Words: 3866
Business ethics has both normative and descriptive dimensions. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. Ethics is a branch of philosophy and is considered as normative science because it is concerned with norms of human beings. Business ethics has evolved through time and across disciplines into a discipline that is one of the most important topics in the field of business. Equines ethics from a managerial perspective can be defined as ‘decisions about what is right or wrong (acceptable or unacceptable) in the organizational context of planning and implementing business activities in a global business environment to benefit: organizational performance, individual achievement in the workplace, social acceptance and approval of peers and coworkers in the organization as well as responding to the needs and concerns of relevant internal and external stakeholders. ‘ The goal of proactive ethical organizations is to develop an ethical organizational culture.
Managers who answer in the negative generally base their thinking on one of three rationales. They may simply say that they have no reason to be ethical. They see why they should make a profit, and most agree they should do so legally. But why should they be concerned about ethics, as long as they are making money ND staying out of jail? Other managers recognize that they should be ethical but identify their ethical duty with making a legal profit for the firm. They see no need to be ethical in any further sense, and therefore no need for any background beyond business and law.
A third group of manager’s grant that ethical duty goes further than what is required by law. But they still insist that there is no point in studying ethics. Character is formed in childhood, not while reading a college text or sitting in class. These arguments are confused and mistaken on several levels. To see why, it is best to start with the question raised by the first one: why should business people be ethical? Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment.
It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire primarily normative. Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction Of profit-maximizing behavior with non- economic concerns. Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1 sass and sass, both within major corporations and within academia.
For example, today most major corporations promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters. Adam Smith said, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. ” Governments use laws and regulations to point business behavior in what they perceive to be beneficial directions. Ethics implicitly jugulate areas and details of behavior that lie beyond governmental control.
The emergence of large corporations with limited relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated the development Of formal ethics regimes. BACKGROUND Ethics is not a recent phenomenon. Ethical codes have been prepared along with the development of human civilization. In olden days, people might have found some of their actions was wrong and others right. The question what is right and what is wrong gave birth to ethical and unethical codes. The word ethics is derived from the Greek word _ Distention’s Latin word Technetium’s custom or character.
The concept of ethics deals with human beings. So it is a social science. Ethics is a branch of philosophy and is considered as normative science because it is concerned with norms of human beings. In the words of Peter. F. Trucker, ??Ethics deals with right actions of individuals. Ethics includes the following Business ethics has evolved through time and across disciplines into a discipline that is one of the most important topics in the field of business. For the historical development of business ethics, it is important to start with a definition of business ethics in a global context.
We define business ethics from a managerial perspective as ‘decisions about what is right or wrong (acceptable or unacceptable) in the organizational context of planning and implementing business activities in a global business environment to benefit: organizational performance, individual achievement in the workplace, social acceptance and approval of peers and coworkers in the organization as well as responding to the needs and concerns Of relevant internal and external stakeholders. ‘ The goal of proactive ethical organizations is to develop an ethical organizational culture.
This requires trainees, systems, and procedures to ensure that the firm’s ethics and compliance program is in place and operating effectively with continuous assessment and improvement. It is important to provide an initial overview of our managerial approach to understand the diverse and broad span of influences on the discipline. To engage in a historical overview of ethics would require the description of thousands of years of philosophy, social, cultural influences as well as the religious writings on this topic. We narrow the scope to describe the development of business ethics. CHAPTER I METHODOLOGY
Following is the blue print of how the research was conducted, it includes: 1 ) Choosing the approach 2) Determining the types of data needed 3) Locating source of data 4) Choosing a method of data Types of data used Secondary data have been used in the research. Data collection method To conduct the market research the data was collected by two source as Secondary data Secondary data is one that already exist and is collected from published source The source from which secondary data were collected are 1) Newspapers and 2) Magazines 3) Internet primary data The primary source of data refers to the first-hand information.
Primary data was collected during the survey with the help of questionnaires CHAPTER 2 HISTORY OF ETHICS 2. 1 Business Ethics before the 1 9605 The history of business ethics before 1 960 depends on one’s perspective and objectives in tracing the concept. In this chapter, we are tracing the history of business ethics from the viewpoint Of the development Of business organizations, as referred to in Figure 1. Ethics as a field of thought has existed in religion and philosophy for thousands of years and has been applied to business activities in the same way ethical values and norms have been applied to everyday life.
