Can an Executive Afford a Conscience By Albert

Can an Executive Afford a Conscience? By Albert Z. Carr Brittany Hatch Sanderson Vanessa Fieldler Brittney

Albert Z. Carr • Author of Is Business Bluffing Ethical? , Men Of Power, and John D. Rockefeller's Secret Weapon. • Chairman's assistant to the War Production in World War II • White House Staff member What is the text about? • An executive with or without a conscience. What was happening in the world? Relevancy to modern business What did you learn?

Questions • Why are matters of conscience expensive considerations for businesses? • What is lip service? • Business have little or no time to consider social responsibility other than that imposed by law. What does this mean? • Why do social [or societal] standards change?

Policy or Practice ‘Misgivings of unrealistic dogooders’ New Practice or Policy Process of Change to advance Business Ethics ‘Protests, moral persuasion. ’ Government involvement or social economic changes

Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar. “ “ “ It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. Warren Buffett “ “ “ Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. Peter Drucker “It’s not personal, it’s just business. ” The Godfather David Herbert Lawrence “ …in the moral crisis through which we are living, such tales of executive wrongdoing, like nudity in motion pictures, have lost their power to shock. Albert Z Carr “ “ Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something. Henry David Thoreau “

• What is a Conscience? • What drives your conscience? • What are the costs to an executive or a company if they are or are not ethical? • What are ethics? Morals? Principles? Profit Motive vs. Social Responsibility to a society. Some The desire for profit that motivates one to engage in business ventures. Management theorists believe that private companies should not be burdened with responsibility for things other than profit, safety and quality. Some do not even admit responsibility for the environment. Others say that companies are part of society and share all the burdens common to any member of society, responsibility for the well being of all its members, directly and indirectly.

Top Ethical Issues • Accounting Practice Ethics • Social Networking Ethics The line between an employer's right to monitor employees and an employee's right to privacy can easily blur in this climate. • Harassment in the Workplace There's never an excuse or a justifiable reason for harassment of any kind in any workplace, though a willingness to use sexually charged imagery in advertising may indicate a working climate where harmful behaviors can occur with costly lawsuits resulting from permissive climates, reports the Business Ethics website.

Product Dumping Once the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) prohibits the sale of a particular product in the United States, a manufacturer can no longer sell the product to U. S. wholesalers or retailers. However, the product can be sold in other countries that have not prohibited its sale. The same is true of other countries' sales to the United States. For example, Great Britain outlawed the sale of the prescription sleeping pill, Halcion, but sales of the drug continue in the U. S. The British medical community reached conclusions regarding the pill's safety that differed from the conclusions reached by the medical community and the Food and Drug Administration in the U. S. Some researchers who conducted studies on the drug in the U. S. simply concluded that stronger warning labels were needed. The CPSC outlawed the sale of three-wheeled all-terrain cycles in the U. S. in 1988. While some manufacturers had already turned to four-wheel models, other manufacturers still had inventories of three-wheel cycles. Testimony on the cycles ranged from contentions that the vehicles themselves were inherently dangerous, to arguments that the vehicles were safe but drivers were too young, too inexperienced, and more inclined to take risks. Still, the three-wheeled vehicle can be sold outside the U. S. For many companies, chaos follows a product recall because inventory of the recalled product may be high. Often, firms must decide whether to "dump" the product in other countries or take a writeoff that could damage earnings, stock prices, and employment stability. If you were a manufacturer holding substantial inventory of a product that has been outlawed in the U. S. , would you have any ethical concerns about selling the product in countries that do not [yet] prohibit its sale? To what extent will your decision be affected by the level of the write-down in income you must take?