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what will not be acceptable behavior. Some companies have also started offering employ-
ees training in how to cope with ethical dilemmas. At Boeing, for example, line managers
lead training sessions for other employees, and the company has an ethics committee
that reports directly to the board of directors. The training sessions involve discussions
of different ethical dilemmas that employees might face and how managers might handle
those dilemmas. Chemical Bank, Halliburton, and Xerox also have ethics training pro-
grams for their managers. Still, issues continue to arise. For instance, one recent study
found an increase in the number of employees who called in sick when they were not,
in fact, ill but just wanted to have a day off.
16
Organizations are also making greater efforts to formalize their ethical standards.
Some, such as General Mills and Johnson & Johnson, have prepared guidelines that
detail how employees are to treat suppliers, customers, competitors, and other constitu-
ents. Others, such as Whirlpool, Texas Instruments, and Hewlett-Packard, have devel-
oped formal
codes of ethics
—written statements of the values and ethical standards
that guide the firms’ actions. Of course, firms must adhere to such codes if they are to
be of value. In one now-infamous case, Enron’s board of directors voted to set aside the
firm’s code of ethics to implement a business plan that was in violation of that code.
17
Of course, no code, guideline, or training program can truly substitute for the quality
of an individual’s personal judgment about what is right behavior and what is wrong
behavior in a particular situation. Such devices may prescribe what people should do,
but they often fail to help people understand and live with the consequences of their
choices. Making ethical choices may lead to very unpleasant outcomes—firing, rejection
by colleagues, and the forfeiture of monetary gain, to name a few. Thus, managers must
be prepared to confront their own conscience and weigh the options available when
making difficult ethical decisions.
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