Business Ethics 1

6 characteristics of moral standards

-considered universal -involve significant injuries/benefits(serious matters) -not established by authority figures -should be preferred to other values including self-interest -based on impartial consideration -associated with special emotions and vocabulary

arguments supporting business ethics

-ethics apply to all human activities -business cant survive without ethics -ethics is consistent with profit seeking -customers, employees, and people care abut ethics -customers, employees, and people in general care about ethics -ethics does not detract from profit

arguments against business ethics

-in a free market the pursuit of profit will will ensure maximum socail benefit. (business ethics not needed) -a managers obligation is loyalty to the company regardless of ethics - as long as a company obeys the law they do all that ethics requires

what ethical challenges arise from increased technology usage and globalization

-new issues in business ethics -increasing connections between economic and social systems of nations -globalization

objections to moral relativism

-some moral standards are found in all societies -moral difference do not logically imply relativism -has incoherent consequences -relativism privileges whatever moral standards are widely accepted.

Gilligan's theory of "female" moral development

-womens morality is primarily a matter of caring and responsibility -progress towards better ways of caring and being responsible -women move from caring for only oneself to caring for others and neglecting oneself to post conventional stage of achieving a balance between caring for others and caring for oneself.

Kohlberg's 3 Levels of Moral Development

1.) pre-conventional stages -punishment and obedience orientation -instrumental and relative orientation 2.)conventional stages -interpersonal concordance orientation -law and order orientation 3.) post conventional stages -social contract orientation -universal principles orientation

how do we know if a situation involves a moral standard

6 characteristics of moral standards

Corporate ethical issue

Ethical questions about a particular corporation and its policies culture and climate impact or actions

Individual ethical issue

Ethical questions about a particular individuals decisions behavior or character

Systematic ethical issue

Ethical questions about the social political legal or economic systems within which companies operate

According to the Intergrative Social Contracts theory (ISCT) there are 2 types of moral standards

Hypernorms and microsocial norms

how is our moral compass built

Kohlberg's 3 levels of Moral Development; morality stats at an early stage and can be influenced y several factors

what is the shareholder vs stakeholder theory

Shareholder- managers maximize the shareholders return stakeholder-in the best interest of the stake holder(person effected by the business like a founder) even if it declines profits

4 steps towards making an ethical decision

Step 1- recognize a situation is a ethical situation Step 2- judging the ethical course of action step 3- deciding to do the ethical course of action step 4- carrying out the ethical decision

What might prevent me from carrying out my decision

Step Four: Carrying out the ethical decision. Factors that influence whether a person carries out their ethical decision include: One's strength or weakness of will One's belief about the locus of control of one's actions

what might prevent me from knowing that i am facing an ethical decision

Step One: Recognizing a situation is an ethical situation. Requires framing it as one that requires ethical reasoning Situation is likely to be seen as ethical when: involves serious harm that is concentrated, likely, proximate, imminent, and potentially violates our moral standards **Obstacles to recognizing a situation: Euphemistic labeling, justifying our actions, advantageous comparisons, displacement of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distorting the harm, and dehumanization, and attribution of blame.

What might prevent me from seeing the most ethical option

Step Three: Deciding to do the ethical course of action. Deciding to do what is ethical can be influenced by: The culture of an organization—people's decisions to do what is ethical are greatly influenced by their surroundings. **Moral seduction—organizations can also generate a form of "moral seduction" that can exert subtle pressures that can gradually lead an ethical person into decisions to do what he or she knows is wrong

What are the types of ethical issues

Systematic Corporate Individual

Should we apply these same ethical considerations in business

View 1- corporations act like people, intentionally and have moral rights and responsibilities view 2- corporation are more like machines and only humans have ethical qualities view 3- humans carryout the corporations actions therefore corporations only have ethical qualities in the derivative sense.

why arent ethics following cultural "norms"

a group agreeing on something doesnt make it right (castrating little girls clit)

what is genetic engineering

a large variety of new techniques that allows change in the gene of cells of humans, animals, and plants

What is business ethics

a specialized study of moral right and wrong that concentrates of moral standards as they apply to business institutions, organizations, and behavior

what is a descriptive study

an investigation that attempts to describe or explain the world without reaching any conclusions about whether or not the world is as it should be

normative study

an investigation to reach conclusions about what things are good and bad, right and wrong

how might we convince others that business ethics make sense

arguments against business ethics and arguments for business ethics

Why do cross cultural differences arise and how do resolve them

arise: people are raised differently resolve: be open and understnading

how do we evaluate a corporations attitude or disposition toward being socially responsible.

by their actions shareholder vs stake holder theory

what is cyberspace

denotes the existence of information o an electronic network of linked computer systems

what are ethics

examines one's moral standard or the moral standards of a society to evaluate their reasonableness and their implications for one's life

What ethics is NOT (5)

feelings following the law following culturally accepted "norms" religion science

Why arent ethics feelings

feelings are biased and can influence an unethical decision

hypernorms

moral standards that should be applied to people in all societies

Is moral development the same for everyone?

no. there is Kohlberg 3 levels of development and gilligan's theory

microsocial norms

norms that should be applied to people only if their community accepts those particular norms

why isnt ethics religion

not everyone is religious or believes in the same one. also some religions are not ethical

why isnt ethics science

science tells us what we can do, not what should be done.

why isnt ethics following the law

the law is not always fair and ethical (slavery)

moral standards

the norms about the kinds of actions believed to be morally right and wrong as well as the values placed on the kinds of objects believed to be morally good and morally bad

moral reasoning

the reasoning process bty which human behaviors, institutions, or polocies are judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral standards

nonmoral standards

the standards by which we judge what is right and wrong, good and bad, in a nonmoral way

morality

the standards that an individual or group has about what is right and wrong, good and evil

what are ethics

the study of morality and the principles of conduct governing an individual or group

moral relativism

the theory that there are no ethical standards that are absolutely true and that apply or should be applied to the companies and peole of all societies

ethical or moral relativism

the theory that there are no ethical standards that are absolutely true and that apply or should be applied to the companies and people of all societies

information technology

the use of powerful computers, wireless communication, digitization that enable us to capture, manipulate, and move information in new ways

globalization

the worldwide process by which the economic and social systems of nations have become connected facilitating between them the flow of goods, money, culture and people