The Evolution of Business Ethics
One nice thing about this course is that you will find your background reading page rather short—but there will still be a respectable amount of reading to do. The reason is that you will be using a textbook for your Case Assignments. Well, it’s actually more of a narrative of the history of Lockheed Martin’s (LM) ethics program than an actual textbook.The first part of the text provides a general history of the company and also provides the setting for the creation of the company’s ethics program. Military contractors like LM tend to find themselves in the unique position of manufacturing weapons of war which they sell for a profit. But those weapons also provide a military superiority that helps to protect our troops in the field.With this said,read pages 1-48 for this module from the following book in the Trident Online Library:Terris, D. (2013). Ethics at work: Creating virtue at an American corporation. Waltham, MA: Retrieved from the Trident Online Library.For your SLP assignment you will be asked to spend some time reviewing an article on stakeholder management. Stakeholder management is foundational to the practice of business ethics. This is because typically when a company player does something unethical, stakeholders are the ones impacted. As always, some stakeholders may benefit and others may lose, but stakeholders will always be involved. Balancing stakeholder concerns is subsequently an important aspect of ethical decision making. This article provides a good overview of stakeholder management.Howitt, M., & McManus, J. (2012). Stakeholder management: An instrument for decision making. Management Services, 56(3), 29-34. Retrieved from Trident Online Library (ProQuest).Harrison, J. S., & Wicks, A. C. (2013). Stakeholder theory, value, and firm performance. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23(1), 97-124. Retrieved from the Trident Online Library.
Required Reading
Bossuyt, S., & Patrick, V. K. (2018). Assertiveness Bias in Gender Ethics Research: Why Women Deserve the Benefit of the Doubt. Journal of Business Ethics, 150(3), 727-739. Available in the Trident Online Library.Terris, D. (2005). Ethics at work: Creating virtue at an American corporation. Waltham, MA:. Retrieved from the Trident Online Library.Howitt, M., & McManus, J. (2012). Stakeholder management: An instrument for decision making. Management Services, 56(3), 29-34. Retrieved from Trident Online Library (ProQuest).Harrison, J. S., & Wicks, A. C. (2013). Stakeholder theory, value, and firm performance. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23(1), 97-124. Retrieved from the Trident Online Library.Emerson, W. M., Alves, H., & Raposo, M. (2011). Stakeholder theory: Issues to resolve. Management Decision, 49(2), 226-252.Stieb, J. A. (2009). Assessing Freeman's stakeholder theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(3), 401-414.Vlachos, P. A., Panagopoulos, N. G., & Rapp, A. A. (2013). Feeling good by doing good: Employee CSR-induced attributions, job satisfaction, and the role of charismatic leadership. Journal of Business Ethics, 118(3), 577-588.Schweitzer, M. E., & Gibson, D. E. (2008). Fairness, feelings, and ethical decision-making: Consequences of violating community standards of fairness. Journal of Business Ethics, 77(3), 287.The following tutorial provides detailed information that can be applied to the topics of this course. There are a number of videos and lessons on ethics. review the materials in this tutorial and save the tutorial for your future assignments. (At the end of the tutorial, there is an “exercise” that is NOT required for you to complete.)
Do You Have to Be an Expert to Practice Ethics?
Assignment Overview
The first part of your reading in Daniel Terris’ book will include an overview of Lockheed Martin’s organization and will lay out the research plan that Terris used to obtain information necessary for his work. This will be followed by a general overview of the evolution of business ethics in America.
Case Assignment
Based on your readings, describe what you consider to be the responsibility of top leadership in a large organization with respect to reaching a balance between profits and stakeholder concerns.
support your position by giving some examples from the text or from other sources where CEOs did a good or poor job of finding this balance.
Terris discusses the history of business ethics in America since the late 1800s with respect to anti-competitive practices, seeking unfair advantage through immoral arrangements with suppliers and public officials, failing to adhere to laws and regulations, and lack of transparency.
Discuss to what extent you believe things to be better or worse in the present day for businesses in general.
On page 41, Terris discusses the ideas of Howard Bowen regarding the evolution of social responsibility of businesses.
To what extent do you think his predictions held true since 1953?
Assignment Expectations
APA Points:
According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, there are three reasons why we need to use proper citations and references.
They are:
“To ensure the accuracy of scientific knowledge” (p.11). – How do we know if what you are reading is really the truth? We can look at the citation and the reference and do further research to make sure what you are reading and what you are basing your research on is correct.“To protect the rights and welfare of research participants” (p.11). – People deserve to get credit for their work. When you earn a degree and go on to do research, you will want credit for the work you have published.“To protect intellectual property rights” (p.11). – When we refer to inventions, we should give credit to the person who invented the item, trademarked the item, or developed a design. This protects their work.A reference system also allows the reader to use the in-text citation and reference page to find out how to do further research when they find a topic of interest. It can save a lot of time.As educated students, we should know the APA Style rules and work to perfect them.Below are three common mistakes that cost Trident Students. Reviewing these examples should help you improve your grade and also make future assignments easier.
APA Point 1: Where does the period go?
The use of a period. The period indicates the end of a sentence. However, if we put the period before the in-text citation, we are actually beginning the next sentence with the citation. Therefore, the period goes after the citation. Another misuse of the period is putting it before the citation and another after the citation. This is not correct. The period goes after the in-text citation.
Example: Intercultural Communication is quite important in how we deal with individuals from different Countries and even from different neighborhoods of our cities (Pearson, 2015b). – Notice where the period is.
APA Point 2: Do we need to use Quotation Marks?
When using information word for word from someone else’s work, quotation marks are necessary. This example illustrates the use of quoted material at the end of the sentence, followed by a citation and reference. The reference will also include the page numbers.
Example: When we are writing a Negative Letter, there are numerous authors who recommend starting the letters with a buffer. Remember, “Openings for negative messages are often called Buffer Beginnings because they are designed to buffer the negative message that will follow” (Bowman, 2002, p. 1).
APA Point 3: Arranging entries on a reference list.
Once again as we dive into our Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, we get guidance on how to arrange our references on the reference page. “Arrange entries in alphabetical order by the surname of the first author followed by initials of the author’s given name” (p. 181). One may ask why. When there are two or three references, it does not make a great amount of difference. But with numerous references, it is much easier if we arrange the references by the author’s last name. Remember, one of the purposes of a reference page is to help readers find additional information. If there are 10 or more references listed in random order, it is difficult to find the appropriate reference. So let’s use the alphabetical ordering.
Your paper should be double-spaced and in 12-point type size.
Your paper should have a separate cover page and a separate reference page containing the full citations corresponding to the in-text citations you choose to use in the body of your paper.So in addition to the 4- to 5-page body of your paper you will have a title page and a reference page.So overall, you will be submitting a 6- to 7-page document.
Use APA style, and proofread your paper.
Upload your paper by the end of the module.
