Figure 11.1, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, shows how these needs can be addressed at
the workplace.
o Level 1: Physiological needs—oxygen, food, water, sleep
▪ Work implication: lunch breaks, rest breaks, living wage
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students independently distribute 100 points based on how important each of the five needs
in Maslow’s hierarchy is to their lives and their parents. Which of the five needs received the
most number of points? Which the fewest number of points? Why? Do they have the same needs
as their parents? Discuss in small groups.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Which of the five needs received the most number of points?
Which the fewest number of points? Why? Discuss in small groups.
DAVID MCCLELLAND
• The work of David McClelland complements Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
• McClelland emphasizes three human needs: (1) a need for affiliation, (2) a need for
achievement, and (3) a need for power or authority.
o Managers can best engage an employee by matching the individual’s most dominant
need with its associated motivating factor. Generally, the following is true:
▪ Employees with a high need for achievement are motivated by challenging work.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students independently rate themselves and their parents as high, moderate, or low for each
of McClelland’s three needs, the need for (1) affiliation, (2) achievement, and (3)
power/authority. Explain why each need was rated high, moderate, or low. Do they have the
same needs as their parents? Discuss in small groups.
JOB SATISFACTION
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
• Frederick Herzberg, based on interviews with accountants and engineers, concluded
that job satisfaction is not a linear concept where the presence of some factors results in
job satisfaction and their lack contributes to job dissatisfaction. Instead, factors
• Table 11.1, Herzberg’s Job Satisfaction–Dissatisfaction Theory, details six factors that
contribute the most to employee satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
o The motivation factors that impact job satisfaction are: achievement, recognition,
• Yet many managers continue to falsely assume that the best way to motivate employees
is through financial rewards and the threat of disciplinary action.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students independently rate their current or previous job, or organization membership, as
high, moderate, or low for each of the 12 motivation and hygiene factors in Table 11.1,
Herzberg’s Job Satisfaction–Dissatisfaction Theory, and answer the following questions.
1. Explain why each motivation factor was rated high, moderate, or low. How did the factor
impact your job satisfaction?
2. Explain why each hygiene factor was rated high, moderate, or low. How did the factor
impact your job dissatisfaction?
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE
• Employee engagement is more likely when employees perceive justice, or fairness, in
decisions associated with organizational policies, procedures, and outcomes.
• Organizational justice is multidimensional. Scholars distinguish among four forms of
organizational justice—(1) procedural, (2) informational, (3) interactional, and (4)
distributive justice.
o Procedural justice: Decision-making procedures are fair. Employees can provide
input, procedures are unbiased and applied consistently, and decisions can be
appealed.
• Researchers report that organizational justice is highly associated with organizational
citizenship behaviors and commitment to supervisors and the organization.
o Employees are more willing to help coworkers who have heavy workloads or are
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students rate a current or previous employer, or organization membership, as high,
moderate, or low for each of the four organizational justice dimensions: (1) procedural, (2)
informational, (3) interactional, and (4) distributive justice. Then have them answer the questions
below and discuss in small groups.
1. Which dimension was a strength (high rating)? Provide real-life example.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
UNETHICAL BULLIES
• Unethical bullies create a range of injustices at work. Employees usually cannot perform
at peak productivity when they are being bullied by peers, subordinates, or supervisors.
• Bullying is defined as repeated verbal abuse or abusive conduct that is threatening,
• Bullying has many negative impacts on overall organizational performance.
o Low levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and morale
o High levels of absenteeism, psychological distress, and turnover
• Among workers treated uncivilly
o 80 percent lost work time worrying about the incident.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Have students think back to grade school and high school. How did they respond to an unethical
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students think back to their work experiences. How did they respond to an unethical bully
at work? Why? What were the negative impacts of the unethical bully’s behaviors on themselves
and others?
MEANINGFUL WORK
• Meaningful work is typically defined as spending time at work to achieve something
that is personally desirable.
• According to Lips-Wiersma and Morris, four sources of meaningful work are:
1. Serving others by making a difference in their lives and meeting the needs of
humanity
others
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
• As diagrammed in Figure 11.2, the four sources can be understood along two
continuums: (1) being and doing, and (2) self and others. A tension exists along each
continuum that requires carefully balancing the two extreme positions.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students plot an X on each axis in Figure 11.2, Sources of Meaningful Work, for their
current or previous job task, or organization membership. First, did the job entail students
MEASURING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
• Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman explored the Gallup Poll’s database to determine
what talented employees wanted most from the workplace.
o More than any other factor, what talented employees desired most at the workplace
• According to the most talented employees, an excellent manager did the following:
o treated every employee as an individual
o focused on an employee’s strengths rather than weaknesses
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
• The researchers interviewed excellent managers about their techniques for managing
people. They heard a common refrain about employees:
o People don’t change that much.
