A Simple Model of Analysis for Ethical Decision-Making by Colin Boyd Professor of Management University of Saskatchewan

Oxymorons Business ethics Jumbo shrimp Military intelligence Postal service Gourmet pizza Dodge Ram

Where is the boundary between morality and immorality in the quest for profits? Should there be a free market in the sale of human organs?

Ethical issues regarding the sale of human organs Informed consent Skewing of the incomes of donors Skewing of the incomes of recipients Sale of organs of executed prisoners If you did accept that the death penalty was ok, is it better that the organs of an executed prisoner should rot in the ground, or be recycled?

Social Consensus The Law Should the law be taken as the definition of right and wrong in guiding managers as to the morality of business conduct? If it is legal, then surely it can’t be wrong?

The problem is that what is legal and what is moral are not necessarily the same.

Everything that is moral Legal but immoral: discrimination against Jews in Nazi Germany Everything that is legal Moral but illegal: exceeding the speed limit in rural Saskatchewan All that is moral and legal at the same time

You can't teach me ethics! I learned all my values .....on my mother's knee .....in kindergarten .....at my church Robert Fulghum "eating meat is wrong” - moral principles You can move from lower to higher levels of moral reasoning "my friends won't like me" - peer pressure "daddy says it is wrong” - fear of punishment

We spend very little time examining our core values ……and yet they seem to have a great influence on our daily lives ……for example, how much time and money do you spend each week related to your core values regarding PERSONAL HYGIENE ??

Honesty: Dinner with Jane Jane Smith, an old school friend, calls you on the phone to say that she is in town, staying at the Sheraton for a night while on a business trip for Ajax Limited, her Halifax-based employer. She asks if you would like to get together and talk over old times. You meet in the hotel bar, and later decide to eat together in the hotel restaurant. When the bill comes you offer to pay your share, but Jane says no, she can charge the meal and drinks to her room. Ajax will pay, she says. She will pretend you were a business client.

Jane later contacts you..... to ask if you will give her a reference for a job to ask for a reference for a job as a financial controller where she will be handling a lot of cash to apply for a job as the financial controller of the company that you own

In business, which comes first? Which has priority? the profits of the firm customer satisfaction In business, which comes first? Which has priority? What happens when you cannot satisfy these different constituencies? the wellbeing of employees respect for the environment paying suppliers on time

ETHICS Greek - “proper conduct” ETHNIC people of one's own kind a community of shared values ETHOS Greek - the essential character or spirit of a person or organization the prevalent sentiment of a community

lay-offs can cause death HR ethics example: lay-offs can cause death

HR ethics example: monitoring new trends.

HR ethics example: monitoring hand washing in health care and food preparation.

HR ethics example: managing informal behaviour

Ethical Analysis or Moral Reasoning Stakeholder identification End-point ethics, Utilitarianism Human Rights Justice or Rule-based ethics

PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS (those who have a direct economic stake in the welfare of the organization) SHAREHOLDERS COMPETITORS CUSTOMERS DISTRIBUTORS (WHOLESALERS, RETAILERS) CREDITORS SUPPLIERS EMPLOYEES (UNIONS) MANAGERS Buy products Compete for customers Distribute Sell raw materials Provide labour admin skills Lend cash Invest capital

SECONDARY STAKEHOLDERS …are affected not so much by the scale of the organization, but more by its existence. These stakeholders are not inferior to primary stakeholders, but have a secondary type of relationship THE GENERAL PUBLIC NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOURS THE LOCAL COMMUNITY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THE MEDIA LOCAL BUSINESS LOBBY GROUPS SOCIAL ACTIVIST + future stakeholders? generations?

A Utilitarian Analysis Total Harms Total Benefits Do the benefits exceed the harms? At the end-point, what is the balance?

End-Point Ethics, or Utilitarianism Do the total benefits exceed the total harms? Alternative A Alternative B Stakeholder #1 Stakeholder #2 Stakeholder #3 Stakeholder #4 Stakeholder #5 Net Outcomes End-Point Ethics, or Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism in action: the Ford Pinto The benefit is the saving of 180 lives @ $200,000 per life = $36 million The cost is $11 per car x 11 million Pintos = $121 million As the cost of $121 million outweighed the social benefit of $36 million, Ford concluded that improving the Pinto design would not be profitable for Ford, nor for society in general. Ford managers decided to go ahead with production of the Pinto as designed.

Utilitarianism at the Meat Counter A dead happy pig is better than a dead miserable pig!

