ethics chapter 8 final slides done

8/8/2019 Ethics Chapter 8 Final Slides Done

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Laleetha Vakhanee Joedy SCSJ-0003987Sharifah Naemah SCSJ-0004218

Teh Shane Yang SCSJ-0005864 Yee Wei Tat SCSJ-0004869


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Introductiony Op ening case of Cha p ter 8 ( page: 387)y George Galatis, George Betancourt = engineer at

Northeast Nuclear planty George(s) whistle blow against Northeast unsafe

nuclear planty Nobody listens! Northeast + Nuclear Regulatory

Commission (NRC) = cons piracy y Galatis being dissuaded, harassed, intimidated in/outof worky Galatis hired lawyer -> make public -> politician

questions Northeast


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y Galatis succeed after a few years but said he would notdo it again

y Text book points out 2 im portant issues:y (1) Where does em p loyee s overall moral duty lies?y You are just doing your job, it is really u p to you to

report any misconduct?y IF you did whistle blow, are you morally obligated to

pursue the issue further?y (2) Are you prepare enough to face negative

consequences of doing your moral obligation ?y It is not as sim ple as whistle blow and issue are settley It might take a long time, you RISK EVERYTHING;

your life, job, even safety to do the right thingy Is it worth it?


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Obligations to the Firmy Join com pany = a trade between em p loyer and

employeey

Company expect you to work, you ex pect com pany topay y Either formal or informally agreed on (contract or

verbal), you know your obligation as an em p loyee and

expect the com pany to know it s obligation to you


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Loyaltyy When hired, you know you work to PR OMO TE

COM PANY s INTEREST (profit), and you get paidy You are legally obligated to be loyal to com pany act in

good faithy But loyalty does not mean sacrificing everything; life &

freedom and become a robot of the com pany y

Morality requires neither blind loyalty or totalsubmission to the organizationy You are a autonomous person with freedom to choose

not robot that obeys everything com pany said


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Loyaltyy Some writers argue to the extreme, we are N OT

OBLIGATED to be LO YAL to company y Because com pany is BAD, they exist to make profit

only, so they are N OT W ORTH our loyalty y Loyalty is relationshi p that demands self-sacrifice

without ex pecting awardsy Much like selfless love ??y You owe loyalty to family & friends but not com pany

because you work sim p ly to get paid


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Loyaltyy BUT for many em p loyees who is willing to sacrifice for

the com pany s sake, loyalty is real and im portanty One sure thing; com pany can not or hardly exist

without loyal em ployeey And in the name of loyalty, com pany demand/ex pect

employee to defend the com pany from harm & workto im prove com pany

y

I say, at the end of the day, it is your choice to choose if a com pany is worth your loyalty although it seems that we are not really morally obligated to be loyal


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C onflict of Interesty Our interest and com pany interest are not the same

most of the time. E.g.: high wages, work time, attire,benefits, etc

y Conflict arise when em p loyee has PRIVATEINTEREST substantial enough to INTERFERE withduty or that collides with com pany interest

y Legal Contract is a way to control personal interest

from interfering with duty & com pany interesty You are ex pected to work for the benefits of com pany


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y E.g.: Giving company business to relative even if cost ishigher (because they are your relatives = personalinterest)

y So the moral question is it right to do so; to gainbenefit at the ex pense of com pany?

y What can be consider as private interest?y

What to do when (directly or indirectly) involved insituation with conflict of interest

C onflict of Interest


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C onflict of Interest: Financial

Investmenty Obviously it is wrong and some case illegal to act in

favor of personal interest because em ployee has

financial investment / gets monetary rewards.y E.g.: You are SEGI lecturer, and you also o pen a book

company. You buy books for SEGI (at higher cost) from your com pany and you get profit!

y

Many com pany in Malaysia does not allow theiremployee to have other job for the fear of this.


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A buse of Official Positiony Moral question: is it alright to use position in com pany

for personal gain?y Using your position in com pany for personal gain is

wrong because risk violation of obligation to firm =conflict of interest


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A buse of Official Position: InsiderTrading

y Insider trading, always true and a pp ly to com pany withstock market

y

Insider trading = leaking or using information not yetmade public, information that might affect com pany stock, to others for personal gain

y E.g.: You work for Maxis, Maxis will announce newservice tomorrow and their share will went u p. You tellmummy, daddy, brother, sister to buy Maxis sharetoday.

y O r: You work for Digi, someone sue Digi, before it ismade public you know Digi stock will fall, and you

have Digi share, so you sell it today.


