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Lecturer: Dr Theodora Issa
Welcome to
Business Ethics 300 (BE300)
Lecture 6
When should managers speak out?
The Seeing-Talking Practitioner
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Welcome back to the SIXTH lecture of
BE300
Any
questions?
Any queries?
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YOUR BE-300 FIRST ASSESSMENT
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Update on the first assessment marking
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We are going to discuss
When should managers
speak out?
The Seeing-Talking
Practitioner
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First
TRIED to build upon in the workshops?
and
What did we do in the last FIVE weeks in the
lectures
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WEEK 1
Introduction to Business Ethics What
is Business Ethics?
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WEEK 2
What is Business for? (Telos of
Business, Dirty hands, Teleopathy )
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Non-Consequentialism
Consequentialism
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WEEK 3
How do we reconcile competing values
and priorities?
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This has so far covered
The S in the S-T-A-R
framework
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WEEK 4 we commenced our discussion on
the second part of the S-T-A-R framework
talking about the ethical issue
The Ethics of the Free Market
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WEEK 5 continued with our discussion on
the second part of the S-T-A-R framework
talking about the ethical issue
Moral Relativism
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BE-300 THIS WEEKS LECTURE
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This weeks objectives
Define and critique moral muteness and
moral myopia
Connect moral muteness and moral
myopia to ethical perspective
Recognise the value of being a seeing-
talking practitioner
Practice the skill of being a seeing-talking
practitioner
Apply main concepts to practice situations
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This lectures objectives
Define and critique moral
muteness and moral
myopia
Connect moral muteness
and moral myopia to
ethical perspective
Recognise the value of
being a seeing-talking
practitioner
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Introduction
Speaking-out over ethical issues is a complex and sensitive
issue.
In the last seminar we examined moral relativism.
This alerts us to the idea that different attitudes to speaking
out about ethics in business depend on the way in which
values are prioritised, particularly towards the telos of
business and how the free market should operate.
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A question for you
Can you recall the
ethical basis for an
unlimited free market
and what the alternative
is?
Go back over
your notes
and check.
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Yes please
Remember that justification for
an unlimited free market is
flawed in many ways as we
discovered in the previous
seminars.
With regard to speaking out
about ethics, the
libertarian/utilitarian perspectives
focus on two things: freedom
and costs/benefits.
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Thus
Drawing on
Drumwright and
Murphy (2004),
it can be argued that when faced with an ethical
dilemma, the libertarian will argue that interfering
with a persons choices would be limiting their
freedoms as a law-abiding consumer if
consumers demand something, then it is up to
business to supply it.
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Further
Indeed, as long as the
goods and services
provided are legal then
businesses and
consumers have the
right to sell and buy
them.
The libertarian would also
argue that we have no
right to pass judgment
on another persons
action providing it is not
interfering with anybody
elses rights and
freedoms.
We are obliged to look the
other way.
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While The Utilitarian will argue
That ethics is something that
complicates business
decisions unnecessarily
adding cost and time to doing business
which would mean that other businesses that
do not do this would be more competitive
and have an advantage in the market.
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Utilitarian argument (Contd)
This could mean the
difference between
staying in business
and going bust.
For the utilitarian we
should leave our
ethics at the office
door for the sake of
the business.
We should keep
quiet about ethics.
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According to Bird and Waters (1989)
Ethical issues often do not
enter discussion at either
individual or business level.
Managers tend not to
recognizably
communicate their
moral concerns in
settings where it is
fitting.
When it might be
expected they voice no
moral sentiments or
communicate in ways
that obscure their moral
beliefs and commitments.
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These appear as:
Negative
expressions eg
not blowing the
whistle on illegal
practices.
Positive
expressions not
speaking up for
ideals
Not holding others
sufficiently
accountable not
providing adequate
feedback to
subordinates.
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Drumwright and Murphy (2004) use two
terms:

Moral Myopia to
describe not
seeing the ethical
dimension and
Moral Muteness
to describe not
speaking about
ethics.
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How Advertising Practitioners view Ethics
Drumwright and Murphy,
Journal of Advertising, Summer 2004, 33, 2
Pages 7-23
DR Theodora Issa
Business Ethics
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Abstract
This is
an
empirical
paper
In-depth, elite
interviews
with
advertising
practitioners
at all levels in
29 agencies
Eight cities
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3

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Informants reported few ethical concerns
RESPONDENTS EXHIBITED
Moral myopia a
distortion of moral
vision that prevents
moral issues from
coming into focus
Moral muteness they
rarely talk about
ethical issues
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4

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There were however,
Seeing/talking advertising practitioners
who demonstrated moral imagination
when responding to ethical problems
Findings
Agency context in which advertising
practitioners work is important in terms
of ethical sensitivity
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5

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Advertising ethics
What is right in the conduct of the advertising function.
It is concerned with questions of what ought to be
done, not just with what legally must be done.
(Cunningham, 1999 p. 500)
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6

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Moral Myopia is argued through
Consumers are
smart
Passing the buck
What is legal is
moral
The first
amendment
misunderstanding
(reference to USA)
Going native
(which distorts
moral vision)
The Ostrich
syndrome
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7

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Moral Muteness
Compartmentalization
(Public morality vs.
private morality)
Client is
always
right
Ethics is bad for
business
Pandoras
box
syndrome
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8

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Seeing, Talking advertising practitioners
Recognition
Communication
Saying No
Beyond Normal
Vision: Moral
Imagination
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9

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A question
Describe an example of moral
muteness and moral myopia that
you have seen at work or in the
news media.
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While many business people adopt and can
justify these behaviours, this can lead to
long-term problems such as:
habitual
lying,
whistle
blowing,
loss of
reputation
, and
even
criminal
prosecution.
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Avoiding these problems:
One way of avoiding the
problems we have just discussed
is to adopt the perspective of
the seeing-talking practitioner
(Drumwright and Murphy,
2004).
This perspective is based on the
ideas of duty and virtue.
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The seeing talking practitioner has three main
characteristics:

Readily recognise
ethical issues when
they arise, being able to
identify the ethical
context and background
and understand it.
An ability to
communicate in an
overt and direct way,
often with an ethical
dimension
Display moral
imagination an ability
to think outside the
box, seeing
alternatives that others
do not
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Therefore
Businesses that encourage seeing-talking
practitioners are more likely to avoid ethical
problems as they are discussed and
resolved before a decision is taken.
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Conclusion
Being a seeing-talking
practitioner is not an
easy option.
It requires thought and
practice.
It means you must
focus on both process
and outcomes of
decisions and
be aware of your own
ways of thinking and
being able to see and
understand
alternatives.
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Conclusion
Now that you
understand about
Talking (the T in S-
T-A-R).
Next lecture we begin
exploring acting (A)
that is how to decide
and do the right thing.
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Next weeks lecture
How to
decide?
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Tuition Free weeks
No lectures and no workshops for the
next two weeks those are tuition free
weeks
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Acknowledgements
These slides were derived
from material provided by
the previous unit
coordinator, the publishers
of the Grace and Cohen
book, the material on the
blackboard, and other
sources derived from the
web, including some
images relevant to the
concepts under
discussion.
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Thank you! And Happy Easter
BE300 - TI/DP