Business Ethics and CSR

HRM 6010-B

Banita Lal
Module leader: Samuel Ogbeibu

Please see Canvas for further tutor details

26-Jan-2022
1
 Today’s Session
 Welcome
 Introduction and aims of the course
 The learning outcomes of the module
 Mode of assessment
 Overview of business ethics and social responsibility
 Some ethical issues

2 26-Jan-2022
 Introduction

 This is a 20 credit module

 You will learn more about ‘ethics’ and how to apply ethics in a
business context
 You will develop a background to recognise and evaluate
ethical issues in business and to make informed decisions that
are appropriate and consistent with socially responsible
behaviour and good citizenship

3 26-Jan-2022
 Aims

 The aims in this module are …..

 To understand the philosophical and sociological context of business
ethics, corporate social responsibility and good citizenship
 To introduce some ethical frameworks that can be used to analyse
the policy and practice in contemporary business in an organisation’s
micro and macro environment

4 26-Jan-2022
Specific Learning Outcomes
 Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of the ethical issues and
arguments raised in the module; and how they impact on business practice
 Debate the importance of corporate social responsibility for organisations
and managers in the contemporary workplace
 To use moral philosophy for ethical issues facing business and society
 To apply ethical arguments in an informed way to clarify issues of right and
wrong, good and bad practice
 To consider and reflect on questions of an ethical nature and employ
creative thinking to formulate appropriate solutions

5 26-Jan-2022
 Mode of Assessment
Assessment – 100% essay

This essay is an individual piece of work

Your essay has a word limit of 3000 words. The deadline for the
submission will be shared in due course

The essay is to be submitted electronically via Canvas

6 26-Jan-22
 The core text for the module
Essential text:
Crane, Matten, Glozer, and Spence (2019) Business Ethics: Managing
Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of
Globalization (5th edition) Oxford: OUP
(Recommended additional reading:
Mick Fryer (2015) Ethics Theory and Business Practice London (Sage)

Copies of the core book are in the library; you can also buy a copy

You are strongly advised to obtain your own copy

7 26-Jan-2022
University rules and advice

Attendance is crucial for success in this module. Both for

your success and your colleagues success!
What is Ethics?
Ethics is the set of moral principles by which people conduct themselves in
society - personally, socially, or professionally

Example: stealing, cheating, lying  reflects one’s integrity

Business ethics is a set of laws about how a business should conduct itself

To be successful - any business must operate legally and humanely

9 26-Jan-2022
What is Ethics?
•Most businesses police themselves by distributing
codes of ethics

•A code of ethics is a set of strict guidelines for

maintaining ethics in the workplace

•Any examples you can think of…?

10 26-Jan-2022
Ethics as ‘good business’
• Unethical business practices can affect your business
indirectly – they may come back and haunt you

•Violating government regulations or code of ethics

can lead to being fired, losing licenses, jail time

•Why are Amazon in the news at the moment?

•…and think about the pressures over Christmas

11 26-Jan-2022
Ethics as ‘good business’
Tesco:

•Has had a run-in with the Serious Fraud office

•Applying the squeeze on it suppliers
•Some positive changes regarding sustainability: policies
on supply chain management and timber sourcing
•But still buys pork and chicken from Brazilian-owned
companies – UK subsidiaries of JBS, notorious for it role in
forest destruction

12 26-Jan-2022
Ethics as ‘good business’
• Amount made in profits from one unhappy customer can
= a lot more lost in business because of missed repeat
business or bad word-of-mouth

•Example: Worst place to eat in town? Why?

Coca Cola:
•Long history of workers’ rights violations at bottling plants
> Boycott calls at its plants in Colombia
•Accused of taking water from rural communities
•Falsifying environmental data
13 26-Jan-2022
Ethics and practices

14 26-Jan-2022
Ethics and technology
•Artificial Intelligence (AI) / smart technology is great!
•Disruptive technology!

• Developing new drugs

• Helping with the global (and increasing) food problem
• Wearables can help track individual’s health

• A lot of data being created

• A lot of capabilities
• AI Ethics: requirements for the design an outcomes of AI

15 26-Jan-2022
Ethical decision making
Business works best when there is mutual trust
between the buyer and the seller

Mutual SELLER
BUYER Trust

16 26-Jan-2022
Ethics and employees
Treating employees unethically can also backfire

Mistreating employees leads to a high turnover

rate. This increases the cost of hiring and training
new employees

The loss of knowledge, much of it tacit

17 26-Jan-2022
Responsibility to employees
Companies are expected to provide employees
with safe working conditions, equal treatment, and
fair pay

E.g.
• The Equality Act (2010): equal pay for equal work
• Health and Safety at Work Act (1974): safe
environment of employees

18 26-Jan-2022 PRESENTATION TITLE AND AUTHOR

Social responsibility
Social responsibility is the duty to do what is
best for the good of society

•Provide safe products

•Create jobs
•Protect the environment (recycling)
•Contribute to the standard of living in society
•The three pillars of sustainability
19 26-Jan-2022
Social responsibility
• A conflict of interest is when a business is
tempted to put profits before social welfare

•Example: Dumping waste in the middle of

nowhere to save on disposal costs, putting oil or
other waste in a river so it will just “wash away”

•Impact on ecosystems, health, environment,

economy…
20 26-Jan-2022
Responsibility to customer
• Business’s first responsibility is to the customers

• The Medicines and Healthcare products

Regulatory Agency (UK) a government agency,
protects consumers from dangerous or falsely
advertised products

21 26-Jan-2022
 OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICINE LABEL

Governs advertising
and labeling of OTC
medicines.

Why is regulation of
advertising and
packaging labels
necessary?

22 26-Jan-2022
Responsibility and ethics
• Questions for us:
• What shapes/defines our ethics?

• How can you, as a manager of the [near?] future,

promote a more ethical/sustainable working
culture in a company?

• Why do you think there is debate over what is

ethical / unethical?
23 26-Jan-2022