How Ethical Is the National Hockey League?

How Ethical is the National Hockey League?

Lakehead University

BUSI-2038

March 31, 2016

Introduction

        Organizational behaviour plays a significant part throughout the NHL (Erwin, 2011). All Canadians, both adults and youth, find the NHL extremely relatable and influential in their lives (Seravalli, 2016). Ethics play a major role in the NHL as an organization and have a major effect on hockey as a sport (Erwin, 2011). The debate on whether or not an organization is ethical can be hard to determine, as ethics can be broken down into distinct parts including: utilitarianism, individual rights and distributive justice which we will explore in this paper.  

Research Summary

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism is "the belief that a morally good action is one that helps the greatest number of people” (“Utilitarianism”, 2016). The ethical principle, utilitarianism, is one of the guiding factors of people's’ decisions and behaviour (McShane, 2015). A person that values utilitarianism considers how their decisions will affect others, both positively and negatively (McShane, 2015). Organizations should have respectable shared values to maintain a good reputation in their industry (Erwin, 2011). For example, sports teams should encompass normative ethics forming strong moral codes while upholding mutual respect for everyone within the organization. The degree to how well ethical standards are upheld relates to how well the organization is managed and the overall well-being of the team members (Schneider, 2010). Due to the nature of most sport organizations, specifically hockey, maintaining ethical standards is of great importance for everyone involved (Schneider, 2010). Shared values should connect with each and every individual in an organization, particularly, contact sports (Schneider, 2010).

Often in the sports world the team’s coach or manager is making the majority of the decisions for the team as a whole. Utilitarianism plays a key part in these decisions as Schneider(2010) “A sport organization grounded in utilitarian based policy supports action by its members that result in the long-term happiness for the most possible members of the sporting community” (p. 59). A team coach or manager must consider everyone on the team, not just specific players, because “Policy directly affects those close to the sport organization and indirectly affects those more distant from it” (Schneider, 2010, p. 60). Not only do these policy decisions affect the team and its players but they may also affect other teams in the league. By considering the interests of the hockey community as a whole, team managers and coaches can bring the best decisions to the entire hockey community (Schneider, 2010). It is important to make ethical decisions in hockey that follow utilitarianism in order to keep the game fair for everyone involved (Schneider, 2010). When coaches or players become selfish and stray away from utilitarianism, it can have a negative impact on the entire organization and its fan base. Without utilitarianism in coach and management decisions, hockey can become corrupt and unfair (Schneider, 2010). It is important for team managers, coaches, and players to remember that “short term happiness should be sacrificed in the interest of long term happiness” (Schneider, 2010, p. 63) in order to maintain utilitarianism in the sports world.

Organizations will often have a code of ethics or code of conduct in place to guide participants’ behaviour.(Erwin, 2011) These codes are used by organizations to establish responsible and ethical organizational culture (Erwin, 2011). A code of conduct does not just affect people within the organization; often, a code of conduct provides other stakeholders with information about the organization. (Erwin, 2011) Organizations with a code of conduct readily available for all stakeholders often receive “reputational benefits” (Erwin, 2011, p. 536). Based on this, it is reasonable to assume that reputable hockey leagues should have a code of conduct available for all interested stakeholders.

The effectiveness of a code of conduct is dependent on multiple variables. Erwin(2011) identifies these variables and the role they play in a code of conduct as:

1.  Public availability: Shows stakeholders that the organization cares about having an ethical organizational culture and values corporate social responsibility.
2. Tone from the Top: Displays the commitment management has to the values and ethical topics covered in the code of conduct.
3. Readability & Tone: Important in a code of conduct so all stakeholders can easily understand the overall objective of the code of conduct.
4. Non-Retaliation & Reporting: Important for the general strength of the code of conduct. Stakeholders are interested in knowing what the result will be if the code is to be violated; is there a penalty for the violator?
5. Commitment & Values, Risk Topics: Include all of the risks involved with the organization’s activities.
6. Comprehension Aids: Used in a valuable code of conduct in order to emphasize key concepts.
7. Presentation & Style: The layout of a code of conduct may also have a great effect on the understandability of the code.

(p. 538)

These variables are all factors in the quality of a code of conduct (Erwin, 2011). A reputable code of conduct will clearly display the sports league’s commitment to their values and ethical behaviour.  (Erwin, 2011) All of these variables are important in developing the effectiveness and understandability of a code of conduct (Erwin, 2011, p. 538). A high quality code of conduct will be more effective in creating a “socially responsible organizational culture” (Erwin, 2011, p. 545).