Chapter 3: Emerging Business Ethics Issues

integrity

a value that relates to all business activities, most important element of virtue and refers to being whole, sound, and in an unimpaired condition

deceitful purpose

suggests trickery, misrepresentation, or a strategy designed to lead others to believe something less than the whole truth

honesty

truthfulness or trustworthiness

fairness

the quality of being just, equitable, and impartial

the three fundamental elements that motivate people to be fair

equality, reciprocity, and optimization

equality (in a business sense)

the distribution of benefits and resources

reciprocity

an interchange of giving and receiving in social relationships

optimization

the trade-off between equity and efficiency

ethical issue

a problem or 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)

ethical dilemma

a problem, situation, or opportunity that requires an individual, group, or organization to choose among several actions that have negative outcomes

abusive or intimidating behavior

physical threats, false accusations, being annoying, profanity, insults, yelling, harshness, ignoring somebody, and unreasonableness

commission lying

creating a perception or belief by words that intentionally deceive the receiver of the message

omission lying

intentionally not informing others of any differences problems, safe warnings, or negative issues relating to the rod cut or company that significantly affect awareness, intention, or behavior

conflict of interest

exists when an individual must choose whether to advance his or her own interests, those of the organization, or those of some other group

bribery

the practice of offering something (often money) in order to gain an illicit advantage from someone in authority

active bribery

the person who promises or gives the bribe commits the offense

passive bribery

an offense committed by the official who receives the bribe

facilitation payments

payments made to obtain or retain business or other improper advantages (do not constitute bribery payments in U.S.)

U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

an act that state it is illegal for individuals, firms, or third parties doing business in American Markets to "make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business" (applies to all firms transacting business with ope

Corporate intelligence

the collection and analysis of information on markets, technologies, customers, and competitors, as well as on socioeconomic, and external political trends
(passive monitoring, tactical field support, and support decimated to top management strategy)

hacking

considered one of the top three methods for obtaining trade secrets (system, remote, and physical)

system hacking

assumes the attacker already has access to a low level, privileged-user account

remote hacking

involves attempting to remotely penetrate a system across the internet. usually begins with no special privileges and trees to obtain higher level or administrative access

physical hacking

requires the CI agent enter a facility personally

social engineering

the tricking of individuals into revealing their passwords or other valuable corporate intelligence, another popular method of obtaining valuable CI

shoulder surfing

when someone looks over an employee's shoulder while he or she types in a password

password guessing

a social engineering technique in which a person can guess a password based on information they know about that person

dumpster diving

sifting through trash to find information for any CI agent

whacking

wireless hacking

phone eavesdropping

when a person with a digital recording device can monitor and record a fax line

discrimination

on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, public assistance status, disability, age, national origin, or veteran status and is illegal in the U.S.

equal employment opportunity commission

The equal right of all citizens to the opportunity to obtain employment regardless of their gender, age, race, country of origin, religion, or disabilitie

age discrimination in employment act

specifically outlaws hiring practices that discriminate against people 40 years of age or older, as well as those that require employees to retire before the age of 70

affirmative action programs

involves efforts to recruit, hire, train, and promote qualified individuals from groups that have traditionally been discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, or other characteristics

sexual harassment

any repeated, unwanted, behavior of a sexual nature perpetrated upon one individual by another

hostile work environment

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; and the conduct was such that a reasonable person would find it hostile or offensive

dual relationship

a personal, loving, and/or sexual relationship with someone with whom you share professional responsibilities

unethical dual relationships

those where the relationship could potentially cause a direct or indirect conflict of interest a risk of impairment to professional judgment

steps to avoid sexual misconduct or harassment

1. establish a statement of policy
2. establish a definition of sexual harassment
3. establish a non retaliation policy
4. establish specific procedures for prevention
5. establish, enforce, and encourage victims
6. establish a reporting procedure
7. make

fraud

any purposeful communication that deceives, manipulates, or conceals facts in order to harm others

accounting fraud

usually involves 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

puffery

defined as exaggerated advertising, blustering, and boasting upon which no reasonable buyer would rely and is not actionable under the Lanham Act

implied falsity

the message has a tendency to mislead, confuse, or deceive the public. Advertising claims that use this are those that are literally true but imply another message that is false

literally false

the characterization of an advertising clam as this can be divided into two subcategories; tests prove (establishment claims) and bald assertions (non establishment claims)

tests prove (establishment claims)

when the advertisement cites a study or res that establishes the claim

bald assertions (non-establishment claims)

when the advertisement makes a claim that cannot be substantiated

consumer fraud

occurs when consumers attempt to deceive businesses for their own gain

collusion

a type of consumer fraud in which an employee assists the consumer in the fraud

duplicity

a type of consumer fraud in which a consumer may stage an accident and then seek damages against the store for its lack of attention to safety

guile

a type of consumer fraud that is associated with a person who is crazy or understands right/wrong behavior but uses tricks to obtain an unfair advantage

insider trading

can be illegal or legal

illegal insider trading

the buying or selling of sticks by insiders who possess information that is not yet public

legal insider trading

involves legally buying and selling stick in an insider's own company, but not all the time

intellectual property rights

involve the legal protection of intellectual property such as music, books, and movies

privacy issues

an issue that must be addressed by businesses that includes the monitoring of employees' use of available technology and consumer privacy

the two dimensions of consumer privacy

1. consumer awareness of information collection
2. a growing lack of consumer control over how companies use the personal information they collect