College of Business Administration

Seminar in Business Ethics and Social Institutions

Discussion Questions for November 09, 1999:

"Professional Ethics-Do They Apply to Management?" or,
"Professional Ethics-Do They Apply to Professionals?" or,
"Who, me?"

1) Is management a profession? What constitutes a profession? Certification? What might this mean in the context of management?

2) Does one (or a number) of the ethical frameworks discussed stand out as particularly suited to the business world? A Social Contract Theorist, a Deontologist, and a Utilitarian may all be perfectly able to ethically justify their actions, but they will surely disagree. Can they all be right?

3) How can I possibly manage the ethics/morality of those I manage? Is this even possible?

4) Should, or can, ethical standards be spelled out somewhere like the company Codes of Conduct? What if these go against the law?

5) Should performers be given special exemptions or perks? Do ethics play into performance evaluations at all? How might they?

6) What are the social repercussions of managing ethics? What if a manager's ethical framework disagrees with his/her bosses' agency theory? When personal morality disagrees with the assigned role or task or the overriding group-think?

7) Many ethical decisions are neither right nor wrong, but gray areas. How well can we figure out--pre-crisis--the right place between doing the most moral thing and the best interests of the shareholder?

8) Should we reward successful but unethical behavior, punish unsuccessful but ethical actions, or the opposite? With this question in mind (and living in a Capitalist Society), will the less ethical organizations eventually wipe out the more ethical ones?

9) In organizations, many ethical issues seem to be broken into enough small pieces that performed individually, the actions comprising the immoral act seem acceptable. The only obvious answer to this sort of rationalization is punishing the entire corporation-monetarily. Speaking up on ethically sticky issues within a company can hurt careers, and bad ideas never have any parents--so who should be blamed? Could the answer lie in more/less legal or self-regulation?

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