This document provides an overview of key concepts in business ethics. It discusses the nature of morality and how moral standards differ from other standards like etiquette or law. It also covers topics like ethical relativism, conscience, self-interest versus moral principles, and individual versus organizational responsibility. The document emphasizes that business ethics is about making defensible moral judgments and responsible decisions through logical and fact-based reasoning using acceptable moral principles.
The document provides an overview of key concepts in ethical decision-making and business ethics. It discusses [1] Kohlberg's theory of moral development and its six stages across three levels, [2] three main approaches to ethical theory - utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, and [3] two specific ethical theories - ethical egoism and utilitarianism. The document aims to introduce students to important foundations for analyzing ethical dilemmas in business.
This document discusses the nature of morality and ethics. It begins by defining ethics and distinguishing it from morality. Ethics comes from character and customs while morality refers to human conduct and values. It then discusses business ethics and the relationship between personal and professional ethics. It explores the differences between moral and non-moral standards, and how morality relates to etiquette, law, and professional codes. It examines the origins of moral standards and debates around relativism. Finally, it touches on concepts like conscience, moral principles, self-interest, and individual responsibility within organizations.
Moral standards refer to rules regarding what is right and wrong in human behavior. They involve serious consequences, should be preferred over other values, and are not determined by authorities but by impartial consideration of each person's interests. In contrast, non-moral standards include etiquette, fashion, and game rules unrelated to ethics. Moral standards have six key characteristics that distinguish them from being changeable, non-universal, or self-interested rules.
This document provides an outline of key topics in ethics. It begins by discussing why ethics is studied and what ethics encompasses as a branch of philosophy. It then examines different approaches to ethics, including those based on religion and reason. The document outlines ethical reasoning and arguments, discussing valid and fallacious types of arguments. It also explores major ethical theories that consider objective and subjective sources of morality. The document provides context around key concepts in ethics and debates perspectives on morality and ethical decision-making.
The document discusses engineering ethics and why it is important for engineers to consider ethics in their professional work. It covers several key topics:
- Engineering ethics refers to the rules and standards that govern how engineers should conduct themselves. It aims to provide guidance on balancing responsibilities to clients, costs, and risks.
- Notable engineering failures in the past have increased awareness of the far-reaching impacts of engineering on society and the need for professional responsibility.
- Questionable practices include forging data, plagiarism, and conflicts of interest while clearly wrong practices are lying, deception, and revealing confidential information.
- The goal of engineering ethics is to help engineers think critically about moral issues and apply ethical reasoning to professional situations
Morality refers to the differentiation between right and wrong intentions, decisions, and actions. Morality can derive from a particular philosophy, religion, or culture. It establishes standards of conduct and determines what behaviors are considered right or wrong, as well as what provides benefit or harm to groups rather than just individuals. Non-moral standards govern individual aspirations and desires and help define a person's place within their group through rules about things like etiquette, aesthetics, and games. Moral standards deal with issues that can seriously affect others, are not dependent on authority, are valued over self-interest, and can lead to feelings of guilt.
This document discusses the role of ethics in personal finance. It defines ethics as dealing with right and wrong human decisions and personal finance as how individuals obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time. It outlines several principles of ethics like universality and humanity as an end in itself. It then lists and describes various violations of ethics in personal finance like fraud, theft, forgery, and bribery. Finally, it recommends ways to manage ethics, such as considering others, being honest, promoting humanity, and developing self-control through education and internal consciousness.
Ethics in the Workplace is the single most important attribute which leads to Sustainable Development.The Process of taking Ethical Decisions is very crucial in this context.
The document provides an overview of key concepts in ethical decision-making and business ethics. It discusses [1] Kohlberg's theory of moral development and its six stages across three levels, [2] three main approaches to ethical theory - utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics, and [3] two specific ethical theories - ethical egoism and utilitarianism. The document aims to introduce students to important foundations for analyzing ethical dilemmas in business.
This document discusses the nature of morality and ethics. It begins by defining ethics and distinguishing it from morality. Ethics comes from character and customs while morality refers to human conduct and values. It then discusses business ethics and the relationship between personal and professional ethics. It explores the differences between moral and non-moral standards, and how morality relates to etiquette, law, and professional codes. It examines the origins of moral standards and debates around relativism. Finally, it touches on concepts like conscience, moral principles, self-interest, and individual responsibility within organizations.
Moral standards refer to rules regarding what is right and wrong in human behavior. They involve serious consequences, should be preferred over other values, and are not determined by authorities but by impartial consideration of each person's interests. In contrast, non-moral standards include etiquette, fashion, and game rules unrelated to ethics. Moral standards have six key characteristics that distinguish them from being changeable, non-universal, or self-interested rules.
This document provides an outline of key topics in ethics. It begins by discussing why ethics is studied and what ethics encompasses as a branch of philosophy. It then examines different approaches to ethics, including those based on religion and reason. The document outlines ethical reasoning and arguments, discussing valid and fallacious types of arguments. It also explores major ethical theories that consider objective and subjective sources of morality. The document provides context around key concepts in ethics and debates perspectives on morality and ethical decision-making.
The document discusses engineering ethics and why it is important for engineers to consider ethics in their professional work. It covers several key topics:
- Engineering ethics refers to the rules and standards that govern how engineers should conduct themselves. It aims to provide guidance on balancing responsibilities to clients, costs, and risks.
- Notable engineering failures in the past have increased awareness of the far-reaching impacts of engineering on society and the need for professional responsibility.
- Questionable practices include forging data, plagiarism, and conflicts of interest while clearly wrong practices are lying, deception, and revealing confidential information.
