Instructor Solution Manual For Business Ethics Decision Making for Personal Integrity & Social Respo by welldoneassistant

Instructor Solution Manual For Business Ethics Decision Making for Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility, 5th Edition By Laura Hartman, Joseph DesJardins and Chris MacDonald Chapter 1-10 IM Chapter 1: Ethics and Business Chapter Objectives After reading this chapter, you will be able to: 1. Explain three levels at which ethical decisions get made in business. 2. Explain the nature of business ethics as an academic discipline. 3. Explain why ethics is important in the business environment. 4. Explain why ethical responsibilities go beyond legal compliance. 5. Distinguish the ethics of personal integrity from the ethics of social responsibility. 6. Distinguish ethical norms and values from other business-related norms and values. 7. Describe ethical decision making as a form of practical reasoning.

Opening Decision Point - Wells Fargo The Wells Fargo case can be used to introduce a range of topics that will emerge throughout this book. The case involves decision making at a number of levels, from individual entry-level employees (like many of our students), to branch managers, to mid-level management, senior executives, and the board of directors. A good discussion can be generated by asking students to assign responsibility, both in terms of who is at fault (who is accountable?) and what could be one to prevent it from re-occurring (what caused it?). These discussions can easily lead into the decision-making model that will be introduced late in the chapter. What facts would be helpful to make these judgments of responsibility? What facts would change your decision? Who are the stakeholders involved, ranging from entry-level employees, to customers, to stockholders, to competitors. What stake, exactly, do these groups have in this case? How were they harmed? How, if at all, were their interests represented in the process? This is also a good case with which to introduce the topics of corporate culture and leadership. How were the decisions made by individuals influenced by the surrounding culture, and how did that culture emerge at Wells Fargo? How free were employees at every level, including senior executives, to diverge from the prevalent culture? How might that institutional culture be changed? Who is responsible for institutional decisions? Which institutional policies and practices enabled this scandal? How might they be changed to avoid a re-occurrence? Another topic that can be introduced involves professional responsibilities of bankers and financial professionals. This discussion can be helpful in setting the stage for Chapter 5 and the general topic of corporate social responsibility. A discussion of fiduciary duties can introduce several important questions. 5-1 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

What responsibilities do managers, perhaps especially senior executives, have to stockholders? How might these responsibilities conflict with their responsibilities as financial professionals? This case can also introduce the question of government regulation within a market economy. What is the proper role for government agencies, both in terms offsetting standards to prevent misconduct, and in enforcing sanctions after the fact? How does this influence the ―free market‖ system? I.

Introduction: Getting Comfortable with the Topic

It is not uncommon for students to enter a business ethics class with some degree of doubt, confusion, and apprehension about the topic. This opening chapter aims to relieve those concerns by introducing business ethics as an unavoidable and non-threatening part of business (and life). The topic is introduced by reviewing some of the past and recent well-known scandals, but also pointing out some well-known examples of commendable corporate ethics. It can be worthwhile to remind students of best case examples as a means to reminding them that business ethics does not assume that only the bad cases deserve attention. We also remind students that business ethics is not limited to the type of major corporate decisions with dramatic social consequences. At some point every worker, and certainly everyone in a management role, will be faced with an issue that will require ethical decision-making.

This opening section identifies 5 general goals for a business ethics class: 1. Develop the knowledge base and skills needed to identify ethical issues. 2. Understand how and why people behave unethically. 3. Decide how we should act, what we should do, and the type of person we should be as individuals. 4. Create ethical organizations. 5. Think through the social, economic, and political policies that we should support as citizens.

* Reality Check: Psychological Egoism‖ provides a brief philosophical refutation of a common assumption that underlies much of the skepticism about business ethics, including the separation thesis. That assumption is the view that all human behavior is motivated by selfish interest, otherwise known as ―psychological egoism.‖

II.

Making the Case for Business Ethics a. The ―Separation thesis‖ described a common which holds that ethical standards are separate from the standards that apply in business activities. This view holds that business has its own rules that govern how the game is played and, therefore, business is exempt from ordinary ethical judgments. b. This separation thesis is represented prominently in Milton Freidman‘s famous essay, ―The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its profits.‖ This very common perspective can be seen in many cases discussed throughout this text, and should be contrasted with the ―stakeholder theory‖ described in Chapter 5. 5-2 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

c. Relationship between economic and moral values: How should we conceive of the relationship between business and market activity, on the one hand, and ethical concerns, on the other? This is not a new question, but one that can be found since the very dawn of modern capitalism. i. The relationship between Adam Smith‘s two books, The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments, can be seen as representing this question. ii. The issue of the relationship of economic and moral values is addressed in the study of business ethics. d. As recently as the mid-1990s, articles in such major publications as The Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and U.S. News and World Report questioned the legitimacy and value of teaching classes in business ethics. e. Leaders realize that they can no longer afford this approach in contemporary business. The direct costs of unethical business practice are more visible today than perhaps they have ever been before. f.

The first decade of the new millennium was riddled with highly-publicized corporate scandals, the effects of which did not escape people of any social or income class. Moreover, we saw the economy begin a downward spiral into one of the largest financial crises of the last 80 years.

g. These lending and trading efforts encouraged bad debt to appreciate beyond levels that the market could bear. The inevitable correction caused real estate values in most markets to decline sharply, domestic credit markets to freeze, and the federal government to intervene with a rescue package. h. Economic turmoil incites misconduct; there is a significant bump in observed workplace misconduct during times of economic challenges. Some money-saving strategies deployed by struggling companies, such as compensation/benefit reductions and hiring freezes, have been found to increase misconduct by more than 35 percent. *Chapter Objective 1 Addressed Below* i.

To understand the origins of the shift from whether ethics or values should play a role in business decisions to the almost frantic search for how most effectively (and quickly!) to do it, consider the range of people who were harmed by the Wells Fargo scheme: Customers, employees, investors, competitors, and the communities in which these people live.

Expansion of ethically responsible business decision-making: Ethically responsible business decision-making must move beyond a narrow concern with stockholders, and consider the impact that decisions will have on a wide range of stakeholders. In a general sense, a business stakeholder will be anyone affected, for better or worse, by decisions made within the firm.

