Ethics and Social Responsibility

Standards of moral behaviour, that is, behaviour that is accepted by society as right versus wrong.

Ethics

Ethics and Legality Are Two Different Things

How should people treat

others?

What responsibility should they

feel to others?

Ethics

Laws we have written to protect

ourselves from fraud, theft &

violence

Legality

It is not uncommon to hear of instances where business people are involved in unethical behaviour.

After two years of denying accusations, WestJet Airlines admitted to spying on Air Canada.◦ WestJet was accessing a confidential Air Canada

website designated for reservations. As part of the settlement WestJet paid Air

Canada’s investigation and litigation costs of $5.5 million and make a $10 million donation in the name of both airlines to children’s charities across Canada.◦ May 2006

Ethics is More Than Legality

Ethical Standards Are Fundamental

Moral Values – Right Moral Values - Wrong

Integrity- strong moral values

Respect for human life

Self-control

Honesty

Courage and Self-Sacrifice

Cheating

Cowardice

Cruelty

What are the accusations being made by Chinese environmental groups?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QPUf9DsTLo

Handout & video

Apple's largest supplier, the FoxConn Technology group, has announced Friday it will raise wages by 16 to 25 per cent after criticism over its labour practices.

The factory's workers have seen three separate wage increases since 2010, and under the new agreement will now make 1,800 yuan ($290 US) a month, up from 900 yuan two years ago.

As of Feb. 13, 2012

To give you an idea of how an average EF English teacher in China spends his or her salary, here is a sample monthly budget: ◦ Gross Income (Salary) : 12,350 RMB◦ Rent : 3500 RMB◦ Utilities (electricity, gas, water) : 250 RMB◦ Phone & Internet : 300 RMB◦ Food : 1500 RMB◦ Insurance : 295 RMB◦ Remaining Disposable Income : 6,505 RMB

The Renminbi (RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

Sample EF English teacher monthly budget

We cannot expect society to become more moral and ethical unless we as individuals commit to becoming more moral and ethical ourselves.

Ethics Begins withEach of Us

How do we do this?

No desirable alternative. You must choose between equally

unsatisfactory alternatives.

Ethical Dilemma

1. Is it legal?

2. Is it balanced?

3. How will it make you feel about yourself?

Ethical Dilemma Questions

1. Which is worse?A. Hurting someone’s feelings by

telling the truth.

B. Telling a lie and protecting someone’s feelings.

2. Which is the worst mistake?A. To make exceptions too freely.

B. To apply rules too rigidly.

3. Which is worse to be?A. Unmerciful

B. Unfair

4. Which is worse?A. Steeling something valuable from

someone for no good reason.

B. Breaking a promise to a friend for no good reason.

5. Which is it better to be?A. Just and fair.

B. Sympathetic and feeling.

6. Which is worse?A. Not helping someone in trouble.

B. Being unfair to someone by playing favourites.

7. In making a decision you rely more onA. Hard facts

B. Personal feelings and intuition

8. Your boss orders you to do something that will hurt someone. If you carry out the order, have you actually done anything wrong?A. Yes

B. No

9. Which is more important in determining whether an action is right or wrong?A. Whether anyone actually gets hurt.

B. Whether a rule, law, commandment, or moral principal is broken.

Ethical Orientation Questionnaire

AnswersHow To Score: The answers fall in one of two

categories, J or C.

Count your number of J and C answers using this key.

1. A = C B = J

2. A = J B = C

3. A = C B = J

4. A = J B = C

5. A = J B = C

6. A = C B = J

7. A = J B = C

8. A = C B = J

9. A = C B = J

Meaning of Your Score: The higher your J score, the more

you rely on an ethic of justice.

The higher your C score, the more you prefer an ethic of care.

Neither style is better than the other, but they are different.

The styles are complementary. Your score probably shows you rely on each style.

The more you appreciate both approaches, the better you’ll be able to resolve ethical dilemmas and to understand and communicate with people who prefer the other style.

Responsibility to Customers

One responsibility of business is to satisfy customers by offering them goods and services of value.

Price fixing ◦ Is a practice in which the prices for goods and

services are manipulated in a way which is designed to benefit specific companies or individuals.

If two companies happen to sell competing products at the same price, it is only considered price fixing if collusion can be proved.

In other words, if two supermarkets both sell packs of a dozen eggs at the same cost, this would not be illegal.

If, however, someone could prove that the owners of the supermarkets held a secret meeting in which they decided to sell their eggs at the same price, it would be considered price fixing.

Don’t write this

Irving example http://

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/09/28/nb-irving-oil-price-fix-quebec-charge.html

Questions for video Who does it hurt? Should it really be illegal? Why?

Once a company creates, jobs, it has an obligation to ensure that hard work and talent are fairly rewarded.

Part of treating employees well is ensuring that employers of all sizes provide a safe work environment.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) believes that there are well over 1,000 workers who die annually from workplace causes and there are more than one million who suffer workplace injuries.

Responsibility to Employees

When employees feel they’ve been treated unfairly, they often strike back.

How do you think employees would strike back against the company?

Responsibility to Society Businesses need to develop long-term

profitable relationships with their customers by establishing repeat business.

◦ Repeat business is based on buying safe and value-laden products, at reasonable prices.

Responsibility to Investors Ethical behavior is good for shareholder

wealth. In the 2005 Canada’s Most Respected

Corporations survey, 89% of Canadian CEOs agreed with the statement that “companies that are more respected by the public enjoy a premium in their share price”.

Responsibility to the Environment Businesses are often criticized for their role

in destroying the environment.

◦ The Sydney Tar Ponds are North America’s largest hazardous waste site. More than 80 years of discharges from the steel-

producing coke ovens near the harbour have filled Muggah Creek with contaminated sediments.

In May 2004, the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia committed $400 million to the cleanup. It is expected that this cleanup will take ten years.

Ethical dilemmas handout Workplace ethics activity handout Ethical situations

Review What is ethics?

How does ethics differ from legality?

When faced with ethical dilemmas, what questions can you ask yourself that might help you make ethical decisions?

What responsibility does business have to customers? Investors? Employees? Society? Environment?

Ethics web quest project

whistleblowing occurs when an employee or worker provides certain types of information, usually to the employer or a regulator, which has come to their attention through work.

The disclosure may be about the alleged wrongful conduct of the employer, or about the conduct of a fellow employee, client, or any third party. The whistleblower is usually not directly, personally affected by the danger or illegality, although they may be.

What is Whistleblowing

Whistleblowing is therefore ‘making a disclosure in the public interest’ and occurs when a worker raises a concern about danger or illegality that affects others, for example members of the public.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of the

United States

SOX requires all public corporations to provide a system that allows employees to submit

concerns regarding accounting and auditing issues both

confidentially and anonymously.

Whistle-blowing Legislation in Canada

Bill C-11 was passed in November 2005.

It provides for significant powers to investigate wrongdoing; it contains clear legal prohibition of reprisal against those who make good-faith allegations of wrongdoing; and it proposes measures to protect the identity of persons making disclosures.

Is Whistle- blowing ethical or not? Explain

Whistleblowing Project