in this assignment the writer would have to read a chapter then answer some questions related to the chapter. i will provide the reading material( the chapter to be read). this is the assignment: CHAPTER 4
1. Access the list of ethical companies at Ethisphere Magazine (accessible through the web link londonessays.com )and evaluate their rating methodology and criteria. Is their critera adequate, effective, and reasonable? Why/why not? Explain.
2. Review the case on page 151 and answer the four questions presented at the end.
3. Identify the six steps in the ethical desision making process. Identify an ethical dilemma/issue and apply the steps to the issue. Which of the three major ethical theories is most relevant to your example and why?
4. Do Employees have Moral and Ethical Rights?
Employees certainly have legal rights, such as the right to be paid a minimum wage, to enjoy equal opportunity in the workplace, and to be free from sexual harassment. Many employees also have contractual rights, such as the right to an employer contribution to a retirement plan, health care, or certain number of vacation and sick days. But do employees really have moral and ethical rights against their employer that are not specified in the law or in the employment contract? Do employers have duties to their employees other than what is required by law and the employment contract? (1) If every human has a right to health care, do employers have a moral and ethical duty to provide health insurance for every employee? (2) Do employers have a duty to provide a just wage? (3) Do employers have a duty to respect employees right to privacy?
Please respond to all three questions. In your response please: 1. Cite the question,
2. Indicate what you believe and why;
3. What influences in your life or at work contributed to your answer.
QUESTIONS # 4 WHICH HAS ABOUT 3 QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED WITHING IT SHOULD BE ONE SOLID PARAGRAPH BY ITSELF OR LONGER. i will provide the reading material below which is from chapter 4 of the book: Baldwin, Bommer, and Rubin. Managing Organizational Behavior: What Great Managers Know and Do. Second edition, 2013. McGraw-Hill: New York.:
4
Making Ethical Decisions
O KNBOWJINGE C T I DVOINGE S
After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
KO 4-1 Recognize the ethical implications DO 4-1 Use decision rules to help you solve
of a problem. right-versus-right problems.
I think if you look at people, KO 4-2 Describe the concept of moral DO 4-2 Interpret what form of moral intenintensity.
sity is influencing a decision. whether in business or govern-
KO 4-3 Explain the key differences between DO 4-3 Use the ethical decision-making ment, who havent had any moral ethical perspectives. steps to guide an ethical decision.
compass, whove just changed KO 4-4 Describe different forms of fairness DO 4-4 Use moral imagination and quick
to say whatever they thought rules and when to apply them in the tests to make a diffi cult ethical
workplace. decision. the popular thing was, in the end
KO 4-5 Describe and differentiate three DO 4-5 Demonstrate competence in navi- theyre losers. types of organizational justice. gating common ethical situations.
Michael Bloomberg ,
New York City Mayor
118
119
> > Case: Truthy
Since young voters discovered
they could friend
Barack Obama on Facebook
during the 2008 election,
social media has become
ingrained in the way we think
about political campaigns. Many
see it as the key to a new type
of politics, whereby campaigns and
candidates can better engage citizens,
facilitate grassroots organizations,
and craft legislation with the
direct input of a tweeting electorate.
The result, optimists argue, will be a
sort of digital democracy, defi ned
by a closer, more coherent relationship
between elected offi cials and
their constituents, and where genuine
comments and discourse, unfi ltered
by spin doctors in the national
media, can thrive.
But social media, like any tool,
can be used to erode democratic
practices as well. For example, a few
days before the special election in
Massachusetts to fill the Senate seat
formerly held by the late Edward
Kennedy, the American Future
Fund (AFF) conducted a Twitterbomb
campaign against Attorney
General Martha Coakley, one of
the candidates for the position. The
AFF set up nine anonymous Twitter
accounts in the early morning hours
prior to the election that sent hundreds
of tweets to other infl uential
Twitter accounts around the state
accusing Martha Coakley of taking
money from health insurance lobbyists
and providing links to anonymous
websites containing further
details. This sudden spike in tweeting
caused the attacks on Coakley
to turn up in Google searches
for her name, effectively gaming
Googles real-time search functions.
The approach is not partisan or limited
to particular parties, but it has
been employed to some extent by
all political groups.
1. Why is social media such a powerful
way to engage in ethically
questionable behavior?
2. Beyond politics, in what other
arenas has social media been
used in what you would consider
to be unethical ways?