Aristotle discussed economic activities, commerce, and trade. He makes normative judgments about greed, or the unnatural use of one’s capabilities, in the pursuit of wealth for its own sake. Aristotle provides the first recorded definition of justice and fair treatment of all parties in a transaction (Aristotle, 2000; Disgorge, 2007). Fair treatment and justice have been a part of our social existence since the beginning of civilization. 5 Key philosophies that built a foundation for business ethics include John Lockers classic defense of property as a natural right (Locke, “Property’).
Adam Smith, often identified as the founder of capitalism created the concept Of the ‘invisible hand’ and wrote about self-interest, however, he went on to explain that “The common good is associated with six psychological motives and that each individual has to produce for the common good with values such as prosperity, prudence, reason, sentiment, and promoting the happiness of mankind” (Smith, 2000). These values should be applied to the needs and concerns of stakeholders from a macro/ normative perspective. Other contributors to the foundation of business ethics include John Stuart Mill (1863), Manual Kant (1899), and G.
W. F. Hegel (1820). These philosophers wrote on economic fairness, especially distributive justice (Disgorge, 2007). Karl Marx deserves mention because he took an anti-capitalism position and claimed capitalism could be morally condemned because of exploitation. Possibly the philosophy that had the most impact on understanding the macro/normative area of business ethics in the last fifty years is the contribution of John Rails (1 971 One perspective is the Rails (1971) Difference Principle to maximize the minimum which holds that the worst off position should be made as well off as possible.
It is discussed in his time period since the work of Rails is linked to earlier philosophical discussions of distributive justice. 2. 2 Early Twentieth Century Interest in Business Ethics Most contemporary timeliness, such as the Ethics Resource Center Timeline (Figure 2) trace the history of business ethics issues since 1960. Although we will attempt to trace the history since 1960, it is appropriate to start by tracing the origins of business ethics thought over the past 1 00 years. The first managerial textbook on business ethics was Business Ethics by Frank Chapman Sharp and Phillip D. Fox (1937).
The preface starts off with the tenement “this book deals with the right and wrong of the transactions that take place in the competitive business world. ” Based on our research, this was the first textbook based on organizational ethical decision making from a micro and macro descriptive perspective, in the world not just in the United States. The chapters in this book provide evidence that many of the topics of concern today were also Of interest nearly 70 years ago. TABLE 2. 1 2. 3 Business Ethics: 1960-2008 The time frame or 1960-2008 is selected to reflect almost fifty years of increasing interest and rapid change in business ethics.
Also, this time period heaped the current managerial view of business ethics that is seen in global ethics programs in corporations. We will focus especially on the discussion of developments since the 1990 because this has been a critical period of time with respect to global ethics crises and public policy developments designed to institutionalize business ethics around the world. CHAPTER 3 3. 1 The Nature of ethics: Ethics the inner guiding ,moral, principle, values and beliefs that people use to analyze or interpret a situation and then decide what is the “right “or “wrong “appropriate way to behave.
Ethics refers to well-founded standards of right ND wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues. Ethics, for example, refers to those standards that impose the reasonable obligations to refrain from stealing, murder, assault, slander, and fraud. Ethical standards also include those that enjoin virtues of honesty, compassion, and loyalty. And, ethical standards include standards relating to rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from injury, and the right to privacy.
Such standards are adequate standards of ethics because they are supported by consistent ND well-founded reasons. 3. 2 Ethics in business DENTITION: The study and examination of moral and social responsibility in relation to business practice and decision making in business is known as “Buss news Ethics”. The term “business” is commonly referred to the commercial activities achieved at making profit. But gradually there is a substantial change in the way in which people viewed the business. Fig. 1 Ethics in business are nothing but the do’s and don’t by the business users in the business.
In other words it could be referred as set of principles a business man ought to follow. Where should be business ethics” means that he business should be conducted according to certain self-recognized moral standards. Few unethical elements in the present day business are cheating stealing, lying, bribing, corrupting etc. According to the Argonne “business ethics refer to right or wrong behavior in business decisions. ” 3. Elements of Ethics Value: Value denotes something’s degree of importance, with the aim of determining what action or life is best to do or live, or at least attempt to describe the value of different actions . T may be described as treating actions themselves as abstract objects, putting value to them. It deals with right induct and good life, in the sense that a highly, or at least relatively highly, valuable action may be regarded as ethically “good” (adjective sense), and an action of low, or at least relatively low, value may be regarded as “bad” Rights: Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory.