*Reference: ―Reality Check - Why Be Ethical? Because the Law Requires It‖* (describes some legal requirements that have been created since the Enron fiasco) k. Reasons to be concerned with ethical issues: Beyond specific legal obligations, contemporary business managers have many other reasons to be concerned with ethical issues. i. Unethical behavior not only creates legal risks for a business, it creates financial and marketing risks as well. 5-3 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

ii. Managing these risks requires managers and executives to remain vigilant about their company‘s ethics. iii. A firm‘s ethical reputation can provide a competitive advantage, or disadvantage, in the marketplace and with customers, suppliers, and employees. iv. Managing ethically can also pay significant dividends in organizational structure and efficiency. v. Trust, loyalty, commitment, creativity, and initiative are just some of the organizational benefits that are more likely to flourish within ethically stable and credible organizations *Reference: ―Reality Check - Why Be Good?‖* l.

Reasons to be concerned with ethical issues for business students: The need to study ethics should be as clear as the need to study the other sub-fields of business education. Without this background, students simply will be unprepared for a career in contemporary business. i. But, even for students not anticipating a career in business management or business administration, familiarity with business ethics is just as crucial.

m. As leaders and as emerging leaders, we need to explore how to manage the ethical behavior of others so that we can impact their decisions and encourage them to make ethical, or more ethical, decisions. n. The case for business ethics is clear and persuasive. Business must take ethics into account and integrate ethics into its organizational structure. Students need to study business ethics.

II.

Business Ethics as Ethical Decision-making a. So what is the point of a business ethics course? i. As the title of this book suggests, our approach to business ethics will emphasize ethical decision-making. ii. Historical Context: On one hand, ethics refers to an academic discipline with a centuries old history and we might expect knowledge about this history to be among the primary goals of a class in ethics. 1. Thus, in an ethics course, students might be expected to learn about the great ethicists of history such as Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, and Immanuel Kant. As happens in many other courses, this approach to ethics would focus on the informational content of the class. *Chapter Objective 2 Addressed Below* iii. Ethical Behavior/Normative Content: Yet, according to some observers, learning about ethical theories and gaining knowledge about the history of ethics is beside the point. 1. Many people, ranging from businesses looking to hire college graduates to business students and teachers themselves, expect an ethics class to address ethical behavior, not just information and knowledge about ethics. 5-4 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

2. After all, shouldn‘t an ethics class help prevent future Madoffs? Ethics refers not only to an academic discipline, but to that arena of human life studied by this academic discipline, namely, how human beings properly should live their lives. iv. The Role of Influence . . . Yet, there is an appropriate caution about influencing behavior within a classroom. 1. Part of this hesitation involves the potential for abuse; expecting teachers to influence behavior may be viewed as permission for teachers to impose their own views on students. 2. Many believe that teachers should remain value-neutral in the classroom and respect a student‘s own views. 3. Another part of this concern is that there can be a narrow line between motivating students and manipulating students. a. There are many ways to influence someone‘s behavior, including threats, guilt, pressure, bullying, and intimidation. b. Some of the executives involved in the worst of the recent corporate scandals were very good at using some of these means to motivate the people who worked for them. 4. Presumably, none of these approaches belong in a college classroom, and especially not in an ethical classroom. [Teaching Note: this would be a good opportunity to discuss appropriate and inappropriate means for getting students to complete their homework assignments. What teaching methods respect students? Which disrespect them? Why? Contrast this to managerial influence: are there some inappropriate ways for managers to get workers to complete a task?] 5. But not all forms of influencing behavior raise such concerns. There is a major difference between manipulating someone and persuading someone, between threats and reasons. This textbook resolves the tension between knowledge and behavior by emphasizing ethical judgment, ethical deliberation, and ethical decision-making. 6. We agree with those who believe that an ethics class should strive to produce more ethical behavior among the students who enroll. a. But we believe that the only academically and ethically legitimate way to do this is through careful and reasoned decision-making. b. Our fundamental assumption is that a process of rational decisionmaking, a process that involves careful thought and deliberation, can and will result in behavior that is both more reasonable and more ethical. b. Role of a Course: Teaching ethics must, on this view, involve students thinking for themselves.

III. Business Ethics as Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility 5-5 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

a. Social circumstances are another element of our environment that impact our ethical decision-making and behavior. i. Social Context: An individual may have carefully thought through a situation and have decided what is right, and then may be motivated to act accordingly. But the corporate or social context surrounding the individual may create serious barriers to behave in that way. 1. As individuals, we need to recognize that our social environment will greatly influence the range of options that are open to us and can significantly influence our behavior. 2. People who are otherwise quite decent can, under the wrong circumstances, engage in unethical behavior while less ethically-motivated individuals can, in the right circumstances, do the ―right thing.‖ b. Ethical Leadership: i. Business leaders therefore have a responsibility for the business environment that they create; what we shall later refer to this environment as the ―corporate culture.‖ The environment can therefore strongly encourage or discourage ethical behavior. ii. Ethical business leadership is precisely this skill: to create the circumstances within which good people are able to do good, and bad people are prevented from doing bad. iii. The Enron case provides an example. The Decision Point included below (taken from a previous edition of this book) described the case of Sherron Watkins, an Enron vice president. She seemed to understand fully the corruption and deception that was occurring within the company, and she took some small steps to address the problems within the Enron environment. But when it became clear that her boss might use her concerns against her, she backed off. The same circumstances were involved in connection with some of the Arthur Andersen auditors. When some individuals raised concerns about Enron‘s accounting practices, their supervisors pointed out that the $100 million annual revenues generated by the Enron account provided good reasons to back off. The ―Sherron Watkins‖ Decision Point, below, exemplifies the culture present at Enron during the heat of its downfall and this example might be used as a class discussion topic or even a paper assignment topic.