3. Given the Internet is predicated
on the notion of open, uncensored,
and unfiltered input, how
might unethical behavior in social
media be managed?
THE ANTI-SOCIAL SIDE
OF SOCIAL MEDIA
MANAGE WHAT?
1. Making a Diffi cult Ethical Choice
You have worked for your boss for fi ve years, and he has become a trusted mentor for you in the fi rm. Indeed, there is no one
in the firm toward whom you feel more respect or loyalty. You just met with him and, due to an unforeseen market downturn,
he let you know of a proposed layoff that will affect one of the three people who report to you (Joe). Because the decision
has not been announced, and it will surely send shockwaves through the firm, he asked that you absolutely not tell any of your
subordinates. In fact, concerned the information might get prematurely leaked, he even says, It is critically important that no
one know. Can I count on you? You agreed emphatically that he could. Unfortunately, that evening you see Joe, who coaches
a little league team with you. He tells you he and his wife have been accepted into an adoption process for a new child and he
wanted to share his joy with you. He also has heard rumors of a layoff and says, sort of jokingly, I am not going to be laid off,
am I? We could never afford to take care of a new child without my income.
What should you do? Is this an ethical issue? You are forced to choose between loyalty and your expressed promise on
one hand, and your sense of caring and honesty toward Joe (and his potential new child) on the other. What factors will you
consider in your decision? On what basis would you justify the ethics of your decision?
2. You Be the Ethicist
Author Randy Cohen serves as The Ethicist for The New York Times Sunday Magazine. He frequently poses ethical dilemmas to
his readers and an adapted set of those (and similar themes) are listed next. Respond to each of the following scenarios, being
sure to identify the ethical frame (utilitarian, universalism, or virtuous person) you are using as the rationale for your response.
a. Is it ethical to buy a sweater to use for a family picture and then return it for a refund?
b. Is it ethical to download a song from the Internet without paying for it given that (a) you would not have downloaded
it if you had to pay, (b) you have no money and the artist and record label (or Apple, Inc.) are beyond wealthy, (c) you
are actually promoting the artist by listening to and sharing your impressions with others.
c. How much is a cat worth? Your affectionate and obedient cat needs a procedure that will cost a few hundred dollars.
Your instinct is to pay for what she needs, but you cant help thinking its wrong. Wouldnt the cash be better spent
on sick humans?
d. Can you ethically round off your 2.958 GPA to 3.0 when using it on your resumé?
e. Is it OK to take those hotel shampoos and soaps and give them to homeless shelters?
f. Should you tell on someone you observe researching bomb-making on the Internet? Or on a friend having a toofriendly
dinner with a woman who is not his wife?
g. Is it ethical to buy cheap seats to a baseball game you know will be sparsely attended and then sneak down and sit in
the expensive seats? Similarly, is it ethical to grab open first-class seats (once everyone is on board and in their purchased
seats) when you only paid for coach?
h. Is it ethical for a homeless mother to steal a loaf of bread to feed her starving child?
i. If you scored the wrong answer on a test, and the instructor marked it correct and you very honestly let him know, is
it ethical for the instructor to let you keep the points and reward your honesty?
3. Creating a Culture That People View as Fair
You are a relatively new manager and times are tough at your firm. You know you are going to have to make some really tough
decisions regarding promotions, job assignments, bonuses, and even who gets laid off and who stays. When you took your
new management position two years ago, the fi rm was booming, and with ample resources to work with you thought to yourself
that you would just give everyone the same rewards and schedules and anything you controlled and that would solve the
problem. But now resources are scarce and you are worried that if people view your decisions as unfair you will run the risk of
destroying your positive culture and even losing key people. If your goal is to create a fair workplace that is also a productive
one, what should you do? What types of standards would you put in place and then how would you decide who gets what?
4. Being a Responsible Whistle-Blower
As a manager in your firm, you have become disturbed with some of the claims that are being made (by people in your marketing
and sales group) about some of your products. Although you often work with that department, you are employed in
a different function and not sure if you should stick your nose into that area. Moreover, although you feel something of an
ethical obligation to ensure that no customers are harmed by false information, you also are very concerned that blowing the
whistle in this case could prompt serious repercussions and potentially be detrimental to your career, cause the loss of trust
and friends in the firm, and even impact your family.
