Chapter 5 Emerging Business Ethics Issues ( Lec 4)

1. Ethical Awareness
- An ethical issue in business is simply a situation involving a group, a problem, or
even an opportunity that requires thought, discussion, or investigation before a
decision can be made.
- Collusion : is a secret agreement between two or more parties for a fraudulent,
illegal, or deceitful purpose. ( thông đồng)
- Dilemma : A decision where all the choices have a negative outcome, so one must
weigh which causes the least damage.
2. Foundational Values for Identifying Ethical Issues
- Integrity :- tính chính trực
+ One of the most important elements of virtue; refers to being whole, sound, and
in an unimpaired condition; implies a balanced organization that not only makes
ethical financial decisions but also is ethical in the more subjective aspects of its
corporate culture
+ Applied to all settings and conditions
- Honesty : Refers to truthfulness or trustworthiness( đáng tin cậy)
+ To be honest is to tell the truth to the best of your knowledge without hiding
anything
+ Dishonesty : A lack or absence of integrity, incomplete disclosure, and an
unwillingness to tell the truth
- Fairness: The quality of being just, equitable, and impartial (Phẩm chất của sự
công bằng,
công bằng, khách quan)
+ Applied in treatment and business relationship
+ Reciprocity ( tính tương hỗ) : An interchange of giving and receiving in social
relationships
+ Optimization ( tối ưu hóa) : The trade-off between equity (equality) and
efficiency (maximum productivity)
3. Emerging Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Business
- Ethical issue : A problem, situation, or opportunity that requires an individual,
group, or organization to choose among several actions that must be evaluated as
right or wrong, ethical or unethical
- E thical dilemma : A problem, situation, or opportunity that requires an individual,
group, or organization to choose among several actions that have negative
outcomes
a. Misuse of Company Time and Resources (Lạm dụng thời gian và nguồn
lực của công ty)
- Time theft can be difficult to measure but is estimated to cost companies hundreds
of billions of dollars annually
- the misuse of time and resources has been identified by the Ethics Resource Center
as a major form of observed misconduct in organizations
- Using company computer software and internet services for personal business is
one of the most common ways employees misuse company resources
b. Abusive or Intimidating Behavior ( hành vi lạm dụng hoặc đe dọa)
- Abusive or intimidating behavior : A common ethical problem for employees that
may refer to physical threats, false accusations, being annoying, profanity, insults,
yelling, harshness, ignoring someone, and unreasonableness
+ Wage theft
+ Bullying : is associated with a hostile workplace where someone (or a group)
considered a target is threatened, harassed, belittled, verbally abused, or overly
criticized. ( Bắt nạt có liên quan đến một nơi làm việc thù địch, nơi ai đó (hoặc
một nhóm) được coi là mục tiêu đang bị đe dọa, bị quấy rối, coi thường, chửi bới
hoặc chỉ trích quá mức.)
+ Gossiping ( dạng của buôn chuyện, báo cáo )
c. Lying
- Lying : Untruthfulness that can be joking without malice, commission lying, and
omission lying (Sự không trung thực có thể nói đùa mà không có ác ý, nói dối và
nói dối thiếu sót)
+ Commission lying is creating a perception or belief by words that intentionally
deceive the receiver of the message
d. Conflicts of Interest
- Conflict of interest : When an individual must choose whether to advance his or
her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group
e. Bribery ( hối lộ)
- Bribery : The practice of offering something (often money) in order to gain an
illicit advantage from someone in authority
+ Active bribery : When the person who promises or gives the bribe commits the
offense
+ Passive bribery : Offense committed by the official who receives the bribery
f. Corporate Intelligence ( trình báo doanh nghiệp )
- Corporate intelligence : The collection and analysis of information on markets,
technologies, customers, and competitors, as well as on socioeconomic and
external political trends
- There are three distinct types of intelligence models: a passive monitoring system
for early warning, tactical field support, and support dedicated to top-management
strategy
 g. Discriminationx( phân biệt)
- Discrimination : Prejudices based on race, color, religion, sex, marital status,
sexual orientation, public assistance status, disability, age, national origin, or
veteran status; illegal in the United States
- Equal employment opportunity commission (EEOC) Federal agency that protects
against workplace discrimination
h. Sexual Harassment ( Quấy rối tình dục)
- Sexual harassment can be defined as any repeated, unwanted behavior of a sexual
nature perpetrated upon one individual by another
- Hostile work environment ( môi trường làm việc thù địch)
+ Three criteria must be met:
 the conduct was unwelcome;
 the conduct was severe, pervasive, and regarded by the claimant as so hostile
or offensive as to alter his or her conditions of employment;
 the conduct was such that a reasonable person would find it hostile or offensive
- Dual relationship ( mối quan hệ kép ) : A personal, loving, and or sexual
relationship with someone with whom you share professional responsibilities
i. Fraud ( gian lận)
- Fraud : Any purposeful communication that deceives, manipulates, or conceals
facts in order to harm others
+ Accounting fraud : Inaccurate information in a corporation’s financial reports, in
which companies provide important information on which investors and others
base decisions involving millions of dollars
+ Marketing fraud : The process of dishonestly creating, distributing, promoting,
and pricing products
j. Consumer Fraud
- Consumer fraud : When consumers attempt to deceive businesses for their own
gain
 k. Financial Misconduct
- The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was passed in
2010 to increase accountability and transparency in the financial industry and
protect consumers from deceptive financial practices,
- The act established a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to protect
consumers from unsafe financial products
L, Insider Trading ( giao dịch nội gián )
- Insider trading :
+ Illigal : The buying or selling of stocks by insiders who possess information that
is not yet public
+ Legal : Legal insider trading involves legally buying and selling stock in an
insider’s own company, but not all the time.
m . Intellectual property rights
- Legal protection of IP such as music, books, movies
- Federal Copyright Office ( FCO) laid the groundwork for IP
n. Privacy issues
4. Determinants of an Ethical Issue in Business
• Stakeholder concerns about an event, activity, or the results of a business
decision (Mối quan ngại của các bên liên quan về một sự kiện, hoạt động hoặc
kết quả của một quyết định kinh doanh)
• Discussions generated by mass media, special interest groups, and individuals
• Asking other people in the business about their opinion on ethical components
of the organization
• Societal values
- Crisis management : The process of handling a high-impact event characterized by
ambiguity and the need for swift action to access and respond to potential damage
(quản lý khủng hoảng :Quá trình xử lý một sự kiện có tác động lớn đặc trưng bởi
sự mơ hồ và sự cần thiết phải hành động nhanh chóng để truy cập và trả lời thiệt
hại tiềm ẩn )