INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

Ahmedabad MBA (FB & E) 2011-2013

REFLECTIVE JOURNAL

Prepared and submitted byBhavesh Agrawal-114109

Under the guidance of Prof. (Dr) Sari Mattila

Ethics is the dilemma between what you have to do and what is right to do
Session 1: Introducing the Big picture
In the first session we started with the question what is Ethics? Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that address questions about moralitythat is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc. According to me, "Ethics has to do with what my feelings tell me is right or wrong." "Ethics has to do with my religious beliefs." "Being ethical is doing what the law requires." "Ethics consists of the standards of behavior our society accepts." In the first session we were told to write down the values which we consider the most important in our life. I did made note of some values which I look up to and practice in my living. Those values were Honesty, Respect, Loyalty, Trust, Punctuality and Friend-oriented. In chapter 1, we came across Ethics and Ethos and Morality, Virtues and Social Ethics. Ethos is the distinguishing character or guiding beliefs of a person, group or an institution. Then we discussed the article The One Minute Moralist. In that article Solomon raises a question: Does ethics in business lead to profits? Is good ethics good for business? This article relays a story of a young businessman who was looking for an ethical manager. Many of those he spoke with seemed to believe that ethics and business were contradictory. If ethical managers did exist, ethics were being laid down like a set of rules. The young businessman finally encountered the One-Minute Moralist who explained that ethics is a way of life, not a set of rules, and at the foundation of business lies ethics.

According to me, ethics and business are not contradictory. Both these terms may or may not be contradicting in nature. Ethics in business is sometimes good. Good ethics may be the cause for the downturn of the business.

Session 2: Linking Traditions, Theories and Business Practices

In the second session, we studied four approaches to ethics namely- Psychological Egoism, Utilitarianism, Deontological Ethics and Virtue Ethics. An ethical pragmatist would judge the morality of the lie based not upon properties of the individual moral agent, but upon those of their society. The lie would be deemed immoral on the grounds that their society currently deems it immoral for various reasons, and that society is progressing morally, much as it progresses scientific knowledge. Utilitarianism is an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness", by whatever means necessary. A deontologist might argue that lying is always wrong, regardless of any potential good that might come from lying. A virtue ethicist, however, would focus less on lying in any particular instance and instead consider what a decision to tell a lie or not tell a lie said about one's character and moral behavior. As such, lying would be made in a case-by-case basis that would be based on factors such as personal benefit, group benefit, and intentions. The difference between these four approaches to morality tends to lie more in the way moral dilemmas are approached than in the moral conclusions reached. By coming across the four approaches to ethics, I learned that I am a virtue ethicist because I think that lying should not harm any individual. It should be based upon the thinking of that individual whether the lying would do any good or not. If it is doing good to others then that lie would not be a lie.

Session 3: Ethical Dilemmas: What stories teach us of Business Ethics?

In this session we studied A Space of Quiet which tells about the managers have to deal with the pressure and how to cultivate the art of reflection that will help in the decision making process.

Also we saw the three cases:(1) The emperors new clothes (2) Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie (3) Tales once told: Divine Madness (1) The emperors new clothes In this article we saw a king who was self-centred and did not took interest in the problems of the kingdom. One fine day two swindlers came claiming that they can make invisible cloth and that those who cannot see are stupid. The king agreed because he did not wanted to look stupid in front of them and ultimately paid the price by wearing nothing in the grand procession. From this article I learnt that one should not think and do according to what others say instead they should think on their own. Also, I learnt that you should not trust on some amateurs and do not think what they are making you think. (2) Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie This story tells us about the Rajput prince who wanted to serve king Gunadhipa but he was not allowed to. One day that king went hunting and lost his way. The prince fortunately was there and save the life of the king. On an occasion they saw a shrine of goddess where they saw a lady worshipping. That lady saw the king and fell in love with him. She said she can do anything for him and in reply king tells her to marry the prince. From this article I can say that one should get good if he is doing good to others which was exactly done by the king. The prince saved his life and he in return gets a favour from the king. If someone who has cause to do harm performs a good and noble deed the virtuous praise him as noble. (3) Tales once told: Divine Madness This story is about a character Naranath who liked to went to the top of a bald hillock and let the large boulder down the hill and roar with laughter. He started walking in the evening and wherever he felt hungry, he stopped by and started cooking for himself and slept there itself. One night he found himself in a cemetery and there he found a witch. He was not afraid of the witch and so she gave him a boon. He first asks her to give him a day more than his day of death. She was not able to do it. Then he asks her to shift his

elephantiasis from left leg to the right one and she vanished away after granting the boon. This shows us the liveliness of the character which is afraid of no one and cares about nothing. Also I learnt that one should not be dependent on others for anything, he should be a self-relying person.