- The goal of engineering ethics is to help engineers think critically about moral issues and apply ethical reasoning to professional situations
Morality refers to the differentiation between right and wrong intentions, decisions, and actions. Morality can derive from a particular philosophy, religion, or culture. It establishes standards of conduct and determines what behaviors are considered right or wrong, as well as what provides benefit or harm to groups rather than just individuals. Non-moral standards govern individual aspirations and desires and help define a person's place within their group through rules about things like etiquette, aesthetics, and games. Moral standards deal with issues that can seriously affect others, are not dependent on authority, are valued over self-interest, and can lead to feelings of guilt.
This document discusses the role of ethics in personal finance. It defines ethics as dealing with right and wrong human decisions and personal finance as how individuals obtain, budget, save, and spend monetary resources over time. It outlines several principles of ethics like universality and humanity as an end in itself. It then lists and describes various violations of ethics in personal finance like fraud, theft, forgery, and bribery. Finally, it recommends ways to manage ethics, such as considering others, being honest, promoting humanity, and developing self-control through education and internal consciousness.
Ethics in the Workplace is the single most important attribute which leads to Sustainable Development.The Process of taking Ethical Decisions is very crucial in this context.
This document discusses corporations and corporate social responsibility. It examines corporations as moral agents and debates narrow vs. broader views of corporate responsibility. It also discusses institutionalizing ethics within corporations through ethical codes and shaping corporate culture. The challenges of assigning individual responsibility in large corporations and balancing economic and social responsibilities are also addressed.
The document describes Scott Rae's 7-step model for making ethical decisions:
1. Gather the facts
2. Determine the ethical issues
3. Determine relevant virtues/principles
4. List alternatives
5. Compare alternatives to virtues/principles
6. Consider consequences
7. Make a decision
It then provides a case study example involving a patient's right to informed consent versus her family's cultural wishes. The doctor must choose whether to follow the family's request to withhold information or ensure the patient can provide fully informed consent.
This document provides an overview of moral issues in the workplace, including civil liberties of employees, hiring practices, promotions, discipline/discharge, wages, and labor unions. It examines topics such as the "employment at will" doctrine, protections against discrimination, tests and interviews in hiring, factors in determining promotions and wages, the history and tactics of unions including strikes and boycotts, and debates around balancing employee and business interests.
Business Law class Chapter 2 is titled: Ethics in our Law
This presentation was used in my Business Law class at Littlestown High School. Most of the notes are based on the textbook from South-Western: Law for Business and Personal Use 15th Ed. by Adamson-Mietus
This document discusses ethics, morality, and professional ethics. It defines ethics as moral principles that govern a person's behavior or conduct, morality as distinguishing between right and wrong actions, and etiquette as governing social behavior within a group. Professional ethics refer to one's conduct while performing professional work. Legal ethics establish standards for behavior within the legal profession. The document also discusses various theories of ethics, including meta-ethics concerning the origins of ethical principles, and applied ethics examining controversial issues. It emphasizes the importance of ethics for professions in establishing duties and minimum standards of practice.
Individual Factors: Moral Philosophies and Valuedgoti3111
Most discussions of business ethics address the role of the individual in ethical decision making.
HOW DOES INDIVIDUAL'S BACKGROUNDS AND PHILOSOPHIES INFLUENCE ONE'S DECISION?
This document discusses types of professional ethics like business, journalism, and medical ethics. It also describes codes of ethics, which define rules of conduct for relationships, transactions, secrecy, and dispute resolution. Codes of ethics are based on religion, documents, professions, and organizations, and aim to establish universal standards. The document also provides details about Dean Foods' code of ethics, which outlines responsibilities to consumers, shareholders, employees, and procedures for reporting violations.
This document discusses morality from different perspectives - religious, psychological, and definitions. It defines morality as principles concerning right and wrong behavior or a society's values and conduct. Religions like Islam promote morality through teachings in the Quran about good deeds and avoiding harm. Psychologically, Kohlberg's theory of moral development outlines stages of reasoning from following rules to principles of justice. Freud's model of the id, ego, and super-ego relates to morality, with the super-ego making one more moral by submitting to divine will.
For 10B. Download and script. -Ajay and Alex
Sorry the font is different to the one which will actually be shown because it is one which is not available on all computers.
This document provides an overview of ethics, law, and technology as they relate to public relations. It discusses general ethical principles like honesty, integrity, and protecting privacy. It also examines the relationship between law and ethics. On the legal side, it outlines concepts like the First Amendment, freedom of information laws, copyright, and privacy laws. It provides examples of legal cases and defines key terms. For technology, it briefly discusses the role of blogs, websites, and content management for PR professionals. The document is intended as a study guide for an accreditation exam on ethics, law and technology in PR.
Here are a few key considerations from a virtue ethics perspective:
- A virtuous person would show compassion for the mother and children's situation, and want to help alleviate their suffering. Virtues like caring, generosity and fairness would call us to support those in need.
- However, virtue is also about prudence and responsibility. We need sustainable, responsible solutions that don't enable dependency long-term or cause new problems down the road. Virtues like independence and integrity are also important.
- An ideal response would uphold the dignity of all. It would provide temporary assistance, while also considering responsible ways the mother could meet her family's needs in the future through community support, job training, etc. The goal would be empower
This document discusses business ethics and ethical decision making. It defines ethics as moral principles that govern behaviors. There are two key branches of ethics - descriptive ethics which describes morality, and normative ethics which justifies moral systems. The document outlines several approaches to ethical decision making, including utilitarianism, individualism, moral rights, and justice. It also discusses factors that influence ethical choices such as the manager, organization, and levels of moral development. An ethical organization is defined as one with ethical individuals, leadership, and structure.