Rights are of essential importance in such disciplines as law and ethics, especially theories of justice and demonology. Rights are often considered fundamental to civilization, being regarded as established pillars of society and culture, and the history of social conflicts can be found in the history of each right and its development. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “rights structure the form of governments, the content Of laws, and the shape Of morality as it is currently perceived. The connection between rights and struggle cannot be overstated ?? rights are not as much granted or endowed as they are fought for and claimed, and the essence of struggles past and ancient are encoded in the spirit of current incepts of rights and their modern formulations. Duties: A duty is a moral obligation that an agent has towards another person, such as the duty not to lie. Etymologically, duties are actions that are due to someone else, such as paying money that one owes to a creditor. In a broader sense, duties are simply actions that are morally mandatory.
Medieval philosophers such as Aquinas argued that we have specific duties or obligations to avoid committing specific sins. Since sins such as theft are absolute, then our duty to avoid stealing is also absolute, irrespective of any good consequences that might arise from particular acts of theft. Fig 3. 2 3. 4 Ethics and morality: Ethics is the code of conduct developed by proper testing to guide the human behavior, whereas morality is concerned with generally accepted conducts and conventions of the society.
Ethics and law: law is concerned with the minimum regulation necessary for public order while ethics examines both the individual and the social good in all dimensions. When we know right from wrong we still might decide to do wrong. Becoming moral is a challenging task and requires us to find motivation to be moral. The following are aids in our quest to find moral motivation and improve ourselves: Rationality 2. Intellectual virtues Moral theories 3. 4. Moral knowledge 5. Appropriate thoughts 6. Close relationships 7. Experience 8. Spiritual exercises A good ability to reason helps us determine what beliefs are most justified or “rational. A belief must be sufficiently rational and justified or we shouldn’t have it. The ability to reason requires us to understand logic either consciously or unconsciously. The ability to apply logic to our reasoning is aided by an explicit understanding of logic and experience with reasoning. Presenting arguments and engaging in debates can help us practice our ability to reason. . Intellectual virtues To have intellectual virtues is to be willing and able to be reasonable. A person with intellectual virtues will reject irrational beliefs and refuse to reject rationally required beliefs.
It is irrational to believe that “1+1=3” and it’s rationally required to believe that “1В??1=2. ” Intellectual virtues include appropriate open mindedness and appropriate skepticism. An extreme lack of intellectual virtues can lead to fanaticism. 3. Moral theories The best moral theories are highly developed, comprehensive, and coherent accounts of morality that can help us determine and understand right from rang. Good moral theories are the result of years’ worth of moral debates and moral reasoning. Philosophers have now been discussing morality and moral theories for thousands of years, so a great deal of progress has been made. . Moral knowledge Ideally moral theories, moral reasoning, and intellectual virtues can lead to moral knowledge. If this ideal is not reached, then we still attain better moral beliefs. Once we know right from wrong we can potentially be motivated to do the right thing. Much of the time moral knowledge seems sufficient to motivate us to do the right thing because we already want to do the right hind. Virtuous people are usually motivated to do the right thing, so we are all motivated to do the right thing insofar as we are virtuous.
Moral knowledge can lead to appropriate thoughts. When my wallet is stolen I could think, “This is terrible! I’ll kill whoever did this! ” or might think, “What can I do to get my wallet back? ” The second option is more appropriate than the first. Revenge is not a moral option to losing your wallet. The Stoics suggest that appropriate thoughts are guided by moral knowledge, and appropriate emotions and actions tend to be a result of appropriate Houghton; but inappropriate thoughts can lead to inappropriate emotions and actions.
We can imagine someone losing their wallet as becoming enraged and seeking revenge based on the above inappropriate thoughts. Ethical codes are adopted by organizations to assist members in understanding the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and in applying that understanding to their decisions. An ethical code generally implies documents at three levels: codes of business ethics, codes of conduct for employees, and codes of professional practice. We can abstractly realize the values of human life, happiness, and suffering; UT this abstraction can have little power over our motivations.
