Chapter 10 – Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Diversity
o Case Study 10.1 – Diversity Pushback
§ Tyler University chooses to implement an initiative to pay all expenses for minority students
· the president and staff support the initiative
· students are upset that they must pay thousands of $ in loans AND the school is already diverse geographically, with different interests, family backgrounds, etc…
o With a town hall meeting coming up, how should the meeting address Tyler University’s diversity problem?
o Benefits of Diversity
§ Ethical, does more benefit than harm, individual consideration, promotes justice and community
o Barriers to Fostering Diversity
· Prejudice – prejudgment based on past experiences or beliefs
· Stereotyping – characterizing people on perceived similarities, ignoring personal differences
· Ethnocentrism – seeing the world from your own culture’s point of view
§ How to Overcome Barriers:
· Openness to new categories (ways of defining people), openness to new information, and recognizing the new, acknowledging other perspectives
· Moral inclusion: application of same values, rules, and standards to everyone
· Institute diversity programs which affects the business as whole, individual employees, and the diverse portion of the business
o Mastering Ethical Challenges of Leadership in a Global Economy:
§ Interdependence – concentration of power can lead to abuse, especially when resources and information are much more accessible
· Privilege can lead to overconsumption, and should be considered in the context of those who have less access or access to lesser resources
§ Misinformation – data is gathered or given to places that do not have their own capabilities of making research or validating it, leading to possible exploitation
§ Lack of consistency and loyalty – the means do not justify the ends; an improvement of one situation may come at the cost of another
o How to Build Global Responsibility
§ Create values that prevent ethical mishaps
§ Immediately address arising ethical issues
§ Accept responsibility to wrong doing
§ Set standards that equally treat leaders and followers
§ Consider these topics when considering global responsibility
o Bribery, false information, intellectual property rights, gender equality
o Aspects of Cultural Differences
§ Created: how cultures respond to circumstances
§ Learned: how cultural history is passed among generations
§ Shared: rules and laws set, and consequences of breaking laws
§ Dynamic: evolution of the culture
o Values “programmed” into cultures
§ Power distance – acceptance of equality or disparity
§ Individualism vs. collectivism
§ Masculinity vs. femininity
§ Uncertainty avoidance – how the “different” or “unknown” is received
o Project (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) GLOBE’s addendum to “programmed values
§ In-group collectivism – how small groups, families are valued
§ Assertiveness – tough and confrontation vs. modesty and tenderness
§ Future orientation – planning and investment
§ Performance orientation – rewarding performance or improvement
§ Humane orientation – society is a “family” vs. “group of individuals”
o Standing on Moral Common Ground a.k.a. Universal Ethics
§ Global Ethic: setting the global values; every human is treated humanely, and do onto others what you wish others do to you
§ Global Values: love, truthfulness, fairness, freedom, unity, tolerance, responsibility, respect for life
§ Peace Ethic: communicate with respect, give accurate information, not forcing others to own standards, identify common ground with other cultures
§ Business Standards: carrying these values and ethics throughout all business interactions
§ Caux Principles: stakeholders and shareholders, fostering better social conditions, establishing trust, cooperative regulations, multilateral trade, respect for environment, legality
o Integrated Social Contracts Theory
§ Addressing social contracts as macrosocial and microsocial:
· Macrosocial – how all people interact with each other, government protection of such interactions
· Microsocial – how specific groups interact with each other and recognize the norms of each group
o Although respect should be given for different cultures, the universal ethics should be followed in all circumstances
· Case Study 10.2 – Google Meets the Great Firewall of China
o China is a huge and still growing country where technology firms have entered and accepted the government’s censorship policies;
§ in fact, companies like Google and Yahoo have provided software or given access to citizen’s information to filter or seek out dissidents
o U.S. government representatives see working with such censorship immoral, even if this lending is to a quasi-developing country
§ however, the Chinese governments’ efforts to censor might fail on their own as access to network servers outside China and growth in web application may become overwhelming
· Case Study 10.3 – Ethical Diversity Scenarios
o Family Values or Nepotism
§ Indian companies have signed on to hiring children of current employees once the children have completed school; in the U.S., such nepotism is not seen as equal opportunity for everyone and is even fined
· How do you handle Indian nepotism; is it acceptable to have a business relationship with a firm that practices the nepotism?
o The Case of the Disguised Leader
§ To keep a business relationship strong and renew current contracts, the CEO suggests that you, a woman manager responsible for business in Kuwait, a Muslim nation, let a male counterpart handle the negotiations to avoid cultural impositions
· Would you follow the CEO’s advice? Why or why not?
o Hazardous Material Labels
§ Containers in developing countries do not have labels listing hazardous materials, making any harm to employees uncertain and unforeseen
§ asking companies to label their containers adds significant costs and drives up the price and similarly makes the purchasers less competitive with those who disregard the need for labels
· Would you require your supplier to label hazardous materials? Would you use unlabeled goods if the operating law allowed such use?
o The Regime Change
§ Your company has a clothing facility in Central America that offers the best wages and working conditions for the area;
§ recently, a military coup took over the government, taking political prisoners, blocking newspapers, and handing out death sentences to former government officials
§ however, the new leader assured you that your business would have no interference from the new government
· Should you continue your business in the new political environment? What advice would you give to company officials involved with the facility?
o Tainted Amnesty
§ An African nation dictator, known for exiling and killing thousands of citizens, agreed to abandon position, allowing the country to free political prisoners and allow humanitarian aid into the nation;
§ the only condition to the dictator’s statement is that total amnesty is given without any purchase
· What would be your position on the dictator’s demand?
