Moral Decision Making of the Chinese Business Managers - Essay Example

Topic: Moral Decision Making of the Chinese Business Managers Introduction Background In the of the last two decades the economy of China has been subjected to rapid development. Recently, it has been noted that the Gross Domestic Product of China has grown up to an annual rate of almost 10%. China is well recognised as one of the world’s rising economies thus emerging as a main trade and economic power. However, amidst the rapid transformation of the ideology and the rapid development of the economy, there are a lot of challenges that have surfaced among the private sector companies which are gradually slowing any development on the economy of China (Morrison, 2009). For instance, the core of business management in an organization is decision making which simply determines the profit or loss or the rise and fall of an enterprise. Based on past assumptions the aspect of decision making in an organization was classified as an economic behavior that had no relationship with the concept of morality. As a result of this, there have been a lot of radical limitations in the decision making of some organizations. Due to lack of concerns regarding the concept of morality when an organization is making decisions for the business, challenges such as market disorder, lack of unity, environment pollution and infringing upon the laborers rights have emerged. Therefore, it is necessary for China’s private owned companies to incorporate the concept of development and also create a social environment that calls for green Gross Domestic Product and honesty based management. It is essential for private companies to take up moral decision making of their operations in order to build up an effective relationship with consumers, employees, society and environment. Private organizations have become key aspects of the national economy of China thus they play an important role in sustaining the development of China’s society, economy and the environment (Liu, 2008). In most developing countries, there is a lot of attention that is given to the ethics in business especially in the context of marketing. On the other hand, with regards to China, class struggle was the main activity and thus economic activities were neither the concern of the people or the government. The turning point for China’s economy was when the economic reforms started in 1978 and henceforth the focus was on moral issues and economic activities. As a result of the late start of economic reforms, moral issues and business ethics have not yet developed in China as a new discipline. Currently, more attention is devoted to moral issues with regards to the private companies by scholars, philosophers, corporations and the government (Liu, 2008). Based on the content that has been mentioned above, the research of moral decision making of the Chinese business managers is a significant area of study which may provide practical solutions to the challenges that are experienced in China. A rapid development of the studies of moral decision making in a business will assist the private companies in China to be able to embrace scientific concept of development and also create a social environment that is man-oriented. Research questions In a business situation where a corporate scandal emerges, it is quite easy to overlook the fact that a business is a moral enterprise. This simply involves incorporating all the efforts required in working together so as to create value. The challenges that are brought about by traditional decision making in a business context is that during the process of decision making, the decision maker only focus on economy, law and technology thus ignoring the significant approach of morality. However, based on the recent increase of concerns regarding moral issues of organizations in developed countries, the aspect of moral decision making of the business managers is gradually becoming the major focus in moral business research. This research study is going to focus on three main research questions: 1 What is the definition of moral decision making of the business managers? 2 Which are the factors that influence the aspect of moral decision making of business managers? 3 What is moral decision making of the Chinese business managers? The main focus of the study is to elaborate on the moral decision making aspect of the Chinese business managers with emphasis on factors, challenges and the situation. The aim of the study is to bring out the significance of moral decision making with regards to the Chinese business managers. Literature Review Following the concerns that have been brought up regarding morality in businesses, there is an increase in the amount of attention that has been dedicated to ethics in a business context. Corporate decision makers need to focus more on the significant role that is played by morality in decision making. All corporate decision makers tend to capture relevant information thus they need to be aware of the critical effects that the decisions they make may have on both the public moral character as well as the ability of the company to establish a good relationship with the employees, consumers and shareholders. Understanding the aspect of moral decision making is quite significant in developing organizational science (Scholl, 2008). According to Jones, et.al, moral decision making exists when an individual’s action when performed freely, may benefit or harm others. He also states that an ethical decision is one that is both morally and legally accepted to a larger community. Jones tries to bring out the fact that breaking law by definition is simply immoral or unethical (Jones, 1991). Another definition of moral decision making is that it is a complex process that is build up on various factors. This simply means that moral decision making is a process which begins with a person’s recognition that a specific situation or an action has ethical content and then continues as people evaluating the ethicality of the actions that form behavioural intentions as well as engagement in actual behaviour. Therefore, based on the two definitions above, moral decision making is thus a process that relies on a various factors such as moral criterion, ethical outcomes, motivation and resolution process. The process simply consists of considering the optimal approach as well as consequences of various courses of action and recognizing a practical situation whereby moral dilemma has obligations, competing values or principles (Scholl, 