This document provides an overview of ethics and related concepts. It defines ethics as the study of right and wrong conduct, and notes there are three central concepts: good, right, and ought. It discusses virtue ethics, deontological ethics, consequentialism, and how they differ based on character, actions, and consequences. The document also covers civic ethics, professional ethics, codes of ethics, and what constitutes an ethical person and responsible citizenship. It provides examples of civic duties and rights in Tanzania. Overall, the document serves as an introduction to ethics by defining key terms and comparing different ethical approaches.
This document provides an introduction to professional ethics and engineering ethics. It defines ethics as the study of right and wrong, and engineering ethics as the study of moral issues confronting engineers. Engineering ethics is important for responsibly confronting technological issues and achieving moral autonomy. The document differentiates between moral issues related to personal behavior versus professional behavior. It discusses the moral aspects and responsibilities of engineers, including respecting others, keeping promises, and avoiding cheating. It also defines key terms like micro-ethics, macro-ethics, self-interest, self-respect, and responsibility. The importance of ethics for the engineering profession is explained, along with the basic goals and applications of engineering ethics in decision making.
The document discusses key aspects of ethical decision making including emotions, reason, and decision making processes. It notes that emotions play a major role in ethical decisions and inner emotions like guilt can motivate ethical behavior. It also discusses cognitive biases that can influence decisions and disrupt objective judgments. Reason is described as applying logic and adapting beliefs based on new information. Effective decision making requires examining alternatives and potential consequences while being aware of biases. Impartiality and giving equal consideration to all stakeholders is also emphasized.
The elderly carpenter built shoddy work with inferior materials on his final house-building job as a personal favor for his contractor before retirement. When the house was finished, the contractor revealed it was a parting gift for the carpenter himself. The carpenter realized if he had known it was for himself, he would have built it with greater care and quality. The story illustrates how one can lose focus on values like quality when just trying to complete a task quickly without consideration for others. It challenges both employees and employers to maintain focus on ethical values and standards in their work.
This document summarizes Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, which consists of three levels with two stages each. The pre-conventional level focuses on obedience to avoid punishment and personal gain. The conventional level emphasizes living up to social norms and obeying laws. The post-conventional level involves reasoning about moral principles and social contracts to determine what is right. The document provides examples of behaviors and judgments associated with each stage.
we are not responsible if there is any Mistake or error in this presentation. We are trying to help other students. It may not perfect.
We hope , you will get benefit from this presentation.
regards : Students of University of Engineering and Technology , Lahore, Pakistan
The document discusses Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning progresses through six stages grouped into three levels - pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. At the pre-conventional level, reasoning is based on obedience and self-interest. At the conventional level, maintaining social order and relationships is important. At the post-conventional level, reasoning is based on abstract ethical principles and justice. Kohlberg believed people progress sequentially through these stages as their reasoning becomes more sophisticated.
This document provides an overview of key concepts in morality, ethical theory, and approaches to studying ethics. It discusses the distinction between morality and ethical theory, as well as morality and prudence. It introduces utilitarianism and Kantian ethical theories. It also covers additional topics like relativism, moral disagreements, and the problems with egoism. The document aims to define important terminology and explore different perspectives in ethics through examples and discussions of prominent philosophers.
The document discusses human values, ethical values, integrity, courage, cooperation, empathy, spirituality, honesty, compromise, self-respect, responsibility, and engineering ethics. It defines key terms and concepts, distinguishes between similar ideas, and provides short notes on values such as caring, sharing and service learning. The document serves as a reference for concepts in professional ethics and human values.
This document discusses corporations and corporate social responsibility. It examines corporations as moral agents and debates narrow vs. broader views of corporate responsibility. It also discusses institutionalizing ethics within corporations through ethical codes and shaping corporate culture. The challenges of assigning individual responsibility in large corporations and balancing economic and social responsibilities are also addressed.
The document describes Scott Rae's 7-step model for making ethical decisions:
1. Gather the facts
2. Determine the ethical issues
3. Determine relevant virtues/principles
4. List alternatives
5. Compare alternatives to virtues/principles
6. Consider consequences
7. Make a decision
It then provides a case study example involving a patient's right to informed consent versus her family's cultural wishes. The doctor must choose whether to follow the family's request to withhold information or ensure the patient can provide fully informed consent.
This document provides an overview of moral issues in the workplace, including civil liberties of employees, hiring practices, promotions, discipline/discharge, wages, and labor unions. It examines topics such as the "employment at will" doctrine, protections against discrimination, tests and interviews in hiring, factors in determining promotions and wages, the history and tactics of unions including strikes and boycotts, and debates around balancing employee and business interests.
Business Law class Chapter 2 is titled: Ethics in our Law
This presentation was used in my Business Law class at Littlestown High School. Most of the notes are based on the textbook from South-Western: Law for Business and Personal Use 15th Ed. by Adamson-Mietus
This document discusses ethics, morality, and professional ethics. It defines ethics as moral principles that govern a person's behavior or conduct, morality as distinguishing between right and wrong actions, and etiquette as governing social behavior within a group. Professional ethics refer to one's conduct while performing professional work. Legal ethics establish standards for behavior within the legal profession. The document also discusses various theories of ethics, including meta-ethics concerning the origins of ethical principles, and applied ethics examining controversial issues. It emphasizes the importance of ethics for professions in establishing duties and minimum standards of practice.
Individual Factors: Moral Philosophies and Valuedgoti3111
Most discussions of business ethics address the role of the individual in ethical decision making.
HOW DOES INDIVIDUAL'S BACKGROUNDS AND PHILOSOPHIES INFLUENCE ONE'S DECISION?
This document discusses types of professional ethics like business, journalism, and medical ethics. It also describes codes of ethics, which define rules of conduct for relationships, transactions, secrecy, and dispute resolution. Codes of ethics are based on religion, documents, professions, and organizations, and aim to establish universal standards. The document also provides details about Dean Foods' code of ethics, which outlines responsibilities to consumers, shareholders, employees, and procedures for reporting violations.
