Ch. 1 5-8

Social Entrepreneurship/Enterprise

A new movement similar to CSR, but very ill-defined. Entrepreneurs seeking to solve a "social problem" by using business principles and still making a profit. Examples: Micro-lending companies. Tom's shoes Seventh Generation cleaning products Problems:Making money is an inherently social enterprise - no real distinction between economic and "social" value. When businesses make a profit, they are benefitting society. No way to define how much is too much. Saying a business has a "social mission" is vague, difficult to define, and ultimately meaningless. Some expect businesses to basically operate as non-profits. This is not an efficient social outcome.

Conflicts of Interest

Any incentive that can jeopardize your decision making because making the right decision conflicts with you receiving the incentive. Ex. Attorneys being paid by the hour; receiving a commission in real estate transactions. Solution: Be aware that when you have a conflict you may need to run your decision by a trusted advisor without the same conflict.

Aristotelian (virtue) Ethics Involuntary Act Ignorance

Aristotelian (Virtue) Ethics - ethics is about building character and developing internal virtue and wisdom. Doctrine of the Mean - virtue is found in moderation; avoid excessive or deficient behavior. Factors that diminish responsibility: Involuntary Act - agent is not the actor (wind picks you up and pushes you into someone, causing harm) Ignorance - actual result is different than intended result, but you are not absolved of willful ignorance (ex. You don't know your pesticide is harmful, and you tested it rigorously and in good faith) Criticisms Virtue is undoubtedly important, but very subjective. Doctrine does not provide practical advice for solving difficult ethical problems, not easily applicable to business decisions.

Incentive Gaming

Because conflicts of interest can lead us astray, as a manger you must be aware of incentive gaming. What you reward is what your employees will usually do. Ex. Subprime lending crisis was largely driven by mortgage brokers who were paid for writing mortgages, regardless of creditworthiness. Beware of "rewarding A while hoping for B."

Defining the BGS field

Business - voluntary value for value exchange. Government - structures and processes in society that authoritatively make and apply policies and rules. Society - a network of human relations composed of ideas, institutions, and material things. Value - an enduring belief about which fundamental life choices are correct. Ideology - a bundle of values that creates a particular view of the world. Institution - a formal pattern of relations that links people to accomplish a goal.

CSR advocates argue

Businesses have an ethical duty to promote social justice. Practical (instrumental) argument - you will run a more profitable business if you are socially responsible. Necessary because government and market forces do not adequately constrain companies.

Corporate Culture artifacts espoused values tacit underlying values

Corporate culture: A set of values, norms, rituals, formal rules, and physical artifacts that exists in a company. Frequently driven by founders or a CEO. Whether good or bad, can be difficult to lose while leader is there, but can be easy to lose when leader leaves. Three levels of corporate culture: Artifacts - physical expressions and visible behaviors Espoused values - Google's "Don't be evil." Tacit underlying values - unspoken, unwritten beliefs

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) - (textbook definition) the duty of a corporation to create wealth in ways that avoid harm to, protect, or enhance societal assets. Also commonly referred to as: Sustainability Corporate citizenship Stakeholder management

General CSR Principles externality

Corporations are economic institutions run for profit. This is the primary goal of business. All firms must follow multiple bodies of law. Managers must act ethically (i.e. ethics matters) Corporations have a duty to correct or internalize negative market externalities. Externality - a cost or benefit not born or incurred by the participants to the market transaction. Can be positive or negative. Social responsibility varies with company characteristics. Managers should try to meet legitimate needs of multiple stakeholders. Corporate behavior must comply with an underlying social contract. Corporations should be transparent and accountable.

Countervailing Forces Model

Countervailing Forces Model - various forces interact in our society, with no consistent dominance from any particular force. Major Forces: Business Government Environmental Catalysts (general societal issues) The Public

CSR criticisms

Critics argue: On the left, business corporations cannot be trusted to be responsible, and tougher laws and regulations are needed, not voluntary CSR. On the right, CSR is a waste of societal resources, and everyone is better off if companies' primary focus is shareholder wealth maximization. CSR advocates might be well intentioned, but ultimately they harm more than they help by limiting profits.

Social Investment

Different indices and screens can be used to find investments in more socially responsible companies. Problem is, definition of "social good" is very subjective. FTSE4Good Global Index weeds out companies that produce nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and major weapons systems.

