Ethical Behaviour, Marks & Spencer

Analysing M&S

M&S's Organisational Culture

M&S's Structural Variables

M&S's values:

Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust.

• M&S practice value-based management.
• M&S's managers are setting good examples for their employees.

• M&S's management have clear goals, rules and regulations which minimizes ambiguity.
• M&S's management do not only focus on outcome, but also on the means.
• M&S's structural variables create a favourable environment for ethical behaviour and social responsibility.

References

Individual Charateristics

Stage of Moral Development

Collier, J., & Esteban, R. (2007). Corporate social responsibility and employee commitment. Business ethics: A European review, 16(1), 19-33.

Freeman, R.E, Pierce, J., Dodd, R., (n.d.). Shades of Green: Business Ethic and the Environment. The Business of Consumption: Environmental Ethics and the Global Economy.

Luo, X., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2006). Corporate social responsibility, customer satisfaction, and market value. Journal of marketing, 70(4), 1-18.

Robbins, S., & Coulter, M. (2014). Management. Prentice Hall, 12, 162-165.

Sen, S., & Bhattacharya, C. B. (2001). Does doing good always lead to doing better? Consumer reactions to corporate social responsibility. Journal of marketing Research, 38(2), 225-243.

Yoon, Y., Gürhan-Canli, Z., & Schwarz, N. (2006). The effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities on companies with bad reputations. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 16(4), 377-390.

• Different personal values.
• Different levels of ego strength and locus of control.
• M&S's strong organisational culture can influence individuals.

• Different stage of moral development.
• Majority of adults are at level two, stage four: Maintaining conventional order by fulfilling obligations to which you have agreed.
• Managers at stage four will try to be 'good corporate citizens'.

Conclusion

Taking it One Step Further ...

• M&S do not only encourage their employees to 'do the right thing', they also encourage their costumers. E.g. SWHOP.

• M&S's Plan A is a successful ethics and social responsibility program.
• M&S knows how to manage the factors that influence ethical behaviour.
• M&S knows how to encourage ethical behaviour.

Agenda

Being Ethical and Socially Responsible

M&S's Products and Suppliers

It Starts with M&S's Employees ...

• M&S is working with Better Cotton Initiative and WWF towards 50% sustainable cotton.

• M&S strive for diversity in their organisation: 30% female board members and 39% females in senior roles.

• M&S has a strict animal welfare policy, e.g. M&S has removed angora wool from their supply chain.

• M&S inspires health among their employees by encouraging healthy eating, promoting exercise and mental health awareness and tailoring services to aging employees.

• M&S trace their meat back to the field, e.g. M&S was the only major retailer that was not involved in the horsemeat scandal.

• M&S provide fair wages to employees in developing countries.

• M&S's product audit team tests 20,000 products each year.

• Innovative packaging aimed at reducing M&S's carbon footprint.

• What is social responsibility and ethics?

What factors influence ethical behaviour?

• Stage of moral development
• Individual characteristics
• Structural variables
• Organisational culture
• Issue intensity

Real life example:

• The case of Marks and Spencer UK

M&S's Presence in the Community

• M&S are given one days paid leave to volunteer in their community. E.g. Big Beach Clean Up and Bike 24.

• Youth Employment: Big social issue in the UK. M&S provided 1,450 16-25 year-olds with work experience in 2013 in order to help young people.

• Supplychain multiplier model: M&S also engages their suppliers in their youth-employment activities and encourage their suppliers to do the same.

• Charitable donations: 20 million GPB by 2020.
• UNICEF, Oxfam, Royal British Legion, WWF, and MCS.
• Property development programs.

What Factors Influence Ethical Behaviour and Social Responsibility in an Organisation?

Introducing

Marks and Spencer

Social Responsibility and Ethics

UK retailer

Product range: Food, clothes, beauty and home

Social Responsibility:

"A business's intention, beyond its legal and economic obligations, to do the right things and act in ways that are good for society."

Robbins and Coulter, 2014

1884

1950-Now

1900

Future

M&S will focus on being innovative and satisfying customer needs while having a strong focus on sustainability - Plan A.

Today

1894

1900-1950

Ethics:

"Principles, values and beliefs that define what is right and wrong behaviour."

Robbins and Coulter, 2014

Future

1950-Now

1900

1884

1894

M&S Today

1900-1950

85,000 Employees

798 UK Stores

455 International Stores

UK Revenue: 10.3 bn GBP

International Revenue: 1.2 bn GBP

Business Ethics:

"Business ethics is the applied ethics discipline that addresses the moral features of commercial activity."

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Factors that Influence Ethical Behaviour

Stages of Moral Development

Individual Characteristics

What Variables Influence an Individual's Actions?

Ego Strength

Locus of Control

Level 1: Preconventional

Level 2:

Conventional Level

Level 3:

Principled Level

3. Living up to what is expected by people close to you.

4. Maintaining conventional order by fulfilling obligations to which you have agreed.

1. Sticking to rules to avoid physical punishment.

2. Following rules only when doing so is in your immediate interest.

5. Valuing rights of others and upholding absolute values and rights regardless of the majority's opinion.

6. Following self-chosen ethical principles even if they violate the law.

Locus of Control

Ego Strength

• Measures the strength of a person's convictions.
• People with high ego strength are more likely to resist impulses to act unethically.
• People with high ego strength are more consistent in their moral judgements and actions.

• A personality attribute that measures the degree to which people believe they control their own fate.
• Internal locus - people believe they control their own fate.
• External locus - people believe that what happens to them is due to luck or chance.

Structural Variables

Organisational Culture and Value-based Management

• The content and strength of an organisational culture can influence ethical or unethical behaviour.

• An organisation's structural design can influence whether employees behave ethically or not.
• Structures minimize ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Rules and regulations remind employees of what is ethical and encourage ethical behaviour.

Organisational values:

• reflect what the organisation stands for and what it believes in.
• create an environment that influences ethical or unethical behaviour.
• guide employees in the way they do their jobs.

• An organisation's performance appraisal system can influence ethical behaviour.
• Is the focus on outcomes?
• Is the focus on evaluating means as well as outcomes?
• A system that only focuses on outcomes might compromise employees' ethical behaviour.

• Managers are responsible for creating an environment that encourages employees to embrace the organisational culture.
• Managers are the most important influence of employees.