Decision Point Sherron Watkins Sherron Watkins, a VP at Enron, sent a memo to CEO Ken Lay expressing concerns about the company‘s questionable accounting practices. She was hoping to turn things around in order to right the wrongs before they were exposed to the public. She brought to his attention the fact that many people knew about, or were suspicious about, the inappropriate behavior occurring at the firm and that they would not be able to hide it much longer. She also voiced her concern for the investors as well as for the Enron employees that she knew were aware of the situation and were almost desperate for the company to get caught. Watkins was featured on the cover of Time magazine after Enron‘s collapse and honored as a corporate whistleblower, although she never shared her concerns with anyone other than Ken Lay before ―blowing the whistle.‖ Was Watkins an ethical hero in taking these steps? Should she have gone further in 5-6 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

reporting potential wrongdoing to outside authorities? As in the case of Aaron Feuerstein, This can be another opportunity to raise the distinction between ethically obligatory acts and heroic acts (ethically praiseworthy, but not required). Students are asked to consider the following questions in determining whether Watkins was an ethical hero: 1. What facts would you want to know before making a judgment about Watkins? What ethical issues does this situation raise? 2. Besides Kenneth Lay, who else might have had an interest in hearing from Watkins? Who else might have had a right to be informed? Did Watkins have a responsibility to anyone other than Lay? 3. Other than informing Lay, what other alternatives might have been open to Watkins? 4. What might the consequences of each of these alternatives had been? 5. From this section of the memo, how would you characterize Watkins‘ motivation? What factors seem to have motivated her to act? 6. If you were Ken Lay and had received the memo, what options for next steps might you have perceived? Why might you have chosen one option over another? 7. Do you think Watkins should have taken her concerns beyond Kenneth Lay to outside legal authorities? *Chapter Objective 3 Addressed Below* c. The Ethical Question: Ethics involves what is perhaps the most monumental question any human being can ask: How should we live? i. Ethics is, in this sense, practical, having to do with how we act, choose, behave, and do things. ii. Philosophers often emphasize that ethics is normative, which means that it deals with our reasoning about how we should act. iii. Social sciences such as psychology and sociology also examine human decision making and actions, but these sciences are descriptive rather than normative. When we say that they are descriptive, we refer to the face that they provide an account of how and why people do act the way they do; as a normative discipline, ethics seeks an account of how and why people should act, rather than how they do act. d. How should we live? This fundamental question of ethics can be interpreted in two ways. i. "We" can mean each one of us individually, or it might mean all of us collectively. 1. In the first sense, this is a question about how I should live my life, how I should act, what I should do, and what kind of person I should be. This meaning of ethics is based on our value structures, defined by our moral systems; and, therefore, it is sometimes referred to as morality. It is the aspect of ethics that we refer to by the phrase ―personal integrity.‖ If morals refer to the underlying values on which our decisions are based, ethics refers to the applications of those morals to the decisions themselves. 2. In the second sense, ―How should we live?‖ refers to how we live together in a community. This is a question about how a society and social institutions such as corporations ought to be structured and about how we ought to live together. This area is sometimes referred to as social ethics and it raises 5-7 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

questions of justice, public policy, law, civic virtues, organizational structure, and political philosophy. 3. In this sense, business ethics is concerned with how business institutions ought to be structured, about whether they have a responsibility to the greater society (corporate social responsibility or CSR), about making decisions that will impact many people other than the individual decision maker. 4. We refer to this broader social aspect of ethics as decision-making for social responsibility. 5. Teaching Note: The following hypothetical case can be used to highlight the distinction between the ethics of individual integrity and the social justice. Imagine an HR manager who is hiring two employees. Assume that the top two candidates, one male and one female, are equally qualified and that the HR manager wishes to hire both. Assume that the HR manager himself will get evaluated, in part, by how well he controls compensation expenses. As a result, he has both a professional and personal responsibility to pay the lowest salary that is necessary to get the candidate to accept the position. At the last interview, the manager asks each about their salary expectations. Imagine that the female candidate asks for a salary that is substantially below what the male asks. He knows that the male may not accept the job offer at a lower salary, and knows that the female is willing to accept the lower offer. What responsibility does the HR manager have for paying equally qualified employees? If the manager pays the female less, would you characterize him as sexist? Is this decision unfair workplace discrimination? Imagine now that the HR manager is a woman? Would this change your judgment? A good discussion can follow on how particular social contexts can shape decisions and, despite the best intentions of individuals involved, result in socially undesirable consequences.

Decision Point Management and Ethics Imagine that you are examining this chapter‘s opening scenario in one of your classes on Organizational Behavior or Managerial Finance. What advice would you offer to Sodexo? What judgment would you make about this case from a financial perspective? After offering your analysis and recommendations, reflect on your own thinking and describe what values underlie those recommendations. • • • •

What facts would help you make your decision? Does the scenario raise values that are particular to managers? What stakeholders should be involved in your advice? What values do you rely on in offering your advice?

e. Ethical Decision-Making: Within a business setting, individuals will constantly be asked to make decisions affecting both their own personal integrity and their social responsibilities. i. Each decision made by a business manager involves not only a personal decision, but also a decision on behalf of, and in the name of, an organization that exists within a particular social, legal, and political environment. ii. Whatever decision business managers make, they will have taken a stand on an ethical issue, at least implicitly. iii. The actions each one of us takes and the lives we lead give very practical and unavoidable answers to fundamental ethical questions.

Decision Point Ethics After an Oil Spill The following answers are lengthier than those that follow in the rest of this Instructors‟ Manual in order to give a bit of guidance at the outset. Ethics After an Oil Spill In 2011, an oil pipeline owned by the energy company Enbridge sprung a leak near the town of Wrigley in the Canadian Northwest Territory. The citizens of Wrigley maintain a traditional style of life that depends on the health of local forests and waterways. Environmental protection isn‘t just a question of principle for the people of Wrigley; it‘s a matter of survival. Enbridge devised a detailed cleanup plan - a complex technical document 600 pages long. When the company offered $5,000 so that the community could hire its own experts to evaluate the plan, locals were offended by such a tiny payment. This was a significant blow to Enbridge‘s image, coming shortly after another Enbridge pipeline ruptured in Michigan. And at the same time, Enbridge was in the midst of trying to win approval for a new project in the face of opposition from environmental groups. The company faced a number of difficult issues in the wake of the Wrigley spill. First, Enbridge had to clean up the spilled oil. Then, they had to consider the issue of remediation – the restoration the polluted land back to something like its original state. Further, there was the question of compensation to the local community for the pollution and loss of use of some of their traditional hunting grounds. All of this was 5-9 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