This document discusses morality from different perspectives - religious, psychological, and definitions. It defines morality as principles concerning right and wrong behavior or a society's values and conduct. Religions like Islam promote morality through teachings in the Quran about good deeds and avoiding harm. Psychologically, Kohlberg's theory of moral development outlines stages of reasoning from following rules to principles of justice. Freud's model of the id, ego, and super-ego relates to morality, with the super-ego making one more moral by submitting to divine will.
For 10B. Download and script. -Ajay and Alex
Sorry the font is different to the one which will actually be shown because it is one which is not available on all computers.
This document provides an overview of ethics, law, and technology as they relate to public relations. It discusses general ethical principles like honesty, integrity, and protecting privacy. It also examines the relationship between law and ethics. On the legal side, it outlines concepts like the First Amendment, freedom of information laws, copyright, and privacy laws. It provides examples of legal cases and defines key terms. For technology, it briefly discusses the role of blogs, websites, and content management for PR professionals. The document is intended as a study guide for an accreditation exam on ethics, law and technology in PR.
Here are a few key considerations from a virtue ethics perspective:
- A virtuous person would show compassion for the mother and children's situation, and want to help alleviate their suffering. Virtues like caring, generosity and fairness would call us to support those in need.
- However, virtue is also about prudence and responsibility. We need sustainable, responsible solutions that don't enable dependency long-term or cause new problems down the road. Virtues like independence and integrity are also important.
- An ideal response would uphold the dignity of all. It would provide temporary assistance, while also considering responsible ways the mother could meet her family's needs in the future through community support, job training, etc. The goal would be empower
This document discusses business ethics and ethical decision making. It defines ethics as moral principles that govern behaviors. There are two key branches of ethics - descriptive ethics which describes morality, and normative ethics which justifies moral systems. The document outlines several approaches to ethical decision making, including utilitarianism, individualism, moral rights, and justice. It also discusses factors that influence ethical choices such as the manager, organization, and levels of moral development. An ethical organization is defined as one with ethical individuals, leadership, and structure.
This document provides an overview of ethics and related concepts. It defines ethics as the study of right and wrong conduct, and notes there are three central concepts: good, right, and ought. It discusses virtue ethics, deontological ethics, consequentialism, and how they differ based on character, actions, and consequences. The document also covers civic ethics, professional ethics, codes of ethics, and what constitutes an ethical person and responsible citizenship. It provides examples of civic duties and rights in Tanzania. Overall, the document serves as an introduction to ethics by defining key terms and comparing different ethical approaches.
This document provides an introduction to professional ethics and engineering ethics. It defines ethics as the study of right and wrong, and engineering ethics as the study of moral issues confronting engineers. Engineering ethics is important for responsibly confronting technological issues and achieving moral autonomy. The document differentiates between moral issues related to personal behavior versus professional behavior. It discusses the moral aspects and responsibilities of engineers, including respecting others, keeping promises, and avoiding cheating. It also defines key terms like micro-ethics, macro-ethics, self-interest, self-respect, and responsibility. The importance of ethics for the engineering profession is explained, along with the basic goals and applications of engineering ethics in decision making.
The document discusses key aspects of ethical decision making including emotions, reason, and decision making processes. It notes that emotions play a major role in ethical decisions and inner emotions like guilt can motivate ethical behavior. It also discusses cognitive biases that can influence decisions and disrupt objective judgments. Reason is described as applying logic and adapting beliefs based on new information. Effective decision making requires examining alternatives and potential consequences while being aware of biases. Impartiality and giving equal consideration to all stakeholders is also emphasized.
The elderly carpenter built shoddy work with inferior materials on his final house-building job as a personal favor for his contractor before retirement. When the house was finished, the contractor revealed it was a parting gift for the carpenter himself. The carpenter realized if he had known it was for himself, he would have built it with greater care and quality. The story illustrates how one can lose focus on values like quality when just trying to complete a task quickly without consideration for others. It challenges both employees and employers to maintain focus on ethical values and standards in their work.
This document summarizes Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development, which consists of three levels with two stages each. The pre-conventional level focuses on obedience to avoid punishment and personal gain. The conventional level emphasizes living up to social norms and obeying laws. The post-conventional level involves reasoning about moral principles and social contracts to determine what is right. The document provides examples of behaviors and judgments associated with each stage.
we are not responsible if there is any Mistake or error in this presentation. We are trying to help other students. It may not perfect.
We hope , you will get benefit from this presentation.
regards : Students of University of Engineering and Technology , Lahore, Pakistan
The document discusses Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development. Kohlberg proposed that moral reasoning progresses through six stages grouped into three levels - pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. At the pre-conventional level, reasoning is based on obedience and self-interest. At the conventional level, maintaining social order and relationships is important. At the post-conventional level, reasoning is based on abstract ethical principles and justice. Kohlberg believed people progress sequentially through these stages as their reasoning becomes more sophisticated.
This document provides an overview of key concepts in morality, ethical theory, and approaches to studying ethics. It discusses the distinction between morality and ethical theory, as well as morality and prudence. It introduces utilitarianism and Kantian ethical theories. It also covers additional topics like relativism, moral disagreements, and the problems with egoism. The document aims to define important terminology and explore different perspectives in ethics through examples and discussions of prominent philosophers.
The document discusses human values, ethical values, integrity, courage, cooperation, empathy, spirituality, honesty, compromise, self-respect, responsibility, and engineering ethics. It defines key terms and concepts, distinguishes between similar ideas, and provides short notes on values such as caring, sharing and service learning. The document serves as a reference for concepts in professional ethics and human values.
