CHAPTER ONE

Business Ethics, The

Changing
Environment, And
Stakeholder
Management

*) Figure 1.1: Environmental Dimensions

*) Figure 1.2: Stakeholders

*) Stakeholder Management
Approach

Six Steps to developing win/win

strategies:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Identifying and prioritizing issues, threats, or

opportunities
Mapping who the stakeholders are
Identifying their stakes, interests, and power
sources
Showing who the members of coalitions are or
may become
Showing what each stakeholders ethics are
and should be
Developing collaborative strategies and
dialogue from a higher ground perspective to
move plans and interactions to the desired
closure for all parties

*) What is Business
Ethics?
Laura Nash has defined business ethics
as the study of how personal moral
norms apply to the activities and
goals of commercial enterprise, as
dealing with three basic areas of
managerial decision making:
1.
2.
3.

Choices about what the laws should be

and whether to follow them
Choices about economic and social issues
outside the domain of law
Choices about the priority of self-interest
over the companys interests

*) Unethical Business Practices of

Employees

Showing respect to those who act

unethically

Abusive or intimidating behavior

Misrepresentation of hours worked

Lying

Withholding information

Context issues:

Companies in transition (mergers,

downsizing)
Younger employees and employees with
lower tenure in the organization

*) Figure 1.3:
Five Levels of Business Ethics

*) Figure 1.5:
5 Business Ethics Myths

*) Why Use Ethical Reasoning In

Business?
Laws are insufficient
Free-market and regulatedmarket mechanisms are
insufficient
Complex moral problems
require an intuitive or learned
understanding and concern
for fairness, justice, and due
process to people, groups,
and communities

*) Kohlbergs Levels and Stages Of

Moral Development

Level 1: Preconventional level (selforientation)

Level 2: Conventional level (others

orientation)

Stage 1: Punishment
Stage 2: Reward seeking

Stage 3: Good person

Stage 4: Law and order

Level 3: Postconventional level

(universal, humankind orientation)

Stage 5: Social contract

Stage 6: Universal ethical principles