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CREATE BUSINESS ETHICS SCENARIOS PROCESS
The most meaningful ethical issues to explore are those employees observe, experience,
or hear about while employed either in their current organization or for a previous
employer.
The facilitator can help employees develop written scenarios about these ethical issues
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students read the instructions for creating an ethical narrative in Table 7.7 and then
compose a narrative that looks like the Table 7.8 example.
CHAPTER QUESTION 5: WHICH ETHICS PERSONALITY SURVEYS WOULD
MOST HELP EMPLOYEES GAIN A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR
ETHICAL NATURE? WHY?
ETHICS PERSONALITY MEASURES
Self-awareness is a key attribute in raising an employee’s moral consciousness.
Instructor Resource
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• Ethical ideology measures whether a person tends to be “principled” (deontology) or
“expedient” (relativism) when responding to an ethical dilemma, assessed with an 18-
item survey.
• Moral identity measures whether a person internalizes moral character traits
• Moral courage measures whether a person exercises moral principles. The 15-item
survey consists of five 3-item factors (moral agency, multiple values, endurance of
threats, going beyond compliance, and moral goals).
• Empathy measures a person’s emotional reaction to the experiences of another person.
• Trust measures whether a person is willing to be vulnerable in supervisor interactions,
assesed with a 7-item survey.
• Ethical self-efficacy measures whether a person believes he or she can successfully
perform an ethical behavior. A 12-item survey consists of three factors (uses and keeps
computer self-efficacy, distribution self-efficacy, and persuasion self-efficacy).
• Machiavellianism measures whether a person identifies with “the ends justify the means”
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Instructor Resource
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Distribute one or several of the personality surveys summarized in this section (see endnotes in
book for sources), have the students complete the survey and discuss the results.
LEVEL OF MORAL DEVELOPMENT ANALYSIS
• One of the most important ethics measures—level of moral development—remains an
elusive concept to measure.
• Lawrence Kohlberg and his colleagues developed a “moral judgment interview” (MJI)
instrument, a 45-minute semi-structured interview that involves coding responses to an
individual’s verbal response to three hypothetical ethical dilemmas.
o A major virtue of MJI is that respondents express their own moral reasons for
BENCHMARK TO AN IDEAL EMPLOYEE
• Employees need to know in advance what managers expect of them. Managers usually
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students read the instructions for Self-Assessment 7.1 Qualities of an Ideal Employee (in
Vantage only). Have students complete the survey and discuss the results in a small group.
Instructor Resource
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WORK AS A CALLING
• Every job can be framed in terms of a calling or vocation.
• No matter what the job task, the end result can be meaningful interactions with customers
or coworkers.
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students answer the questions in Table 7.8. Then have students share their answers in small
groups.
CHAPTER QUESTION 6: HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS THE SUCCESS OF AN
ETHICS TRAINING WORKSHOP?
• Similar to all types of workplace training, managers need to assess the effectiveness of
ethics training workshops.
• Assessment is a systemic collection, review, and use of information to determine
• In the spirit of continuous improvement, the training session can be assessed at its
conclusion to determine if workshop goals and objectives were accomplished.
• The assessment tool should be kept simple and short for employees and the facilitator.
• The following questions could be asked following a variety of ethics training sessions.
o Were specific real-life situations addressed?
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o Were the situations raised linked back to the code of ethics, code of conduct, or
organizational strategy?
• If important content has been supplied, participants can complete a follow-up test several
DISCUSSION ACTIVITY
Have students assess one of the ethics training workshops in this chapter that was conducted in
class. What were the strengths and weaknesses of the workshop? How can the workshop be
improved?
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Chapter 7 QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Chapter Question 1: How would you design an initial 90-minute ethics training workshop?
Table 7.2 outlines a more moderate initial ethics training workshop for addressing an important
issue during a 90-minute session.
• Have CEO or supervisor express support for the activity.
• Clarify workshop rationale, goals, and objectives.
• Present competitive advantages of maintaining an ethical work culture (see
Chapter 1).
• Workshop relevancy can be created at the beginning of the workshop with a short quiz
about a complex issue—such as what the code of conduct says about conflicts-of-
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• Divergent thinking and creative problem solving are encouraged, but the suggestions
Chapter Question 2: What are the different survey instruments you can use to assess an
organization’s ethical culture?
