Skip to ContentGo to accessibility pageKeyboard shortcuts menu
OpenStax Logo
Principles of Management

5.2 Dimensions of Ethics: The Individual Level

Principles of Management5.2 Dimensions of Ethics: The Individual Level
Menu
Table of contents
  1. Preface
  2. 1 Managing and Performing
    1. Introduction
    2. 1.1 What Do Managers Do?
    3. 1.2 The Roles Managers Play
    4. 1.3 Major Characteristics of the Manager's Job
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    7. Chapter Review Questions
    8. Management Skills Application Exercises
    9. Managerial Decision Exercises
    10. Critical Thinking Case
  3. 2 Managerial Decision-Making
    1. Introduction
    2. 2.1 Overview of Managerial Decision-Making
    3. 2.2 How the Brain Processes Information to Make Decisions: Reflective and Reactive Systems
    4. 2.3 Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions
    5. 2.4 Barriers to Effective Decision-Making
    6. 2.5 Improving the Quality of Decision-Making
    7. 2.6 Group Decision-Making
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  4. 3 The History of Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 3.1 The Early Origins of Management
    3. 3.2 The Italian Renaissance
    4. 3.3 The Industrial Revolution
    5. 3.4 Taylor-Made Management
    6. 3.5 Administrative and Bureaucratic Management
    7. 3.6 Human Relations Movement
    8. 3.7 Contingency and System Management
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
  5. 4 External and Internal Organizational Environments and Corporate Culture
    1. Introduction
    2. 4.1 The Organization's External Environment
    3. 4.2 External Environments and Industries
    4. 4.3 Organizational Designs and Structures
    5. 4.4 The Internal Organization and External Environments
    6. 4.5 Corporate Cultures
    7. 4.6 Organizing for Change in the 21st Century
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  6. 5 Ethics, Corporate Responsibility, and Sustainability
    1. Introduction
    2. 5.1 Ethics and Business Ethics Defined
    3. 5.2 Dimensions of Ethics: The Individual Level
    4. 5.3 Ethical Principles and Responsible Decision-Making
    5. 5.4 Leadership: Ethics at the Organizational Level
    6. 5.5 Ethics, Corporate Culture, and Compliance
    7. 5.6 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
    8. 5.7 Ethics around the Globe
    9. 5.8 Emerging Trends in Ethics, CSR, and Compliance
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  7. 6 International Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 6.1 Importance of International Management
    3. 6.2 Hofstede's Cultural Framework
    4. 6.3 The GLOBE Framework
    5. 6.4 Cultural Stereotyping and Social Institutions
    6. 6.5 Cross-Cultural Assignments
    7. 6.6 Strategies for Expanding Globally
    8. 6.7 The Necessity of Global Markets
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  8. 7 Entrepreneurship
    1. Introduction
    2. 7.1 Entrepreneurship
    3. 7.2 Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs
    4. 7.3 Small Business
    5. 7.4 Start Your Own Business
    6. 7.5 Managing a Small Business
    7. 7.6 The Large Impact of Small Business
    8. 7.7 The Small Business Administration
    9. 7.8 Trends in Entrepreneurship and Small-Business Ownership
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  9. 8 Strategic Analysis: Understanding a Firm’s Competitive Environment
    1. Introduction
    2. 8.1 Gaining Advantages by Understanding the Competitive Environment
    3. 8.2 Using SWOT for Strategic Analysis
    4. 8.3 A Firm's External Macro Environment: PESTEL
    5. 8.4 A Firm's Micro Environment: Porter's Five Forces
    6. 8.5 The Internal Environment
    7. 8.6 Competition, Strategy, and Competitive Advantage
    8. 8.7 Strategic Positioning
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  10. 9 The Strategic Management Process: Achieving and Sustaining Competitive Advantage
    1. Introduction
    2. 9.1 Strategic Management
    3. 9.2 Firm Vision and Mission
    4. 9.3 The Role of Strategic Analysis in Formulating a Strategy
    5. 9.4 Strategic Objectives and Levels of Strategy
    6. 9.5 Planning Firm Actions to Implement Strategies
    7. 9.6 Measuring and Evaluating Strategic Performance
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  11. 10 Organizational Structure and Change
    1. Introduction
    2. 10.1 Organizational Structures and Design
    3. 10.2 Organizational Change
    4. 10.3 Managing Change
    5. Key Terms
    6. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    7. Chapter Review Questions
    8. Management Skills Application Exercises