Behavioral Ethics Bounded Ethically

Discipline in business ethics that applies principles of sociology, psychology, and management to help people understand why they make bad ethical decisions. Focuses on decision-making traps that we all tend to fall into and which cloud our judgment. Being aware of these traps helps us make better decisions. Bounded Ethicality - systematic and predictable organizational pressures and psychological processes cause people to engage in ethically questionable behaviors that are inconsistent with their own preferences. Understanding these behavioral and psychological factors that cloud our decision-making can help us avoid them.

Dominance Model

Dominance Model - business, government, and social elite use business to control the world at the expense of the populace. Reflects worldview of those like Marx, or Ralph Nader. View expresses antipathy towards profits.

Ends Means Ethic

Ends Means Ethic - ancient Roman proverb: "The ends justify the means" Essentially any conduct is permissible if it is justified by the importance of the end that is sought. Criticisms Basically just ignores ethical reasoning and the rights of individuals your conduct affects. Ignoring your conduct (the means) often actually jeopardizes your long-term end in business, making this not only unethical but bad business strategy. Ex. The person you take advantage of just to make money may end up spreading your bad reputation around, destroying your business.

Ethical Variation in culture

Ethical values differ among nations as historical experiences have interacted with philosophies and religions to create diverging cultural values and laws Ethical universalism - human nature is everywhere essentially the same, so basic ethical rules are applicable in all cultures Hypernorms - master ethical principles that underlie all other ethical principles and are universal, and to which all variations must conform. Moral Free Space - some deviation from hypernorms within a culture is acceptable, but gross deviation is unethical. Ex. There is room within a culture on what is acceptable in negotiating and enforcing contracts (what is considered ethical negotiating, fraud v. puffery, etc.) but a culture that condones murder as a method for negotiating and enforcing contracts has violated a hypernorm. See Donaldson & Dunfee, 19 Acad. of Mgt. Rev. 252-284 (1994).

What is business ethics? Ethics Business Ethics Business Personal Organizational

Ethics - the study of good and evil, right & wrong, just & unjust Business Ethics - the study of ethics as applied to actions in business Business - value for value exchange Two levels of business ethics: Personal - ethical decisions you make with respect to your own personal conduct - the right answer is usually easy, but doing the right thing is difficult. Organizational - business policy decisions made for a business organization - the "right" answer is often hard to determine because of competing societal interests.

Methods of Management Ethics and Compliance Program Compliance Approach Ethics Approach

Ethics and Compliance Program- a system of structures, policies, procedures, and controls used by corporations to promote ethical behavior and ensure compliance with laws and regulation. Compliance Approach- ethics and compliance programs emphasizes following rules in laws, reg and policy Ethics Approach-teaches employees to make decisions based on ethical values

Cultural Experience

Every culture transmits between generations a set of traditional values, rules, and standards that define acceptable behavior. Civilization is a cumulative cultural experience consisting of three stages: Hunting and gathering stage Agricultural stage Industrial stage

Milton Friedman

Friedman does not say you can't engage in social projects. He simply says you should not do so unless it maximizes profits. Free market will allocate money to its best purpose; selecting social projects that do not maximize wealth is a waste and a theft of money from shareholders. Does this view make sense? Why or why not?

Framing

How a question is framed has a huge effect on the decisions that people make, even if the question is actually no different. Ex. Give people the option of a "75% fat free burger" or a "25% fat burger." Majority will choose the 75% fat free burger, and many will insist it tastes better. Reason why we sell things for $1.99 rather than $2.00. Solution - be aware of how questions are framed to you. Try to reframe them to yourself to make sure you are making an objective decision.

Value Based CSR

If we are all actually perfect, rational decision makers, the optimal overall goal a for-profit business can have is to maximize shareholder value (Friedman is right, sort of) However, because markets are not perfect, you can't solely focus on them to give you guidance (market capitalism model is naïve). If you don't think about ethics/society/stakeholders in pursuing shareholder wealth maximization, you'll never maximize value in the long-term.

Process for Resolving Ethical Problems Issue Principle Application Conclusion

Issue(s) - based upon the situation, identify the issue(s) you need to resolve (ex. "Is it ethical for me to utilize labor in country X." Principle - state and define the ethical principle(s) you are going to apply to resolve this issue Application - apply the ethical principle to the situation to resolve the issue. Conclusion - come to a conclusion and state that conclusion

Conscious Capitalism

John Mackey (CEO of Whole Foods) says he embraces "conscious capitalism" Businesses need high profits to complete their missions, but high profits are not the end goal. "Far from being a necessary evil (as it is often portrayed), free-enterprise capitalism is an extraordinarily powerful system for eliciting, harnessing, and multiplying human ingenuity and industry to create value for others."

