MNGT 5990 Corporate Social Responsibility Dr. Kristina Olsen

1. MNGT 5990Corporate Social ResponsibilityDr. Kristina Olsen Week 1 Introduction to Ethics Chapter 1 Corporate Social Responsibility

2. Resources • Clancy Martin, “A Brief Introduction to Morality,” in Ethics in Information Technology, 4th ed. (Boston, MA: Course Technology, 2012). • David Chandler and William and William B. Werther, Jr., Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility: Stakeholders, Globalization, and Sustainable Value Creation, 3rd ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2014). Corporate Social Responsibility

3. Introduction to Morality (C. Martin) • What is the good? • Moral codes differ by time and place. • Ethics: systematic study of moral codes. • Homer (8th c. BC): • GOOD => “Help friends, harm enemies.” • Socrates (470-399 BC): • GOOD => “No person should ever willingly do evil.” • What counts is care of one’s soul. • Plato (427-347 BC): • What is good? Pleasure, peace, flourishing, honor? • GOOD => The nature of “goodness” they all share. • Goodness ought to be good always and everywhere. Corporate Social Responsibility

4. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Standards – a way to provide justification. • Common Sense: • GOOD => “Be guided by moral intuitions, conscience.” • Cultural relativism: • Different cultures, different norms. (i.e., lying, bribery) • GOOD => “Do what is appropriate.” • Problems with Relativism: • Some things not viewed as always wrong, i.e., slavery. • No possibility of moral progress. Corporate Social Responsibility

5. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Egoism: • GOOD => “What is pleasing to me.” • Psychological Egoism: • “People always act from selfish motives.” • Problem: Not always true – we do think of others. • Ethical Egoism: • “Create happy, moral world by seeking self-interest.” • Problem: Does not respect our own moral intuitions about right and wrong. Corporate Social Responsibility

6. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Deontology (Duty): Immanuel Kant (1724-1804): • GOOD => Doing what is morally right, one’s duty. • Good will is the only thing that is wholly good. • Good choice comes from a good will/intention. • Must apply reason, which demands consistency. • Categorical imperative: • “Act only on that maxim such that the maxim of your action can be willed to be a universal law.” • GOOD => Can I universalize it? • Problem: • Excludes actions “just because they make us happy.” Corporate Social Responsibility

7. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Hedonism: Epicurus (4th c. BC): • GOOD => “Seek pleasure, avoid pain.” • “Cultivate natural and necessary pleasures.” • “Enjoy natural but unnecessary pleasures in moderation.” • “Avoid all other sorts.” • Friendship should be cultivated. • Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) • GOOD => maximum pleasure for all people. • Utility and pleasure used interchangeably by Bentham • Utilitarian calculus: decisions that produce the most pleasure for everyone concerned. • Problems: • People viewed as only pleasure-seekers. • Problems could be framed this way but be only self-serving. Corporate Social Responsibility

8. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Utilitarianism: John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) • Greatest Happiness Principle: • GOOD => Create greatest happiness, and least unhappiness, for the greatest number. • Disinterested Benevolent Spectator: • Adopt this view when making decisions. • Happiness is not Pleasure • May suffer now for greater happiness long-term. Corporate Social Responsibility

9. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Teleological: considering the end goal. • Greek telos = purpose, end • Consequentialism: • Evaluate moral actions based on outcomes. • Utilitarianism is: • A kind of consequentialism (based on outcomes) • A teleological theory. • Rule-utilitarianism: create and follow rules. • Preference-utilitarianism: ask everyone for their preferences. Corporate Social Responsibility

10. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Objections to utilitarianism: • Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) • Some choices not necessarily related to happiness. • Thus Spoke Zarathustra (literary masterpiece) • “Happiness? Why should I strive for happiness? I strive for my work!” (Thus Spoke Zarathustra) • Consider Van Gogh: Was he happy? Could he have known his art would make others happy? Was his life’s work a morally acceptable choice, according to utilitarianism? • “Tyranny of the Majority” • Majority rule can violate rights of minorities. Corporate Social Responsibility

11. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Promises and Contracts • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) • Psychological egoist • Two facts produce tension, competition: • We are all selfish. • We can only survive by banding together. • Life outside society is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” • Need rules to govern exchange and protection: • Laws • Rights • Social Contract Theory • Good people are encouraged by a good society. Corporate Social Responsibility

12. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Aristotle (384-307 BC) • Good actions are performed by good people. • Function argument: • “The goodness of anything is expressed by its proper function.” • People are different because they reason. • “The good life is the life of the mind: to be a good person is to actively think.” • To do this, we need friends, health, good society, etc. • Develop habits which govern actions. • Virtues (excellence) • Vices • Act according to Golden Mean (moderation). • Problems: • Overemphasizes “fitting in” to society. • Could sanction some injustices such as slavery. • Designed for “aristocratic” life. Corporate Social Responsibility

13. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Feminism and “Ethics of Care” • Carol Gilligan (b. 1936) • Morals develop differently for boys/girls. • Western morality over-emphasizes rationality. • Families, friendships form better ideal for ethical ideal (i.e., the “good mother”). • Forgiveness and emotions are as important as rational principles. • Partiality may play a role in ethical decisions (i.e., different rules for one’s own family) Corporate Social Responsibility

14. Introduction to Morality (continued) • Pluralism: • Many goods; many sources of value • Different from relativism: • Some things are usually good for people (health). • Some things are usually bad for people (war). • Emphasizes investigating, questioning • Existentialism: • Jean-Paul Sartre (1912-1984) • Extreme self-questioning. • Try to avoid self-deceit, hypocrisy • Analyze every decision. Corporate Social Responsibility