120
CHAPTER 4 Making Ethical Decisions 121
Introduction
Most discussions of ethics, particularly directed at young people, have an idealistic
tone. For example, it is common to hear platitudes like Good ethics pays and
Ethics is good business. Unfortunately (and disturbingly), any casual observer
of business these days knows that behaving unethically can pay off as well,
and ethical behavior can often result in a loss of business or desired outcomes.
Further, traditional conceptions of right and wrong are often blurred in organizational
life. Consider that a recent survey of 111 executives found that 52 to
90 percent of executives agreed that behaving unethically was appropriate when
(1) performance contingencies demand otherwise, (2) it is necessary to get the
job done, (3) unfair or overly restrictive performance standards exist, and (4) it
would be necessary to avoid negatively affecting the organization. 1 Most frightening
was that 56 percent of those surveyed indicated managers who bend rules are
more effective than managers who do not. This is hardly encouraging news when
many of these same companies are also claiming that they act with the highest
moral standards.
A few other statistics may hit closer to home. In a major study of 6,000 students
on 31 campuses in the United States, researchers found the data presented
in Figure 4.1 . 2
Roughly two-thirds of students in this research admitted to cheating at
least once as an undergraduate. When asked why, students cited pressures and
?? MYTHS 4.1 Ethical Decision-Making Myths3
Its easy to be ethical. The truth is that its downright difficult to be ethical. In fact,
by definition, merely determining that you are facing an ethical dilemma (that is, the
first step in solving it) is a complex process. Ethical dilemmas dont come with fl ags
waving, Look at me. Im an ethical issue.
Unethical behavior is simply a problem of bad apples. Even people that most of
us would judge as having strong ethical values make unethical decisions. The truth
is that much of our behavior is guided by watching others and simply following their
lead. When your boss rounds up his expense reports, you rightfully assume that its
okay to do the same for yours. Does this make you a bad apple? No, but your
behavior is likely unethical.
Ethics can be managed with codes of conduct. Research shows that formal codes
of conduct can have a positive influence on ethical behavior in organizations. Yet,
in order for them to have such an effect, they must be part of a larger coordinated
part of the organization that supports ethical conduct every day. 4 In other words,
if a senior manager is found to be in violation of the code of conduct and he is not
punished in accordance with the policy, it sends the very real message that the code
of ethics can be practically ignored.
People are less ethical than they used to be. Incidents of unethical behavior
havent changed much for centuries. What has changed is the pace of organizational
life and the access to information via technology that has lent a new creativity to
acting in unethical ways!
The first of all moral obligations is
to think clearly.
Michael Novak
Managing ethics is not my problem. Like it or not, ethical issues are with us every
day and each decision you make as a manager holds the potential for ethical issues
to arise.
122 PART ONE Personal Skills
FIGURE 4.1
College Student
Actions
Copied from
another student
Helped another
student cheat
Used crib notes
Copied material
without footnoting
Plagiarized
Falsified a bibliography
Turned in work
done by another
Collaborated on assignments
requiring individual work
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 3 5 40 45 50 55 60
% of Students
competition related to graduate school admissions. Researchers also collected
information about the students future career choices. The lowest number of
admitted cheaters (57 percent) was found in students planning on pursuing
education-related professions. The numbers rise from there, including medicine
(68 percent admitted cheating), government (66 percent), engineers (71 percent),
and future MBAs (76 percent). Students also indicated cheating was a relatively
harmless crime. Of course, as ethics author Rushworth Kidder points out, cheating
really isnt so harmless: 5
You have only to ask who engineered the bridge you are about to cross, or where your
doctor got his or her training, to begin questioning whether a widespread propensity
for cheating among professionalsand the consequent danger of unleashing into the
world a cadre of individuals who dont know what they are doingis in fact a victimless
crime.
While it may seem that one small act of cheating may not be such a big deal,
when you consider the ramifications of a professional culture based on cheating,
the act becomes highly objectionable. Think of it this way, if you knew your heart
surgeon cheated her way through medical school, would you be eager to let her
perform a triple bypass?
CHAPTER 4 Making Ethical Decisions 123
The lesson here is that ethics is synonymous with behavior and all behavior
has consequences. Although ethical philosophy implies that we must think
before we act, we are not judged on our thinking but on our actual behavior.
Even if you have good intentions, nobody will see your intentions, only your
behavior and its consequences. Consider the Make-A-Wish foundations dilemma
in letting a terminally ill boy kill a Kodiak bear (see Chapter 3, Management Live
3.3). Managements intentions were beautifully aligned with the organizations
values and yet their behavior resulted in a poor outcome. Unfortunately, ethical
behavior is almost never simple or easy, and it is often not self-evident (and no
shared consensus exists) what the most ethical action is in any given situation.