Session 4: Inquiring into Business, Society and Stakeholders

When stockholders are given a privileged position in managements ethical responsibilities, it is common to conceptualize business on the model of private property being managed for the sake of its owners. But, when the interests of the stockholders are given equal ethical standing with the interests of all other constituencies affected by managerial decisions, the model of business as private property is less compelling. If managers have the responsibility to balance the ethical interest of all stakeholders, then we can begin to understand the firm as an independent entity. Then we studied the Stakeholder/Responsibility Matrix which includes the Stakeholders such as Owners, Customers, Employees, Community, Public and Social Activist group along with the Economic, Legal and Ethical responsibilities. We related this theory to the Parmalat scandal. In that case we saw the workers and the investors losing millions while the government was using it to its own advantage. The Parmalat was one of the Europes largest food companies. The Calisto Tanzi, the owner showed the false financial statement. For doing this along with Tanzi, the CFO of the company was also held responsible for the fraud which took place. The company also showed their asset in the Bank of America which was held by the company which did not existed. The fraud was done because of the interest of the owner and the family. The fraud ultimately led the company on the verge of the bankruptcy. This was totally unethical on the part of the company.

Session 5: Protecting Consumers: Duties and Responsibilities

The idea that individual are in best position to protect themselves from dangerous products is an attractive notion for several reasons. This approach seems to treat each individual with the respect they deserve as autonomous beings. Individuals are left alone to sort through their own preferences and decide for themselves the level of risk they are willing to take in order to attain whatever benefits the product provides. Placing responsibilities on individual customers might also provide an incentive for people to develop important virtues such as diligence, caution, discipline and thoughtfulness. From this session I learned strict product liability. Strict product liability is the liability of all the parties among the procession of manufacturing the product for damages caused by the product. The seller will be liable if the purchased thing is not delivered to the consumers door.

Session 6: Marketing Ethics: Winner takes it all

In this session, we discussed the case Vioxx and the Merck team effort. The company launched a medicine which was doing exceedingly well in the market. The medicine was used to treat arthritis but the drawback of the medicine was that the probability of getting a heart attack increased to a certain extent. The company knew this consequence but still it did not withdrew the product. This was unethical on the part of the company. After reading this case and going through the results of the same, I will say that one should not do harm knowingly. From companys perspective they were to make losses but it was not as huge as the lives of the people. One should see the consequences of all the alternatives possible and then take the decision. Also one should not create conflict between the parties as we saw in the case. The company should manufacture those products which are not harmful to the society i.e. they should be socially responsible and deliver quality goods. The company also shall not forget the ethics that they are following since years, this may harm the goodwill of the company.

Session 7: Creating Ethical Practices in HRM

In this session we studied trust and loyalty at workplace and whistle blowing. We further discussed the Enron case and tried to relate this with the theory part of the chapter. Enron and Arthur Anderson have become synonyms for corporate greed and corruption but as it turned out this case was the start of a wave of corporate and accounting scandals. Identifying the causes of corporate scandals and creating strategies to prevent them are an important part of business ethics. From the individuals viewpoint there are several questions raised: What should one do if he/she is in the place of Sherron Watkins or David Duncan? Why did these people act as they did? How they could have acted differently?

The topic of corporate culture has drawn significant attention from managers seeking to encourage ethical behaviour by setting high ethical expectations. From an institutional perspective also there are some questions related to the activity within the corporations: What did they do wrong as an organization? What structural changes could have been made that might prevented the implosion of Enron? How do employees learn a companys norms and values? How can high ethical standards be transmitted from theory to practice?

Session 8: Environmental Ethics: Towards cleaner future?

This session included the chapter Businesss environmental Responsibilities which talks about the environmental responsibilities, corporate social responsibility, Businesss responsibility as environmental regulation and business ethics in the age of sustainable development. Sustainable development can be defined as using the existing resources available on earth in such a manner that they not only fulfil the needs of present generations but also continue to satisfy the needs of future generations. The resources should be used in such a manner so that the future generations do not face a scarcity. Then the case BP and Corporate Greenwash was discussed in the classroom. The crux of the case was when bp was all engaged in environment saving campaign but actually spending billions of dollars on crude oil and

petroleum exploration over many geographical areas. BPs campaign was problematic because it claimed that it was working hard towards saving environmental problems and was being a responsible firm. In its ad campaign it claimed that using fuel is better as it is less harmful for the environment. In fact BP received Greenhouse Greenwash Award. They claimed that BP was the largest climate culprit.

Session 9: Ethics and Research: Producing Respect?

This session was started with the article The Principle of Consent continued with another article Choose Action. The principle of consent talked about the informed consent which means that the public must be informed well in advance about the consequences that are to be occurring in future. After these articles the river blindness case was discussed which was completely opposite to the Vioxx and Merck case that was discussed earlier. What they did in the earlier case was completely unethical and what they did in this case was for the good of the people. Merck the medicine giant which went to Africa did operations such that the medicine became the soul. Not only did they save lives of people but provided medicines at rates that no one ever could just for sake of humanity. By doing this they completely changed their image to what was it earlier.