set against a backdrop of controversy surrounding the impact that oil pipelines have on the lands and communities through which they run. What do you think motivated the company‘s decision to offer the community $5,000 to hire its own expert? Why do you think the community was insulted? If you were the company‘s local manager, what would you have done? This case provides an opportunity to accomplish several introductory goals. In the most general terms, this discussion helps in exploring with the students prior to chapters two and three the source/origins of our values or strongly held beliefs, what encourages us to make the decisions that we make, the ―whys‖ behind our choices. One can use the case as a means for discussing decision-making: What options are available to Enbridge? How would it decide? What factors are relevant to the decision? What is a rational decision? Ask students to take various points of view—Enbridge, its financial advisor, the city‘s mayor, Wrigley‘s citizens—and contrast likely alternative decisions. One can also use the case to subtly introduce various perspectives on ethics: what is the difference between doing something ethically required and doing something heroic or charitable? On what grounds do you reach your own opinion about Enbridge? What type of company is it, and what is its corporate character? This case also allows for an introduction to the basic debate about corporate social responsibility: What responsibilities does a company have to the community in which it is located? For whose benefit ought a company be operated? Enbridge is a publicly traded corporation. How might the factors considered in its decision-making change if it were privately controlled? What facts would be helpful to you, as an outsider, in evaluating the company‘s behavior after the spill? It would be helpful to know the business‘ financial situation before the oil spill, the company‘s environmental record prior to the spill, any prior relationship the company had to Wrigley, what alternatives were available and how feasible each would be. In addition, did the firm have a mission statement, or any other obligations to Wrigley or others that the students believe should be upheld? What are other possible sources of ―obligations?‖ What values are involved in this situation? How would Enbridge answer that question, internally? How would the people of Wrigley answer that question, if asked? There are a number of different ethical values involved in this situation. Challenge the students to explore their origins and examine what Enbridge should consider as the responsible party in the spill, what are its contractual obligations, its social responsibilities, its rights/duties and the rights/duties of the people of Wrigley. What is the fair thing to do, what is the loyal and kind thing to do in this situation, and what might a ―virtuous‖ company do under these circumstances? What is reasonable for the people of Wrigley to expect from Enbridge? Did Enbridge have obligations that went beyond cleaning up the area directly affected by the spill from the company‘s pipeline? Were they obligated to offer the $5,000? Consider the suggestion made by a member of the community, that Enbridge should donate money to build a swimming pool or hockey arena for local kids. Would a donation of this kind help to satisfy the company‘s obligations to the community? Enbridge‘s actions were considered insulting by the community, even though it had no contractual or other legal obligation beyond the cleanup laid out in its plan. The spirit of Enbridge‘s offer was not taken as sufficient to address the community‘s concerns about the oil spill. Ask students to hypothesize about 5-10 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

the reasons for the community‘s dissatisfaction, and to brainstorm about actions the company might have taken to satisfy these concerns. If they were Enbridge managers faced with the task of recommending such actions to the company‘s board, how would they make their case? f.

Application of Ethical Decision-Making: Consider two approaches to the above Enbridge scenario in the Decision Point, ―Ethics After an Oil Spill.‖ i. The more social-scientific approach common in management or business administration classes would examine the decision by exploring the factors that led to one decision rather than another or by asking why the manager acted in the way that he did? ii. A second approach to Enbridge, steps back from the facts of the situation to ask what should the manager do, what rights and responsibilities are involved? What good will come from this situation? Is Enbridge being fair, just, virtuous, kind, loyal, trustworthy? iii. This normative approach to business is at the center of business ethics. Ethical decision making involves the basic categories, concepts, and language of ethics: shoulds, oughts, rights and responsibilities, goodness, fairness, justice, virtue, kindness, loyalty, trustworthiness, and honesty.

*Chapter Objective 4 Addressed Below* g. Ethics as Normative: To say that ethics is a normative discipline is to say that it deals with norms, those standards of appropriate and proper (or ―normal‖) behavior. i. Norms establish the guidelines or standards for determining what we should do, how we should act, what type of person we should be. ii. Norms appeal to certain values that would be promoted or attained by acting in a certain way. iii. Normative disciplines presuppose some underlying values. h. What are Values? We can think of values as the underlying beliefs that incline us to act or to deicide one way rather than another. i. A company‘s core values are those beliefs and principles that provide the ultimate guide to its decision-making. ii. We can recognize many different types of values: financial, religious, legal, historical, nutritional, political, scientific, and aesthetic. Individuals can have their own personal values, and importantly, institutions also have values. iii. Talk of a corporation‘s culture is a way of saying that a corporation has a set of identifiable values that establish the expectations for what is ―normal‖ within that 5-11 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

firm. iv. These norms guide employees, implicitly more often than not, to behave in ways that the firm values and finds worthy. v. One important implication of this guidance, of course, is that an individual‘s or a corporation‘s set of values may lead to either ethical or unethical result. The corporate culture at Enron, for example, seems to have been committed to pushing the envelope of legality as far as possible in order to get away with as much as possible in pursuit of as much money as possible. vi. One way to distinguish these various types of values is in terms of the ends they serve. i.

Ethics Values versus Other Values: How are ethical values to be distinguished from these other types of values? i. Ethical values serve the ends of human well-being. Acts and decisions that seek to promote human welfare are acts and decisions based on ethical values. Controversy may arise when we try to specify more precisely that which is involved in human well-being. ii. The well-being promoted by ethical values is not a personal and selfish well-being. After all, the Enron and Madoff scandals resulted from many individuals seeking to promote their own well-being. iii. Ethics requires that the promotion of human well-being be done impartially. Ethical values are those beliefs and principles that impartially promote human well-being.

III.

