Week 1 - Ethics and Business - Presentation
Week 1 - Ethics and Business - Presentation
Week 1 - Ethics and Business - Presentation
Introduction
Ethics in the Business Environment
• Business ethics is the applied ethics discipline that
focuses on the moral aspects concerning business
activity.
• Business ethics are carried out to ensure that a
specific required level of trust exists between
consumers and various forms of market participants
with businesses.
• Business ethics is one of the most important aspects
of success in the long run.
Business Ethics as Decision-making
• Business ethics lays out the acceptable behavior
organizations expect to see from their
employees.
• Decision-making in business ethics often compels
organizations to recognize specific ethical
standards.
Business Ethics as Decision-making
There are five types of ethical standards: utilitarian, rights,
fairness or justice, common good, and virtue.
• Utilitarian - principle that seeks to do the most good and restrict the amount of harm
for each individual
• Rights - protects and respects the moral rights of individuals impacted by decisions
• Fair or just - attempts to generate equality among all individuals
• Common good - centers on making society as a whole better
• Virtue - focuses on the ideal characteristics required for promoting employees for the
company
Business Ethics as Personal Integrity
and Social Responsibility
• Integrity is an internal system of principles
which guides one’s behavior with intrinsic
benefits.
• Integrity is a choice instead of an obligation.
• Personal integrity is the base for ethics - good
business ethics encourages integrity.
Business Ethics as Personal Integrity
and Social Responsibility
• The approach of social responsibility is based
on a system of ethics, in which decisions and
actions must be ethically ratified before
proceeding.
• If the decision or action brings about harm to
society or the environment then it would be
regarded as socially irresponsible.
• Maintaining social responsibility within an
organization ensures the integrity of society
and the environment are protected.
Ethics and the Law
• Laws are rules of behavior authorized by governments
that demonstrate what people can or cannot do in the
workplace.
• Laws can be morally wrong or unethical as observed in
controversial issues like abortion, slavery, and child
labor.
• The central difference between ethical and legal
business practices is that the law does not completely
address all ethical issues that businesses face.
• Legal practices include processes and policies to comply
with the law, like honesty and transparency in keeping
financial accounts.
Ethics as Practical Reason
• Theoretical reason
– in use when one engages in reasoning that is focused on the resolution of
questions of explanation and prediction.
– asks why events have occurred; seeks to find out what is going to happen in
the future.
– focused on matters of fact and their explanation.