Culture and Ethics in Asian Business Relations
Ethics is a set or moral principles and values, they are personal and relative. Business ethics are
principles, norms and standards of conduct governing an individual or group.
Company should create value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. From liberal economic to
social critical dimension.
Relationship between ethics and law
legality, illegality and justice
Process of individual ethical decision making behavior
Moral awareness > ethical judgement > ethical behavior
An ethical dilemma is a situation where values are in conflict.
There are prescriptive approaches. Focus on consequences (consequentialist theories), focus on
duties, obligations and principles (deontological theories) and focus on integrity (virtue ethics).
Focus on consequences: utilitarianism
- Identify alternative actions and consequences to stakeholders
- Best decision yields greatest net benefits to society
- Worst decision yields greatest net harms to society
Advantages: practical, already underlies business thinking
Challenges: difficult to evaluate all consequences, rights of minorities can be sacrificed
Focus on duties, obligations and principles
- Decision based upon abstract universal principles: honesty, promise keeping, justice, respect
- Focus on doing what’s right rather than doing what will maximize societal welfare (as in
utilitarianism).
Advantages: rights approach found in public policy debates (abortion)
challenges: determining rule, principle or right to follow, deciding which takes precedence
Focus on integrity
- Focus on integrity of moral actor rather than the act
- Considers character, motivations, intentions
- Character defined by one’s community > need to identify relevant community
Advantages: can rely upon community standards
Challenges: limited agreement about community standards, many communities haven’t done this
kind of thinking, community may be wrong
Influences on ethical awareness could be if peers agree, if ethical language is used or if there is
potential for serious harm.
Individual differences
Cognitive moral development
Level 1 (preconventional)
- stage 1 obedience and punishment orientation
- stage 2 instrumental purpose and exchange
Level 2 (conventional)
, - stage 3 interpersonal accord, conformity, mutual expectations
- stage 4 system maintenance, upholding duties and the law
Level 3 (postconventional or principled)
- stage 5 social contract and rights
- stage 6 theoretical stage only
This is important because most people reason at the conventional level and are looking outside
themselves for guidance. That makes leading on ethics essential.
Locus of control
Internals are more likely to see the connection between their own behavior and outcomes and
therefor take responsibility for their behavior. Therefor they are more likely to do what is right.
Machiavellianism
Self-interested, opportunistic, deceptive and manipulative.
Moral disengagement
The tendency for some individuals to deactivate their internal control system in order to feel okay
about doing unethical things. There are eight mechanisms used for doing this: euphemistic language,
moral justification, displacement of responsibility, advantageous comparison, diffusion of
responsibility, distorting consequences, dehumanization, attribution of blame. (it’s not my
responsibility, they told me to do it. It is not as bad as what they are doing)
Cognitive barriers to good ethical judgement
Barriers to fact gathering
- Overconfidence
- Confirmation trap
Barriers to consideration of consequences
- Reduced number
- Self vs others
- Ignore consequences that affect few
- Risk underestimated: illusion of optimism, illusion of control
- Consequences over time – escalation of commitment
Business system
An adaptive system in which the business component of a society is analyzed against the context of
that society: The economy is a process affected by the logistics of economic behavior, but also by
culture, history and specific societal events and experiences. The economic, technical and social
forces interact in the business system
Culture
Society´s values developed through shared history and experiences overtime. A system that contains
values, beliefs and attitudes and behaviors shared by a group of people. Values, rationale, identity
and authority are essential elements of culture.
- Shared by members of a group
- Culture is a relative concept
- Culture is learned and transmitted
Culture Value: The enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is socially
preferable to alternatives. What you think is important to achieve and do.
Ethics is a set or moral principles and values, they are personal and relative. Business ethics are
principles, norms and standards of conduct governing an individual or group.
Company should create value for all stakeholders, not just shareholders. From liberal economic to
social critical dimension.
Relationship between ethics and law
legality, illegality and justice
Process of individual ethical decision making behavior
Moral awareness > ethical judgement > ethical behavior
An ethical dilemma is a situation where values are in conflict.
There are prescriptive approaches. Focus on consequences (consequentialist theories), focus on
duties, obligations and principles (deontological theories) and focus on integrity (virtue ethics).
Focus on consequences: utilitarianism
- Identify alternative actions and consequences to stakeholders
- Best decision yields greatest net benefits to society
- Worst decision yields greatest net harms to society
Advantages: practical, already underlies business thinking
Challenges: difficult to evaluate all consequences, rights of minorities can be sacrificed
Focus on duties, obligations and principles
- Decision based upon abstract universal principles: honesty, promise keeping, justice, respect
- Focus on doing what’s right rather than doing what will maximize societal welfare (as in
utilitarianism).
Advantages: rights approach found in public policy debates (abortion)
challenges: determining rule, principle or right to follow, deciding which takes precedence
Focus on integrity
- Focus on integrity of moral actor rather than the act
- Considers character, motivations, intentions
- Character defined by one’s community > need to identify relevant community
Advantages: can rely upon community standards
Challenges: limited agreement about community standards, many communities haven’t done this
kind of thinking, community may be wrong
Influences on ethical awareness could be if peers agree, if ethical language is used or if there is
potential for serious harm.
Individual differences
Cognitive moral development
Level 1 (preconventional)
- stage 1 obedience and punishment orientation
- stage 2 instrumental purpose and exchange
Level 2 (conventional)
, - stage 3 interpersonal accord, conformity, mutual expectations
- stage 4 system maintenance, upholding duties and the law
Level 3 (postconventional or principled)
- stage 5 social contract and rights
- stage 6 theoretical stage only
This is important because most people reason at the conventional level and are looking outside
themselves for guidance. That makes leading on ethics essential.
Locus of control
Internals are more likely to see the connection between their own behavior and outcomes and
therefor take responsibility for their behavior. Therefor they are more likely to do what is right.
Machiavellianism
Self-interested, opportunistic, deceptive and manipulative.
Moral disengagement
The tendency for some individuals to deactivate their internal control system in order to feel okay
about doing unethical things. There are eight mechanisms used for doing this: euphemistic language,
moral justification, displacement of responsibility, advantageous comparison, diffusion of
responsibility, distorting consequences, dehumanization, attribution of blame. (it’s not my
responsibility, they told me to do it. It is not as bad as what they are doing)
Cognitive barriers to good ethical judgement
Barriers to fact gathering
- Overconfidence
- Confirmation trap
Barriers to consideration of consequences
- Reduced number
- Self vs others
- Ignore consequences that affect few
- Risk underestimated: illusion of optimism, illusion of control
- Consequences over time – escalation of commitment
Business system
An adaptive system in which the business component of a society is analyzed against the context of
that society: The economy is a process affected by the logistics of economic behavior, but also by
culture, history and specific societal events and experiences. The economic, technical and social
forces interact in the business system
Culture
Society´s values developed through shared history and experiences overtime. A system that contains
values, beliefs and attitudes and behaviors shared by a group of people. Values, rationale, identity
and authority are essential elements of culture.
- Shared by members of a group
- Culture is a relative concept
- Culture is learned and transmitted
Culture Value: The enduring belief that a specific mode of conduct or end state of existence is socially
preferable to alternatives. What you think is important to achieve and do.
