ORGANIZATIONAL ETHICS AND CSR

Assignment Overview
A Critique of Lockheed Martin

In this assignment you will be asked to review Chapter 4, the final chapter of Terris book, and to spend some time applying your critical thinking skills in evaluating Lockheed Martins efforts.

Case Assignment
What do you think about the notion presented by Terris that Lockheed’s ethics program does little to prevent ethical breaches at the highest level of the organization?
Are the efforts put forthsuch as making sure higher level executives participate in trainingenough to help executives navigate what Terris calls the ‘ethical minefield’ faced by leadership in such an organization?
What are some things that could be done to address the issue related to ethics at higher executive levels of the organization?
Terris points out that the company’s program is overly focused on individuals and that it doesn’t really address group dynamics that can impact ethical situations. For instance, there can be a tendency for groups to go with the flow of the group decision making process and overlook ethical issues in the process. What would you recommend that Lockheed Martin do to address this situation?
(Hint: reviewing p. 128 and the following pages before section headed Personal Responsibility, Collective Innocence – of the text might be helpful).

Assignment Expectations
Write a 3- to 4-page paper, not including title page or references page addressing the issue and upload it by the end of this module.

Your paper should be double-spaced and in 12-point type size.

Your paper should have a separate cover page and a separate reference page.  Make sure you cite your sources.

Use APA style, and proofread your paper.

This module will include one last look at Lockheed Martins efforts in the area of workplace ethics. In the final chapter of Terris text he changes up his focus a bit in that he spends some time offering a critique of Lockheed Martins ethics program and he also presents some recommendations.

Here is his summary of the final chapter of the text:

Finally, in chapter 4, I raise a series of questions about Lockheed Martins ethics program in the light of the very different ideas about business ethics that I describe earlier in the book. Lockheed Martins ethics program is, in a way, gloriously democratic, in that it focuses on the responsibility of each and every individual in the corporation for the ethical dimension of his or her actions. On the other hand, this focus on individual behavior and this focus on ethics across the corporation tend to divert attention from collective decision making. The program can tackle egregious ethical lapses (like bribery or giving away company secrets) or minor breaches (like using company computers for entertainment or a personal business), but it seldom addresses the ramifications of decisions made by people in teams or policies set by senior managers and company leaders. As a result, Lockheed Martins ethics program is all but silent on some of the major issues that have rocked American industry in recent years: accounting practices, fairness in employment policies, executive compensation, and the global impact of a companys core business. The company believes that these matters fall outside the scope of the ethics program, that they are dealt with in other venues. I argue, however, that the creation of strict boundaries around what constitutes an ethics issue inevitably dilutes the program, and may leave the corporation vulnerable to scandal. The corporation asserts that it is contributing to the common good by producing products that defend the American way of life. Its ethics program, however, avoids searching questions about Lockheed Martins contributions to the common good, and so, in the end, I argue that it falls short of realizing its full potential to shape the corporations impact on the country and the world in which we live (Terris, 2005. pp.48-49).

Obviously this chapter will cover some higher level discussion with respect to the relationship between business ethics and the role of the organization with respect to corporate social responsibility. That is to say, in addition to efforts exerted by a given organization to avoid any ethical breaches by its employees, what effort does the company exert in the area of corporate citizenship? Does it even make sense for a company that builds machines of war to make an effort to be socially responsible?

The final article review will also ponder the higher level concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Its important that business ethics students have some familiarity with CSR. Terris certainly deals with this concept in his review of Lockheed Martins ethics related efforts, however, CSR is sufficiently important to take some time considering the concept a bit on its own.

 

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