Law -moral minimum

Laws codify, or formalize, some ethical expectations Moral minimum - all I need to do is comply with law. At their best, legal principles of a nation or community are based upon the prevailing ethical principles of that community. But sometimes laws are the result of compromise and do not fully reflect anyone's values. In some countries, laws may themselves be unethical and wrong. Ex. Apartheid in South Africa

Four Internal Forces Shaping Corporate Ethics

Leadership strategies/policies organization culture individual characteristics

Major sources of ethical values religion philosophy

Many of us rely upon our religion as a source of ethical values. Difficulty in applying religion - most religious texts and teachings come from a pre-industrial society and can be difficult to apply to modern day problems. Societal values shift, while the text remains the same.Literally "love of wisdom." Focus on using logic and rational argument to analyze thought, knowledge, and the nature of the universe. Socrates and Plato - focus on cultivating internal virtue and wisdom to understand absolute moral ideals. Believed that there were absolute moral standards, but the best way to understand them was to cultivate internal judgment/wisdom/virtue. Catholic thought - focus on understanding God's will for right living, which is revealed in scripture and in nature.

Market Capitalism

Market Capitalism - business operates within the market environment, and is substantially sheltered from direct impact by social and political forces by the free-market. Ethical duty of managers is to promote profits for owners of businesses within "the rules of the game." Assumptions: Laissez-faire government structure Private property ownership and free investment Rational consumers with adequate information Competitive markets and basic financial institutions (banks/securities markets)

Market Inefficiencies/ Milton Friedman View Market capitalism

Market Capitalism says that we can trust the market to tell us when we are capturing too much value/not creating enough value. Why might this be a bad assumption/faulty logic? Markets are not perfectly efficient - actors in markets are not perfectly rational and don't have perfect information. Market actors don't always understand all the implications of their actions, leading to externalities. Externalities may not even manifest for long periods of time. Markets are a piece of the business puzzle, and are very important to understand, they just don't tell us everything in an entirely accurate way.

Measuring CSR

Measuring/objectively reporting on CSR efforts is difficult. Independent Certifications: Ex. Forest Stewardship Council; Fair trade certifications Management Standards - a model of methods an org. can use to achieve certain goals: International Organization for Standardization (ISO) most well known standardization organization.

Might Equals Right

Might Equals Right - ancient Greek origin: Justice is the interest of the stronger Whoever is the strongest has the right to do what they want, and the use of power by those who have it is de facto ethical. Criticism Basically just ignores ethical reasoning and encourages the abuse of power Abusing power and ignoring others invites retaliation and is not conducive to long-term business strategy In business you are almost never at the top forever; beware the consequences when you are no longer the most powerful

Moral (ethical) pluralists

Most ethicists now (particularly business ethicists) are moral (ethical) pluralists - making ethical decisions is difficult and somewhat relative, but there are extreme moral absolutes that cannot be violated. Thus we should be tolerant, and engage in complex decisionmaking when thinking about ethics, but there are things we can call "wrong."

Overconfidence Bias

Most of us think we're better than average. Successful people tend to suffer from this more than most, because they are used to being good. Can lead to "no one can catch me" mentality.

Moral Equilibrium

Most of us want and need to think of ourselves as good, so we run a personal scoreboard. If we have enough in the "good" column, we give ourselves permission to do something bad. Ex. Financial crooks try to get leniency by talking about all of the good things they did. Solution: Try to make sure you judge each decision independently. Being good in the past doesn't give you a pass.

Practical Suggestions for Making Ethical Decisions

Pay attention to your ethical intuition and personal values, but don't use them exclusively Have a set of lines you will not cross based upon your own values. Same reasoning applies to an organization - have core values. Focus on the process - use a rigorous decision-making process that illuminates alternatives (helps weed out psychological biases) Utilize trusted advisors to try to weed out your biases Create an environment where dissent is welcome and ethical considerations are on an equal level with "business" considerations. Utilize one or more of the useful ethical principles once you have weeded out alternatives that conflict with your values.

