Bachelor Of Occupational Safety and Health
FAHM 3083
Ethics in OSH Profession
CHAPTER 6
ETHICAL DECISION MAKING
Focus of the Chapter
• Ethical Behavior Model
• Factors Influencing Ethical Behavior
• Theory Of Planned Behavior
• Ethical Reasoning
INTRODUCTION
✓ Code of ethics provides general guidelines for responding to ethical
dilemmas.
✓ However, code of ethics cannot address every issues. There are many
factors that influence whether a person decides to behave ethically or
unethically. E.g. values. However ethical dilemmas tend to be
complicated and involve competing values and interest.
✓ E.g. Employees know they should not cheat on their expense account
but so do anyway.
✓ Individual must rely on ethical intuition to generate beneficial results.
✓ This begin with how ethical intentions are formed, defended, and
revised through rational decision making processes.
ETHICAL BEHAVIOR MODEL
✓ Managers need to understand factors that shape
ethical intuitions, intentions, and behavior.
✓ These will influence whether individual deciding to
engage in ethical or unethical behavior.
✓ E.g. An employee who cheats on expense account,
tend to justify this wrong behavior as the right thing
to do – make up previous unclaimed expenses due
to lost receipt.
✓ Managers need to understand the complexity of decision-
making influences and process that individual go through
when deciding whether to engage in an ethical or unethical
behavior.
✓ Component model showing if individual is likely to behave
ethically:
a) Aware ethical dilemma has arisen – individual understand
particular situation and empathy for someone who may be
harmed by decision.
b) No moral action will be taken if there is no: moral judgment,
motivation to do something about it, moral character –
courage to take action.
• Ethical behavior model can help to explain if individual is
likely to behave ethically. In general, ethical beliefs
generate ethical intentions and result in ethical behavior.
Ethical Belief Ethical Intent Ethical Action
•I should do the right thing •I would do the right thing •I did the right thing
• Many would agree an ethical action should be done, but
fewer would do it, and even fewer actually did what they
think they should do.
• Consider your reaction to observing a coworker stealing.
Many people believe stealing is wrong, but a barrier
might arise that prevent employee to stop this unethical
behavior.
Hazman Fitri - School of Health and Safety
Factors Influencing Ethical Behavior
• Why some individuals sensitive to ethical issues
while other seem oblivious to ethical issues?
• Factors that influence ethical behavior can be
divided into
a) individual characteristics
b) organization characteristics.
a) Individual characteristics:
i. Education level – people with more education tend
to be better ethical decision makers.
ii. Locus of control – people with high internal locus of
control tend to be better ethical decision makers.
iii. Moral development – people who have high moral
development tend to be better decision maker.
iv. Work experience- people with more work
experience tend to be better ethical decision maker.
b) Organizational Characteristics:
i. Codes of ethics– existence of code of ethics is
positively related to ethical decision making.
ii. Ethical climate – ethical culture have a positive
influence of ethical decision making.
iii. Organizational size – smaller organization have
tendency to make better ethical decision.
iv. Rewards and sanction - Reward ethical behavior
and punish unethical behavior have more
positive impact on ethical decision.
Theory of Planned Behavior
✓ Theory of planned behavior (TPB) highlight factors
contribute to forming ethical intention.
✓ According to TPB, formulating an intention to act
ethically is a function of a person’s attitudes towards
the behavior, subjective norms, and perceived
behavioral control.
✓ Attitude toward the behavior include strength of the
belief (I believe stealing is wrong) and evaluation of the
outcome (stop the stealing would be good).
✓ Subjective norms concern the strength of normative
belief (other people believe stealing is wrong too)
and motivation to comply with the referent group (I
want to comply with the desire of these people).
✓ Perceived behavioral control focus on the strength of
the control belief (I believe I have the ability and
resources to stop stealing) and perceive power of
control belief (based on the ability and resources it
would be easy to stop the stealing).
✓ Therefore, employees will behave ethically if the desired
behavior fits their belief system, personally have strong desire
to behave ethically, others at work desire the ethical behavior,
and employees has the ability and resources available to
follow through the ethical behavior.
✓ If any of these factors is weak, ethical intentions become
weak and the desired ethical behavior may not happen.
✓ The influence of peer group is also important where people
adjust their belief and actions to fit that of the work group.
✓ If colleagues share a particular ethical perspective, then the
individual are likely to adapt them.
Ethical Reasoning
✓ Ethical reasoning can be defined as the thinking process
individuals undertake when considering ethical dilemmas.
✓ Individual must have skills to engage in ethical reasoning.
The connection between individuals’ levels of ethical
reasoning and their corresponding behavior in organizations
has been well established.
✓ Individuals’ ethical reasoning is a function of the
cognitive structures they use to define good or bad,
right or wrong.
✓ Given the appropriate cognitive stimulation, it may
be possible to increase individuals’ ethical reasoning,
which will then be used to resolve ethical dilemmas.
✓ Individuals cognitive structures during ethical
reasoning comprise three levels—pre-conventional,
conventional, and principled.
1) Pre-conventional level of ethical reasoning – Begin when resolve
ethical dilemmas by assessing only the punishments attached to
decision alternatives. Then begin considering both the rewards
and punishments attached to decision alternatives.
2) Conventional level of ethical reasoning - Individuals focus on
group norms to determine the ethical acceptability of decision
alternatives. E.g considering the expectations of immediate
others (family and friends). Then, individuals focus on
conforming to the norms of the institutions to which they
belong.
3) Principled level of ethical reasoning - Individuals cooperate with
society’s rules because others do so and it is the right thing to
do. For example, individuals would consider whether their
decisions would benefit society.
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