    9. Managerial Decision Exercises
    10. Critical Thinking Case
  12. 11 Human Resource Management
    1. Introduction
    2. 11.1 An Introduction to Human Resource Management
    3. 11.2 Human Resource Management and Compliance
    4. 11.3 Performance Management
    5. 11.4 Influencing Employee Performance and Motivation
    6. 11.5 Building an Organization for the Future
    7. 11.6 Talent Development and Succession Planning
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  13. 12 Diversity in Organizations
    1. Introduction
    2. 12.1 An Introduction to Workplace Diversity
    3. 12.2 Diversity and the Workforce
    4. 12.3 Diversity and Its Impact on Companies
    5. 12.4 Challenges of Diversity
    6. 12.5 Key Diversity Theories
    7. 12.6 Benefits and Challenges of Workplace Diversity
    8. 12.7 Recommendations for Managing Diversity
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  14. 13 Leadership
    1. Introduction
    2. 13.1 The Nature of Leadership
    3. 13.2 The Leadership Process
    4. 13.3 Leader Emergence
    5. 13.4 The Trait Approach to Leadership
    6. 13.5 Behavioral Approaches to Leadership
    7. 13.6 Situational (Contingency) Approaches to Leadership
    8. 13.7 Substitutes for and Neutralizers of Leadership
    9. 13.8 Transformational, Visionary, and Charismatic Leadership
    10. 13.9 Leadership Needs in the 21st Century
    11. Key Terms
    12. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    13. Chapter Review Questions
    14. Management Skills Application Exercises
    15. Managerial Decision Exercises
    16. Critical Thinking Case
  15. 14 Work Motivation for Performance
    1. Introduction
    2. 14.1 Motivation: Direction and Intensity
    3. 14.2 Content Theories of Motivation
    4. 14.3 Process Theories of Motivation
    5. 14.4 Recent Research on Motivation Theories
    6. Key Terms
    7. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    8. Chapter Review Questions
    9. Management Skills Application Exercises
    10. Managerial Decision Exercises
    11. Critical Thinking Case
  16. 15 Managing Teams
    1. Introduction
    2. 15.1 Teamwork in the Workplace
    3. 15.2 Team Development Over Time
    4. 15.3 Things to Consider When Managing Teams
    5. 15.4 Opportunities and Challenges to Team Building
    6. 15.5 Team Diversity
    7. 15.6 Multicultural Teams
    8. Key Terms
    9. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    10. Chapter Review Questions
    11. Management Skills Application Exercises
    12. Managerial Decision Exercises
    13. Critical Thinking Case
  17. 16 Managerial Communication
    1. Introduction
    2. 16.1 The Process of Managerial Communication
    3. 16.2 Types of Communications in Organizations
    4. 16.3 Factors Affecting Communications and the Roles of Managers
    5. 16.4 Managerial Communication and Corporate Reputation
    6. 16.5 The Major Channels of Management Communication Are Talking, Listening, Reading, and Writing
    7. Key Terms
    8. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    9. Chapter Review Questions
    10. Management Skills Application Exercises
    11. Managerial Decision Exercises
    12. Critical Thinking Case
  18. 17 Organizational Planning and Controlling
    1. Introduction
    2. 17.1 Is Planning Important
    3. 17.2 The Planning Process
    4. 17.3 Types of Plans
    5. 17.4 Goals or Outcome Statements
    6. 17.5 Formal Organizational Planning in Practice
    7. 17.6 Employees' Responses to Planning
    8. 17.7 Management by Objectives: A Planning and Control Technique
    9. 17.8 The Control- and Involvement-Oriented Approaches to Planning and Controlling
    10. Key Terms
    11. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    12. Chapter Review Questions
    13. Management Skills Application Exercises
    14. Managerial Decision Exercises
    15. Critical Thinking Case
  19. 18 Management of Technology and Innovation
    1. Introduction
    2. 18.1 MTI—Its Importance Now and In the Future
    3. 18.2 Developing Technology and Innovation
    4. 18.3 External Sources of Technology and Innovation
    5. 18.4 Internal Sources of Technology and Innovation
    6. 18.5 Management Entrepreneurship Skills for Technology and Innovation
    7. 18.6 Skills Needed for MTI
    8. 18.7 Managing Now for Future Technology and Innovation
    9. Key Terms
    10. Summary of Learning Outcomes
    11. Chapter Review Questions
    12. Management Skills Application Exercises
    13. Managerial Decision Exercises
    14. Critical Thinking Case
  20. References
  21. Index
  1. What types of values affect business ethics at the individual level?

