Business Ethics Sunday Ethic – Monday World Business Ethics Sunday Ethic — Monday World Second Edition Ted Batson and Blake J. Neff Business Ethics:Sunday Ethic — Monday World, Second Edition by Ted Batson and Blake J. Neff Direct correspondence and permission requests to one of the following: Triangle Publishing Indiana Wesleyan University 1900 West 50th Street Marion, Indiana 46953 Web site: www.trianglepublishing.com E-mail: [email protected] All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright © 2000; 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation,copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189 USA. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (KJV) are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Batson, Ted and Neff, Blake J. ISBN: 978-1-931283-45-8 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-931283-58-8 (ebk) Copyright © 2012 by Triangle Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other, except for brief quotations in printed reviews and as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, without prior written permission of the publisher. Cover and Graphic design: Lyn Rayn Printed in the United States of America (cid:0) Contents 1. Why Learn about Ethics? 1 2. An Ethical Framework 15 3. Three Ethical Systems 27 4. Christianity and Ethics 39 5. Developing a Personal Statement of Ethics 53 6. The Christian Manager as Ethical Decision Maker 71 7. The Christian Manager as Ethical Planner 87 8. The Christian Manager as Ethical Implementer 101 9. The Christian Manager as Ethical Organizer 113 10. The Christian Manager as Ethical Employer 127 11. The Christian Manager as Ethical Performance Appraiser 137 12. The Christian Manager as Ethical Leader 149 13. The Christian Manager as Ethical Record Keeper 161 14. The Christian Manager as Ethical Disciplinarian 173 vi BUSINESS ETHICS 15. The Christian Manager as Ethical Communicator 185 16. The Christian Manager as Ethical Team Builder 201 17. The Christian Manager as Ethical Motivator 213 18. The Christian Manager as Ethical Marketer 227 19. The Christian Manager as Ethical Negotiator 237 20. The Christian Manager as Ethical Global Citizen 249 21. The Christian Manager as Ethical Human Resource Administrator 261 Conclusion 273 Glossary of Key Terms 277 Index 285 Scripture Index 287 (cid:0) Preface One by-product of the Industrial Revolution has been the compartmentalization of knowledge. Compartmentalization—the separation of ideas or processes into isolated categories1—has proven efficient in the manufacturing world, but it often leads to the acceptance of false ideas in the academic world. For example, universities have long attempted to train students to be ethical decision makers. Under a compartmentalized system of thought, students are taught ethical philosophies and theories, managerial strategies, and accountability procedures as if they were independent and somewhat unrelated elements in the business process. But anyone working in the “real world” knows that these elements of decision making are inseparable. A decision in one area will affect all the other areas in some way. In an effort to overcome the artificial barriers of compartmentalization, this book teaches ethical principles intertwined with the five basic managerial functions. Based on integrated instruction in basic ethics and managerial knowledge, it uses a case study approach to stimulate students’ analytical skills. Most of the case examples are drawn from real-life experiences, and all interviews are with owners and/or managers who have demonstrated managerial success and ethical decision making in the small-business world. Names and selected occupations have been changed to protect the participants’ privacy. Another unique feature of the text is that it integrates Christian faith with the practice of business ethics. We address questions similar to those posed by David Noonan, author of Aesop and the CEO:“Why mix business and morals? An overwhelming majority of us believe in God. Can we separate our spiritual beliefs from our conduct in work? Can we suspend our moral code of behavior once the Sabbath is over? We are obliged to live good lives. We can’t live one viii BUSINESS ETHICS set of morals for home and a different set for work.”2 Business Ethics: Sunday Ethic—Monday World seeks to integrate godly principles with the business environment. In these pages students are invited to examine their own belief systems, challenged to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of secular ethical philosophies and theories, encouraged to explore biblical principles and teachings in the context of their personal lives and the business setting, and assisted in the development of a personal framework for guiding their ethical decision making. To keep up with current events in the business world, it is recommended that the students apply their ethical growth to ethical dilemmas found in recent business journals, newspapers, and media sources. We recommend that students and professors use Google®or other search engines to identify current websites containing ethical cases from career areas of their choice. (cid:0) Endnotes 1. See Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary,11th ed.,s.v. compartmentalize. 2. David Noonan, Aesop and the CEO (Nashville:Thomas Nelson, 2005),xv. (cid:0) 1 Why Learn about Ethics? Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. — Psalm 127:1 Chapter Challenges A careful review of Chapter 1 should enable the reader to: • Develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between differing views of moral standards and ethics. • Have a better grasp of human characteristics that tend to either facilitate or impede ethical decision making. Afather wanted to teach his adolescent son a lesson on managing the family business. Does the son understand how the family partnership conducts business? “Suppose a customer is shortchanged by ten dollars. You know the customer has been slighted, but no one else is aware of the problem. What do you do?” the father asked. Seeking clarification, the son responded, “You mean, do we tell the customer?” “Well. . .” his father said somewhat tentatively. “What I am really asking is do we tell our partner?” What was the father’s lesson? Cheating is okay if no one knows about it? Such one-dimensional thinking reflects the norm in today’s American business climate. David Noonan, noted business consultant, points out that “One needs only to pick up a newspaper or turn on the news to see how far many corporations have strayed from moral business practices and efficient management.”1