ETHICAL ISSUES AND THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF BUSINESS ETHICS 57

Chapter 3: Emerging Business Ethics Issues 59 Chapter Objectives, 59 | Chapter Outline, 59

An Ethical Dilemma 60

Recognizing an Ethical Issue (Ethical Awareness) 61 Foundational Values for Identifying Ethical Issues 63

Integrity, 63 • Honesty, 63 • Fairness, 64 Ethical Issues and Dilemmas in Business 65

Misuse of Company Time and Resources, 66 • Abusive or Intimidating Behavior, 66 • Lying, 69 • Conflicts of Interest, 70 • Bribery, 70 • Corporate Intelligence, 71 • Discrimination, 73 • Sexual Harassment, 75 • Fraud, 76 • Consumer Fraud, 79 • Financial Misconduct, 80 • Insider Trading, 81 • Intellectual Property Rights, 82 • Privacy Issues, 83

The Challenge of Determining an Ethical Issue in Business 84 Summary 85 Important Terms for Review, 86 | Resolving Ethical Business Challenges, 87 | Check Your EQ, 88

Chapter 4: The Institutionalization of Business Ethics 92 Chapter Objectives, 92 | Chapter Outline, 92

An Ethical Dilemma 93

Managing Ethical Risk Through Mandated and Voluntary Programs 94 Mandated Requirements for Legal Compliance 96

Laws Regulating Competition, 97 • Laws Protecting Consumers, 101 • Laws Promoting Equity and Safety, 103

Gatekeepers and Stakeholders 105 Accountants, 105 • Risk Assessment, 106

The Sarbanes–Oxley (Sox) Act 106 Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, 108 • Auditor and Analyst Independence, 108 • Whistle- Blower Protection, 108 • Cost of Compliance, 109

Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act 109

New Financial Agencies, 109 • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 110 • Whistle-Blower Bounty Program, 110

Laws That Encourage Ethical Conduct 111 Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations 112 Highly Appropriate Core Practices 115

Voluntary Responsibilities, 116 • Cause-Related Marketing, 116 • Strategic Philanthropy, 117

The Importance of Institutionalization in Business Ethics 118 Summary 118 Important Terms for Review, 120 | Resolving Ethical Business Challenges, 121 | Check Your EQ,122

PART 3: THE DECISION- MAKING PROCESS 125

Chapter 5: Ethical Decision Making 126 Chapter Objectives, 126 | Chapter Outline, 126

An Ethical Dilemma 127

A Framework for Ethical Decision Making in Business 128

Ethical Issue Intensity, 128 • Individual Factors, 131 • Organizational Factors, 132 • Opportunity, 134 • Business Ethics Intentions, Behavior, and Evaluations, 13

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

• The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

  Discussion Questions (DQ)

  • Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
  • Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
  • One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
  • I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

  Weekly Participation

  • Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
  • In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
  • Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
  • Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

  APA Format and Writing Quality

  • Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
  • Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
  • I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

  Use of Direct Quotes

  • I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
  • As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
  • It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

   

  LopesWrite Policy

  • For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
  • Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
  • Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
  • Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

  Late Policy

  • The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
  • Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
  • If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
  • I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
  • As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

  Communication

  • Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: 
    • Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
    • Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.