• The Gallup Organization researchers found that pay is not among the most important
motivational factors contributing to employee engagement and productivity.
o Pay matters, but the most productive workers can usually obtain equivalent or higher
pay elsewhere.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students complete Survey 11.1, 12 Core Elements of Employee Engagement, for a current
or previous job, or organization membership. What were the engagement strengths? What were
CHAPTER QUESTION 3: DESCRIBE DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES FOR MANAGING
GO-GETTERS, FENCE-SITTERS, AND ADVERSARIALS.
BACKGROUND
• Employee engagement contributes to, but does not necessarily require, employee
empowerment.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
WHO TO EMPOWER
• Not all employees want to be empowered, nor should all employees be empowered.
• Being ethical and fair does not mean that every employee must be empowered. Each
• Some managers mistakenly design systems to control for underperforming employees
and, in the name of fairness, impose the same control system on all employees.
o When this happens, some of the best performers quit for employment with an
• Many organizations have three types of employees in terms of workplace attitudes and
behaviors:
1. Go-getters, who are fully engaged with the work experience
• Go-getters are task-oriented employees with a “can–do” attitude. They enjoy working,
are proactive, and appreciate new challenges.
o Empower go-getters by giving them freedom and autonomy, new challenges, and
leadership positions; praise them and give them extra rewards.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
o Empower go-getters to work with fence-sitters and adversarial employees. Go-getters
• Fence-sitters meet managerial expectations and go no further. They consider a job as a
necessary burden to pay expenses. Fence-sitters put in a solid work effort and meet
performance expectations because they do not want to be fired.
• Adversarial employees do not like work and possess negative attitudes toward others,
particularly managers and go-getters, often slack off when not under managerial
observation and encourage fence-sitters to do likewise, view manager as the enemy and
criticize managers whenever possible.
o Do not empower adversarial employees.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
o Adversarial employees have leadership skills, though they are currently directed
toward the wrong ends.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students estimate the percentage of employees they knew at their current or previous job,
or organization membership, that were (a) go-getters, (b) fence-sitters, and (3) adversarial. Have
MEASURING A MANAGER’S EMPOWERMENT BEHAVIORS
• A wide range of management behaviors that can foster employee empowerment appear in
Survey 11.2, Empowering Behaviors Survey, which can be a survey instrument for
evaluating a direct supervisor’s use of empowerment techniques.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students complete the Survey 11.2, Empowering Behaviors Survey, for a current or
CHAPTER QUESTION 4: HOW WOULD YOU FACILITATE A TEAM PROBLEM-
SOLVING PROCESS? WHAT ARE ITS ADVANTAGES?
EMPOWERING EFFECTIVE TEAMS
• Every work unit is a team or small community.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
• Conversely, the most effective teams consist of members who
o Trust one another.
• Conflict is normal in both simple and complex organizations. Highly engaged and
committed employees will disagree about the best way to manage a situation.
• The pinch theory technique is a useful tool for preventing team conflicts from escalating.
Both parties enter the following 10-step planned reconciliation process. The first six steps
help to clarify the conflict and the final four steps help to resolve the conflict.
o Step 1: Party calling the “pinch” (conflict) goes first.
o Step 2: Second party repeats the information.
• The team problem-solving process below helps access each member’s unique
knowledge—introverts as well as extroverts—and generate solutions with the highest
likelihood of achieving superior performance.
1. Present the problem.
2. Define individual solutions.
Instructor Resource
Collins, Business Ethics 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students experience the problem-solving process by focusing on an experience they have
shared, such as this class. The problem statement can be: Every class is imperfect and in need of
continuous improvement. How can the professor improve this class?
OPEN BOOK MANAGEMENT
Empowering employees requires giving them the information they need to make individual or
team decisions. Transparency is an essential element of trust building.
• Open book management is a technique where managers share relevant financial and
operational information with nonmanagement employees so they can better understand
the organization’s financial situation and operational issues, and make better informed
decisions.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY