Intro into Business Ethics

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MGX5020: Business ethics in a global environment
Week 1:
Law, values and ethics:
Business and workplace
contexts

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Your Tutor (me)
Nathan Eva
– nathan.eva@monash.edu
– 9903 4065
– Building N Level 5 Room 14
– www.slideshare.net/nathaneva

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Your Tutor (me)
Nathan Eva
– PhD / B.Bus (Hons) / B.A
> Management / Politics / Drama
– Teaching
> Ethics (Masters) / Leadership (3rd) / Organisational Change (3rd) / International
Management (3rd) / Managerial Communication (1st) / Intro to Management (1st)
– Consulting
> Politics / Non-for-Profit / Youth Sector / Music Sector

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Business ethics in a global environment
• Compulsory readings each week
• Guided reading activities due to Cristina in lectures
• Lectures are very important for this subject
• Tutorials will be an interactive discussion of the
material. You will need to have a solid grasp of the
material when you enter.

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Assignment 1
• Guided Reading Activities
• Weeks 2-11
• Worth 20%
• Need to submit at least 8 of 10
• Handed in to Cristina
• Cristina is the best person to speak to about this
assignment as she marks it.
• Info on Moodle

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Assignment 2
• Group Assignment (groups of 4)
• Research Paper with subheadings
• Week 8 Monday September 16 4pm
> My pigeon hole Building N Level 5 (maybe tutes, tbc)
• 3,000 words
• Worth 30%
• You are required to explore the ethical and business
dimensions of a chosen issue falling under one of
the topics in the assignment guide.

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Assignment 2
• Topics are:
> Ethics and business corruption
> Ethics and business leadership
> Ethics and human resources management
> Ethics and the natural environment
> Ethics, religion and business practices
> Any other topic that you get approval from me about
• Speak to me when you have chosen a topic

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Assignment 2
• Introduction (10%)
> Very clear this is the purpose, this is why it is important, this is what the paper will
cover
• Background (10%)
> Literature review on what happened in the case you have chosen
• Explanation (20%)
> Why it happened – Explain the ethical issues and concept relevant used in class
• Analysis and Evaluation (30%)
> Applying the theories you just spoke on to the case at hand
• Personal Reflections and Implications for business practice (10%)
> Recommend ethical business practices from your own experiences and those of
other businesses. Be specific and practical to the case.
• Conclusion (10%)
> Draw recommendations from the analysis and summarise the findings
• Clarity and quality of expression (10%)
> English and referencing (APA)

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Assignment 2
• Peer Rating Sheet
> You need to fill out a peer rating sheet for each of your group members
> A score of 0 (bad) – 10 (good) on each of the different categories
> In my pigeon hole on the same day with your name on the top
> You only need numbers – if you wish to write something that is fine too
> This is used to moderate grades

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Starting to think
• You have 15 minutes.
• You have to learn one new thing about every person
in this classroom
• How you do it is up to you
• Go

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To Begin
• What is ethics?
• How do we know the difference between right and
wrong?
> Culture (Family, Teachers)
> Law (Of that country)
> Religion (Beliefs you have about the world)
• Each of these are from other people, your personal
ethics are your own, albeit shaped by others.

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Getting to Know You
• 30% of your mark is group work
• Let’s start with nationalities
> Who you are, your course, where you studied your undergrad
> What ethical dilemmas are currently being experienced in your home
country
– i.e. Australia – Asylum seekers, drugs in sport, Aboriginal health, Kmart’s factories,
overseas labour, workplace safety (Workcover).
• One nationality per group
> Who you are, your course, where you studied your undergrad
> What are the ethical issues in doing business between your countries

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In Groups
• Discuss the relationship between
> Ethics and etiquette and custom
> Ethics and prudence
> Ethics and law
• How are they similar
• How are they different
• Can you give me an example where they converge?
• Can you give me an example where they diverge?
> Ethics is xyz whereas law is abc. When doing business in China
a differentiation between ethics and law can be apparent. An
example is….

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In Groups
• Ethics
– Moral principles of the individual usually spoken of in
relation to their conduct
• Etiquette/Custom
– The way of acting in a particular social situation
• Prudence
– Caution/care in actions
• Law
– An action established by a Government / judicial
body

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New Groups
• Based on the Solomon and Hansen article pick one of the 5
arguments below. Is it a strong argument to be unethical? Why
/ Why not? If not give me a counter argument.
1. Unethical business goes on all the time
2. I did what I was told to
3. In business you do whatever you need to survive
4. Think business make money
5. In the long run we’re all dead

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Enron
“A fish rots from the head down”
• Summarise the Enron Case
• As a business student, how do you feel about what happened?
• Does this align to your own personal ethics?
• What would have you done in that situation?

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Enron
• Did the actions taken conflict with etiquette and customs?
• Did the actions taken conflict with prudence
• Did the actions taken conflict with law
• Did the actions taken conflict with ethics
• Things to think about:
– The deregulation of the industry was law. Wasn’t Enron entitled to create
Special Purpose Entities?
– Was the intent to deceive the public the point where it became unethical?
– Doesn’t Fastow have a responsibility to LJM Cayman L.P. to maximise
their profits? Wasn’t he doing that?
– Was Arthur Ansersen unbiased with his advice?
– Was it ethical for Lay and Skilling to sell stock and at the same time
encourage their employees to invest?

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Next Week
• Please have down Kohlberg Moral Reasoning
• Have both articles read an annotated
• We will be forming the groups so be ready to go
with that

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Week 1 Lecture
• Overview of the assignments and the class
• However – make sure you read the lecture notes as not
everything was covered.

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Week 2 Lecture
• Kohlberg’s theory of moral development
> Pre-conventional
> Conventional
> Post-conventional