There are no ethical switches that we can turn on or off, and simply stating that
I am an ethical person provides nothing to substantiate that claim.
Wh
ile the situation sounds rather bleak when it comes to ethics, there is a
great deal of work being done in the field, and some of this work provides us with
important guidelines that we can use to guide our behavior. According to the
Josephson Institute, a center dedicated to the study and practice of ethics, ethical
behavior is multidimensional, and the most ethical people act in ways that refl ect
ethical commitment, consciousness, and competency.
Ethics: Making the Tough Choices
If you choose to strive toward ethical decisions and behavior, it will require your
ethical commitment. Ethical commitment refers to your level of dedication or
desire to do what is right even in the face of potentially harmful personal repercussions.
This requires a healthy dose of courage and integrity (or the adherence
to an ethical code or standard) to make decisions that may be unpopular or go
against the prevailing culture. How do you want to live your life? What do you
want to be remembered for? What values are worth fighting for? What kind of
relationships do you want to have? Do you want to be known as someone who
will take a stand for what they believe is right? It has been and always will be
quite challenging to be an ethical person. Ethical commitment is about accepting
that challenge.
Solving problems ethically also requires an ethical consciousness in which
you develop an ability to understand the ramifications of choosing less ethical
courses of action. Unlike the student who believes that cheating doesnt hurt
anyone else, students with an ethical consciousness understand the far-reaching
implications of such behavior. Those who are ethically conscious make themselves
aware of the implications of their actions and are not oblivious to the
many ethical concerns around us.
Finally, a third dimension of ethical behavior is ethical competency, which
involves a thoughtful consideration of ethics in each stage of the problem-solving
process. There are no easy ways to ascertain the most ethical choice in a given
situation, but there are very useful models for framing and dissecting ethical
dilemmas. Whether defining a problem, generating alternatives, or making a
decision, ethically competent people consider such models in their choices.
Recognizing Ethical Issues
Ethics may be defined as the principles, norms and standards of conduct governing
an individual or group.6 As we noted in the myths of ethical decision
making, ethical decisions are far from easy. Perhaps the most diffi cult challenge
in making ethical decisions is recognizing that one is facing an ethical dilemma
in the first place. As researchers Linda Trevino and Mike Brown have noted, the
Obviously everyone wants to
be successful, but I want to be
looked back on as being very
innovative, very trusted and ethical
and ultimately making a big difference
in the world.
Sergey Brin , Google founder
KO 4-1
KO 4-2
DO 4-1
DO 4-2
124 PART ONE Personal Skills
notion that its easy to be ethical presumes that people know when they are facing
an ethical dilemma and, with such understanding, make the right choice.7
The opposite is almost always trueethical decisions rarely come with red fl ags
waving that call out to you, Hey, Im an ethical issue! Think about me in moral
terms! Consider an employee who is asked to sign a document for her boss. This
employee is likely to see this as a simple act that any good employee should
do. Yet what if this employee failed to recognize this as a request to forge legal
documents?
Most problems you face do have ethical or moral implicationswhether
you consider them or not. Some problems, however, seem to be more easily
identifiable as having ethical implicationsthat is, we sense the tension or
dilemma immediately. In fact, dilemmas often (not always) present themselves
not as right versus wrong but as right versus right (or perhaps wrong versus
wrong).8 That is, ethical dilemmas, the really tough choices, often dont involve
clearly right and wrong alternatives, but rather two alternatives that may both
have merit. Consider tough issues like what to do with differing abilities in youth
sports or academics or views on how to spend disposable income.
It is right to give all little league players equal playing time, and it is also
right to field the best team possible.
It is right to help out a struggling fellow student by letting him see your
homework, and it is right to keep your homework proprietary.
It is right to give money to those living in poverty, and it is right to save
money for your family.
These types of dilemmas are what might be termed right versus right scenarios
and are discussed next.
Right-vs.-Right Scenarios
Right-versus-right scenarios are the most perplexing of ethical dilemmas.
According to Kidder, these dilemmas can be boiled down to a few major themes.