This document discusses human values and ethics in engineering. It provides definitions of key terms like human values, ethical values, integrity, work ethics and more. It distinguishes between values, ethics and culture. It also discusses moral dilemmas, moral autonomy, micro and macro ethics, and theories of moral development. Engineering ethics and the need to study ethics is explained. Qualities of a profession like knowledge, public good and organization are outlined. Responsibility is discussed along with its different senses.
Business Ethics by Shaw Test Bank
Business Ethics by Shaw,Exam and Quizzes
Complete Exam and Quizzes Chapter 1 – 11, A++ Graded With Description!!!
Chapter 1
The Nature of Morality
Chapter 2
Normative Theories of Ethics
Chapter 3
Justice and Economic Distribution
Chapter 4
The Nature of Capitalism
Chapter 5
Corporations
Chapter 6
Consumers
Chapter 7
The Environment
Chapter 8
The Workplace (1): Basic Issues
The document discusses the foundations of morality. It argues that reason and impartiality are important foundations of morality. Reason requires that moral judgments be backed by justifications and reasons, rather than personal preferences alone. Impartiality means giving equal consideration to all parties affected by a decision. The document also discusses rights and obligations, arguing that rights always come with corresponding obligations - an individual's rights are limited by how they may impact others' rights and welfare. There is an intrinsic connection between individual rights and social/moral obligations.
Professional ethics 2 mark & 16 mark question bankHari Kumar
This document contains a collection of questions and answers related to the course "GE 1301 - Professional Ethics & Human Values". It covers topics such as defining key terms like values, ethics, integrity and honesty. It also discusses frameworks for analyzing ethical situations and resolving moral dilemmas. The document is broken into multiple units that progress from defining foundational concepts to analyzing approaches to ethics and the roles and responsibilities of professionals.
This document provides an overview of ethics and discusses several key concepts:
- Ethics refers to rules and principles that define right and wrong conduct. It is the science of morals and human behavior.
- Kohlberg's stages of moral development suggest that morality develops in six stages as people mature, progressing from self-interest to consideration of social norms and ultimately universal ethical principles.
- There are different branches of ethics including normative ethics, descriptive ethics, and applied ethics. Ethics seeks to evaluate behavior and provide prescriptive guidance in moral dilemmas.
This document outlines the key concepts and terms from a lecture on business ethics. It discusses ethics as concerning how individuals and organizations should act, distinguishing normative ethics from descriptive ethics. It defines values and stakeholders, introducing stakeholder theory about responsibilities to broader stakeholders beyond shareholders. It also distinguishes legal responsibilities from ethical responsibilities and practical reasoning for ethical decision-making over other types of decisions.
This document discusses ethics and defines the differences between moral and non-moral standards. It begins by outlining the learning objectives of analyzing ethics, moral standards, and how they are formed. Moral standards primarily deal with issues that can benefit or harm humans and promote common good. They are not determined by authority, should be upheld over self-interest, and are focused on objective considerations. Non-moral standards include etiquette, statutes, and professional codes that are not inherently related to morality. The document concludes by stating that moral standards are shaped by individual beliefs, values, religious teachings, culture, experiences and critical thinking.
The document discusses the conceptualization of ethics. It begins by defining ethics as principles or standards of human conduct, sometimes called morals. It notes that every culture develops its own ethical standards. It then examines how social sciences view ethics, noting they attempt to determine the relationship between ethical principles and social behavior, as well as investigate cultural conditions that influence the formation of principles. The document explores several aspects of ethics in more detail, including how ethical principles relate to social behavior and how cultural conditions shape the development of principles. It also discusses what it means to be ethical and what shapes our views of ethics.
This document outlines a company's code of ethics policy. It aims to provide employees with guidelines on business ethics and handling controversial issues. The policy applies to all employees and business partners. It is based on common ethics principles like respect, integrity, justice, lawfulness, and accountability. Having a written code establishes clear disciplinary actions for violations and helps guide decisions, especially in grey areas. It is important as it prevents wrong behavior, promotes goodness, ensures social responsibility, and sets a high standard.
This document discusses the core concepts of ethics. It defines ethics as the study of moral principles and the reasoning behind determining what is right and wrong in human conduct. It distinguishes ethics from morals, noting that ethics involves reasoning while morals rely on adherence to rules. It also provides an analogy comparing morals to driving a car without understanding its engineering, while ethics is like understanding the engineering principles. The document then covers the essence, determinants and consequences of ethics in human actions. It discusses ethics in both private relationships like family as well as public relationships like work, government, and international relations.
This document provides an overview of ethics, including business ethics. It defines ethics as a system of moral principles concerning what is good or bad. Ethics is distinguished from laws in that ethics provides guidelines rather than enforceable rules. The document outlines the importance, scope, and objectives of ethics in both personal and professional/managerial contexts. It discusses the three levels of moral development and three types of ethics: transactional, participatory, and recognition. Business ethics aims to benefit society and stakeholders through compliance, contribution, and consideration of consequences. The government plays a role in legislating and supervising business ethics.
This document provides an overview of an ethics course. It begins by defining ethics as the study of morality and discusses the three areas of moral philosophy: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. It then explains some key concepts in ethics like moral claims, agents, and standards. The document outlines several lessons that will be covered in the course, including defining a moral agent, discussing freedom and morality, and examining principles of justice and fairness. The overall summary is that this document introduces an introductory ethics course that will examine key philosophical concepts and principles related to morality.
This document provides an overview of business ethics, including:
1) It distinguishes between morality, etiquette, law, and professional codes of conduct. Morality differs as it concerns behaviors with serious consequences and depends on justification rather than governing bodies.
2) It discusses ethical relativism and how it can undermine moral criticism and progress between societies.
3) It explains the importance of individuals having moral principles and integrity, even within organizations where norms may conflict with ethics.