Ethics and the Law

*Chapter Objective 5 Addressed Below* a. The law provides an important guide to ethical decision-making. Legal norms and ethical norms are not identical nor do they always agree. However, when new quandaries arise, one must be able to rely on ethics since the law might not yet – or might never – provide a solution. i. Some ethical requirements, such as treating one‘s employees with respect, are not legally required though they may be ethically warranted. ii. Conversely, some actions that may be legally permitted, such as firing an employee for no reason, would fail many ethical standards. b. Law as Social Responsibility: A commonly accepted view, perhaps more common prior to the scandals of recent years than after, holds that a business fulfills its social responsibility simply by obeying the law.

i. From this perspective, an ethically responsible business decision is merely one that obeys the law; there is no responsibility to do anything further. ii. Individual businesses may decide to go beyond the legal minimum, but these choices are voluntary and a matter of corporate philanthropy and charity. c. Ethics Programs and Officers. Over the last decade, many corporations have established ethics programs and have hired ethics officers who are charged with managing corporate ethics programs. i. Ethics officers do a great deal of good and effective work, but it is fair to say that much of their work focuses on compliance issues. ii. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act created a dramatic and vast new layer of legal compliance issues. d. Compliance? Is compliance with the law all that is required to behave ethically? *Reference: ―Reality Check - Transparency International: Perceptions of Foreign Bribery by Sector‖* *Chapter Objective 6 Addressed Below* i. Example: Consider one law that has significant impact of business decision making: the Americans with Disability Act. This law requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. But what counts as a disability and what counts as a reasonable accommodation? Over the years, claims have been made that relevant disabilities include obesity, depression, dyslexia, arthritis, hearing loss, high blood pressure, facial scars, and the fear of heights. Whether or not such conditions are covered under the law will depend on a number of factors, including how severe the illness is and how it affects the employee‘s ability to work. Imagine that you are a corporate human resource manager and an employee asks that you make reasonable accommodations for her allergy. How would you decide if allergies and hay-fever are disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act? e. Rules versus case law: The law offers general rules that get specified in case law. Most of the laws that concern business are based on past cases that establish legal precedents. There is no unambiguous answer to the conscientious business manager who wishes simply to obey the law. i. Some theories of corporate social responsibility suggest that if a corporate manager is told that she has a responsibility to maximize profits within the law, a competent manager will go to her corporate attorneys and tax accountants to ask what the law allows. Most cases of corporate scandal mentioned at the start of the chapter involved attorneys and accountants who advised their clients that what they were doing could be defended in court. f.

It would seem a manager has a responsibility to ―push the envelope‖ of legality in pursuit of profits. Because the law is ambiguous, because in many cases it simply is not clear what the

law requires, business managers will often face decisions that will rely on their ethical judgments. g. Responsible decision-making requires that we do step back to reflect upon and consciously choose the values by which we make decisions. ** Teaching Note: This would be an appropriate point to delve more deeply into the contrast between ethics and law. Take any well-known business law case, describe the factual background, and then ask students to take the point of view of those who argue that the social responsibility of business is to maximize profit within the law. From that perspective, before the outcome of the legal case is known, what ought the business manager do? Then have students read the judicial decision and examine whether they could have known what the law required before the decisions was made. *Chapter Objective 7 Addressed Below* IV.

Ethics as Practical Reason: a. Practical Reason: We have described ethics as practical and normative, having to do with our actions, choices, decisions and reasoning about how we should act. i. Ethics is therefore a vital element of practical reasoning and is distinguished from theoretical reasoning. ii. Theoretical reasoning is the pursuit of truth, which is the highest standard for what we should believe. b. The Scientific Method. According to this tradition, science is the great arbiter of truth. The scientific method can be thought of as the answer to the fundamental questions of theoretical reason: What should we believe? i. The question arises, is there a comparable methodology or procedure for deciding what we should do and how we should act? ii. There are guidelines that can provide direction and criteria for decisions that are more or less reasonable and responsible. Ethical theories are patterns of thinking, or methodologies, to help us decide what to do. iii. Practical reason is reasoning about what we should do. It involves walking through a series of steps in making a decision about what to do, in order to make a reasonable decision.

Discussion of Opening Decision Point Wells Fargo: Individual Misconduct, of Failure of Culture ? The Wells Fargo case provides an opportunity to examine individual decision making within an institutional context. Explicit institutional policies and practices such as compensation schemes, performance bonuses, and sales targets, or more subtle institutional practices such as ―eight is great‖ slogans, can influence how individuals make decisions. A helpful class exercise is to ask students to 5-14 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

reflect on what motivations they believe lead to decisions at each level of employment: entry-level, branch managers, senior executives, board members. This case also provides an occasion to reflect on the role of external stakeholders, including the press and government agencies.

End of Chapter Questions, Projects, and Exercises 1. Other than ethical values, what values might a business manager use in reaching decisions? Are there classes in your college curriculum, other than ethics, which advise you about proper and correct ways to act and decide? Challenge the students to integrate knowledge and material from their other courses. In particular, challenge them to articulate any behavioral norms that are implicit in such classes as finance, accounting, economics. Ask students to explain how the norms embedded in these classes differ from ethical norms. 2. Why might legal rules be insufficient for fulfilling one‘s ethical responsibilities? Can you think of cases in which a businessperson has done something legally right, but ethically wrong? What about the opposite – are there situations in which a businessperson might have acted in a way that was legally wrong but ethically right? Direct students to discussion about ethics and the law. This question can also be used to draw parallels between legal and ethical distinctions between what is ―required/obligatory‖ and what is ―permitted.‖ 3. What might be some benefits and costs of acting unethically in business? Distinguish between benefits and harms to the individual and benefits and harms to the firm. Students may need to be challenged to move beyond economic and financial benefits and harms. 4. Review the distinction between personal morality and matters of social ethics. Can you think of cases in which some decisions would be valuable as a matter of social policy, but bad as a matter of personal ethics? Something good as a matter of personal ethics and bad as a matter of social policy? Lead a class discussion about the nature of personal morality and matters of social ethics based on relevant current events or leaders. Again, consider the hypothetical case of the HR manager mentioned at II.d.5 as a means to highlight this distinction. Other cases might involve individuals who are charged with certain professional responsibilities—lawyers, auditors, physicians. 5. As described in this chapter, the Americans with Disabilities Act requires firms to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. Consider such conditions as obesity, depression, dyslexia, arthritis, hearing loss, high blood pressure, facial scars, and the fear of heights. Imagine that you are a business manager and an employee comes to you asking that accommodations be made for these conditions. Under what circumstances might these conditions be serious enough impairments to deserve legal protection under the ADA? What factors would you consider in answering this question? After making these decisions, reflect on whether your decision was more a legal or ethical decision. Refer students to the relevant section in the chapter on the Americans with Disabilities Act. In order for circumstances such as obesity, depression, dyslexia, arthritis, hearing loss, high blood pressure, facial scars, and the fear of heights to be serious enough impairments to deserve legal 5-16 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

