Thesis (M.A.)--International Christian Graduate University, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [64]-72).

Thesis (M.A.)--International Christian Graduate University, 1985. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [64]-72).

The growth of international businesses within the context of economic globalisation has created different operating environments that have exposed managers at both national and international levels to different business challenges as well as moral dilemmas. The moral dilemmas and subsequent decisions facing managers in Britain and China today are important considerations both in terms of research knowledge and management practices. This thesis is based on a triangulated cross-cultural comparative study of managers working for British multi-national corporations (MNCs) in China and the United Kingdom (UK). The study includes a postal survey and semi-structured interviews with Chinese and British managers of British MNCs that represent various industries. Alternative to traditional approach, the study has investigated the reality experienced by the managers in their decision making when confronted by moral dilemmas. The managers‟ moral behaviour processes are compared. For China-based managers, the recent moral, economic, social and cultural changes in modern China have contributed to the creation of ethical challenges. The dilemma for them is whether to follow local practices or the corporate standards of their British companies. For managers who are based in Britain, the centre of the moral tension is caused by reconciling personal ethical standards when making decisions to prioritise business rationale. Similarities found between Chinese and British managers show that despite moral struggles and discomfort suffered by managers, the decisions they finally make are determined by a leaning towards their companies‟ continued benefit. The evidence in this study suggests that managers‟ moral behaviour and final decisions are not often determined by what they personally think is morally right or wrong, but determined by their managerial responsibility, business pressure, commonly accepted practices, business culture and social environment, as well as changing economic environments. The components which play essential parts in constructing moral behaviour include managers‟ moral sensitivity, judgement, motivation and decisions. Business rationale and economic values of a decision are consistently shown to be the main reasons which can explain managers‟ decisions. This is the reality of managerial ethical decision-making interpreted and understood by the managers in China and the UK in this study.

Available theory suggests that both issue and context related factors as well as individual factors influence the ethical decision-making process. This study used an experimental design to investigate whether the issue-related construct reward consequences, an extension of Jones’ (1991) issue-related factor, magnitude of consequences, is a strong predictor of attitude of business stakeholders towards the ethicality of a morally ambiguous action, in this case, a strategic competitor bluff. The study also investigated the predictive capability of the personal moral philosophy dimensions of relativism and idealism in the presence of differential reward consequences in a morally ambiguous context. The study found clear support for the predictive capability of the issue-related factor, reward consequences, for the moral decision-maker, however, the personal factor of business stakeholders’ a priori personal moral philosophy, measured using Forsyth’s (1980) Ethics Position Questionnaire (EPQ), was not found to predict their attitudes towards the morally ambiguous action. These findings were consistent across four different business stakeholder roles considered. The findings did indicate, however, that the relativism dimension of the EPQ moderates the relationship between reward consequences and attitude towards the morally ambiguous action. The contributions of the findings to theory bearing on ethical decision-making in the context of morally ambiguous circumstances and stakeholder management are discussed, as are their implications for business management. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Gordon Institute of Business Science, 2013 / pagibs2014 / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Whistleblowing is a form of pro-social behaviour that occurs when a current or former employee reports organisational wrongdoing to any authority that is able to implement corrective action. While models of whistleblowing indicate that a number of social factors may influence an employee’s decision to blow the whistle, very little cognisance is given to the role of organisational trust in such situations. Since whistleblowing situations often pose problems for whistleblowers, organisational trust becomes an important facilitator for the decision to blow the whistle. This study explores whether organisational trust is an influencing social factor that may facilitate whistleblowing. It is found that organisational trust plays a significant role in decisions to blow the whistle. It shows in particular that when organisational trust exists, employees are more likely to blow the whistle, and secondly, that whistleblowing is more likely to take place internally rather than externally. Further, this study shows that in the absence of trust employees will not report organisational wrongdoing, although this finding also suggests that other social factors may impact on the decision not to blow the whistle. This dissertation argues that understanding the relationship between the two phenomena provides greater insight into how organisational trust may affect whistleblowing. / Prof. Tina Uys Dr. Neville Bews

Due to the numerous cases of fraudulent accounting practices in 2001 involving such corporate giants such as Enron and WorldCom, the United States Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act 2002 (SOA) to restore investor confidence in the capital markets. In Section 406 Congress requires each issuing company to disclose whether or not ( and if not, the reason therefore) the company has adopted a code of ethics for senior financial officers. While the SOA does not specifically mandate a code of ethics for listing companies, it emphasizes the importance of corporate codes of ethics as the cornerstone for building a strong internal control environment to prevent or deter management fraud. A written code of ethics for senior management lays the foundation for promoting a corporate culture that values and practices ethical behavior. In this paper I focus on codes of ethics and the effect that they have on an organization's culture.

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ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of implementing an MBA Oath in a South African context for Business Professionals to utilise in their Professional careers, across industries within the economy. The idea of formulating and implementing an MBA Oath to shape the ethical outlook of Business Professionals graduating with MBA degrees was brought into existence at Harvard in 2009. This movement quickly spread throughout internationally acclaimed Universities garnering both widespread support and criticism. This paper will examine the topics relating to Business Ethics, the implementation of Codes of Ethics and other Professional Codes of Ethics in a detailed literature review in order to better understand the context and relevance of the study in the South African setting. Through abstraction of what the Top 40 listed entities on the JSE by market capitalising prescribe to be the most fundamental values and core guiding principles, combined with insight assembled from numerous interviews with subject matter experts in the field, a survey will be tabulated. The survey will look broadly at ethics within the South African economy and industry context to frame the current issues. It will then navigate down to a company compliance level to discover how people perceive the ethical structures within their organisations. It will look to explore the possibility of implementing an MBA Oath through Business Schools within South Africa and investigate the associated challenges. Finally, it will seek to identify a road forward; promoting ethical behaviour in local companies for generations to come. The final phase will look to analyse and synthesise all of the data that has been collected to form meaningful conclusions. The research paper provides a solid starting point for further investigation into initiating and implementing meaningful ethical frameworks aimed at increasing awareness, influencing people’s decision making processes and for promoting more ethically sound organisations in the South African economy.

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