Ethics, norms, values and beliefs and kohlberg's theory of ethical judgmentVaishnavi Meghe
Kohlberg's theory of moral development has three levels - pre-conventional, conventional, and post-conventional. The pre-conventional level is focused on obedience and self-interest. The conventional level focuses on living up to group expectations and maintaining social order. The post-conventional level involves defining moral values based on principles of justice and respect for human dignity rather than rules or authority. It has six stages total, with the final stage being governance by self-chosen ethical principles of equality and respect for all people.
The document discusses various frameworks for ethical decision making in business including the four spheres of morality that executives must consider: their private lives, responsibilities as economic agents, as company leaders, and beyond their firm's boundaries. It also outlines different ethical theories like consequentialism, rights-based ethics, and virtue ethics. The document advocates for leaders to answer their call to business through servant leadership and creating an ethical corporate culture.
Skybuffer AI: Advanced Conversational and Generative AI Solution on SAP Busin...Tatiana Kojar
Skybuffer AI, built on the robust SAP Business Technology Platform (SAP BTP), is the latest and most advanced version of our AI development, reaffirming our commitment to delivering top-tier AI solutions. Skybuffer AI harnesses all the innovative capabilities of the SAP BTP in the AI domain, from Conversational AI to cutting-edge Generative AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). It also helps SAP customers safeguard their investments into SAP Conversational AI and ensure a seamless, one-click transition to SAP Business AI.
With Skybuffer AI, various AI models can be integrated into a single communication channel such as Microsoft Teams. This integration empowers business users with insights drawn from SAP backend systems, enterprise documents, and the expansive knowledge of Generative AI. And the best part of it is that it is all managed through our intuitive no-code Action Server interface, requiring no extensive coding knowledge and making the advanced AI accessible to more users.
Building Production Ready Search Pipelines with Spark and MilvusZilliz
Spark is the widely used ETL tool for processing, indexing and ingesting data to serving stack for search. Milvus is the production-ready open-source vector database. In this talk we will show how to use Spark to process unstructured data to extract vector representations, and push the vectors to Milvus vector database for search serving.
HCL Notes und Domino Lizenzkostenreduzierung in der Welt von DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-und-domino-lizenzkostenreduzierung-in-der-welt-von-dlau/
DLAU und die Lizenzen nach dem CCB- und CCX-Modell sind für viele in der HCL-Community seit letztem Jahr ein heißes Thema. Als Notes- oder Domino-Kunde haben Sie vielleicht mit unerwartet hohen Benutzerzahlen und Lizenzgebühren zu kämpfen. Sie fragen sich vielleicht, wie diese neue Art der Lizenzierung funktioniert und welchen Nutzen sie Ihnen bringt. Vor allem wollen Sie sicherlich Ihr Budget einhalten und Kosten sparen, wo immer möglich. Das verstehen wir und wir möchten Ihnen dabei helfen!
Wir erklären Ihnen, wie Sie häufige Konfigurationsprobleme lösen können, die dazu führen können, dass mehr Benutzer gezählt werden als nötig, und wie Sie überflüssige oder ungenutzte Konten identifizieren und entfernen können, um Geld zu sparen. Es gibt auch einige Ansätze, die zu unnötigen Ausgaben führen können, z. B. wenn ein Personendokument anstelle eines Mail-Ins für geteilte Mailboxen verwendet wird. Wir zeigen Ihnen solche Fälle und deren Lösungen. Und natürlich erklären wir Ihnen das neue Lizenzmodell.
Nehmen Sie an diesem Webinar teil, bei dem HCL-Ambassador Marc Thomas und Gastredner Franz Walder Ihnen diese neue Welt näherbringen. Es vermittelt Ihnen die Tools und das Know-how, um den Überblick zu bewahren. Sie werden in der Lage sein, Ihre Kosten durch eine optimierte Domino-Konfiguration zu reduzieren und auch in Zukunft gering zu halten.
Diese Themen werden behandelt
- Reduzierung der Lizenzkosten durch Auffinden und Beheben von Fehlkonfigurationen und überflüssigen Konten
- Wie funktionieren CCB- und CCX-Lizenzen wirklich?
- Verstehen des DLAU-Tools und wie man es am besten nutzt
- Tipps für häufige Problembereiche, wie z. B. Team-Postfächer, Funktions-/Testbenutzer usw.
- Praxisbeispiele und Best Practices zum sofortigen Umsetzen
HCL Notes and Domino License Cost Reduction in the World of DLAUpanagenda
Webinar Recording: https://www.panagenda.com/webinars/hcl-notes-and-domino-license-cost-reduction-in-the-world-of-dlau/
The introduction of DLAU and the CCB & CCX licensing model caused quite a stir in the HCL community. As a Notes and Domino customer, you may have faced challenges with unexpected user counts and license costs. You probably have questions on how this new licensing approach works and how to benefit from it. Most importantly, you likely have budget constraints and want to save money where possible. Don’t worry, we can help with all of this!
We’ll show you how to fix common misconfigurations that cause higher-than-expected user counts, and how to identify accounts which you can deactivate to save money. There are also frequent patterns that can cause unnecessary cost, like using a person document instead of a mail-in for shared mailboxes. We’ll provide examples and solutions for those as well. And naturally we’ll explain the new licensing model.
Join HCL Ambassador Marc Thomas in this webinar with a special guest appearance from Franz Walder. It will give you the tools and know-how to stay on top of what is going on with Domino licensing. You will be able lower your cost through an optimized configuration and keep it low going forward.
These topics will be covered
- Reducing license cost by finding and fixing misconfigurations and superfluous accounts
- How do CCB and CCX licenses really work?
- Understanding the DLAU tool and how to best utilize it
- Tips for common problem areas, like team mailboxes, functional/test users, etc
- Practical examples and best practices to implement right away
Have you ever been confused by the myriad of choices offered by AWS for hosting a website or an API?
