Bringing Business Ethics to Life

Bjørn Andersen

Description

Maintaining solid corporate ethics goes beyond just being a ‘feel good’ story or a good public relations angle. Organizations that demonstrate strong ethical commitments can gain a real competitive advantage over others by keeping employees happy and productive and keeping customers satisfied and loyal, while avoiding some of the unexpected pitfalls that may beset a less ethical organization. These factors all lead to a more stable and consistent organization, and will improve the bottom line and drives higher profits. The erosion of business ethics affects everyone, from the employees laid off, stockholders losing investments, to customers paying a higher price or receiving lesser quality. In Bringing Business Ethics to Life: Achieving Corporate Social Responsibility, best selling author Bjørn Andersen has written an easy to read yet powerful book demonstrating the need for solid ethics in every organization. Andersen first explains the importance of creating a strong ethical culture within every organization, demonstrating the positive effects it will have throughout the business. He then shows how business leaders can make this happen, by introducing a holistic value-driven and ethically based model of leadership and management that can bring about dramatic changes for any organization.

Sujets

• Business
• Qualité, hygiène, sécurité, environnement
• Gestion et management
• management
• Economics

Informations

• Publié par: ASQ Quality Press
• Date de parution: 30 juin 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781636940618
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Bringing Business
Ethics to Life
Achieving Corporate
Social ResponsibilityAlso available from ASQ Quality Press:
Business Process Improvement Toolbox
Bjørn Andersen
Root Cause Analysis: Simplified Tools and Techniques
Bjørn Andersen and Tom Fagerhaug
Performance Measurement Explained: Designing and Implementing
Your State-of-the-Art System
Bjørn Andersen and Tom Fagerhaug
Transformational Leadership: Creating Organizations of Meaning
Stephen Hacker and Tammy Roberts
The Trust Imperative: Performance Improvement through
Productive Relationships
Stephen Hacker and Marsha Willard
The Change Agents’ Handbook: A Survival Guide for Quality
Improvement Champions
David W. Hutton
Making Change Work: Practical Tools for Overcoming Human
Resistance to Change
Brien Palmer
The Recipe for Simple Business Improvement
David W. Till
The Change Agent’s Guide to Radical Improvement
Ken Miller
The Synergy of One: Creating High-Performing Sustainable
Organizations through Integrated Performance Leadership
Michael J. Dreikorn
To request a complimentary catalog of ASQ Quality Press publications,
call 800-248-1946, or visit our Web site at http://qualitypress.asq.org.Bringing Business
Ethics to Life
Achieving Corporate
Social Responsibility
Bjørn Andersen
ASQ Quality Press
Milwaukee, WisconsinAmerican Society for Quality, Quality Press, Milwaukee 53203
© 2004 by ASQ
All rights reserved. Published 2004
Printed in the United States of America
12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 54321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Andersen, Bjørn.
Bringing business ethics to life : achieving corporate social
responsibility / Bjørn Andersen.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87389-621-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Social responsibility of busines. 2. Business ethics. I. Title.
HD60.A42 2004
174'.4—dc22 2004000117
Copyright Protection Notice for the ANSI/ISO 9000 Series Standards: These
materials are subject to copyright claims of ISO, ANSI, and ASQ. Not for resale.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, including an electronic
retrieval system, without the prior written permission of ASQ. All requests
pertaining to the ANSI/ISO 9000 Series Standards should be submitted to ASQ.
ISBN 0-87389-621-1
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Publisher: William A. Tony
Acquisitions Editor: Annemieke Hytinen
Project Editor: Paul O’Mara
Production Administrator: Randall Benson
Special Marketing Representative: David Luth
ASQ Mission: The American Society for Quality advances individual,
organizational, and community excellence worldwide through learning,
quality improvement, and knowledge exchange.
Attention Bookstores, Wholesalers, Schools, and Corporations: ASQ Quality
Press books, videotapes, audiotapes, and software are available at quantity
discounts with bulk purchases for business, educational, or instructional use.
For information, please contact ASQ Quality Press at 800-248-1946, or write to
ASQ Quality Press, P.O. Box 3005, Milwaukee, WI 53201-3005.
To place orders or to request a free copy of the ASQ Quality Press Publications
Catalog, including ASQ membership information, call 800-248-1946. Visit our
Web site at www.asq.org or http://qualitypress.asq.org.
Printed on acid-free paperGood people do not need laws to tell them to act
responsibly, while bad people will find a way around
the laws.
—Plato
When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad.
That’s my religion.
—Abraham Lincoln
A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on
sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis
is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he
had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of
reward after death.
—Albert Einstein
Ethics, too, are nothing but reverence for life. This is
what gives me the fundamental principle of morality,
namely, that good consists in maintaining, promoting,
and enhancing life, and that destroying, injuring, and
limiting life are evil.
—Albert Schweitzer
viiTable of Contents
List of Figures and Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv
Chapter 1 Introduction to Business Ethics and Its Benefits (Or
Disadvantages?) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Factors Determining Competitiveness and Long-Term
Viability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
“The State of the Realm” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Why Did I Change My Ways? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5Should You Change Your Ways? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Improved Employee and Organizational Motivation
and Morale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Customer Loyalty and the Ability to Attract New
Customers 9
Financial Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Negative Exposure and Performance Backlashes . . . . . 14
Attracting Other Stakeholders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Making the World a Better Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Any Reasons Why You Should Not Change Your Ways?
(Or the Disadvantages of Corporate Social
Responsibility) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Naïve, Realistic, or Cynical? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
To Reap the Benefits, You Need to Make It Work in
Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
A Socially Responsible Business Management Model . . . . 25
The Business Ethics Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
The Different Areas and Elements of the Business Ethics
Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Basic Ethics Concepts Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
ixx Table of Contents
Chapter 2 Bringing the Ethical Business Approach to Life—
An Implementation Roadmap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Business Ethics Implementation Process . . . . . . . . . 34
Defining the Ethical Profile of Your Organization . . . . . . 37
Deciding on and Developing Ethical Business Practices . . . 43
One Chief Executive Officer or All Employees as CEOs? . . 44
Training the Organization in Ethical Matters . . . . . . . . . 46
Launch and Market the New Good Citizen Organization . . . 48
Ensuring Compliance with the New Ethical Profile and
Business Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Chapter 3 Building an Ethically Founded Platform for a
Sound Organizational Culture: Remedial, Internal, and
Strategic Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Keeping One Hand Clean Is Not Easy If the Other Is Dirty . . 55
Employee Treatment and Work Condition Policy (Human
Resource Policy in Other Words) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Differentiated versus Global Human Resource Management
Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Sample Human Resource Management Policy . . . . . . . . 64
Creating an Ethically Oriented Organizational Value Base
and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Instilling Ethically Sound Tacit Knowledge in the
Organization 77
Using Storytelling to Build Organizational Values and
Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Implementation Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 4 Turning Policy into Ethically Founded Remedial,
Internal, and Operational Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Menu of Remedial, Internal, and Operational
Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
The Boring Part: Ethical Guidelines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Operational Human Resource Management Practices . . . . . 102
Physical Work Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Organizational Work Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Compensation Structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Access to Information and Decision-Making Power . . . 134
Respect for Laws and Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Competence and Career Development . . . . . . . . . . 142
Concern for the 24-hour Employee 144
Nobody Likes a Snob—Being Cost Conscious . . . . . . . . 147
Implementation Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154Table of Contents xi
Chapter 5 Setting Things Right with the Outside World:
Developing a Remedial, External, and Strategic Profile . . . . 157
Business = War? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
What Do You Do for a Living? Business Sectors with
Inherent Ethical Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Developing Policies for External Conduct . . . . . . . . . . . 169
The Proof of the Pudding—Subjecting the Organization
to External Validation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Implementation Summary 173
Chapter 6 Walk the Talk in Dealings with External
Stakeholders: Remedial, External, and Operational Practices . . . 175
The Recurring Issue: Laws, Regulations, Human Rights,
and So On . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Caring for Your Customers: Product and Service Safety
and Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Product Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Service Safety 190
Product and Service Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Caring for the Environment: Minimizing Negative
Environmental Impact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Supplying External Stakeholders with Timely and Accurate
Payment, Information, Reports, and So On . . . . . . . . . 206
A Fresh Idea—Honest Marketing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Does Your Supply Chain Maintain the Same High Standards
as Your Organization? 220
What Do You Charge for Your Product or Service?
Fair Pricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Market Respect: Are You Exploiting Your Market
Position? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
When Something Goes Wrong—Handling Complaints . . . . 238
Respect fo