protection under the ADA, the impairment must substantially limit one or more major life activities. When the law is ambiguous, as is always so in case law, any decision will be made in part on the basis of personal values. Such examples help counter the misleading view that many students adopt that the law is a set of rules that provide unambiguous guidance. In turn, this helps instructors move students beyond the perspective that all one needs do is ―obey the law.‖ 6. Do an Internet search for recent news stories about oil spills. Do any of those stories report behaviors that seem especially wise or unwise on the part of the oil companies involved? Do you think that controversies over big pipeline projects like the Keystone Pipeline alter how people evaluate the ethics of oil-spill cleanups? Students can find information about the risks Enbridge‘s pipelines still pose in this news article: ―Great Lakes at Risk of Major Oil spill, Report Warns‖ Bloomberg Businessweek, October 18, 2012, http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-18/great-lakes-at-risk-of-major-oil-spillreport-warns For an overview of some issues raised by advocates and critics of the Keystone Pipeline, students can be directed to the following resources: 1) ―Where‘s the Noise? Keystone XL: The Forgotten Controversy,‖ Columbia Business Law Review, September 26, 2012, http://cblr.columbia.edu/archives/12292 2) ―Why the $7 Billion Keystone XL Pipeline is the Most Controversial Business Venture in America,‖ Business Insider, November 8, 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com/keystonexl-project-controversy-2011-11?op=1 7. Construct a list of all the people who were adversely affected by Bernie Madoff‘s Ponzi scheme. Who, among these people, would you say had their rights violated? What responsibilities, if any, did Madoff have to each of these constituencies? The concept of ―stakeholders‖ will be introduced in chapters 2 and 3; therefore this question is to help students get started thinking about the nature of ―stakeholders.‖ Ask students to list the stakeholders in the Madoff situation. An interesting side discussion can be generated by asking students to describe how all of these stakeholders were harmed, and whether or not they view the losses faced by some individuals or organizations (e.g., The Elie Wiezel Foundation for Humanity) differently than those faced by others (e.g., hedge funds or individual celebrities). 8. What difference, if any, exists between ethical reasons and reasons of self-interest? If a business performs a socially beneficial act in order to receive good publicity, or if it creates an ethical culture as a business strategy, has the business acted in a less than ethically praiseworthy way? This question introduces the concepts of corporate culture and social responsibility, which will be discussed in chapters 4 and 5. 9. During the recession of 2008-2009, many reputable companies suffered bankruptcies while others struggled to survive. Of those that did remain, some opted to reduce the size of their work forces significantly. In a business environment during those times, consider a company that has been doing fairly well, posting profits every quarter and showing a sustainable growth expectation for the future. However, the general ill ease in the market has caused the company‘s stock price to fall. In response 5-17 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

to this problem, the CEO decides to layoff a fraction of his employees, hoping to cut costs and to improve the bottom line. This action raises investor confidence; consequently, the stock price goes up. What is your impression of the CEO‘s decision? Was there any kind of ethical lapse in laying off the employees, or was it a practical decision necessary for the survival of the company? Students should list and consider each of the stakeholders impacted by the company‘s decision and analyze the business decision in the context of the business‘ social responsibilities. 10. Every year, Ethisphere Magazine publishes a list of the world's most ethical companies. Go to their website; find and evaluate their rating methodology and criteria; and engage in an assessment (i.e. provide suggestions for any modifications you might make or a more or less comprehensive list, and so on). http://ethisphere.com/wme/

Ethical Decision-Making: Personal and Professional Contexts Chapter Objectives After reading this chapter, students will be able to: 1. Describe a process for ethically responsible decision making. 2. Apply this model to ethical decision points. 3. Explain the reasons why ―good‖ people might engage in unethical behavior. 4. Explore the impact of managerial roles on the nature of our decision making.

Opening Decision Point Am I about to Lose My Job? With this case, the general introduction of Chapter One is brought down to the very practical level of individual decision making. This scenario is based on an amalgam of two actual situations in which our own MBA students have found themselves, so this can be used to introduce students to a situation that they themselves could face. As such, this is a good opportunity to flesh out the decision making procedure introduced in Chapter One. A helpful start might be to simply walk through the decision making procedure applied to this case: what facts would you need to know? What are the ethical issues involved? Who are the stakeholders? This case also can be used to demonstrate that people face a variety of ethical demands, ranging from the personal concern with truthfulness, to an individual responsibility to friends, to the demands of professional responsibility. This is a good example of a classic moral dilemma: an individual is faced with competing and incompatible ethical claims. This case also provides an opportunity to discuss the ethical basis of some professional duties and examine why some might confuse this with the separation thesis. In this situation, it might appear to be ordinary ethical responsibilities of truthfulness and personal integrity conflict with a person‘s business responsibilities to hold information in confidence. But the duty of confidentiality might best be explained as an example of another ordinary ethical responsibility, namely promise-keeping and the fiduciaryresponsibility of professionals. Finally, the case can also be used to reinforce the understanding that ethics does not always involve unambiguous conclusions. There may be no single ―right‖ answer (why, otherwise, would the individual involved feel the pull of a dilemma?), but various moreor-less reasonable decisions.

a. Putting Ethics into Practice: Ethics requires not simply decision-making, but accountable decision-making. i.