2008). Factors influencing moral decision making 1 Individual factor Research studies that have been conducted on moral decision making have focused more on personal characteristics like gender, level of moral development and education. The role of gender in moral decision making has been based on numerous assumptions. According to Gilligan, et.al, she states that both men and women differ in the manner in which they form solutions for their moral dilemmas. Men tend to base their moral issues with regards to individual rights and justice rules while women simply consider moral issues based on relationships, compassion and caring (Gilligan, 1982). Ethic education is known to have a positive impact on moral action, use of ethic resources and moral confidence by various professions in various working environment. In every profession the moral decision making process is influenced by education, values experience, professional identification and prior ethics training. According to Kohlberg’s et.al, moral development theory, different people tend to make different decisions given a similar ethical situation based on the fact that there are various stages of the cognitive moral development. Kohlberg’s theory emphasizes that moral reasoning which is the basis of ethical behavior is based on six development stages that focus on responding to moral dilemmas. The stages are classified into three levels: the first level consists of obedient and punishment orientation as well as self-interest orientation. The second level consists of interpersonal accord as well as conformity and authority as well as social order maintaining orientation. Finally, the third level consists of social contract orientation and also universal ethical principles. This theory is generally about how individual justify behaviors based on morality (Kolhberg, 1976). Organizational factors Organizational factors particularly organizational culture simply includes beliefs, goals, values, ways to solve various problems and norms which members of every organization share. These factors tend to play a significant role in the decision making of business managers. Business ethics is a core component in organizational culture. It is well noted that organizational culture involves various norms based on the behaviors of the individuals in an organization while business ethics simply involves the decision processes or the character that is used to determine if issues are immoral or moral. According to Scholl et.al, the significant others within the organization may end up influencing the moral decision making of the business operations. The decision makers become the significant others, in an organization setting that can help provide solutions for the ethical dilemmas. The significant others may assist by offering information, advice, remarks and comments in discussions. Scholl further states that it is difficult to come up with an organizational discussion which does not cause an impact on the people. A model introduced by Scholl in this context is the stakeholder-based model. This model simply focuses on the belief that any organizational decision that tends to bring harm to any stakeholder is unethical (Scholl, 2008). National factors Social scientists as well as philosophers have tried to depict the process of moral decision making through examining the code of ethics, moral philosophy as well as the influence exhibited by national culture. The concept of ethical behavior can simply be regarded as acts which are consistent with an individual’s values and also the values held true of a society. There are different values that may vary among various countries and these values assist in shaping up ways in which a person may view a decision as being moral or immoral. For example, taking up the value of being loyal. Loyalty in Japan simply means compassionate overtime. Despite the fact that a person may have no work to attend to he or she should stay in order give moral support to the colleagues that are working late. In contrast to this assumption, Koreans perceive loyalty only to the person whom they work for. However, in the US family as well as other personal loyalties are valued more than the loyalty of an organization or one’s supervisor (Scholl, 2008). Moral decision making in China Based on the economic reforms which begun in the 1970s the concept of moral decision making in China is gradually developing. A significant reason for this is the fact that the business practice and research regarding moral decision making impacts more on the Chinese economy. Additionally, ever since the inception of the Chinese economic reforms, there have been a number of social challenges that have emerged causing more scholars to be concerned about the link that exists between morality and business decision making. There are still more research and discussion that are on-going based on this finding. It is based on such discussions and research that the concept of moral decision making has emerged in the Chinese academic world of research. The source of Chinese morality Analysis of the data articles that focus on the topic of Chinese moral decision making with regards to Chinese business managers is quite important based on three main reasons. To start with philosophical foundations of the culture of the Chinese differ substantively with the western philosophical traditions. Secondly, management studies have discovered differences of the work values in East Asian in comparison to the western culture. Thirdly, the economic growth as well as the international trade involvement of China has provided a broader understanding of Chinese view on the importance of business ethics. Based on these reasons, the moral decision of Chinese business managers may incorporate its own characters (Liu, 2008). According to Liu et.al, the moralities of the Chinese in business revolve around three major sources: the inheritance of the Chinese traditional ethics, the influence of the business ethics from abroad and the reflections on economic reform (Liu, 2008). Inheritance of the Chinese traditional ethics The history of traditional ethics in China is quite diverse. The concept of Confucianism is regarded as a dynamic and profound thought system with regards to traditional Chinese culture. Confucianism was simply the center of traditional Chinese business ethics. The Confucian heritage of China has provided a strong foundation for the Chinese values amidst the political and economic challenges of both the 19th and 20th centuries. The Confucian conception of an