Abstract
We define ethical system infrastructure as being composed of three major factors – means, motivation, and opportunity. Means are defined as organizational rules, policies, and procedures. Motivation focuses upon the values and the interests being pursued by the position occupant and the organizational value system, while opportunity is discussed in terms of the environment in which the dilemma occurs, proposing that position in the hierarchy presents its own unique set of ethical dilemmas. Ethical breeches are discussed in terms of the interactional processes among means, motivation, and opportunity. Finally, a sequential process is suggested to use the infrastructural components to institutionalize organizational ethics training and subsequent behavior.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berheim, J. B.: 1992, ‘Bad Judgment or Bad Experience’, Across the Board(October), pp. 45–48.
Bohren, J.: 1992, ‘Reinforcing Ethics at Work’, The Human Resource Professional 4(2), pp. 55–58
Cyriac, Fr. K.: 1992, ‘The Ethics Wave in Management Education’, Management and Labour Studies, pp. 5–12.
De George, R. T.: 1995, Business Ethics(Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ).
Dean, P. J.: 1992, ‘Making Codes of Ethics Real’, Journal of Business Ethics 11(4), pp. 285–290.
Delaney, J. T. and D. Sockell: 1992, ‘Do Company Ethics Training Programs Make a Difference? An Empirical Analysis’, Journal of Business Ethics 11(9), pp. 719–727.
Ferrell, O. C. and J. Fraedrich: 1994, Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases(Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA).
Ferguson, W. C.: 1993, ‘Solving a Crisis of Confidence and Trust’, Across The Board(July/August), pp. 56–57.
Hartley, R. E.: 1993, Business Ethics: Violations of the Public Trust(John Wiley & Sons, New York).
Holloman, R.: 1991, ‘Improving our Ethical Climate: Part One’, Industrial Management(July/August), pp. 115–121.
Hyman, H. R., R. Skipper and R. Tansey: 1990, ‘Ethical Codes are Not Enough’, Business Horizons 33(2), pp. 15–22.
Ireland, K.: 1991, ‘The Ethics Game’, Personnel Journal 70(3), pp. 72–75.
Kavathatzopoulos, I.: 1994, ‘Training Professional Managers in Decision-making about Real Life Business Ethics Problems: The Acquisition of the Autonomous Problem-solving Skill’, Journal of Business Ethics 13(5), pp. 379–386.
Kelley, S. W., S. J. Skinner and O. C. Ferrell: 1989, ‘Opportunistic Behavior in Marketing Research Organizations’, Journal of Business Research 18, pp. 327–340.
Kroll, T. W. and S. J. Theerathorn: 1993, ‘Whose Interests Do Hired Top Managers Pursue? An Examination of Select Mutual and Stock Life Insurers’, Journal of Business Research 26, pp. 133–148.
MacKinnon, B.: 1995, Ethics: Theory and Contemporary Issues(Wadsworth, Belmont, CA).
Mathews, M. C.: 1988, Strategic Intervention in Organizations: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas in Corporations(Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA).
Paine, L. S.: 1994, ‘Managing for Organizational Integrity’, Harvard Business Review(March-April), pp. 106–117.
Price Waterhouse: 1994, Corporate Compliance Programs: Leading Edge Practices.
Robin, D., M. Giallourakis, F. R. David and T. E. Mortiz: 1989, ‘A Different Look at Codes of Ethics’, Business Horizons 32, pp. 66–73.
Rokeach, M.: 1973, The Nature of Human Values(Free Press, New York).
Shaw, W. H.: 1991, Business Ethics(Wadsworth, Belmont, CA).
Thompson, B. L.: 1990, ‘Ethics Training Enters the Real World’, Training(October), pp. 82–94.
Vitell, S. J. and D. L. Davis: 1990, ‘The Relationship between Ethics and Job Satisfaction: An Empirical Investigation’, Journal of Business Ethics 9, pp. 484–494.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
White, L.P., Lam, L.W. A Proposed Infrastructural Model for the Establishment of Organizational Ethical Systems. Journal of Business Ethics 28, 35–42 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006221928960
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006221928960