Managerial Technologies, Ethics and Managing

ABSTRACT   This paper engages with a key element of Legge's work: the relationship between the technical and the moral in the application of managerial technologies, and how managers manage these different layers of meaning. Taking business planning and performance measurement as an example of managerial technologies, these are analysed for the extent to which they allow for an engagement with an ethical position, using Legge's (1978 ) characterization of the role of managerial technologies originally identified in Power, Innovation and Problem Solving in Personnel Management . The inter-related elements of the technical, the ethical and the practical are then used to explore how managers construct the meaning of management and their implications for Legge's more recent deontological and teleological ethical framework.     

Do Codes of Conduct and Ethical Leadership Influence Public Employees’ Attitudes and Behaviours? An experimental analysis

Corruption, political scandals, and the spreading adoption of management practices in the public sector contribute to a decline in public trust. Worldwide initiatives promoting good governance can be observed. At an organizational level, management of ethics has gained in importance as codes of conduct and ethical leadership are promoted. However, public management research has hardly analysed the impacts of these measures. To address this research gap, we conduct a between-subjects experiment among public administration employees. Our results reveal that only ethical leadership has a positive effect on employees’ organization-related attitudes. Our findings suggest avenues for further research.     

Leveraging the employee voice: a multi-level social learning perspective of ethical leadership

Extending social learning theory to a multi-level perspective, this study proposes a theoretical model that investigates both individual and team-level mechanisms that mediate the effect of ethical leadership on employee voice. Specifically, in terms of an individual-level social learning perspective, we suggest that an ethical leader acts as a prototype of a moral person (i.e. an ethical role model). From a team-level social learning perspective, we propose that, as a moral manager, team ethical leadership will foster an ethical climate within the team which will create a moral context that impacts employees’ behaviors. In both instances, employee voice behaviors will be enhanced through these mechanisms. Evidencing the importance of the interaction between leader behaviors and context for leader effectiveness, we also show that employees are more likely to regard their ethical leaders as ethical role models in a team that highly values ethical conduct (i.e. high in ethical climate). Results obtained from 47 managers and 211 subordinates in China support our theoretical model. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed.     

Ethical consumers in search of markets

Research in ethical consumerism has concentrated on attempts to either categorize ethical consumers or to uncover their decision‐making processes, but to‐date there have been few investigations into the key ethical drivers behind the decision‐making process. This study attempts to identify these ethical drivers within their particular product groups by means of a survey of self‐proclaimed ethical consumers distributed via a questionnaire placed in the Ethical Consumer Magazine. The findings indicate that environmental issues are ranked above human rights and animal rights/welfare issues and that the ethical consumer considers the product groups to have differential importance ranging from the food products goods group, being the most strongly associated with ethical issues, to the ‘brown goods’ group (electric goods such as stereos and TVs), which proved to be least associated with these issues. An examination of the ethical drivers within each group suggests that ethical consumers consider each product group on the basis of its bundle of ethical attributes, with differing levels of importance placed on each ethical issue within the purchase decision. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Modeling IT product recall intention based on the theory of reasoned action and information asymmetry: a qualitative aspect

This study proposes an ethical model of IT product recall intention based on the theory of reasoned action considering information asymmetry. This study is one of the first to consider information asymmetry in the formation of IT ethical intention. In the proposed model, nine propositions are provided for understanding the formation of the ethical intention of IT providers. More specifically, IT product recall intention is negatively influenced by information hiding and opportunism practicing, while opportunism practicing is positively influenced by information hiding. Furthermore, both information hiding and opportunism practicing are positively influenced by information asymmetry and negatively influenced by ethical attitude and subjective ethical norm. Last, the implications and limitations are provided.     

Political Consumerism in Context: An Experiment on Status and Information in Ethical Consumption Decisions

This article investigates two possible explanations for willingness to engage in ethical consumption: increased status and improved information about the benefits of ethical consumption for producers and for nature. We approach our hypotheses through an experimental method in which people are asked, under varying conditions, to choose between fair trade and “conventional” coffee. Unexpectedly, status and information provision did not significantly affect consumption decisions. Implications of our findings for the ethical consumption literature and strategies aimed at increasing ethical consumption are discussed.     

Enhancing Data Science Ethics Through Statistical Education and Practice

As sources of data become more plentiful and massive datasets are easier to acquire, new ethical issues arise involving data quality and privacy, and the analysis, interpretation and dissemination of data‐driven decisions. There are numerous anecdotes involving abuses of complex data analyses and algorithms, and the impact they have had on society. In this paper, we discuss what statisticians can do to help enhance data science ethics in practice and what statistics educators can do to instil sound ethical behaviour in our students. We have opportunities to practice and teach ethical conduct relevant to all stages of the data life cycle. This paper discusses issues impacting ethical data science, with a focus on how statisticians can help raise awareness and encourage implementation of ethical best practices.     