individual is quite important thus there is need to understand the way different people chose to solve the moral dilemmas based on a practical issue in the contemporary Chinese society. Societies that are Confucian-based in Asia are perceived based on the comparative management studies and the rapid economic development in the recent past (Liu, 2008). The reflection on economic reform Economic reforms in China occurred in two stages. The first stage occurred between the late 1970s and early 1980s. This stage simply involved the rise of of China to foreign investment, decollectivization of agriculture as well as the permission for the entrepreneurs to begin their business ventures. The second stage took place between the late 1980s and early 1990s. It simply involved lifting of the price controls, the contracting and privatization of the state owned companies. The economy of China has clearly entered a new stage in which individuals are entitled to experience economic freedom as well as individual wealth which are increasing at a rapid rate (Liu, 2008). The influence of business ethics abroad Focusing on improving the market oriented reforms, China is still absorbed in embracing its Chinese way that differs far from that of the developing countries. Despite this, China still tries to learn a lot from the developing countries not only based on the achievement and experience but also with regards to business ethics in work oriented situations. Based on the extensive research that is available on business ethics, philosophers, Chinese business managers as well as scholars are able to learn more about ethical dimensions of business as well as ethical quality of business (Lu, 1997). Research Design Research Method This study is going to use a qualitative methodology in order to carry out the research. A qualitative research methodology simply focuses on understanding phenomena, exploring issues as well as answering questions. Qualitative based research method generally analyses data collected from direct fieldwork, written documents, open-ended and in-depth interviews as well as observation. A qualitative research focuses more on developing explanations for social phenomena as well as understanding and interpreting. This means that a qualitative research simply aims at assisting individuals to understand the world they live in as well as why things are simply the way they are (Patton, 2002). Another feature of qualitative research that can be looked at revolves around its description and also emphasis on the context. This implies that a qualitative research is full of detailed information regarding the social world that is being examined. It is difficult for people to analyse and understand the behaviors of a specific group of people unless they rely on the terms that are depicted from the environment (Bryman H& Bell, 2003). This research focuses on the phenomena based on the moral decision making of the Chinese business managers as well as finding the answers to the stated research questions. The Phenomena as well as the research questions are answered extensively based on the nature and understanding of qualitative research method. Data collection In a qualitative research methodology data samples are mainly collected using purposive reasoning. This means that the samples are chosen based on how they typify the specific characteristics of a given class (Patton, 2002). The role of the researcher with regards to data collection in this context is focused more on a qualitative approach. The process of data collection on the literature review should also follow a set of systematic steps. Posing the general research questions Posing the general research questions is simply addressed in a systematic manner based on the specific topic and the relevant literature. The purpose of the research questions is simply to discover the questions that are insightful and probing. The research questions of the study help to gather the relevant data needed (Bryman H& Bell, 2003). Selecting relevant site and subject In order to carry out the research successfully, the databases which relate to the research topic on moral decision making of the business managers are required. Therefore, choosing relevant sites as well as subjects is the next most important step in the data collection process. Collecting the relevant data This phase involves selecting the relevant articles that are related to the topic of the research study. After selecting the relevant articles the data required is then gathered in order to proceed to the next level of the research. Data analysis Data analysis is the process of cleaning, inspecting, transforming as well as modelling of the data with the sole aim of deriving the useful information required as well as suggesting conclusions. This stage will involve interpreting the data content of each chosen article by reviewing it and understanding the content. The aim of this stage will be to derive meaning of the moral decision making of the Chinese business managers. Conclusion In the past two decades, moral decision making of China’s economy has gradually grown based on the recent research studies that have been conducted. The research studies have helped out the business managers in enhancing their business ethics. Thus the articles that have been used have clearly given an insight of the importance of moral decision making in business. Therefore, based on all the content that have been analysed regarding morality and the decision making process of Chinese business managers, there is a lot of significance that has been imposed on the economic forum. Research Schedule Phases April 14 May 14 June 14 July 14 Aug 14 Sept Literature Review X Data collection X Data analysis X Checking literature review X Peer Study X Final Draft X References Bryman, A., & Bell, E. (2003). Business research methods. Oxford University Press. Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Jones, T. (1991). Ethical decision making by individuals in organizations. Academy of management review. Kohlberg, L. (1976). Moral stages and moralization: the cognitive developmental approach .CBS College Publishing. Liu, X. (2008). Social responsibility and sustainable development of China’s private enterprises. International Journal of Business Management. Pp16-19 Morrison, W. (2009). China’s economic conditions. Congressional Research Services, pp. 75- 700. Patton, M. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Scholl, R. (2008). Ethical decision making and moral behavior. SchmidtLabor Research Center. Read More