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Insider Tradingy Insider trading is illegal.y It is morally wrong even though one might say I did

not hurt anyone, I just use the information to my advantage

y But it is the injustice done to peop le who don t havethe advantage to know the information yet

y

Insider trading also = how one use sensitive com pany information or com pany secrets for own self gain; i.e:selling com pany secrets to rival


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A buse of Official Position:

Proprietary Datay Company often guard advantageous information that

give them the com petitive edges against their rival ->

through legal patenting, but the information is notsecret such as secret ingredient etc.y I.e.: Car com pany patent their car model design so that

nobody can co p y themy

Trade secret = any formula, pattern, device orcompilation of information which is used in one'sbusiness and which gives him an o pp ortunity to obtainadvantages over com petitor who do not know or use it


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Proprietary Datay Argument for protecting trade secret is that1. Trade secrets are intellectual property of com pany

2. Theft of trade secret is unfair com petition3. Employee violates confidentiality owed to the

company if they disclose the information


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Proprietary Datay But what if you work for the com pany and you decide

to change com pany? Sometimes it is unavoidable toknow com pany secrets, es pecially if you are in highposition

y

Sometimes trade secret becomes technical knowledge,experience or skills of a person. Its is a part of thatperson own intellect and talent. E.g.: a particular way of doing things, or technical knowledge

y It is hard to determine if it is ok to change job even when one has knowledge of current trade secretsbecause the information is already a part of him/her

y Company can not do anything to restrict em p loyee; it violates em ployee s right to choose job


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BR IBES & KIC KBAC KS y Bribe an act that is inconsistent with the work

contract. (i.e. gifts, money, entertainment, s pecial

treatments.)y Bribery takes the form of k ick backs a practice

that involves a percentage payment to a personable to influence or control a source of income.

y The Foreign Corru pt Practices Act provides strict finesand im prisonment.

y To cor porate officials who engage in bribery overseas.


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y Requires cor porations to establish strict accountingand auditing controls to guard against slush funds

from which bribes can be paid.y The FCPA however does not prohibit g rea s e payment s to the em ployees of foreign governments who haveministerial res ponsibilities.

y

These payments are sometimes necessary to ensurethat the reci pients carry out their normal job duties.y On the other hand, the FCPA makes no distinction

between bribery and extortion.


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y The case against overseas bribery is still considered asmorally unacce p table.

y

Bribery can clearly injure a variety of legitimateinterests; from stockholders to consumers, tax payersand other businesses.

y Studies show that the more corru pt a nation is, the less

it invests and the slower its economic growth.y An occasional cor porate bribe overseas can foster

bribery and kickbacks at home.


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y Lead em p loyees to subordinate the interest of theorganization to private gain.

y

In a nutshell, once a com pany engages in corru p tion, itcan easily s pread throughout the organization.


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G ifts & Entertainmenty W hat is the value of gift? many organizations

consider a gift worth $25 or less given infrequently perha ps once a year as nominal, but anything larger ormore frequent is a substantial gift. (ina pp ropriate)

y W hat is the purpose of the gift? As long as the giftis not intended or received as a bribe and remainsnominal, there doesn t a pp ear to be any serious

problem.y W hat are the circumstances under which the gift

was given or received? whether the gift was givenopenly or secretly, it must be considered.


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y W hat is the position and sensitivity to influence of theperson receiving the gifts? it pertains as to whether therecip ients have made it clear to the donors that they don tintend to allow the gift to influence their action one way oranother.

y W hat is the accepted business practice in theindustry?- monetary gifts and ti ps are standard practicesin numerous service industries. Their purpose is not only toreward but to ensure it again.

y W hat is the company s policy?- many firms ex p licitly forbid the practice of giving and receiving gifts to minimizeeven the sus p icion that a conflict may exist.


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y W hat is the law?- certain federal, state or local govt.may forbid from receiving any gifts from any business

firms they are dealing with.y Related to gift giving is the practice of entertainment.y The morality of entertainment should be evaluated

along the same lines as gifts.y With res pect to value, purpose, circumstances,

position and sensitivity to influence of the reci p ient,accepted business practice, com pany policy and law.