Even if a person does not consciously think about a decision, her or his own actions will involve making a choice and taking a stand. 1. Example: If you find yourself in a situation similar to the discussion case, how would you think your way through it?

b. Ethical Decision Making in Everyday Life: This chapter examines various elements involved in individual decision making and applies those concepts to the decisions individuals make every day in business. The chapter also explores:

II.

Ways ethical decision making can go wrong.

ii.

Ways effective business leaders can model the most effective ethical decisionmaking.

A Decision Making Process for Ethics a. What is the Ethical Decision-Making Process? i.

We explore the application to the opening Decision Point - How would you decide what to do in the case at the beginning of the chapter?

** Teaching Note: This discussion should be tied back to Chapter One and students should be reminded that an ethics course strives to help them think for themselves. Always in the background are the dual pitfalls of dogmatism, which imposes one correct ethical view on all, and relativism, which denies that there is any correct ethical view. This decision-making process provides the middle ground between dogmatism and relativism. *Chapter Objective 1 Discussed Below* b. Step 1: Determine the Facts of the Situation. i.

It is essential to make an honest effort to understand the situation, and to distinguish facts from mere opinion.

ii. Perceptual differences surrounding how individuals experience and understand situations can explain many ethical disagreements. Knowing the facts and carefully reviewing the circumstances can go a long way towards resolving disagreements at an early stage. iii. Example: Let us turn to the discussion case. What facts would be useful to know before making a decision? Suppose you do know what will happen to this local office? . Would that make a difference? Suppose you knew specific detas of the questioner‘s life, such as family financial situation. How would your decision change as any of these facts changed? Can you imagine a situation in which what 5-20 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

looks like an ethical disagreement turns out to be a disagreement over the facts? iv. Role of Science (and Theoretical Reason) in Ethics: 1. An ethical judgment made in light of a diligent determination of the facts is a more reasonable ethical judgment that one made without regard for the facts. A person who acts in a way that is based upon a careful consideration of the facts has acted in a more responsible way—ethically and rationally more responsible—than a person who acts without deliberation. 2. The sciences, and perhaps especially the social sciences, can help us determine the facts surrounding our decisions. As a business example, consider what facts might be relevant for making a decision regarding child labor. Consider how the social sciences of anthropology and economics, for example, might help us understand the facts surrounding employing children in the workplace within a foreign country. 3. Applying this strategy to a business operation would encourage business decision-makers to seek out perhaps alternative or somewhat less traditional methods of fact gathering to ensure that she or he has compiled all of the necessary data in processing the most ethical decision. c. Step 2: Identifying the Ethical Issues Involved. i.

It is crucial to recognize a decision or issue as an ethical decision or ethical issue. It is easy to be led astray by a failure to recognize that there is an ethical component to some decision.

ii. It is important to ask questions about the ethical implications of a decision or issue: How does one determine that a question raises an ethical issue at all? When does a business decision become an ethical decision? iii. ―Business‖ or ―economic‖ decisions and ethical decisions are not mutually exclusive. Just because a decision is made on economic grounds does not mean that it does not involve ethical considerations as well. iv. Being sensitive to ethical issues is a vital characteristic that needs to be cultivated in ethically responsible people. 1. How will our decisions impact the well-being of the people involved? 2. To the degree that a decision affects the well-being—the happiness, health, dignity, integrity, freedom, respect—of the stakeholders, it is a decision with ethical implications. 3. Shall we also consider then the environment, animals, future generations? There are often ethical implications for these entities, as well. In the end, it 5-21 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

is almost impossible to conceive of a decision we might make that does not have at least some impact on the well-being of another. v. Normative myopia, or shortsightedness about values, can occur in business contexts when one is unable to recognize ethical issues. Normative myopia does not occur only in businesses, as the Reality Check below displays. *Reference: ―Reality Check - Is There an Ethics of Writing Papers?‖* *Reference: ―Reality Check – FoolingOurselves‖ vi. Inattentional blindness can result from focusing failures when we happen to focus or we are told specifically to pay attention to a particular element of a decision or event – and we miss all of the surrounding details, no matter how obvious. vii. Change blindness occurs when decision-makers fail to notice gradual changes over time, such as when Arthur Andersen auditors did not notice how low Enron had fallen in terms of its unethical decisions. One of the means by which to protect against these decision risks is to ensure that decision-makers seek input from others in their decision processes. d. Step 3: Identify and Consider All of the ―Stakeholders‖ Affected by the Decision. i.

―Stakeholders‖ in this general sense include all of the groups and/or individuals affected by a decision, policy, or operation of a firm or individual.

ii. Considering issues from a variety of perspectives other than one‘s own, and other than what local conventions suggest, helps make one‘s decisions more reasonable and responsible. *Reference ―Figure 2.1 – Stakeholder Map‖* iii. Shifting one‘s role is helpful in considering the affects of a decision on others. 1. Rather than being in the position of the person who is being asked about the potential job loss, what would you think of this case if you were the person facing the loss of a job? How does that impact your thinking? What would your judgment be if you were the person who was asking? iv. Key Test of Ethical Legitimacy: Whether or not a decision would be acceptable from the point of view of all parties involved. 1. If you could accept a decision as legitimate no matter whose point of view you take, that decision would be fair, impartial, and ethical. 2. Example: If you acknowledge that you would not violate confidence no matter which person you were, then that is a strong indication that the decision to keep confidence is a fair or ethical one. 5-22 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

3. Example: Or consider Enbridge‘s decisions after the oil spill in Wrigley, as described in Chapter 1. Considering only its obligation to its shareholders might lead to a decision to satisfy only the minimum legal requirements for cleaning up the site, to avoid additional costs that would negatively impact profits. However, a decision that considers only the shareholders‘ point of view would not be a responsible decision. The spill also affected the residents of Wrigley, who are heavily dependent on the forests and waterways in the area for their livelihood and ways of life.

