Round table session

1.Scan the texts in Readings I-IV and make use of the material discussed in the unit.

2. Make a presentation of the problem. Don’t forget to speak about :

• the difference between ethics and social responsibility

• the purpose of business

• ethical issues in contemporary management

• ways of improving ethical performance

• approaches to ethical decision-making

3. Hold a Question and Answer session.

Part II. Unit 8 business ethics and social responsibility

Learning Objectives By the end of the unit you will be able to: speak on the notions of business ethics, legal and social responsibility explain different purposes of business identify ethics objectives of management compare different ways of improving ethical performance distinguish between social responsibility strategies describe approaches to ethical decision making discuss ethical problems describe graphs and trends

Vocabulary Development

Investigate the idea of social responsibility and business ethics

1.Complete the following chart, use a dictionary if necessary.

Part of Speech	Words	Meaning	Translation
Noun	responsibility	-	ответственность
Person	-	someone who answers questions, esp. on a questionnaire	ответчик
Verb	respond	to react to smth by taking a particular course of action	-
Adjective	responsible	-	ответственный

2. Match the words to form as many word-combinations as possible.

be have take (on) assume make accept

responsibility respond responsible

to the department manager for stockholders’ dividends for monitoring ethical dilemmas to the demand for the general management of the employer for all the arrangements strategies for organizing the meeting of the personnel manager

3. Make your own sentences using word-combinationg from 2.

Verbs to speak out

1. Match the following verbs and nouns.

apply to establish make bribe obtain obey violate develop conduct consider

attitudes ethical performance laws (2) a contract a foreign official rules courses decisions ethics workshops

2. Make your own sentences using word-combinationg from 1.

Words that go together

1. Choose the best synonym for the underlined words in the following sentences.

1. Ethics is concerned with the code of values and principles.

a) treasures b) costs c) beliefs

2. Ethics is more than just understanding the rules and how they apply to cases.

a) employ b) relate c) obey

3. Ethics includes study of the origins of the rules.

a) appearance b) originals c) organizations

4. Being part of a commu­nity that both establishes and maintains a set of moral rules is a matter of concern.

a) sets b) publishes c) installs

5. This happens informally through the gradual diffusion of the principles of the leaders.

a) constant b) developing c) general

6. The subject of business ethics looks at more than the issue of behaving in a socially responsible manner.

a) problem b) use c) manners

7. Scientists debate a lot what the purpose of organizations is.

a) discuss b) arrange c) argue

8. There are scientists who consider that an organization is an economic entity.

a) society b) unit c) team

9. Some organizations might be violating laws.

a) breaking b) obeying c) valuing

10. This organization hires more than 15 percent minorities.

a) dismisses b) holds c) employs

2. Match the following words with their antonyms from the box:

social, deliberate, responsibly, increasingly, justify, legal, public, foreign, accept, external, deliver, disadvantageous.

receive deny private advantageous accuse irresponsibly internal home illegal decreasingly accidental individual

3. Put in the missing prepositions.

1. If an organization tends to deny responsibility … its actions, it follows an obstructive strategy.

2. If a company avoids being saddled … extra responsibility, it uses a defensive strategy.

3. The company that is accountable … its actions follows an adaptive strategy.

4. The proactive company responds … the interests of its stakeholders.

5. It is not always easy to reach conclusions … the social responsibility arguments.

6. This information was … no use for the company.

7. During the discussion the participants’ attitude varied … the least concerned … the most concerned.

8. The chairman felt uncomfortable … investment in that company.

9. The policy of the company responds … the interests of its shareholders.

4. The sets of words and phrases below are related either to honesty or to dishonesty. Which word is different from the others in each set? Use a dictionary to help you.

1. trustworthy law-abiding corrupt

2. a slush fund a sweetener compensation

3. insider trading industrial espionage disclosure

4. a whistleblower a fraudster a con artist

5. a bribe a bonus a commission

6. fraud secrecy integrity

7. a confidentiality agreement a cover up a whitewash

5. Complete these sentences with the words and phrases from the sets above. Choose from the first set to complete sentence 1, from the second set to complete sentence 2, and so on.

1. Our company does nothing illegal. We are very … .

2. We’ve got … which is used in countries where it is difficult to do business without offering bribes.

3. Their car looked so much like our new model. We suspect … .

4. They fired him because he was a… . He informed the press that the company was using under-age workers in the factory.

5. He denied accepting … when he gave the contract to the most expensive supplier.

6. I admire our chairman. He is a man of his word and is greatly respected for his … .

7. Many companies ask new employees to sign … to avoid future litigation problems.

Key terminology in use

1. Give the Russian equivalents to the following word combinations

Questionable ethics; take protective/remedial action; in violation of the law; embezzlement of funds; sexual favours in the workplace; product safety, to face ethical dilemmas, to enhance profits; to consider the alternatives; a sufficient justification; to balance the cost and benefits.

2. Make your own sentences with word combinations from 1.

3. Complete the sentences using the suggested words and word combinations from the box.

sensitivity social conscience tax deductable abide by top level communicate ethics codes benefits prohibited industrial safety ethical dilemmas questionable ethics achieve aims

1. Organizations want their employees to … ethical rules.

2. Bribery, extortion, gifts, kickbacks, i.e. violations of the law in general, are … in codes of ethics.

3. Some organizations also conduct ethics workshops to … ethics codes to their employees.

4. Payments to foreign government officials are … .

5. Ethics committees are mostly comprised of … managers.

6. Ethics advocates play the role of the organization’s … .

7. To measure … of social programmes is still a problem.

8. One of the aims of ethics training is to increase employees’ … to ethical issues.

9. … is one of the problems that managers face.

10. Conflicting interests of different parties cause … .

11. Problems of … don’t have a single clear solution.

12. To … , a person should only use honest means.