Chapter 5
Ethics at Work:
Your Attitude and
Responsibilities
Chapter 5 Objectives
• Define ethics.
• Discuss ethical issues at work.
• Describe how companies are addressing business
ethics.
• Discuss ways to manage yourself ethically at work.
• Discuss ways to solve ethical dilemmas.
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Knowing Your Personal Ethics
• Ethics is a set of moral values separating right from
wrong.
• Values are principles, standards, or guidelines you
consider desirable and important.
• Values are a part of what collectively makes up your
ethics.
• Ethics play a strong role in your everyday decisions
no matter whether they are personal or business
related.
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Knowing Your Personal Ethics
(cont.)
• Business ethics are rules of conduct that apply to
businesses and their employees.
• They are a way of putting many of your values into
play in the business setting.
• In some businesses or professions, you may
experience conflict with your principles and ethics.
• Ethics has an over-arching impact on organizational
productivity and human relations.
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Understanding Ethics at Work
Understanding Ethical Issues
• Ethical issues you may encounter in the workplace:
 Code of conduct—a set of rules for required behaviors and
responsibilities expected of a company and its employees
or members of a group
 Intellectual property—knowledge or confidential business
information an employee may have about a company
 Non-disclosure agreements—legal contracts between you
and a company that forbid you from disclosing certain
information
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Understanding Ethics at Work
(cont.)
Understanding Ethical Issues (cont.)
• Ethical issues in the workplace (cont.):
 Trade secrets—confidential business information
protected by law under the Uniform Trade Secrets Act
(UTSA)
 Internet and cell phone use while at work
 Use of cell phones for texting
 Review of social networking sites by employers
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Understanding Ethics at Work
(cont.)
Seeing Our Ethical Future
• Lessons being learned from today’s reality shows will
help shape the values that will carry directly into the
workforce of the near future.
• The ideas of cheating and ruthless behavior to win
are the wrong values to instill or condone, no matter
the age.
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Understanding Ethics at Work
(cont.)
Seeing Our Ethical Future (cont.)
• Questions to ask when checking ethical behavior:
1. Is it legal?
2. Is it balanced?
3. How will your decision make you feel about yourself?
4. Would you feel good if your family were to read about
your decision in the local newspaper?
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Addressing Business Ethics
Social Responsibility
• Social responsibility—the obligation to make choices
or decisions that are beneficial to the whole of
society
• Corporate social responsibility (CRS)—corporations
have an ethical obligation beyond their economic,
profit-driven purpose to stockholders and owners
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Addressing Business Ethics
(cont.)
Social Responsibility (cont.)
• Perspectives on corporate social responsibility:
 Classical perspective—businesses are not responsible for
social issues and should concentrate on being profitable
 Accountability perspective—businesses are accountable for
their actions and have a responsibility to be fair and
considerate in their business practices
 Public perspective—businesses work with government to
actively solve social and environmental problems and
improve the general quality of life
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Addressing Business Ethics
(cont.)
Legal Influences on Ethics
• What may be considered unethical in one culture
may be perfectly acceptable in another.
• The Foreign Corrupt Policy Act of 1977 was passed to
guard against such conflicts.
 Requires U.S. companies to operate ethically in their
worldwide business dealings
 Makes it illegal to make a corrupt payment to a foreign
official for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business
or directing business to any person
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Addressing Business Ethics
(cont.)
Legal Influences on Ethics (cont.)
• Other laws that assist companies in determining
accepted principles of right and wrong:
 U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines for Organizations
established to hold companies responsible for unethical
behavior resulting from employee activities
 Amendment added in 2004 to strengthen ethics training
and boost ethical environments
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Addressing Business Ethics
(cont.)
Legal Influences on Ethics (cont.)
• How companies are addressing ethics:
 Providing written standards of conduct
 Requiring employees to sign off on policies
 Providing training
 Enforcing sanctions
 Offering confidential systems for reporting wrongdoings
 Requiring strong commitment and enforcement from
senior management
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Addressing Business Ethics
(cont.)
Legal Influences on Ethics (cont.)
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act:
 Complex regulations that protect investors and enforce




corporate accountability and responsibility
Requires accuracy and reliability of accounting and
disclosures in publicly traded corporations
Grants the SEC increased regulatory control
Imposes greater criminal and compensatory punishment
on executives and companies that do not comply
Establishes procedures for handling whistleblower
complaints
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Managing Yourself Ethically at Work
• Take the following measures to behave ethically:
 Learn about and respect the value systems of others.
 Learn about ethics and the norms of your place of
business.
 When confronted with something that feels
uncomfortable, take time to think.
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Solving Ethical Dilemmas
• Ethical dilemmas arise when our sense of values or
social responsibility is questioned internally or
challenged externally.
• You may encounter unethical behavior in both
personal and business settings.
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Figure 5.2
Examples of Personal Unethical Behaviors
Cheating on
exams/tests
Betraying personal
confidences
Accepting credit for
work/favors not
performed
Falsifying
employment
application
information
Plagiarizing papers
and projects,
borrowing content
Pirating software
Making unauthorized
copies of corporate
information/records
Chapter 5 Ethics at Work: Your Attitude and Responsibilities
Being involved in
office gossip
17
Figure 5.2 (cont.)
Examples of Business Unethical Behaviors
Intimidating or
abusive behavior
Keeping unauthorized
materials/monies
Accepting gifts from
subordinates and
vendors
Doing personal
business on company
time
Falsifying
time/expense reports
Violating safety
regulations
Polluting the
environment
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Solving Ethical Dilemmas
(cont.)
• It’s not whether you know what is right or wrong,
but whether you will choose the right behavior.
• Guidelines for making good decisions:
1. Define the standards.
2. Perform risk assessment.
3. Make the decision.
4. Re-evaluate the situation.
5. Check your moral compass.
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Key Terms
• Ethics
• Non-disclosure
• Values
agreement
• Trade secret
• Social responsibility
• Corporate social
responsibility
• Business ethics
• Code of conduct
• Intellectual properties
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Key Terms
(cont.)
• Classical perspective
• Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• Accountability
• Whistleblower
perspective
• Public perspective
• Foreign Corrupt Policy
Act
• Ethical dilemma
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