Ethics, ethics management & ethical management
Responsible management integrates and assumes responsibility for the triple bottom line, stakeholders value, and moral dilemmas
True!
The complete definition (Constantinescu & Kaptein, 2020) is: "responsible management integrates and assumes responsibility for the triple bottom line (sustainability), stakeholders value (responsibility), and moral dilemmas (ethics)"
(Aristotelian) virtues can be seen as characteristics of virtue ethics on both the individual and organizational level
True!
Examples are prudence (practical wisdom), fortitude (courage), justice, and temperance (moderation/self-control)
Integrity-based ethics programs are focused on the prevention, detection and punishment of legal violations
False!
That is the definition of compliance-based ethics programs.
Integrity-based programs go beyond mere legal requirements and promote an ethical context that supports exemplary behaviour.
According to some authors (e.g.: Paine, 1994) companies should adopt both, but according to others (e.g.: Geddes, 2017; Jeurissen, 2004) companies should replace the coercive rules-based approach with the integrity-/value-based approach
Ethics management means describing and criticizing the norms and values held by management, while management ethics means managing ethics in an organization
False!
It's the other way around:
Management ethics involves describing and criticizing the norms and values held by management, while ethical management refers to managing ethics in an organization
High standards or principles of action are characteristics of deontology-based criteria for ethical organizations and managers
True!
Deontology is the study of the nature of duty and obligation
- Individual: leaders act out of a sense of duty and because of a belief that what they do is right
Culture and structure must be aligned to give employees directions regarding the expected ethical behaviour
True!
When alignment between culture (informal mechanisms/soft controls) and structure (formal mechanisms/hard controls) fails, employees receive confusing directions regarding the expected ethical behaviour
The yin-yang problem states that ethical management aims to stimulate ethics management, while ethics management is a necessary condition for ethical management to take place
False!
The definitions are switched up:
Ethics management (the management of ethics) aims to stimulate ethical management (individual managers' ethical behaviour), while ethical management is a necessary condition for ethics management to take place
Utilitarian criteria are criteria in consequentialism that take into account the character of the actor, the motives and the intentions behind the action
False!
The definition given is a definition of integrated criteria by Kaptein and Wempe (2002).
Consequentialism does refer to utilitarian criteria, but those are criteria that are centred on cost-benefit and performance-and outcomes issues and at the same time take into account a broad spectrum of effects for multiple parties
According to Constantinescu and Kaptein (2020), using formal mechanisms leads to a compliance-oriented strategy, and using informal mechanisms leads to an integrity-oriented strategy
False!
Formal controls can also be integrity-oriented (e.g.: through interventions where ethical behaviour is officially rewarded), and informal mechanisms can also be compliance-oriented (e.g.: through interventions where role models are dedicated to rules, standards and laws)
Morally mute managers (Menzel, 2007) are managers who do not promote ethics and can therefore not be responsible managers
True!
To be a responsible manager, one must take into account not only outcomes but also the process itself, by paying attention to how results are achieved
The integrity approach (Menzel, 2007) includes utilitarian criteria only
False!
The integrity approach reflects the way individuals make moral decisions when they cannot rely solely on one single ethical approach but instead have to evaluate different aspects of all three ethical theories (integrated criteria)
To be able to achieve long-term, sustainable performance, business organizations need to operate ethically and be socially and environmentally sound while they aim for financial gains
True!
This is captured by the umbrella concept of responsible management