Incrementalism

People usually don't wake up one day and decide to commit fraud. They start down a slippery slope with small decisions. Ex. why it's hard to stick with a diet or workout plan. "The first dishonest act is the most important one to prevent." Solution: Sweat the details. Set standards and make sure you stay by them, even in small things. This helps you develop a habit of being ethical.

Individual Characteristics Machiavellianism

Personality traits may be more important than we realize, but are less studied in the literature of ethics The only personality trait extensively studied and correlated with unethical behavior is Machiavellianism The tendency of an individual to use self-centered, immoral, manipulative behavior in a group My (unscientific) experience - people with different broad personality types behave both ethically and unethically, but some people do seem to have an innate moral compass and others don't (it just does not seem to correlate to any specific personality type).

Proportionality Ethic Principle of Double Effect

Proportionality Ethic - Catholic principle with a set of rules for making decisions where both good and evil consequences will result. Two step process: first analyze issue through the Principle of Proportionality, and then apply the Principle of Double Effect to reach a conclusion. Principle of Proportionality: weigh the following five factors: Type of good and evil Probability of each occurring Urgency of situation Intensity of influence - how much influence do you have over the effects? Alternatives - consider alternatives you may have. Principle of Double Effect - after weighing these five factors, actions is ethical if: The good outweighs the bad The intention is to create the good effect There are no better alternatives Criticisms Lengthy and detailed analysis, so takes awhile to apply (but that is good, because it forces an organized thought process)

Stakeholder Model

Stakeholder Model - corporation is answerable, either directly or indirectly, to various stakeholder groups that either positively or negatively affect the organization. The goal of the corporation is to work cooperatively with these stakeholders to create shared value for as many stakeholders as possible, without resorting to trade-offs.

Strategies and Policies

Strategies and policies have a strong impact on employee's behaviors. What you reward is what employees will usually do. "Rewarding A but expecting B." Unrealistic performance goals can pressure employees to cut ethical corners, and reward and compensation systems can expose employees to ethical compromises.

The Categorical Imperative

The Categorical Imperative - developed by Immanuel Kant - "Act only according to that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." A rigid form of deontological ethics; "Could this act be turned into a universal code of behavior without society disintegrating?" Basically, would you be comfortable with everyone behaving this way? Criticisms Very dogmatic and inflexible, making it difficult to apply to the complex nature of real world business where you can't ignore consequences. Can be gamed depending upon how you define the maxim; maxims quickly get convoluted when applied in the real world. Ex. Is lying ever OK? Is taking a life ever OK? 4 year old ethics

Conventionalist Ethic

The Conventionalist Ethic - business is like a game with permissive ethics, and any action that does not violate the law is ethically permissible. Frequently associated with the market capitalism model and the maxim "maximize shareholder wealth." Economic rationale - trying to be "nice" can have unintended consequences, and everyone playing to "win the game" actually results in the optimal societal outcome. Criticisms Commerce impacts everyone's life; it isn't just a game. Relies upon government to set appropriate laws to maximize societal outcomes; business can influence these laws in their favor. People are not rational. Psychological biases cut against rationality resulting in unethical behavior that supposedly maximizes wealth actually destroying wealth and hurting the economy.

Disclosure Rule

The Disclosure Rule - think hypothetically about how you would feel explaining your decision to a wider audience. "Would I be comfortable with my decision being talked about on CNN? Would I be comfortable with my parents and friends knowing?" Helps screen out your personal biases and helps you think in terms of the social contract. In the modern world, it is hard to keep secrets, so it helps you to think in these terms. Criticism Doesn't always give clear guidance when there are strong arguments for multiple alternatives. Some actions may sound acceptable if disclosed, but are not actually the most ethical (sometimes the most difficult decision is the right one) Ex. Drug company denying compassionate use exception for ill child.

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule- common to many religions and philosophies: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Focuses on reciprocity and putting yourself in someone else's shoes. Can be useful as a "tiebreaker" in tough situations. Criticism Ethical values and preferences differ, and the actor may mistakenly assume that their preferences are universal. Very important for interpersonal relationships, but sometimes difficult to apply in complex business situations. In business, often beholden to multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests, and you can't apply the Golden Rule to each one.

The Intuition Ethic

The Intuition Ethic - What is good or right is understood by an inner moral sense which must be cultivated, and is felt as intuition. "Go with your gut." Criticism Intuition is not infallible, and some people have terrible ethical intuition (i.e. no moral compass) Self interest taints your intuition (we all have psychological biases) Business problems are complex, and often your intuition gives you little to no guidance about what the right thing to do is. In a complex problem, your intuition may lead you to an answer that actually harms more people than it helps.