With truth-versus-loyalty dilemmas, the struggle is between providing information
about some objective truth versus compromising ones loyalty to others. For example,
when a patient discloses to a doctor that she is likely to commit suicide, the
doctor is ethically obligated to breach patient confi dentiality, thus compromising
trustworthiness or loyalty in the doctorpatient relationship. Not all truth-versusloyalty
situations are so clear. Managers often face such dilemmas when caught
between the confidence of a senior manager (Dont announce the pay cuts.) and
an employee who wants to know particular information (Will there be layoffs?).
A second major theme is individual versus community. The needs of individuals
such as confidentiality or privacy often clash with those of the community.
Terrorism has brought this dilemma clearly to the forefront with governments
attempting to preserve individual rights and needs while also understanding the
greater good of the community. Much of the controversy surrounding the conduct
of airport security personnel has been related to this very issue.
A third category of dilemmas is short-term versus long-term, which involves
the clash between living in the present versus thinking about the future. Investing
financially for the future, for example, often clashes with enjoying the present.
Finally, a fourth theme has to do with justice versus mercy. Professors who
catch a student cheating face this very problem. On one hand, students who
cheat deserve a punishment commensurate with their behavior. On the other
hand, students are human and sometimes make bad choices and deserve our
compassion to help avoid such mistakes in the future. These themes play out
every day. As you explore ethical dilemmas, try to identify the theme at play, and
it will help you understand the issues more clearly.
CHAPTER 4 Making Ethical Decisions 125
Moral Intensity
As you know by now, human bias often leads to poor judgment. Judging ethical
dilemmas is not different. The framing of an ethical dilemma, for example, leads
to very different judgments of what to do. For example, to what extent would
you agree with the following claim: People who download music from the Internet
without paying for it are unethical. What if we state it slightly differently:
People who steal music from the Internet without paying for it are unethical.
Is downloading without permission different from stealing without permission?
Not really, but people see stealing as clearly wrong and downloading as more
acceptable. The way in which we perceive ethical dilemmas depends heavily on
the moral intensity the issue possesses. That is, something in the context or
situation of how an ethical dilemma is perceived leads people to endorse the situation
as unethical. Yet the same situation with less intensity would not lead people
to see it as unethical. Consider the following scenario known as the Switch
Dilemma:
A trolley is running out of control down a track. In its path are fi ve people
who have been tied to the track. Fortunately, you can flip a switch, which
will lead the trolley down a different track to safety. Unfortunately, there is a
single person tied to that alternative track. Do you flip the switch?
Now consider a similar scenario known as the Footbridge Dilemma:
A trolley is hurtling down a track toward five people. You are on a bridge
under which it will pass, and you can stop it by dropping a heavy weight in
front of it. As it happens, there is a very heavy man next to youyour only
way to stop the trolley is to push him over the bridge and onto the track,
killing him to save five. Do you push the man?
The consequence in both these scenarios is the exact sameone person is
killed in order to save five others. Yet, in a recent study, researchers found that
while some 90 percent of study participants said they would flip the switch,
only 30 percent stated they would push the man.9 Despite the consequence
that five people would die, the proximity or nearness one had to the heavy
man made the decision to kill him seem highly unethical, while fl ipping a
switch felt far removed from killing the person on the track. This is a perfect
example of how the intensity of a situation can alter the way people process
ethical dilemmas. Researcher Thomas Jones identified six ways in which ethical
issues are perceived as more or less intense and therefore as more ethical
or unethical.10
1. Magnitude of Consequences. The sum of the cost-benefit to the object
of the action in question. For example, an action that causes the death of
a human being is of greater magnitude of consequence than an act that
causes a person to suffer a minor injury. This is often how people will
judge whether an act was bad enough to be considered unethical.
2. Social Consensus of Evil/Good. The amount of social agreement
toward the action. For example, many believe it far more unethical to
bribe a customs official in Texas than a customs official in Mexico. Both
involve bribery, but what is considered unethical in one situation may be
less so in others.
3. Probability of Harm/Benefi t. The likelihood that the act in question
will actually happen and produce the predicted harm/benefit. For example,
selling a gun to a known armed robber has a greater probability of
harm than selling a gun to a law-abiding citizen. We immediately underestimate
the probability that a law-abiding citizen will do harm and overestimate
the probability that the known armed robber wont.
