Organizational Ethics & Rights

• Values and norms shared among an organization's employees constitute its organizational culture.
• Cultural relativism posits ethics are a reflection of culture, advocating firms adopt the ethics of cultures where they operate.
• Righteous moralism says a multinational's home-country ethics standards are suitable for companies in foreign countries.
• Naive immoralism suggests if a multinational manager sees firms in a host nation not following ethical norms, they shouldn't either.
• Kantian ethics believes people should be treated as ends and never merely as means.

Rights & Ethics

• Rights theories are a 20th-century ethical approach based on the belief that humans have fundamental rights transcending national boundaries.
• Utilitarian ethics determine the moral worth of actions by their consequences.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a UN document laying down basic principles for conducting business, regardless of culture.
• Just distribution is distribution considered fair and equitable.
• A code of ethics is a formal statement of a business's ethical priorities.
• Stakeholders include individuals/groups with an interest/claim in a company.
• Internal stakeholders are individuals/groups working for/owning the business.
• External stakeholders are individuals/groups with a claim on the firm like the government/suppliers/general public.
• Corporate social responsibility makes businesspeople consider the social/economic impact while favoring positive outcomes.
• Sustainable strategies help a firm make a profit without harming the environment, acting responsibly toward stakeholders.
• Justice theories focus on attaining a fair distribution of economic resources.

Decision Making

• Moral imagination involves considering how a decision affects stakeholders.
• Fundamental rights of stakeholders cover rights to information about products/working conditions that should be considered in business decisions.
• An ethics officer ensures employees are ethically aware, ethical considerations are part of decision making, and the company's code of ethics is followed.
• Personal ethics involves generally accepted principles governing individual conduct.
• Business ethics involves accepted principles governing businesspeople's conduct.
• Ethical strategy is a course of action not violating ethical principles.
• Sullivan Principles comprise passive resistance to apartheid laws and attempts to influence the abolition of apartheid laws.
• The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is a law regulating international business conduct regarding bribes and other unethical actions.
• The Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions is an OECD convention to criminalize bribery.
• An ethical dilemma is where no alternative seems ethically acceptable.
• Noblesse oblige refers to honorable and benevolent behavior required of those of high birth.

Theory

• The Friedman doctrine states that a business's sole responsibility is to maximize shareholder profits within the law.
• Rawls' veil of ignorance suggests ethical decisions should be made without knowing one's position in society.

Organizational culture encompasses shared values and norms. Ethical frameworks include cultural relativism, righteous moralism, and naive immoralism. Kantian ethics, rights theories, and utilitarian ethics shape moral decisions, guided by principles like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.