Ethics is personal and unique to each individual. Ethical decision-making also involves other individuals, groups, organizations, and even nations—stakeholders and stockholders—as we later explain. Kenneth Goodpaster and Laura Nash characterized at least three dimensions or levels of ethics that help explain how individual and group values, norms, and behaviors of different stakeholders interact and respond with the aim of bringing orderly, fair, and just relationships with one another in transactions. This approach is illustrated in Exhibit 5.2.

A diagram depicts descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and analytical ethics classified under three levels as, “Ethics of the System,” “Ethics of the Organization,” and “Ethics of the Person.”
Exhibit 5.2 A Framework for Classifying Levels of Ethical Analysis Source: Adapted from Matthews, John B., Goodpaster, Kenneth E., and Laura L. Nash. (1985). Policies and persons: A casebook in business ethics, 509. New York: McGraw- Hill.

Ethical principles generally are codified into laws and regulations when there is societal consensus about such wrongdoing, such as laws against drunk driving, robbery, and murder. These laws, and sometimes unwritten societal norms and values, shape the local environment within which individuals act and conduct business. At the individual level, a person’s values and beliefs are influenced by family, community, peers and friends, local and national culture, society, religious—or other types of—communities, and geographic environment. It is important to look at individual values and ethical principles since these influence an individual’s decisions and actions, whether it be decisions to act or the failure to act against wrongdoing by others. In organizations, an individual’s ethical stance may be affected by peers, subordinates, and supervisors, as well as by the organizational culture. Organizational culture often has a profound influence on individual choices and can support and encourage ethical actions or promote unethical and socially irresponsible behavior.

Ethics and Values: Terminal and Instrumental Values

Of the values that make up an organization’s culture, and an individual’s motivations, ethical values are now considered among the most important. For instance, when Google took its company public in 2004, its prospectus included an unusual corporate goal: “Don’t be evil.” That can be a challenge when you’re a multibillion-dollar corporation operating around the world, with investors expecting you to produce a profit. Google’s operations in the United States and overseas have generated controversy and debate as to how well it’s living up to its stated goal. There is a continuing need to integrate ethical values in corporations. The Ethics & Compliance Initiative found 22 percent of global workers reported pressure to compromise their standards.12 Top corporate managers are under scrutiny from the public as never before, and even small companies are finding a need to put more emphasis on ethics to restore trust among their customers and the community.

A photo shows Elon Musk in conversation with the host at a Ted X conference.
Exhibit 5.3 Elon Musk Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, pictured here at a TedX conference, is widely admired for his CSR approaches at his companies. Generally, the adoption of electric vehicles, which help reduce pollutants, is viewed as a positive outcome. Musk has, however, come under scrutiny regarding comments about having secured financing to take Tesla private that raise compliance issues. (Credit: Steve Jurvetson/ flickr/ Attribution- 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0))

Values can be powerful and motivating guides for individual, group, and organizational behavior. At the individual level, however, a reoccurring issue individuals seem to have with acting ethically is that many people do not consciously know or choose their values. We often act first and think or rationalize later. Secondly and relatedly, the methods and ways we act to reach our goals and objectives are also not always deliberately chosen. Consequently, many times we let the “ends justify the means” and/or “the means justify the ends” in our decisions and actions. Ethical dilemmas (i.e., situations and predicaments in which there is not an optimal or desired choice to be made between two options, neither of which solves an issue or delivers an opportunity that is ethical) often originate and occur from an unawareness of how to sort out and think through potential consequences of our actions or inaction. Becoming aware and conscious of our values is a first step toward being able to act ethically and responsibly in order to prevent or lessen harm to ourselves or others.

