Business Ethics Ch. 1

Value System

It refers to a set of personal principles formalized into a code of behavior.

Culture

It refers to a specific set of attitudes, beliefs, and practices that characterize a group of individuals.

Society

It refers to a structured community of people bound together by similar customs and traditions.

According to Arthur Dobrin, which of the following are questions that must be considered when resolving an ethical dilemma?

What are the facts? what doe the problem look like through the eyes of the people involved? what do one's feelings tell oneself? what do the facts mean?

Identify the questions that must be considered when resolving an ethical dilemma as recognized by Arthur Dobrin.

What will happen if one chooses one thing rather than another? What will one think of oneself if one decides one thing or another? What can one guess about the facts that one does not know? Can one explain and justify one's decision to others?

If individuals ask their friends and family what ethics means to them, they are likely to arrive at some basic categories of ethics. Identify these categories. (Check all that apply.)

a simple truth personal integrity

The study of how ethical theories are put into practice is called ___ ___.

applied ethics

Lawrence Kohlberg proposed a model of six distinct stages of _____.

ethical reasoning

___ ___ refers to looking at the information available to people in resolving an ethical dilemma and drawing conclusions based on that information in relation to their own ethical standards.

ethical reasoning

The idea of ___ ___ refers to the gray area in which one's ethical principles are defined by the traditions of one's society, personal opinions, and the circumstances of the present moment.

ethical relativism

True or false: A problem with the approach of utilitarianism to ethics is the notion that the actions taken to achieve an outcome are more crucial than the outcome itself.

false

True or false: Applied ethics is the theory of how people conduct themselves as individuals and as a community in order to live a good and moral life.

false

The principle that states that people must do unto others as they would have others do unto them is called the _____ _____

golden rule

Identify the examples that have an intrinsic value.

happiness health self-respect

The term _____ refers to a set of personal principles by which an individual aims to live his or her life.

value

Mira is wondering whether she should tell Michael, her colleague, that he is going to be suspended because of his lack of attention to detail. She decides that she should tell him because, if she were in a similar situation, she would want someone to tell her about such information. In this scenario, Mira has acted based on the principle of _____.

the golden rule

A set of personal principles formalized into a code of behavior is known as a(n) ___ ___.

value system

Originally attributed to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, ____ ____refers to a concept of living one's life according to a commitment to the achievement of a clear ideal—what sort of person would I like to become, and how do I go about becoming that person?

virtue ethics

Phil has an ethical dilemma: he can either tell his friend about a secret that affects the friend's life, or he can respect the secret and keep it to himself. He decides that he would like to be a person who can be trusted with secrets; hence, he keeps the information to himself. In this scenario, which of the following does Phil's action exemplify?

virtue ethics

___ ___ is the quality by which a value is a good thing in itself and is pursued for its own sake, whether anything comes from that pursuit or not.

intrinsic value

If individuals ask their friends and family what ethics means to them, they are likely to arrive at some basic categories of ethics. In this context, match the categories of ethics (in the left column) with their descriptions (in the right column). Rules of appropriate individual behavior

They embody the idea that the moral standards individuals develop for themselves impact their behavior and decisions on a daily basis. They embody the idea that the moral standards individuals develop for themselves impact their behavior and decisions on a daily basis.

If individuals ask their friends and family what ethics means to them, they are likely to arrive at some basic categories of ethics. In this context, match the categories of ethics (in the left column) with their descriptions (in the right column). Rules of appropriate behavior for a community or society

They remind that individuals must eventually bring their personal value system into a world that is shared with people who will most likely have both similar and different value systems. They remind that individuals must eventually bring their personal value system into a world that is shared with people who will most likely have both similar and different value systems.

True or false: The idea of ethical relativism implies strict black-and-white rules as opposed to a degree of flexibility.

false

Joel is facing an ethical dilemma at work: he can either report a blatant error in his colleague's file to the supervisor, or he can cover up his colleague's mistake. Joel decides that he is obligated to a purely moral ideal; hence, he reports the error to the supervisor. In this scenario, which of the following ethical theories does Joel most likely exemplify?

universal ethics

Originally attributed to German philosopher Immanuel Kant, ____ ____ argues that actions should be taken out of duty and obligation to a purely moral ideal, rather than based on the needs of a situation, since the universal principles are seen to apply to everyone, everywhere, all the time.

universal ethics

Originally proposed by Scottish philosopher David Hume, the approach to ethics in which there is a focus on the actions that result in the greatest good for the greatest number of people is called ____.

utilitarianism