JUST BECAUSE ITS LEGAL, DOESN T MEAN ITS ETHICAL

Transcription

1 JUST BECAUSE ITS LEGAL, DOESN T MEAN ITS ETHICAL Paul Fiorelli - (fiorelli@xavier.edu) (513) Director, Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Xavier University Supreme Court Fellow, United States Sentencing Commission Ad Hoc Advisory Group Member - USSC Fiorelli, 2008

2 AGENDA WHAT IS THE VALUE OF VALUES? NAME THAT SCANDAL/NAME THAT SCOUNDREL THE PARABLE OF THE SADHU

3 WHAT IS THE VALUE OF VALUES? ETHICAL ISLANDS COGNITIVE MORAL DEVELOPMENT WHAT IS YOUR REPUTATION WORTH? CORPORATE CULTURE

4 ETHICAL ISLANDS RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF ETHICAL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE MORE ETHICAL THAN YOUR CO- WORKERS? DISCUSSING ETHICS ALLOWS YOU TO SEE YOUR COLLEAGUES ARE ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT ETHICS THIS CAN EMPOWER PEOPLE TO PUSH BACK, WHEN ASKED TO DO SOMETHING YOU BELIEVE IS IMPROPER

5 COGNITIVE MORAL DEVELOPMENT POST-CONVENTIONAL CONVENTIONAL PRE-CONVENTIONAL

6 Jane was called in at the last minute to work on a part of a proposal that was going to be presented to a small, prospective donor - Mr. A, in two days. Jane knew the proposal was a long shot, and even if her university got the gift, Jane would get little, if any credit. She was working on second, higher profile proposal for Ms. B, that had an equally short deadline. At 10:30 PM the night before both proposals were due, Jane was alone in the office and came to the realization that she could not do a good job on both, so she decided to spend her time on Ms. B s proposal. She did a cut and paste from a previous proposal for Mr. A (which would be good enough, she thought), then spent the next 3 hours finessing the presentation that would give her the biggest personal reward. Why shouldn t she, she thought, as she put the finishing touches on what was sure to be the winning proposal. Even though Jane thought she had changed Mr. A s proposal enough that he would not recognize the similarity to the previous one, he saw through it right away. Outraged, Mr. A called the university president, informing her about the situation, and promised to relay this behavior to all of Mr. A s influential friends. Needless to say, the University did not get any gift from Mr. A. Unfortunately, Ms. B also said that she was not going to give a gift this year.

7 REPUTATION DEFINED - OVERALL QUALITY OR CHARACTER AS SEEN OR JUDGED BY PEOPLE IN GENERAL WITHIN A COMMUNITY REPUTATION. Dictionary.com. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster, Inc. (accessed: October 09, 2007).

8 BUFFET AND GATES GO BACK TO SCHOOL 2006 PBS DOCUMENTARY WARREN BUFFET: IT TAKES 20 YEARS TO BUILD A REPUTATION AND 5 MINUTES TO RUIN IT. IF YOU LOSE DOLLARS FOR THE FIRM BY BAD DECISIONS, I WILL BE UNDERSTANDING. IF YOU LOSE REPUTATION FOR THE FIRM, I WILL BE RUTHLESS.

9 John had been employed by University A for 10 years. He knew how things worked, and had been fairly successful, receiving regular promotions. He occasionally questioned the integrity of his boss at University A, Ed Smith, but only to himself. He never wanted to be thought of as a goody two shoes. Ed Smith recently retired from University A, and John did not know what to expect from the new boss, Sarah Jones. During the first few months of Sarah s tenure, John was pleasantly surprised that she not only talked the talk, about ethics, but also seemed to walk the walk. Maybe things would be different, he thought. This was put to the test when a potentially large problem fell into John s lap. John was reviewing a report that his former boss, Ed Smith had generated, and he saw a discrepancy that no one else had picked up. He checked it further and confirmed his suspicions. He believed that Ed had been misstating a specific financial position of the university. While the techniques Ed Smith used, may have been technically correct, it did not seem to accurately reflect the University s financial position. John is contemplating telling his new boss Sarah, but he s unsure what to do and how she will react.

10 CORPORATE CULTURE DEFINED - THE SHARED VALUES, TRADITIONS, CUSTOMS, PHILOSOPHY, AND POLICIES OF A CORPORATION; ALSO, THE PROFESSIONAL ATMOSPHERE THAT GROWS FROM THIS AND AFFECTS BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE CONSIDERATIONS SHARED VALUES TONE OF THE ORGANIZATION WILLINGNESS TO BRING BAD NEWS FORWARD CORPORATE CULTURE. Dictionary.com. Webster's New Millennium Dictionary of English, Preview Edition (v 0.9.7). Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. CULTURE (accessed: August 10, 2007).

11 NAME THAT SCANDAL NAME THAT SCOUNDREL

12 PARABLE OF THE SADHU HOW COULD BUZZ MCCOY EVEN CONSIDER LEAVING THE SADHU? IS HE INHERENTLY EVIL? WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS GOING THROUGH BUZZ S MIND WHEN HE S MAKING A DECISION WHETHER TO SAVE THE SADHU? HOW WAS THE SADHU DRESSED? DID HE ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR HIS OWN ACTS? HOW OFTEN WILL YOU GET A 6 MONTH SABBATICAL?

13 PARABLE OF THE SADHU IS THERE A LEGAL DUTY TO RESCUE? WHAT ABOUT AN ETHICAL DUTY?

14 PARABLE OF THE SADHU WHO WAS THE "LEADER" OF THE GROUP? WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF A "LEADER"?

15 PARABLE OF THE SADHU ONCE YOU HAVE ESTABLISHED GROUP GOALS OR PROCEDURES, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO CONTRADICT AND CHANGE THEM?

16 WHY DO WE NEED RULES AND REGULATIONS?

17 ANY QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT PAUL FIORELLI (513)