Decision Making, Creativity, and Ethics
CHAPTER 12
Decision Making, Creativity, and Ethics
Nike’s decision to manufacture shoes overseas has prompted critics to claim that it exploits workers in poor countries. Did Nike make a rational decision, and is the decision socially responsible?
1
Is there a right way to make decisions?
2 3 4 5 6 8 7
How do people actually make decisions? How can knowledge management improve decision making? What factors affect group decision making?
Should the leader make the decision, or encourage the group to participate?
How can we get more creative decisions?
What is ethics, and how can it be used for better decision making?
What is corporate social responsibility?
N
ike’s
first
Corporate Report,
Responsibility
published in October
2001, confessed that making Nike’s runners is “tedious, hard and doesn’t offer a wonderful future.”1 Readers may have been
startled to learn that employees in overseas factories making Nike products were being harassed by supervisors. Employees were also asked to work far more overtime than rules permitted. Finally, the company admitted to knowing far too little about dayto-day life in the factories, because it was not monitoring the situation closely enough. These admissions might have seemed shocking to anyone who would have expected Nike to deny what critics have been saying for years: Nike benefits from unfair labour practices in foreign-owned plants to which it subcontracts work. Nike’s decision to publish a corporate responsibility report is just one example of the many decisions companies face every day. The company has decided to improve conditions at its overseas operations. In this chapter, we describe how decisions in organizations are made, as well as how creativity is linked to decision making. We also look at the ethical and socially responsible aspects of decision making as part of our discussion. Decision making affects people at all levels of the organization, and it is engaged
Decision Making, Creativity, and Ethics
Nike’s decision to manufacture shoes overseas has prompted critics to claim that it exploits workers in poor countries. Did Nike make a rational decision, and is the decision socially responsible?
1
Is there a right way to make decisions?
2 3 4 5 6 8 7
How do people actually make decisions? How can knowledge management improve decision making? What factors affect group decision making?
Should the leader make the decision, or encourage the group to participate?
How can we get more creative decisions?
What is ethics, and how can it be used for better decision making?
What is corporate social responsibility?
N
ike’s
first
Corporate Report,
Responsibility
published in October
2001, confessed that making Nike’s runners is “tedious, hard and doesn’t offer a wonderful future.”1 Readers may have been
startled to learn that employees in overseas factories making Nike products were being harassed by supervisors. Employees were also asked to work far more overtime than rules permitted. Finally, the company admitted to knowing far too little about dayto-day life in the factories, because it was not monitoring the situation closely enough. These admissions might have seemed shocking to anyone who would have expected Nike to deny what critics have been saying for years: Nike benefits from unfair labour practices in foreign-owned plants to which it subcontracts work. Nike’s decision to publish a corporate responsibility report is just one example of the many decisions companies face every day. The company has decided to improve conditions at its overseas operations. In this chapter, we describe how decisions in organizations are made, as well as how creativity is linked to decision making. We also look at the ethical and socially responsible aspects of decision making as part of our discussion. Decision making affects people at all levels of the organization, and it is engaged