基于伦理视野下企业并购中的人力资源整合框架

并购后人力资源的整合是企业并购成功不可缺少的重要环节。由于存在诸多影响并购成功的HRM因素,以及人力资源管理者在遵守多元化的伦理原则的同时需要承担一些特定的角色,使得在并购前后、在人力资源管理中出现伦理困境。因此,可以从价值、文化两个层面来分解HRM整合的实现框架。HRM价值整合需要综合考虑HRM伦理动因、冲突、风险。HRM文化整合则需要在企业文化冲突的背景下,从员工选拔、培训、绩效、薪酬等方面进行文化整合,并在HRM战略下建立统一的社会责任文化。两个层面的整合都需要进行HRM伦理实践。     

Exploring the ethicality of firing employees who blog

This exploratory study evaluates the ethical considerations related to employees fired for their blogging activities. Specifically, subject evaluations of two employee‐related blogging scenarios were investigated with established ethical reasoning and moral intensity scales, and a measure of corporate ethical values was included to assess perceptions of organizational ethics. The first scenario involved an employee who was fired because of innocuous blogging, while the second vignette involved an employee who was fired because of work‐related blogging. Survey data were collected from employed college students and working practitioners. The findings indicated that the subjects' ethical judgments that firing an employee for blogging was unethical were negatively related to unethical intentions to fire an employee for blogging. Moral intensity was positively related to ethical judgments and negatively related to unethical intentions to fire an employee for blogging, while individual perceptions of ethical values were negatively associated with unethical intentions. Finally, subjects perceived that terminating an employee for innocuous blogging that did not target an employer was more ethically intense than was firing an employee for work‐related blogging. The implications of the findings for human resource professionals are discussed, as are the study's limitations and suggestions for future research. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Business ethics: the materiel/manufacturing perspective

The discussion of purchasing practices and product integrity, which have ethical implications for materiel/manufacturing management, serves to illustrate how routine decisions can have larger implications for the firm as a whole. Management needs to take a proactive role in confronting ethical issues by (1) demonstrating a corporate commitment to sound ethics in business practices, (2) providing written policies where appropriate to provide a basis for sound ethical conducts, (3) educating various functional areas to understand their responsibility in seeming unrelated ethical problems, (4) delegating authority in ethical issues where such issues are considered in decision making, and (5) fostering interfunctional communication as a means in establishing corporatewide responsibility. The basic philosophical principles of JIT serve as a blueprint for recognizing and managing ethical responsibility. The unexpected by-products of a JIT implementation may be vendor/customer good will and an excellent reputation for the firm.     

The constancy of ethics amidst the changing world of work

The dramatic changes of the past 25 years in the nature and conditions of work, including the globalization of organizations and the introduction of a strategic as opposed to employee-centered conception of HR have impacted the ways in which moral problems are manifested. But the paradigmatic forms taken by those problems, the character traits and motives needed to recognize them as such, the ethical reasoning used to address them, as well as the substance of the ethical principles on which such reasoning is based are all essentially unaffected and still pertain. Also discussed are distinctions among the variety of behaviors constituting the moral domain (incivility, intentional anti-organizational acts, and ethical failings); micro-versus macro-conceptualizations of “business ethics”; and formalistic versus principled mechanisms for promoting ethical organizational behavior. Viewed as critical is moral leadership from senior executives in creating salient ethical organizational cultures and climates.     

The Interrelationship of Governance,Trust, and Ethics in Temporary Organizations

This study investigates the variety of ethical decisions of project managers and their impact from corporate governance and project governance structures. The roles of personal trust and system trust as a mechanism to steer ethical decision making in different governance settings is explored. Nine qualitative case studies in Europe, Asia, and Australia show that ethical decision making is contingent on trust, which in turn is contingent on the fulfillment of personal expectations within a given governance structure. The findings show the prerequisites for ethical decision making and the consequences of lack of trust. Further managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Seizing the Ethical High Ground: Ethical Reputation Building in Corrupt Environments

We study how ethical behaviour by firms leads to ethical reputation building. Based on our in‐depth studies of two firms in India and Zimbabwe that resisted corruption and survived for extended time periods, we propose that in addition to behaving ethically, firms need to elicit favourable responses from a critical mass of stakeholders from both strong and weak tie networks in order for their ethical reputations to diffuse quickly and widely. We find that the strength of stakeholder responses to ethical behaviour is moderated by firm level and contextual factors: high status affiliations, industry characteristics, the nature of corruption resisted, the presence of a plural press, the potential for collective action, and the presence of an independent judiciary. These antecedents also influence the pattern of stakeholder resource commitments that firms are able to enjoy as a result of having built ethical reputations.     