Decision Point: Who Matters, After an Oil Spill? Students are asked to think back to the Decision Point in the first chapter, ―Ethics After an Oil Spill.‖ One of the key challenges Enbridge faced involved determining the identity of its key stakeholders. To whom does the company owe obligations in the wake of the oil spill? But once the company has identified its stakeholders, then what? Challenge students consider the relatively easy example of a group that is directly affected: the residents of the tiny town of Wrigley, and to determine what the company owes to this group. The following questions are included in this Decision Point to facilitate student reflection or discussion of Enbridge‘s obligations to this stakeholder group:    

Are the residents of Wrigley owed a clean-up effort that restores the area to its state prior to the spill, or should the clean-up process only go as far as the law demands? Are the people of Wrigley owed a speedy cleanup? How speedy--and at what cost? Do they have a right to participate in the decision-making, or just to be kept informed? Does Enbridge have an obligation to go beyond repairing the damage from the spill and contribute to community development projects, such as a "swimming pool or a hockey arena or something for the kids," as suggested by one resident? v. A major challenge to ethical decision-making is that decisions involve the interests of multiple stakeholders and each alternative will impose costs on some stakeholders and offer benefits to others. *Reference: ―Reality Check –Recognizing the Valueof Stakeholder Trust‖ e. Step 4: Consider the Available Alternatives. i.

Creativity in identifying options – also called ―moral imagination‖ – is one element that distinguishes good people who make ethically responsible decisions from good people who do not.

ii. Consider both the obvious and subtle options with regard to a particular dilemma. 1. When reviewing the Enbridge circumstances, ask yourself how Enbridge might utilize moral imagination in its response to various stakeholders affected by the oil spill, particularly the townspeople of Wrigley. 5-23 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

2. Or consider the case of disclosing confidential information. Can you think of alternative resolutions that neither lie nor disclose information? 3. Moral imagination might be something simple like explaining that it is not your place to answer, but providing contact information for someone who could.

Step 5: Compare and Weigh the Alternatives. i.

Create a mental spreadsheet that evaluates the impact of each alternative you have devised on each stakeholder you defined.

ii. Place oneself in the other person‘s position. Understanding a situation from another‘s point of view, making an effort to ―walk a mile in their shoes,‖ contributes significantly to responsible ethical decision making. iii. Predict the likely, the foreseeable, and the possible consequences to all the relevant stakeholders. iv. Consider ways to mitigate, minimize, or compensate for any possible harmful consequences or to increase and promote beneficial consequences. v. Consider how the decision will be perceived by others: 1. Would you feel proud or ashamed if The Wall Street Journal printed this decision as a front page article? Could you explain the decision to a tenyear-old child so the child thinks it is the right decision? Will the decision stand the test of time? 2. Would your behavior change if other people knew about it? Typically, it is the irresponsible decisions that we wish to keep hidden. vi. Some alternatives might concern matters of principles, rights, or duties that override alternatives. *Reference: ―Reality Check – Seeking Guidance?‖* vii. One additional factor in comparing and weighing alternatives requires consideration of the effects of a decision on one‘s own integrity, virtue, and character. 1. Understanding one‘s own character and values should play a role in decision-making. 2. A responsible person will ask: ―What type of person would make this decision?‖ What kind of habits would I be developing by deciding in one way rather than another? What type of corporate culture am I creating and 5-24 Copyright © McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

encouraging? How would I, or my family, describe a person who decides in this way? Is this a decision that I am willing to defend in public?‖ 3. An honest person might not even thing about retaining the iPod; keeping it for oneself is simply not an option for such a person. g. Step 6: Make a Decision. i.

Our ability to learn from our experiences creates a responsibility to then: 1. Evaluate the implications of our decisions. 2. Monitor and learn from the outcomes. 3. Modify our actions accordingly when faced with similar challenges in the future.

h. The value of this approach: Other approaches to ethically responsible decision-making are possible, and this approach will not guarantee one single absolute answer to every decision. But it is a helpful beginning in the development of responsible and ethical decision-making. *Reference: ―Figure 2.2 – An Ethical Decision-Making Process”*

Decision Point Applying the Decision-Making Model This extended case applies the decision making model to a case that most students will easily understanding: the decision to pay a higher that legally required minimum wage to workers in the fast food industry. III.

When Ethical Decision-Making Goes Wrong: Why Do ―Good‖ People Engage in ―Bad‖ Acts? a. Individuals do not always make the responsible, autonomous decisions of which they are capable. i.

There are many ways in which responsible decision making can go wrong and many ways in which people fail to act in accordance with the ethical judgments they make.

ii.

Sometimes people can simply choose to do something unethical. We should not underestimate the real possibility of immoral choices and unethical behavior.

iii.

Sometimes well-intentioned people fail to choose ethically.

b. Why do people we consider to be ―good‖ do ―bad‖ things? What factors determine which companies or individuals engage in ethical behavior and which do not? *Chapter Objective 3 Addressed Below* c. Stumbling Blocks: There are many stumbling blocks to responsible decision making and behavior, which are either cognitive or intellectual. i.

A certain type of ignorance can account for bad ethical choices. Sometimes that ignorance can be almost willful and intentional. 1. After you read thee email from the person facing a job loss, you might rationalize to yourself that no one will ever know if you tell, that no one is really going to be hurt. Or, you might rationalize that you really don‘t know what will happen in the future, who does after all? Therefore, you can truthfully say that you do not know. 2. You might try to justify the decision by telling yourself that you are only doing what anyone else would do in this circumstance. 3. You might even choose not to think about it, ignore the email, and try to put any guilty feelings out of your mind.

ii.

Sometimes we only consider limited alternatives. 1. When faced with a situation that suggests two clear alternative resolutions, we often consider only those two clear paths, missing the fact that other alternatives might be possible. 2. Responsible decision making would require that we discipline ourselves to explore additional methods of resolution.

d. Having a simple rule to follow can be reassuring and comfortable to many decision makers. i.

Example: Assume you are a business manager who needs to terminate a worker in order to cut costs. Of course, your first thought may be to uncover alternative means by which to cut costs instead of firing someone, but assume for the moment that cutting the workforce is the only viable possibility. It may be easiest and most comfortable to terminate the last person you hired, explaining, ―I can‘t help it; it must be done, last in/first out, I have no choice . . .‖

ii.

Using a simple decision rule might appear to relieve us of accountability for the decision, even if it may not be the best possible decision. 1. i.e. You did not ―make‖ the decision; the rule required the decision to be made.