The Organization Ethic

The Organization Ethic - be loyal to the organization (AKA the Mafia mentality) Your role in business is to further the interests of your organization, and that is all you need to consider in business and ethical reasoning. Criticisms Deep loyalty can eventually transcend self-interest and lead to unethical (and even illegal) decisions by employees Leads to "I was just following orders" excuse (ex. Nazi soldiers) Business organizations are legal constructs composed of various individuals whose actions affect numerous people both inside and outside of the organization - the organization ethic ignores this and is far too simplistic.

The Principle of Equal Freedom

The Principle of Equal Freedom - a person has the right to freedom unless such action deprives another person of a proper freedom. Criticism: Rights often conflict, and lacks a tie breaker for these situations. Difficult to define what a "proper freedom" is (ex. Right to marriage? Healthcare? Minimum/living wage?). Applies more to interpersonal relationships and/or government issues than it does to business. Real world (particularly in business) is complex - it is often very difficult to determine or predict when your action will deprive another of a freedom or right.

The Rights Ethic

The Rights Ethic - each person has rights and duties that others have a duty to respect. Should think about your actions in terms of how they may negatively affect others rights. Criticism Rights are not absolute, but their limits are hard to define. Rights are subjective; some may stretch "rights" to selfish demands or entitlements. Simply thinking in terms of rights can help us consider others, but does not give us much guidance in difficult situations where inevitably someone will be harmed by your action.

The Theory of Justice

The Theory of Justice - contemporary philosopher John Rawls - "Justice is fairness" Focuses on fair process in society and how inequalities should be distributed. Each person has an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others. Derived from the "Original Position" and the "Veil of Ignorance" Criticism - important political philosophy, very limited applicability to business

Leadership

The example of company leaders is perhaps the strongest influence on integrity. A common failing is for managers to show by their actions that ethical duties can be compromised. If the leader does something, an opportunistic employee can rationalize his or her entitlement to do it also. The ethical "climate" of the organization is usually set by its leaders.

Ethical relativism

The theory that ethical values are created by cultural experience and there is no universal standard by which to judge which values are superior. As long as a culture considers it to be ethical, there is no objective standard to judge that it isn't. Because of globalization, corporations struggle with the question of how to apply codes of conduct across cultures

Two Broad Theories Theory of Amorality Theory of Moral Unity

Theory of amorality - business should be conducted without reference to the full range of society's ethical standards. Recall the Separation Fallacy Focus on playing by the "rules of the game." Theory of Moral Unity - business actions should comport with general ethical standards of society. High levels of personal ethics can be harmonized with business life. Business is just an aspect of life and affects numerous people, and thus should be held to same ethical standards.

Useful Principles

These principles are not perfect, but are the most useful when applied to modern business decision making. Each of these principles has advantages, and some may be better than others for certain situations. Also often work well when used in conjunction with other principles (including the limited/difficult to apply principles).

Limited Principles

These principles have some merit, and may even be useful for ethical reasoning in some contexts (personal relationships, government/society, etc.). However, they either have limited applicability or are difficult to apply to business/organizational ethical reasoning, and thus not terribly useful in many business applications. Can be useful as "add-ons" or "tie-breakers" when used in conjunction with other principles, or as ways to develop better ethical reasoning skills/think through issues better.

Prospect Theory Loss Aversion

This is a framing effect called Prospect Theory - people tend to value gains and losses differently. Our attitude towards risk is different concerning gains as opposed to losses. Most people are more likely to tolerate risk when the certain option is framed in terms of a certain loss. Also referred to as Loss Aversion - most of us want to avoid losses more than we want to make gains.

Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism - consequentialist ethic associated with Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill - focusing on creating the greatest good for the greatest number (maximize societal utility/minimize societal harm) Can help you "split the baby" in tough business decisions. Does not consider motives or values - focuses only on consequences Criticism Due to psychological biases, can lead to self-interested reasoning. Can lead to oppression of minority groups because focuses on helping the majority. If not used in conjunction with a consideration of values (i.e. absolute lines that you will not cross), can lead to really unethical decisions (ex. slavery).

value utility

Value - increase in utility of society's members. Utility - economic term for satisfaction or benefit gained from something. Value and utility can have a dollar value, but don't have to (value can be emotional, psychological, etc.) Businesses exist to create and capture value.

value creation/capture

Value Creation - aggregate utility of society's members increases after accounting for the opportunity cost of all the resources used in that activity. Value Capture - actor is able to appropriate a portion of the value created by the activity after accounting for the cost of the resources mobilized. (making a profit) As a business, in the short term you frequently (but not always) trade-off between value creation and value capture.