Lambda, Elastic Beanstalk, Lightsail, Amplify, S3 (and more!) can each host websites + APIs. But which one should we choose?
Which one is cheapest? Which one is fastest? Which one will scale to meet our needs?
Join me in this session as we dive into each AWS hosting service to determine which one is best for your scenario and explain why!
Trusted Execution Environment for Decentralized Process MiningLucaBarbaro3
Presentation of the paper "Trusted Execution Environment for Decentralized Process Mining" given during the CAiSE 2024 Conference in Cyprus on June 7, 2024.
Fueling AI with Great Data with Airbyte WebinarZilliz
This talk will focus on how to collect data from a variety of sources, leveraging this data for RAG and other GenAI use cases, and finally charting your course to productionalization.
Skybuffer SAM4U tool for SAP license adoptionTatiana Kojar
Manage and optimize your license adoption and consumption with SAM4U, an SAP free customer software asset management tool.
SAM4U, an SAP complimentary software asset management tool for customers, delivers a detailed and well-structured overview of license inventory and usage with a user-friendly interface. We offer a hosted, cost-effective, and performance-optimized SAM4U setup in the Skybuffer Cloud environment. You retain ownership of the system and data, while we manage the ABAP 7.58 infrastructure, ensuring fixed Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and exceptional services through the SAP Fiori interface.
GraphRAG for Life Science to increase LLM accuracyTomaz Bratanic
GraphRAG for life science domain, where you retriever information from biomedical knowledge graphs using LLMs to increase the accuracy and performance of generated answers
Driving Business Innovation: Latest Generative AI Advancements & Success StorySafe Software
Are you ready to revolutionize how you handle data? Join us for a webinar where we’ll bring you up to speed with the latest advancements in Generative AI technology and discover how leveraging FME with tools from giants like Google Gemini, Amazon, and Microsoft OpenAI can supercharge your workflow efficiency.
During the hour, we’ll take you through:
Guest Speaker Segment with Hannah Barrington: Dive into the world of dynamic real estate marketing with Hannah, the Marketing Manager at Workspace Group. Hear firsthand how their team generates engaging descriptions for thousands of office units by integrating diverse data sources—from PDF floorplans to web pages—using FME transformers, like OpenAIVisionConnector and AnthropicVisionConnector. This use case will show you how GenAI can streamline content creation for marketing across the board.
Ollama Use Case: Learn how Scenario Specialist Dmitri Bagh has utilized Ollama within FME to input data, create custom models, and enhance security protocols. This segment will include demos to illustrate the full capabilities of FME in AI-driven processes.
Custom AI Models: Discover how to leverage FME to build personalized AI models using your data. Whether it’s populating a model with local data for added security or integrating public AI tools, find out how FME facilitates a versatile and secure approach to AI.
We’ll wrap up with a live Q&A session where you can engage with our experts on your specific use cases, and learn more about optimizing your data workflows with AI.
This webinar is ideal for professionals seeking to harness the power of AI within their data management systems while ensuring high levels of customization and security. Whether you're a novice or an expert, gain actionable insights and strategies to elevate your data processes. Join us to see how FME and AI can revolutionize how you work with data!
leewayhertz.com-AI in predictive maintenance Use cases technologies benefits ...alexjohnson7307
Predictive maintenance is a proactive approach that anticipates equipment failures before they happen. At the forefront of this innovative strategy is Artificial Intelligence (AI), which brings unprecedented precision and efficiency. AI in predictive maintenance is transforming industries by reducing downtime, minimizing costs, and enhancing productivity.
Main news related to the CCS TSI 2023 (2023/1695)Jakub Marek
An English 🇬🇧 translation of a presentation to the speech I gave about the main changes brought by CCS TSI 2023 at the biggest Czech conference on Communications and signalling systems on Railways, which was held in Clarion Hotel Olomouc from 7th to 9th November 2023 (konferenceszt.cz). Attended by around 500 participants and 200 on-line followers.
The original Czech 🇨🇿 version of the presentation can be found here: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/hlavni-novinky-souvisejici-s-ccs-tsi-2023-2023-1695/269688092 .
The videorecording (in Czech) from the presentation is available here: https://youtu.be/WzjJWm4IyPk?si=SImb06tuXGb30BEH .
Introduction of Cybersecurity with OSS at Code Europe 2024Hiroshi SHIBATA
I develop the Ruby programming language, RubyGems, and Bundler, which are package managers for Ruby. Today, I will introduce how to enhance the security of your application using open-source software (OSS) examples from Ruby and RubyGems.
The first topic is CVE (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures). I have published CVEs many times. But what exactly is a CVE? I'll provide a basic understanding of CVEs and explain how to detect and handle vulnerabilities in OSS.
Next, let's discuss package managers. Package managers play a critical role in the OSS ecosystem. I'll explain how to manage library dependencies in your application.
I'll share insights into how the Ruby and RubyGems core team works to keep our ecosystem safe. By the end of this talk, you'll have a better understanding of how to safeguard your code.
Programming Foundation Models with DSPy - Meetup SlidesZilliz
Prompting language models is hard, while programming language models is easy. In this talk, I will discuss the state-of-the-art framework DSPy for programming foundation models with its powerful optimizers and runtime constraint system.
2. ETHICS IS TOUGHER THAN YOU
THINK . . .
A person with outward
courage dares to die.
A person with inward
courage dares to live.
- Lao Tzu
1-2
3. CHAPTER 1 – The Nature of Morality
o Ethics & business ethics
o Ethics deals with individual character and the moral
rules that govern and limit our conduct. It investigates
questions of right and wrong, duty and obligation and
moral responsibility.
o Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right
and wrong (or good and bad) human conduct in a
business context. Closely related moral questions
arise in other organizational contexts.