Automatic Vehicle Speed Control Global satelite positioning systems (GPS) are now widely available to be fitted to automobiles. Any car can know its own position to within a few meters. It is theoretically feasible to modify current vehicle GPS systems so that the car can know what the maximum speed limit is for that precise location The Canadian and UK Governments are considering a recommendation for making automobiles automatically compliant with local speed limits – your car would not let you drive any faster than the local speed limit. It is estimated that this simple measure would cut road deaths and injuries by around 60% per year. No one would be allowed to speed.

Are Human Rights Protected? Basic Rights LIBERTY RIGHTS Things that I have that no one else should take from me WELFARE RIGHTS Things that I do not have that someone else should give to me

Are Human Rights Protected? Basic Rights LIBERTY The duty not to remove rights, such as the right to: Privacy Free Speech Free Consent Freedom of Conscience WELFARE The duty to provide rights, such as the right to: Employment Housing Food Education

Can your employer tell you how to vote? Liberty Rights: The Right to Vote? If an employee is seen advocating gay rights on TV at the weekend, is that relevant to the employer? Can a Christian employee try to convert fellow workers during work hours? Liberty Rights: The Right to Free Speech? Can an employer listen in on phone operators, reservations clerks? Watch you via video camera? Liberty Rights: Do We Have a Right to Privacy?

Liberty Rights: Personal Time at Work? Timing Your Visits to the Washroom Workers at the Gainers meat-packing plant in Edmonton lose their pay when they go on bathroom breaks. Company president Larry Harding said the “personal relief” program was instituted in January 1994 because management felt that employees were taking advantage of bathroom and phone privileges. Each of Gainers’ 850 employees must ask a supervisor for permission to leave work outside lunch or coffee breaks. The typical Gainers worker earns $12 an hour and is docked 60 cents for every minute he or she is absent. If the worker is away for more than 20 minutes a week, he or she is temporarily suspended.

Welfare Rights: Do We Have a Right to an Education? Welfare Rights: Do We Have a Right to a Job? Loggers from North Vancouver Island protesting the creation of 23 new parks on Vancouver Island which threaten their right to their jobs Coal miners in Sydney, N.S. argue against the closure of their mines Welfare Rights: Do We Have a Right to an Education? The USSU protesting that increased University of Saskatchewan tuition fees will prevent students from poor families from having access to secondary education. Everyone has a right to an education irrelevant of their economic background.

Are Other Rights Protected? Future Generations Stakeholders in Different Cultures Animals Plants Ecological Systems The Earth

Late 20th Century Trends The evolution of rights issues The collapse of paternalism (e.g. not telling someone that they have cancer – “it is best that Aunt Betty not know…”) The emergence of animal rights e.g. the Body Shop, Cirque de Soleil, attacks on animal transport in UK

RAWL's THEORY of JUSTICE Justice or Rule Ethics Are the harms and benefits fairly and justly distributed across the affected stakeholders? Is it fair? RAWL's THEORY of JUSTICE If you were to design a system of distribution of the benefits and harms across the stakeholders without knowing in advance which stakeholder you would be, then how would you want the harms and benefits to be distributed?

Justice or Rule Ethics A B Test of Disclosure JANE FIDDLES HER EXPENSES Test of Disclosure How will the solution look if headlined in the newspaper? A B Social Contract Ethics Are the stakeholders willing partners, ready to swap positions with each other?

Money for Nothing “Its just like money for nothing!” exclaimed Sally with a laugh as she put her glass back on the bar. “I can’t believe my luck. $15,000 for one day’s work, its just crazy!”. Sally was a consultant who writes computer software for accounting systems. She was celebrating after having received a contract to design a new system for a client who was under the impression that such a system takes about 2 months of design work to complete. Sally was jubilant; “They don’t know that I designed an identical system for one of their competitors only a few weeks ago. All I have to do is to dust off that package, change the client’s name, and that’s it. One day’s work at the most! Isn’t it great?”

A Framework for Ethical Analysis of Business Decisions Who are the affected stakeholders? What are the outcomes for each stakeholder of the proposed solution to the problem?

Social Contract Ethics Are the stakeholders willing partners, Rule Ethics Are the harms and benefits fairly and justly distributed? End Point Ethics Do the total benefits exceed the total harms? Rights Are human rights protected? Test of Disclosure How will the solution look if headlined in the newspaper? Social Contract Ethics Are the stakeholders willing partners, ready to swap positions with each other?

My latest research The Debate over the Prohibition of Romance in the Workplace Journal of Business Ethics??

Banning workplace romance: Protects the rights of female employees to not be subjected to post-romance harassment, but at the cost of eliminating per 1,000 romances 440 marriages 230 long-term relationships 330 short-term relationships of which 1 or 2 result in post-romance harassment

I FOUND JOY AT THE ESB READING ROOM. OH WOW! The End