A case study of ethical/green/environmental funds,corporate governance and stakeholder management

This paper investigates how far green, ethical and/or environmental funds are deployed to represent the interests of the individual investors and to what extent the business community is encouraged to adopt ‘greener’ behaviour. Data were collected through a questionnaire and developed in the form of a case study. Twenty green ethical and environmental funds were surveyed in the UK. The main findings are that fund managers claim that their funds are invested on behalf of the investors. They see their fund promoting the ethical/environmental values of the investors. Fund managers further think that they have an influence on companies they invest in and believe in encouraging companies to become better corporate citizens. There is, however, little evidence of funds' action on companies. While green/ethical funds, and more generally the financial community, are potentially powerful instruments of change, they are, however, still very much governed by conventional financial tools and criteria.     

Factors affecting corporate environmental strategy in Spanish industrial firms

During the last 30 years, environmental issues have become very important for governments, consumers and companies. Firms, aware of their environmental responsibilities, have started to show an important commitment to society and the natural environment, developing environmentally friendly strategies. However, the factors that determine the choice of environmental strategies are still unclear. They range from ethical motivations to social, legislative and competitive factors. This study analyses the main antecedents that influence firms' ecological behaviour, distinguishing between environmental orientation and environmental strategies. The hypotheses proposed in this study are analysed by means of a structural equation model on a sample of 235 industrial firms. The results reveal that competitive motivations and management commitment are the most important factors explaining why firms incorporate environmental issues into their strategic planning process. Moreover, management commitment is a critical factor for firms because managers' perception about customers' ecological concern directly influences firms' environmental behaviour. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Ethical person-environment fit: An integrative definition,key findings,and a call for future research

Although studies of ethical fit have been informative, the need to map a variety of seemingly disparate ethics-centered constructs (e.g., values congruence, ethical conflict) to the ethical fit domain still exists. Thus, a tripartite framework of ethical person-environment fit is proposed that includes affective, behavioral, and cognitive dimensions, resulting in a parsimonious set of ethical fit types. An integrative definition of ethical fit is provided, describing what constitutes ethical fit between employees and the organizational environment. Using the proposed organizing framework, empirical research on ethical fit is reviewed, highlighting key findings, resolving conceptual challenges, and identifying areas for future research. This review of the ethical fit literature revealed that there was an inconsistent pattern of results for studies operationalizing ethical fit using affective constructs. Conversely, those using moral-cognitive constructs, or a combination of affective, behavioral, and cognitive constructs consistently demonstrated positive associations between ethical fit and outcomes.     

审计伦理测量及中美大学会计专业学生审计伦理水平的比较

采用一种基于审计案例的测量工具,首次实证调查和测试中国会计专业学生的审计伦理水平。结果发现,中国大陆地区大二、大三和大四会计专业学生在审计伦理方面没有显著差异,但总体水平比美国和中国台湾的大四会计专业学生低一些,而中国台湾学生与美国学生没有显著差异,这应引起中国大陆会计教育界和政府主管部门的关注。     

中美CPA职业风险比较研究

CPA职业（注册会计师）风险主要有道德风险、行为风险和法律风险。道德风险与行为风险总是相伴相随。中美CPA风险来自于不同的方面。牢固树立并全面实施职业谨慎和职业怀疑理念，加强受托责任意识，是防范职业风险的根本。     

Ethical climate and pro-social rule breaking in the workplace

Pro-social rule breaking (PSRB), rule-breaking to promote the interests of the organization, is a burgeoning topic on the scholarly landscape, but drivers of this behavior remain largely unexplained. This paper seeks to extend theory on PSRB by conceptualizing this behavior as an ethical decision requiring tradeoffs and ethical assessments. Specifically, we offer a model of PSRB that contextualizes the behavior within Victor and Cullen's (1988) five-dimensional typology of organizational ethical climate. We offer a set of propositions that provides theory on the role of each climate type on PSRB, as well as additional theorizing about salient individual attributes that impact PSRB. In addition to clarifying PSRB as an ethical decision, this paper offers theory at multiple levels of analysis on what drives PSRB. Specifically core self-evaluations are proposed as antecedents to PSRB. This theorizing is also integrated into literature on HR policy and HR decision-making implications of the model for HR practitioners are discussed, and a set of future research directions are offered.     

Doing well by doing right: a fundraiser's guide to ethical decision‐making

• The level of trust a prospective donor has in a charity will, in part, determine whether the individual chooses to support the charity as well as the amount of that support. A key factor involved in trust is an organization's ethical standards. Donors prefer to make donations to organizations that maintain the highest principles. If an organization can consistently make the best possible, most ethical decisions, it will be recognized as being an ethical institution, which in turn will enhance the trust it engenders, and, therefore, the support it can attract. A number of ethical decision‐making models exist. Adopting a decision‐making model will ensure that a methodical approach is used and that the incidents of rash decision‐making will be reduced. Using an ethical decision‐making model will help individuals arrive consistently at the best solutions to ethical dilemmas, defend those decisions, enhance public trust, secure more donors, and raise more money. The value of sound decision‐making and effective ethical decision‐making models are reviewed in this paper.

Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.