The following is in response to the given assignment criteria:
Application of Decision-Making Process:
Submit a 2100 to 2800-word application of an ethics decision-making strategy to a current global business ethics situation. Begin the assignment by selecting a globally operating corporation. Next, select one situation/scenario that involves ethical decision-making by the business. The scenario may be one that is either currently occurring or one that has already been resolved. Use a Critical Thinking Approach to Ethical Leadership Decision Making to analyze and make recommendations for leadership action.
The outcomes of this assignment must include the following:
- A clear statement of the ethical issue
- A clear statement of the business discipline
- A clear identification of the business decision to be made
- A clear identification of potentially related international regulations (Child Labor, Holidays, GATS, EPA, TRPS, etc.)
- A clear identification of potential issues involving disparate legal systems and practices (customs, protocols, etc.)
- A brief review of the facts of the case
- A step-by-step analysis of each aspect of your critical thinking decision making process relative to the issue
- Your final decision, with the rationale for that decision
- An evaluation of your decision relative to the decision made by the organization
- The leadership implications of your final decision on the organization's strategy
- This evaluation must be supported by references to globally acknowledged, peer-reviewed, refereed journals and/or germinal sources and must adhere to APA style for writing, formatting, and citations/references.
Expectancy Theory – connects to business ethics by explaining the relationship between a person’s actions, i.e., the decisions to act, and the expectation that the act will be followed by a certain outcome, e.g., a reward. The implications on ethical behavior are apparent and are embodied in the constraints placed on certain types of transactions between business entities or parties such as limiting the monetary value of certain gifts, etc.
Field Theory – connects to business ethics by examining what Lewin termed the field of forces holding a person in equilibrium. That is, it explains what a person is--whether he/she be ethical or not and why. In exploring the aspects of field theory further, from a business ethics perspective, we find explanation for how a person is moved from one level of ethical being to another and the actions/behaviors that follow. For example, it explains how a person who is otherwise highly ethical, may be moved to do something entirely unethical and out of character—given the right mix of forces vying for change versus those resisting it. It also explains how the opposite can occur—a fairly unethical person being transformed into someone seeking for rightness, fairness, and equitable utility.
Self-Deception – connects to business ethics by examining individual perceptions about fairness and equity, particularly in contrast to others within an organization. It is concerned with explaining the handicap that occurs in an individual who has so self-justified his/her value and contribution, that he/she has actually created an individually unique worldview, which includes at its forefront, a sense of equity, fairness, and what is rightfully his/hers—often wholly unrelated to and in conflict with ethical norms.
The Abilene Paradox – connects to business ethics by examining the essence of group decision-making. The paradox is this, due to cultural norms, stress, psychological pressure, unspoken norms, and/or published standards, the individuals in an organization agree to carry out or participate in a plan for which none of them were committed, desirous, or in support of. If a group decision involved unethical activities, the Abilene Paradox could essentially explain whistleblower impotence.
Huddling Theory – connects to business ethics by examining the relationships that form in the informal organization for the sole purpose of expediting task completion. It examines the ethics of cross-organizational unit collaboration and the utility of undocumented operations as small informal groups circumvent organizational standards and corporate policy. While the focus of the theory is to explain and promote ethical huddling, the realities of the converse is also described.
Critical Race Theory – connects to business ethics by examining the issue of rightness pertaining to racial equality and the utility of equal opportunity. It argues that, “Formal equal opportunity—rules and laws—can thus remedy only the more extreme and shocking forms of injustice” pertaining to racial inequality. The focus of critical race theory is on members of the legal community and was included in the taxonomy because it related to both ethics and the law.
Just War Theory – connects to business ethics by examining the justifications and utility of war between conflicting parties. Since the basis for all state-level interaction is ultimately economic progress, the connection to business ethics was mentally generalized so that implications were apparent for competitive positioning/tactics, and the extent to which one organization will justify its actions in ethical terms given the “evil it has already endured.” In other words, just war theory offers businesses a look into the process an organization uses to establish a moral framework.
Moral Economy Theory – connects to business ethics by explaining the justifications for collective action (strikes in Egypt in the taxonomy’s case) wherein the action is a “response to violations of norms and standards to which the subaltern class has become accustomed and which it expects the dominant elites to maintain.” It such a scenario, it is the perceived unethical (or illegal) acts of the elites that evokes the action of the organization’s subaltern class, i.e., the workers.
Rational Choice Theory – connects to business ethics the same as moral economy theory. Actually the two were examined using the same context: labor protest in Egypt. However, the difference is that rational choice theory is more closely affiliated with expectancy theory vs. perceived injustice, albeit on an organizational level rather than individual.
Moral Theory – connects to business ethics by examining the basis upon which an individual makes moral decisions. That is, it tasks an individual to examine how he/she substantiates moral decisions and subsequently, ethical perception. Referencing Lewin’s field theory, moral theory is concerned with that portion of a person’s equilibrium of forces that is highly resistant to change. Moral theory examines the who am I perspective of decision-making, as well as the how did I get here.