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y The ultimate moral judgment lies largely whether theobjective party could reasonably sus pect that the gift

or entertainment might lead to the reci p ient tosacrifice the interest of the firm or his personal gain.


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Obl igations to Third PartiesWhat are you going to do if you

y

Know that a fell

ow worker occasionall

y sips whiskey on the jo b. S hou ld you inform the b oss?

y Know that the restaurants chef typica ll y reheats three-or four-

day-o ld food and serves it as fresh . When you inform the

manager, you are to ld to forget it . What shou ld you do?


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y Y ou are a consu l ting engineer discovered a defect in a structure

that is a bout to b e so ld. If the owner wi ll not disc lose the defect

to the potentia l purchaser, shou ld you do so?

y Y ou learn that the personne l department has authorized hiring

that vio late the firms anti-nepotism ru les and neg lect its

affirmative action commitments . What shou ld you do a b out it?


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What you can do to prevent future potentia l pro bl ems emergence?

yy Whistle Blowing !Whistle Blowing !

A practice in which emp loyees in activities that

cause unnecessary harmare in vio lation of human rights

are i ll ega l

run counter to the defined purpose of the institutionImmora l inform the pu bl ic or some governmenta l agency of those

activities .


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D efinitiony Refers to an emp loyee act of informing the pu bl ic a b out

the i ll ega l or immora l b ehavior of an emp loyer or

organization .

y Raising a concern a b out wrongdoing within an

organization or through an independent structure

associated with it .

- (T he UK Committee on Standards in

Public Life)


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Whist le bl owing does, however, present dangers, as Prof

S isse la Bok reminds, the whist le can b e bl own in:

Error

Ma l ice

Privacy invaded

Trust undermined


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Therefore .In order to b e met for an act of whist le bl owing to b e

mora ll y justified, Prof Bowie proposes severa l conditions:

y It is done from an appropriate mora l motive . It must b e

motivated b y a desire to expose unnecessary harm, i ll ega l

or immora l actions


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The Question of S elf Interesty For many emp loyees, p rotecting themselves or safeguarding their jobs is

the primary factor in deciding whether to put third-party interest a b ovethose of the firm .

y S elf-interest in cases that pit loya lty to the firm against o bl igations to third parties is a ltogether understanda bl e and even warranted

- expose themse lves to charges of disloyalty, disci p linary action,freezes in job status, forced relocation and even dismissal

- can b e blacklisted in the industry

y G iven the p otential harm to self and family that emp loyees risk inhonoring third-part o bl igations, is it rational to inquire about the weightconsiderations of self-interest in reso lving cases of conf licting o bl igations?

- mora l theorist and society distinguish b etween p rudential and moralreasons


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y p rudential refers to considerations of self-interest

y

moral refers to considerations of the interest of others andthe demands of morality

y relationshi p b etween prudentia l and mora l is if p rudentialconcerns outweighs moral ones, then em p loyees may dowhat is in their best interest. If moral reasons overridep rudential ones, the workers should honor their obligationsto others.


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y Mora l ity does not require us to make large sacrifices toright sma ll wrongs .

y Mora l ity does not impose o bl igations on us without regardto their cost .

y In situations in which whist le bl owers threatens onesl ive l ihood and career, prudentia l concerns may proper ly b e taken into account in deciding what one shou ld do, a ll things considered . O n the contrary, such an action cou ld b e high ly mora l.


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y When moral concerns are great , elementarymorality and personal integrity can require peop leto make substantial sacrifices.

y An evaluation of p rudential reasons obviously iscolored by ones tem perament and perce p tions of

self-interest


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y Welfare of the society is considered in prudentia l andmora l reasoning

y Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 lega l protection for emp loyees who report possi bl e security fraud, making itun lawfu l for companies to discharge, demote, suspend,threaten, harass or in any other manner discriminateagainst them .

y Labor De partment can order companies to rehireterminated whist le- bl owers with no court hearingswhatsoever .


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y C ompanies need to deve lop clear, p ractical whistle-blowing policies to discharge their mora l responsi b il itiesand safeguard their se lf-interest

- emp loyees aware of wrong-doing have responsi b il ityto disc lose that information- specific individua ls or groups outside the chain of

command shou ld b e assigned to hear the concerns- emp loyees who in good faith disc lose perceived

wrongdoing shou ld b e protected from adverseemp loyment consequences

- there shou ld b e a fair and impartia l investigation process .

ethics chapter 8 final slides done

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