TYPICAL BEHAVIORS EXPERIENCED
• Introduce employees to a list of the most common ethical problems experienced in the
ETHICAL CULTURE ASSESSMENT
• Annually assessing the organization’s ethical performance based on its code of ethics
Chapter Question 3: Which code of conduct workshop do you think participants would
find most engaging? Why?
• CODE OF CONDUCT CONTENT WORKSHOPS
Chapter Question 4: How do you create an ethical dilemma narrative for an ethical
decision-making workshop?
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CREATE BUSINESS ETHICS SCENARIOS PROCESS
The most meaningful ethical issues to explore are those employees observe, experience,
or hear about while employed either in their current organization or for a previous
employer.
The facilitator can help employees develop written scenarios about these ethical issues
Chapter Question 5: Which ethics personality surveys would most help employees gain a
better understanding of their ethical nature? Why?
Self-awareness is a key attribute in raising an employee’s moral consciousness. Surveys to
consider are as follows:
• Idealism/eelativism measures whether a person tends to be an idealist or relativist when
responding to an ethical dilemma. The 20-item survey consists of two 10-item factors
Instructor Resource
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• Moral courage measures whether a person exercises moral principles. The 15-item
survey consists of five 3-item factors (moral agency, multiple values, endurance of
threats, going beyond compliance, and moral goals).
• Empathy measures a person’s emotional reaction to the experiences of another person.
• Ethical self-efficacy measures whether a person believes he or she can successfully
perform an ethical behavior. A 12-item survey consists of three factors (uses and keeps
computer self-efficacy, distribution self-efficacy, and persuasion self-efficacy).
• Machiavellianism measures whether a person identifies with “the ends justify the means”
Chapter Question 6: How would you assess the success of an ethics training workshop?
Below are questions that could be asked following a variety of ethics training sessions.
• Were specific real-life situations addressed?
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CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS FOR “WHAT WOULD YOU DO?” OPENING DILEMMA
CHAPTER 7: Damage Claims
Summary
• You are a customer service manager for automotive parts company, and oversee
customer freight delivery issues.
• Average cost of orders is $400 to $700, and if product is missing or damaged upon
Table 7.3 Systematic Rational Ethical Decision-Making Process
1. Who are all the people affected by the action?
2. What option benefits me the most (egoism)? Why?
3. What option does my social group support (social group relativism)? Why?
Send refunds only if customer complains (Option B): This avoids creating
legal obligations.
4. What option is legal (cultural relativism)? Why?
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5. What option is the greatest good for the greatest number of people affected
(utilitarianism)? Why?
6. What option is based on truthfulness and respect/integrity toward each stakeholder
(deontology)? Why?
7. What option would a virtuous person do (virtue ethics)? Why?
mistake.
Note
• If answers to Questions 2 through 7 are all the same option, then do that option.
• If answers to Questions 2 through 7 are mixed, then:
Option
Option Strengths Based on
Application of Ethical Theories
Option Weaknesses Based on
Application of Ethical Theories
A: Send refunds to
all 200 customers at
This option is legal.
This demonstrates honesty,
The company could lose $120,000
that would have improved profits or
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incompetent.
B: Send refunds
only to customers
This option helps unit’s financial
performance.
Company could be sued for
deliberately not paying what
C: Other?
Option Chosen
Option A: Send refunds to all 200 customers at company cost of
$120,000.
Chosen Because
accountable (virtue ethics).
Send refunds to all 200 customers at company cost of $120,000. This is
How Will You
Manage Chosen
Primary concern is that this can cost you up to $120,000 which the firm
could have used for profits or other investments. However, some
CHAPTER 7 ANALYSIS FOR UP FOR DEBATE
Up for Debate: Tax Avoidance
Apple is headquartered in the United States, where the federal corporate tax rate of 35 percent is
Instructor Resource
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tax rate on the $74 billion routed through Ireland. Some people claim that tax avoidance
processes like Apple’s are unethical. Others claim they are ethical because Apple increased
shareholder wealth and stayed within existing laws.
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Is it ethical for Apple to take advantage of tax accounting loopholes to avoid paying higher
United States tax rates?
Up for Debate: Tax Avoidance—Is it ethical for Apple to take advantage of tax accounting
loopholes to avoid paying higher U.S. tax rates?
No
• Apple benefits a great deal from the
U.S. economic and social infrastructure
(deontology).