Alex Gao

9/29/2015

Business Ethics

Chapter 4 Outline (#3)

• Corporate Culture:

◦ Every organization has a culture, formed from a shared pattern of beliefs, expectations, and

meanings that guide the thinking and behaviours of those who work in it.

◦ Organizational culture shapes the people who are members of the organization.

◦ No culture is static

▪ Cultures change, but modifying culture is not easy.

▪ Since culture is always moving, you have to keep up with it or risk being left behind.

◦ A firm's culture can be its sustaining value

▪ Offers a firm direction and stability in challenging times.

• Culture and Ethics

◦ A business can promote an ethical culture.

▪ Employees are empowered and expected to act in ethically responsible ways.

• Ethical leadership and Corporate Culture

◦ Primary responsibility of corporate leadership is to steward the effort to cultivate values

◦ “Tone at the top”

◦ Personal behaviour – Leading by example

▪ Leadership also sets the tone through other mechanisms

• Dedication of resources

◦ If resources and time are dedicated to ethics, it is held in higher esteem

 ◦ Leaders need to show their behaviour

▪ A leader who is 'quietly ethical' may seem good to his top managers, but his actions will

go unnoticed to those lower on the ladder.

• Effective Leadership & Ethical Leadership

◦ Being perceived as a leader is key to a leader's ability to create and transform ethical

corporate culture.

◦ A good leader, simply, is someone who does well what leaders do.

▪ They guide, direct, and escort others toward a goal or destination.

▪ Good leaders are effective at getting followers to their common destination.

▪ Not every good leader is an ethical leader.

◦ Means of motication

• One cannot be a leader, and there cannot be followers unless there is a direction/goal toward

which one is heading.

◦ Productivity, efficiency, and profitability are minimal goals.

◦ An executive that can create a productive, efficient, and profitable company, while

empowering his employees to be creative, is considered both effective and ethical.