Think of Bagley's decision tree model of decision making. Discuss the steps in the decision tree. Is use of this model beneficial for people as well as organizations? How? Describe a specific situation that you experienced in which this model would be helpful.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Harvard Business School Professor Constance Bagley suggests that a decision tree can help managers make more ethical decisions. A decision tree is a graphical representation of the process underlying decisions, and it shows the consequences of making various choices. Follow Bagley's decision tree, shown in Figure 11.5, by asking the following questions: (1) Is the proposed action legal? (2) If yes, does the proposed action maximize shareholder value? (3) If yes, is the proposed action ethical? (4) If no, would it be ethical not to take the proposed action?

The decision tree cannot provide a quick formula that managers and organizations can use to evaluate every ethical question. Ethical decision making is not always clear-cut and it is affected by cross-cultural differences. Organizations are encouraged to conduct ethics training and to increase awareness about cross-cultural issues when the work involves people with mixed cultural backgrounds. The decision tree does provide a framework for considering the trade-offs between managerial and corporate actions and managerial and corporate ethics.