Business ethics
1. Providing reasons for how things ought to be in the economic world
2. is not about scolding, moralizing, or telling people to be nice
1. is inescapable inside factories, office buildings, and other places where work gets done
Descriptive ethics - depicts how people actually are acting
Requires: Arranging values to guide decisions, Understanding the facts, Constructing arguments.
Kohlberg’s Stages of Ethical Development: he responses were then classified into various stages of reasoning in his theory of moral development:
Level 1: Stage 1 - Obedience and Punishment - The earliest stages of moral development, rules are seen as as fixed and absolute. Obeying the rules is important because it is a means to avoid punishment. Stage 2 - Individualism and Exchange - Actions are viewed and judged actions based on how they serve individual needs. Level 2. Conventional Morality
Stage 3 - Interpersonal Relationships-
Moral development is focused on living up to social expectations and roles, emphasis is on conformity.
Stage 4 - Maintaining Social Order
People begin to consider society as a whole when making judgments. The focus is on maintaining law and order by following the rules. Level 3. Post-conventional Morality include Stage 5 - Social Contract and Individual Rights- People begin to develop differing values, opinions and beliefs of other people. Rules of law are important for maintaining a society, but members of the society should agree upon these standards. Stage 6 - Universal Principles - People follow these internalized principles of justice, even if they conflict with laws and rules.
Five Ethical Frames of Reference presented to-date: Utilitarianism, Individual Rights, Distributive Justice, Virtue Ethics, The Duties of Care - Utilitarianism is the moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest good for the greatest number, and that our action should produce the greatest balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our action. 2. Individual rights states that you should never undertake an action that infringes or violates another’s basic rights. 3. Distributive justice states that you should not take an action that harms the least fortunate among us. 4. Virtue ethics framework focuses on the character and motivation of an individual, the principle holds that we should be most concerned with personal virtue and honesty, and should not do anything that is dishonest or untruthful. Ex. Coke employees stole their formula. 5. Duty of care - The ethics of care framework stresses that we have an obligation to exercise special care toward those particular persons with whom we have valuable and close relationships. Ex. A professor having office hours
Role responsibility - Role responsibility is doing something because you are told, ex. Cleaning your room
Cultural (ethical) relativism - Cultural relativism is the view that all beliefs, customs, and ethics are relative to the individual within his own social context. Values and morality practiced by a community can’t be dismissed as wrong or inferior to those practiced elsewhere, Ex. Bribery is a common way of doing business in a lot of foreign places
Conflicts of interest - A conflict of interest can be defined as an action or relationship that might impair an employee's ability to make objective and fair decisions relating to the employee's job performance. conflict occurs when a personal interest comes into conflict with an obligation to serve the inter­ests of another.. Arthur Anderson & Enron. Types: 1. Biased Judgment, Direct Competition, Misuse of Position, Breach of Confidentiality, Actual vs. Potential Three pillars must be met: 1. The employee is engaged in carrying out task for the company. 2. The employee has an interest in the outcome of the task. 3. The interest does or reasonably might affect the judgment of the employee who is obligated to act on the company’s behalf in carrying out the