126 PART ONE Personal Skills
© Arnie Levin, The New Yorker Collection, www.cartoonbank.com
4. Temporal Immediacy. The time between the act and the onset of the
consequences. For example, reducing the retirement benefits of current
retirees has a greater temporal immediacy than reducing the retirement
benefits of current employees who are between the ages of 40 and 50. We
tend to perceive decisions that affect us today as less ethical, whereas we
view decisions in which the consequences are delayed in time as more
acceptable since people might have time to recover from the decision.
5. Proximity. The feeling of nearness (psychologically or physically) that
people have to the object of the action. For example, layoffs in your own
work unit have greater issue intensity than layoffs in another part of the
company. Layoffs are never easy, but we have less trouble endorsing a layoff
as ethical when it doesnt hit as close to home.
6. Concentration of Effect. The magnitude of the action on those involved.
For example, denying coverage to 10 people with claims of $100,000 each
has a greater concentration of effect than denying coverage to 100,000
people with claims of $10 each. No one wants to lose $10, but its not
likely to change your life significantly. On the other hand, losing $100,000
would force many people to make some very tough fi nancial choices.
People perceive a highly concentrated effect like this as unethical.
As can be seen from the six issue intensity types just discussed, the very nature
of a situation can easily change your perspective on what you judge to be ethical
versus unethical.
Ethics and the Law
With centuries of philosophers, religions, and courts of law considering issues of
right or wrong, one would think that progressive communities would have fi gured
out ethics by now and that legal standards would encompass the collection
CHAPTER 4 Making Ethical Decisions 127
of ethical standards. Unfortunately, legal norms and ethical norms are not identical,
nor do they always agree. Some ethical requirements, such as treating ones
employees fairly, are not legally required, though they may be ethically warranted.
Conversely, some actions that can be legally allowed, such as fi ring an
employee for no reason, would fail ethical standards. For this reason, we might
consider the law to be a floor with respect to ethics, certainly not a ceiling.
There are at least five important reasons why the law may not align with ethics
in organizations.
First, consider how slowly law often changes. Just because segregation
was legal in the first half of the 20th century didnt mean it was the right
thing to do. Thus, holding that obedience to the law is sufficient to fulfi ll ones
ethical duties raises the question of whether or not the law itself is ethical.
Dramatic examples from history, Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa
being the most obvious, demonstrate that ones ethical responsibility may run
counter to the law. On a more practical level, this question can have signifi cant
implications in a global economy in which businesses operate in countries
with legal systems different from their home country. Some countries make
child labor or sexual discrimination legal, but businesses that choose to adopt
such practices do not escape ethical responsibility for doing so. From an ethical
perspective, you do not forgo your ethical responsibilities by a blind obedience
to the law.
Second, societies that value individual freedom will be reluctant to legally
require more than just an ethical minimum. Such societies will seek legally to
prohibit the most serious ethical harm, but they will not legally require acts of
charity, common decency, and personal integrity that may otherwise comprise
the social fabric of a developed culture. The law can be an effi cient mechanism
to prevent serious harm, but it is not very effective at promoting good. Even if
it were, the cost in human freedom of legally requiring such things as personal
integrity would be too high. Imagine a society that legally required parents to
love their children, or even a law prohibiting lying.
Third, on a more practical level, telling business that its ethical responsibilities
end with obedience to the law is just inviting more and more legal regulation.
Consider the difficulty of trying to create laws to cover each and every possible
business challenge; the task would require such specificity that the number of
regulated areas would become unmanageable. Additionally, it was the failure of
personal ethics among such companies as Enron and WorldCom, after all, which
led to the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and many other legal reforms. If
business restricts its ethical responsibilities to obedience to the law, it should
not be surprised to find a new wave of government regulations that require what
were formerly voluntary actions.
Fourth, the law cannot possibly anticipate every new dilemma facing contemporary
business, because so often there may not be a regulation for the particular
dilemma confronting a business leader. For example, when workplace
e-mail was in its infancy, there were not yet laws regarding who actually owned
the e-mail transmissions, the employee or the employer. As a result, one had no
choice but to rely on the ethical decision-making processes of those in power to
respect the appropriate boundaries of employee privacy while also adequately
managing the workplace. When new quandaries arise, one must be able to rely
on ethics since the law might not yetor might neverprovide a solution.
Fifth, the perspective that compliance is enough relies on a misleading
understanding of law. To say that all a business needs to do is obey the law suggests
that laws are clear-cut unambiguous rules that can be easily applied. This
rule model of law is very common, but not very accurate. Remember, if the law
was clear and unambiguous, there wouldnt be much of a role for l