To fully appreciate human life, happiness, and suffering we can understand these things from ourselves. We need to realize the value of our own life, happiness, and suffering. The next step is to realize that other people matter too. Other people’s life, happiness, and suffering has value just like our own. This is pretty natural once we establish close relationships with others. Most people learn to love and care for their parents, siblings, and friends. It doesn’t take long to realize that their lives, happiness, and suffering also have value. This can help us attain appropriate emotions, such as empathy. . Experience The actual result our actions will have in various situations is not something a moral theory or abstract reasoning will be able to give us. We need to learn to be sensitive to particularities found in each situation to know what actions will have the best results. For example, driving on the right side of the road is appropriate in the LASS, but not in the UK due to the laws and behavior found in each of these societies. 8. Spiritual exercises Spiritual exercises are practices used to become more virtuous that could be described as “moral therapy.
Studying rationality and learning about moral theories are TVВ??’0 common spiritual exercises that are not merely ‘theoretical” as some might argue. However, many spiritual exercises are less theoretical and take abstract knowledge for granted. CHAPTER 4 OVERVIEW OF ISSUES IN BUSINESS ETHICS 4. 1 General business ethics: This part of business ethics overlaps with the philosophy Of business, one Of the aims of which is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company. If a company’s main purpose is to maximize the returns to its shareholders, then it should be seen as unethical for a company to consider the interests ND rights of anyone else.
List of some businesses ethical issues Child labor and low-labor costs It has long been commonplace for firms to move production and low-skill jobs from their home countries, to other which offer lower production costs, in foreign countries. Including lower labor issues, these practices sometimes result in unfavorable publicity and may even expose fundamental issues associated with potential human right violations. Child labor is one of the most denunciated practices nowadays. One in every eight children in the world is still subjected to the worst forms of child labor, which endangers the hill’s physical, mental or moral well-being.
The exploitation of children through child labor occurs in more than thirds of all countries in the world. Discriminations The United Nations 1948 Declaration of Human Rights promoted the concept that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”. Unfortunately, in the workforce, people are often victim of discrimination. The discriminations made by companies toward their employees are considered to be unethical in corporate behaviors. The term discrimination describes a large number of wrongful acts in employment, housing, education, medical are and other important areas of public life.
Discrimination in employment generally arises from the decisions employers make about hiring, promotion, pay, fringe benefits, and the other term and conditions of employment that directly affect the economic interest of employees. Discrimination at work could be sex discrimination. The Sex discrimination Act 1 975 makes it unlawful for an individual to be discriminated against in the workplace in relation to selection for a job, training, promotions, work practices, dismissal or any other disadvantage such as sexual harassment. Discrimination is vided into two main categories, direct and indirect discrimination.
Direct discrimination occurs where a person is treated differently on the grounds of their gender. Indirect discrimination is where an employer applies a requirement or policy, which though on the face of it has nothing to do with gender, in practice tends to affect one sex rather than another. Bribery and corruption Bribery is the deliberate attempt to persuade someone (usually in a position of power and authority) to act usually in favor of the briber by offering money or gifts or material gain. Bribery has been the root of corruption in many entries and is considered an unethical behavior for companies.
Bribery occurs when property or personal advantage is offered, without the authority of law. Overtime work Often, companies ask their employees to do overtime, to avoid new employments and often people are unpaid for these hours. Around Of the employees declared that they worked overtime. In some cases, overtime is an indirect way for companies to threaten their employees. Most of the time employees show enthusiasm and hold on to their positions within the company. Furthermore, sometimes the work is exciting and people linearity work over and above their regular hours without asking for remuneration.
Employers use the tolerant employee attitude towards overtime work to their advantage and do not offer payment. Environment One of the most modern debates concerning the business ethics is the show of respect for the environment by the companies. Indeed, companies are often accused to be unethical by the non-respect of the environment. Companies should respect the environment, either in a legal or moral sense. Although products produced in an environmentally unfriendly way may appear at first to be cheaper, the cost to the purchaser is not the final cost.
Damage to the environment is paid for by increases in ill health, and irreversible loss of biodiversity. Health and safety regulations Companies do not always health and safety regulations. There are those who employ people in bad and/or illegal conditions, especially in factories, for example the utilization of toxins and using UN-safe machinery. This is usually to achieve and a high turnover of produce therefore a higher profit.