Toward this end, it is helpful to understand values that have been categorized as terminal and instrumental. Terminal values are desired goals, objectives, or end states that individuals wish to pursue. Instrumental values are preferred means of behavior used to obtain those goals. Examples of terminal values—at a higher level—are freedom, security, pleasure, social recognition, friendship, accomplishment, comfort, adventure, equality, wisdom, and happiness.13 Examples of instrumental values are being helpful, honest, courageous, independent, polite, responsible, capable, ambitious, loving, self-contained, and forgiving.14

Identifying and separating terminal from instrumental values in any given situation can assist individuals, groups, and work units in distinguishing between the “ends (goals) from the means (methods to reach the goals)” and vice versa in making decisions, thereby helping us choose more ethical options—or at least less unethical ones—in situations. For example, a sales manager has a goal of motivating his sales force to achieve individual sales performance levels at a 17% increase over current levels by the end of the calendar quarter. The means of doing so, according to the manager, are, “Go for it. Use your imagination and fortitude. Just make sure each of you reaches or exceeds that goal.” In this case, the terminal value is high achievement to the point of being overly ambitious in order to reach an aggressive financial goal. The instrumental value can also be described as aggressive achievement. Both the terminal and instrumental values in this scenario could very likely create undue pressure and even anxiety for some members of the sales force. The ethical logic underlying this example is to let the “end justify the means.” The scenario also raises the question of whether or not individuals in the sales force would choose the values underlying the instruction of the manager if each member identified and reflected on those values.

If the end (terminal) value creates undue pressures and is unrealistic and unobtainable, then the means (instrumental) value would likely create tension and unethical behavior as well. This example in some ways mirrors what actually recently happened at Wells Fargo & Company—an American international banking and financial services holding company headquartered in San Francisco. High pressure and unrealistic sales goals were adopted and implemented from the top down in that organization. A result was that members of that sales force lied, pressured, and misled loyal customers to buy bogus financial products to meet unrealistic sales goals. Such actions when discovered led to and revealed illegal and unethical actions from not only the sales professionals but officers at the top of that organization. Ultimately, the CEO was pressured to resign, 5,300 employees were fired, and several lawsuits ensued.15

There are many lessons to take from the Wells Fargo fiasco. From an individual ethical perspective, one insight is to be aware of the underlying values of organizational and other job- and task-related directives issued. Another is to discover your own values and ethical principles that can guide you in work, study, and personal situations so that someone else’s problems may not have to become yours. A helpful assessment for discovering your values is the PVA (Personal Values Assessment) found at https://www.valuescentre.com/our-products/products-individuals/personal-values-assessment-pva.

Caroucci found that “five ways organizations needlessly provoke good people to make unethical choices” are the following. (1) People feel psychologically unsafe to speak up. (2) Excessive pressure to reach unrealistic performance targets compromises people’s choices. (3) When individuals face conflicting goals, they feel a sense of unfairness and compromise their reasoning. (4) Only talking about ethics when there is a scandal. (5)When there is no positive example available, individuals react instead of choose ethical decisions. Familiarizing yourself with ethical principles in the following section is another way of helping you think through complicated situations to make conscious, values-based decisions to do “the right thing.”16

Concept Check

  1. What are terminal and instrumental values?
  2. What are ways organizations can employ values to induce people to make ethical choices?
PreviousNext
Order a print copy

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Citation/Attribution

Want to cite, share, or modify this book? This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution License and you must attribute OpenStax.

Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-management/pages/1-introduction
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a digital format, then you must include on every digital page view the following attribution:
    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-management/pages/1-introduction
Citation information

© Mar 31, 2023 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License . The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.