Session 10: Ethics on Display: Media and Internet

This session was started with the writing Is media private or a Public good? According to me, from owners perspective media will be private good as it is the property of the owner but when viewed from the public perspective media will be considered as a public good because media is a mass communication. Nothing is more difficult in mass media enterprise than promoting the public good even though rewards are not commensurate. Without a press pool to help pay expenses for a character, a minor party candidate could not conduct a modern political campaign. After this article the case about Google was discussed in which we was about the conviction of its bosses in Italy. The simple reason was because it was showing the video of a teenage getting

beaten up by a bunch of people. People do upload videos and stuff on internet and this video was also uploaded. This incidence accounted the individual boss for the activity which he never did but was done by anyone in a whole country and he was just in charge of the company. This show media is public or private is still debatable and its only on how it is used under different conditions and how it to put to use.

Session 11: Ethics, Law and Ethics codes: Accountability and Processes
In this session we saw the three steps in the ethical process which are 1) 2)
3)

Drafting standards Testing Standards Refining the code to it practical

The easiest approach to get started with your own code is as follows: Deceiving Stealing Harmful

There are several steps to find out or rather test our own code: Check the logic Check for focus Test-drive for usefulness

Refining the code includes three steps: Clarify Degrees Of Separation Draw Sharper Lines Consider a Hierarchy

For some added advice on avoiding failure, here are the six pitfalls

Confusing Prudential and Ethical Issues Using loaded language Judging the action of others Basing Ethics on Judgment of others Making Praiseworthy but not Livable statement Writing value standards

Session 12: Good Corporate Governance: Following best practices?

Corporate governance is a number of processes, customs, policies, laws, and institutions which have impact on the way a company is controlled. During the session we were made to sit according to the groups that were made for the subject and then we were told to write what were moral rights, contractual rights, due process and right to participate. Moral rights are rights of creators of copyrighted works generally recognized in civil law jurisdictions and, to a lesser extent, in some common law jurisdictions. A contractual right is a claim, on other persons, that is acknowledged and perhaps reciprocated among the principals associated with that claim. Specialized contractual rights exist as part of a "contract" or agreement between persons to whom these rights belong. Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it.

Right to participate is a political principle or practice, and may also be recognized as a right (right to public participation). The terms public participation may be used interchangeably with the concept or practice of stakeholder engagement and/or popular participation.

Session 13: Ethical Decision-making

Building Character: Conflict between professional responsibility and deepest values is understood as conflict between right and right. Example: A budget crises forces to dismiss a loyal hardworking employee. Conflict between ethical decision and defining moments.

Defining Moments: The decisions taken cumulatively over many years form the basis of an individual character are known as DEFINING MOMENTS. These challenge us in a deeper way by asking us to choose between two or more ideals in which we deeply believe. These barely have correct response. In fact, the situations created by circumstances ask us to reveal or test ourselves. These lead us to form our character as we commit to irreversible course of actions which shape our personal and professional identities. And thus our Defining Moments uncover something that is only partially known of others and us. Managers to leaders: A Probing Self Inquiry- Process carried out on a run rather than in quiet seclusion where managers are able to dig below there surface of busy daily lives to refocus on their core values and principles. By uncovering these values and principles, managers renew their sense of purpose at work and act as springboard for shrewd, pragmatic and politically astute actions. By repeating this process over their lives, executive are able to craft an authentic and strong identity of what is right on their own. Kinds of defining moments:

Issue of Personal Identity Issue of Organizational as well as Personal Issue of Defining a Companys Role in Society

How unethical are you?

Being ethical or unethical Conflict of Interest or Self-perception is often biased. Managers are often biased without knowing. Unintentional unethical decision making (1) Implicit prejudice

Bias that emerges from unconscious beliefs. Mental associations may not be true. Biases can be costly. They may lead to wrong decisions (e.g.., in hiring a firing decisions)

(2) In-group Favoritism Bias that favors your group. Results in discrimination against others and the misallocation of resources. It erodes the bottom line and may lead to losses or lower profits.

(3) Over claiming credit

Bias that favors you. People tend to overestimate their contributions. Claiming too much credit can destabilize alliances. May also reduce performance and the longevity of groups.

(4) Conflict of Interest Bias that favors those who can benefit you.

The vigilant manager Managers who aspire to be ethical must challenge the assumption that they are always unbiased and acknowledge that vigilance, even more than good intention, is a defining characteristic of an ethical manager Only those who understand their own potential for unethical behavior can become the ethical decision makers that they aspire to be.

Session 14: Building Sustainability through Ethical leadership and Management

I was absent during this lecture.

Session 15: Globalisation and Business Ethics: Way Ahead?

I was absent during this lecture.

After going through this journal and self-evaluating myself, I think I deserve anything more than C+. I should be given this grade because lot of time, hard-work and sincere efforts were made in making this journal.