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MGF5020Semester 2, 2014

Business Ethics in a Global Environment

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Tutorial 7

Week 8

Care and relationshipsShell in Nigeria

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Our Discussion Today

1.Ethics of Care: Shell, Nigeria2. Assessment Task 2: Group Work3. Expectations for Week 8

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• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4l6ArtUlrk

• Identify a contemporary ethical challenge in international business, with cross-cultural dimensions in the case and provide a literature justified solution.

Shell in Nigeria

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• What are the main ethical issues raised by this case? • Oil Mining in Ogoniland

• Environmental :Destruction of the environment, Spillage, Contamination, Pollution

• Social: Community, Social Inequity, livelihood• Political: Collusion, Totalitarianism• Evidences: Receiving very less share of profit (1.5%), Sustainable

Development and Rights of the Indigenous people• Oil Development and Human Development• Development and Developing Country Standards

Shell in Nigeria contd.

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Did Shell’s conduct in Nigeria accord with Milton Friedman’s recommendation of the social responsibilities of a company? Do you agree with this recommendation? Justify your response.

What responsibilities does the management of a corporation have?To make as much money as possible “…so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud”Corporate executive may not allocate corporate funds to socially worth-while projects becauseThey are spending someone else’s money

StockholdersCustomersEmployees

According to Friedman’s view it is the responsibility of the society (in practice the government) to set those legal limits.

Did Shell’s conduct in Nigeria accord with R. Edward Freeman’s account of corporate social responsibility? If not, why not?

The ethical argument for the stakeholder view 1. Principle of Corporate Rights. The corporation and its managers may not violate the legitimate rights of others to determine their own futures. 2. Principle of Corporate Effects. The corporation and its managers are responsible for the effects of their actions on others.

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• What would an ethic of care recommend in response to:

– the environmental practices of Shell in the Niger Delta?

– the human rights abuses committed by the Nigerian government?

– the conflict between the Nigerian government and the Ogoni people?

– the conflict between Shell Nigeria and the Ogoni people?

– the trial of Ken Saro Wiwa?

Moral sensitivity: Uses conflict management techniques to address the factual

blindness that grows out of dichotomous (‘black-and-white’) thinking.

Moral judgement: constructs contextual models of ethical reasoning, using rules of

thumb grounded in personal experience.

Moral action: encourages empathetic listening and collaborative learning, devises

cooperative problem-solving procedures, builds trust, based on relating to other

people emotionally (not just through reason).

Ethics of Care

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• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqTUG8MPmGg

Care!!!

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Progress on Research Paper

Get together in your groups: •Research question? Clearly identify

•Project plan? Timeline

•Task allocations? Who is doing what

•Paper structure? Guideline, sections and words

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• Lecture Topic: Moral identity and virtues• Tutorial Topic: Attitudes to work in Organisations• Prescribed Readings:

• Crane, A. & Matten, D. (2010) Business Ethics: Managing Corporate Citizenship and Sustainability in the Age of Globalization. (3rd edn.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp.118-119 (‘Ethical approaches based on character and integrity’).

• Wicks, A., Freeman, R. E., Werhane, P. & Martin, K. E. (2010) Business Ethics: A Managerial Approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, Prentice Hall, pp. 152-164.

• Shaw, W. H. & Barry, V. (2013) Moral Issues in Business (12th edn.). Wadsworth: Cengage Learning, pp. 179-180 (‘A New Work Ethic?’). The summary for Assessment Task 1 for week 9 is based on this reading.

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Thank you!

Have a good week