Self-serving Bias

We all have a tendency to gather, process, and remember information in a way that serves our self-interest and pre-existing views. Ex. You and I have a heated argument. If someone interviewed both of us later, we would probably both recount the conversation in different ways, because we are only focusing on the things that help us. An independent observer would point out that we were both wrong.

Tangible v Abstract

We give greater value to things that are tangible to us. Ex. You feel more emotional pain if a close friend is hurt than you do over millions of people you don't know starving to death. Ex. For most people it's easier to push a button from a distance to shoot a missile that will kill 30,000 people than it is to shoot one person up close. Many of our business decisions only harm abstract people, and thinking in this way can lead to unethical decisions - ex. Failing to recall unsafe cars. Try to put yourself in the shoes of others. Think about how you would feel if it was your family member hurt.

Fundamental Attribution Error

We tend to attribute the cause of other's bad behavior to their bad character rather than to the situation they were in - "He wouldn't have done that if he wasn't a bad guy." However, we tend to exaggerate the effect of situations on our own ethical behavior - "I'm really a good guy, but . . ." Ex. "You cheated on your husband because you are a bad, unfaithful person. I cheated on my husband because he is mean to me and I just had a bit too much to drink and made a lapse in judgment." People (including ourselves) have ethical lapses for various reasons. Evaluate the situation, not just the person. Put yourself in their shoes.

Role Morality

We tend to define our morality by what role we are playing at any given point. Can lead to the "just following orders" mentality. Ex. an insurance company representing the defendant in a car accident case had its own doctor examine the plaintiff. When he did, he found a life threatening aneurism (unrelated to the wreck) and didn't say anything to the plaintiff. He didn't view it as his job because he was working for the insurance company. Make sure you evaluate ethical decisions in light of your values and analyzing it through some ethical reasoning principle. Your role may play a part in this, but should not absolutely dictate the result.

Conformity Bias

We tend to take cues for proper conduct in most social contexts from the actions of others. "Everyone else is doing it." Ex. You start working at an accounting firm that utilizes tax shelters for clients that you think are questionable. Everyone else is doing it and seems OK with it, so you don't question it and eventually it stops bothering you. One reason culture is so powerful in an organization. Be wary of this trap.

Ethical Fading/Moral Disengagement

When it comes time to make a decision, the ethicality of it can "fade from view" because of more pressing concerns. Moral Disengagement - our brain can turn off usual ethical standards when there is a psychological need to do so. Ex. soldiers in time of war. Ex. Your company is in an audit and your boss asks you to fudge some numbers. You know the company is also in a round of layoffs, and you have a lot of debt to payoff because you recently bought a Mercedes. You fudge the numbers. Solution: try to keep from feeling threatened.

Deontological Ethics

associated commonly with Immanual Kant - focus on finding universal and objective ethical rules in logic, and morality of an action is based upon adherence to the rule, not to consequences.

Realist Ethics

both good and evil are naturally present in human nature, and human behavior will ultimately reflect both. Since both good and evil are natural, it is futile to reach for ideals of behavior. Ex. - Nietzsche's view that "nice" ethics are prescriptions of the timid to fetter the actions of great men whose irresistible power they see as dangerous. Essentially says that there are no true ethical ideals to strive towards.

Consequentialist Ethics

ethicality of an action can be determined by its consequences. Commonly associated with Jeremy Bentham/utilitarianism.

Ethical Universalism

human nature is everywhere essentially the same, so basic ethical rules are applicable in all cultures -hypernorms -moral free space

Social Darwinism

idea of "survival of the fittest" in the social realm; superiority of rich people and companies

Rights Based Ethics

individuals have inalienable rights by virtue of being human, and ethics focuses on respecting these rights.

Hypernorms

master ethical principles that underlie all other ethical principles and are universal, and to which all variations must conform

Moral Free Space

some deviation from hypernorms within a culture is acceptable, but gross deviation is unethical.