1-3
4. Moral vs nonmoral standards
o Moral standards concern behavior that is of serious
consequence to human welfare, that can profoundly
injure or benefit people.
o Moral standards take priority over other standards,
including self-interest.
o The soundness of moral standards depends on the
adequacy of the reasons that support/justify them –
depends on the quality of the arguments/reasoning
that supports them.
1-4
5. Morality & etiquette
o Etiquette refers to the norms of correct conduct in polite
society/more generally to any special code of social
behavior/courtesy.
o Example of good etiquette – say “please” when requesting &
“thank you” when receiving & to hold a door open for
someone entering immediately behind you.
o Example of bad etiquette – to chew with your mouth open or
to pick your nose when talking to someone.
o Violations of etiquette can have moral implications.
o Example: the male boss who refers to female subordinates as
“honey” or “doll” shows bad manners. The female employees
can raise moral issues concerning equal treatment and denial
of dignity to human beings.
1-5
6. Morality and law
o There are four kinds of law: statutes, regulations, common law
& constitutional law.
o Statutes
o Laws enacted by legislative bodies. Congress & state
legislatures enact statutes.
o Example: The law that defines & prohibits theft is stature.
o Administrative regulations
o Legislatures often set up boards/agencies whose functions
include issuing detailed regulations of certain kinds of
conduct.
o Example: state legislatures establish licensing boards to
formulate regulations for the licensing of physicians & nurses.
1-6
7. Morality and law
o Common law
o Laws applied in the English-speaking world when there were
few statutes.
o Courts frequently wrote opinions explaining the bases of their
decisions in specific cases, including the legal principles they
deemed appropriate.
o Each of these opinions became a precedent for later decisions
in similar cases.
o Constitutional law
o Refers to court rulings on the requirements of the Constitution
& the constitutionality of legislation.
o Although the courts cannot make laws, they have far-reaching
powers to rule on the constitutionality of laws & to declare
them valid. 1-7
8. o People sometimes confuse legality & morality – the
legality of an action does not guarantee that it is
morally right.
o An action can be illegal but morally right
o An action that is legal can be morally wrong
o It may have perfectly legal for the chairman of a
profitable company to lay off 125 workers & use
three-quarters of the money saved to boost his pay &
that of the company’s other top manager, but the
morality of his doing so is open to debate.
1-8
9. Professional codes
o Professional codes of ethics – the rules that are
supposed to govern the conduct of members of a
given profession.
o The members of a profession are understood to have
agreed to abide by those rules as a condition of their
engaging in that profession.
o Sometimes those codes are unwritten & are part of
the common understanding of members of a
profession.
1-9
10. Where do moral standards come from?
o Our early upbringing, the behavior of those
around us, the explicit & implicit standards of
our culture, our own experiences & our critical
reflections on those experiences.
o For philosophers, the important issues is not
where our moral principles came from, but
whether they can be justified.
1-10
11. Religion & morality
o Religion involves not only a formal system of
worship but also prescriptions for social
relationships.
o Morality is not necessary based on religion –
the issues is whether those beliefs can be
justified.
1-11
12. Ethical relativism
o The theory that what is right is determined by
what a culture/society says is right.
o Example: abortion is condemned as immoral
in Ireland but is practiced as a morally neutral
form of birth control in Japan.
o Thus, for the ethical relativist there is no
absolute ethical standard independent of
cultural context, no criterion of right & wrong
by which to judge other than that of particular
societies.
1-12
13. Ethical relativism (cont’d)
o Ethical disagreement does not imply that all opinions are
equally correct. Moreover, ethical relativism has
unsatisfactory implications:
o It undermines any moral criticism of the practices of other
societies as long as their actions conform to their own
standards.
o For the relativist there is no such thing as ethical progress.
Although moralities may change, they cannot get better/worse.
o It makes no sense from the relativist’s point of view for people
to criticize principles/practices accepted by their own society.
1-13
14. Ethical relativism (cont’d)
o According to Albert Carr, a number of things
that we normally think of as wrong are really
permissible in a business context.
o Example: lying about one’s age on a resume,
deceptive packaging, automobile companies’
neglect of car safety.
1-14
15. Conscience
o People can & unfortunately sometimes do, go
against their moral principles, but we would
doubt that they sincerely held the principle in
question if violating it did not bother their
conscience.
o Example: When you were very young, you
were probably told to tell the truth & to return
something you filched to its proper owner.
1-15
16. The limits of conscience:
1. When we are genuinely perplexed over what we
ought to do, we are trying to figure out what our
conscience ought to be saying to us
2. It may not always be good for us to follow our
conscience – because they didn’t think through the
implications of what they were doing or perhaps
because they failed to internalize strongly enough
the appropriate moral principles & a person’s
conscience might disturb the person about
something that is perfectly all right.
o
1-16
17. Moral principles & self-interest
o Example: imagine that you are in your car hurrying
home along a quiet road, trying hard to get there in
time to see the kickoff of an important football game.
You pass an acquaintance who is having car trouble.
He doesn’t recognize you. As a dedicated fan, you
would much prefer to keep on going than to stop &
help him, thus missing at least part of the game. You
might rationalize that someone else will eventually
come along & help him if you don’t, but deep down
you know that you really ought to stop. On the other
hand, self interest seems to say, “Keep going”.
1-17
18. Moral principles & self-interest (Cont’d)
o Should you follow your self-interest or your moral
principles?
o From the moral point of view, you should follow your
moral principles.
o But from the selfish point of view, you should look out
solely for “number one”.
o Your choice will depend on your character, on the kind of
person you are, which depends in part on how you were
raised.
o Individuals who care only about their own happiness will
generally be less happy than those who care about others.
1-18
19. Individual integrity & responsibility
Organizational norms
o Major characteristics of organization is the shared
acceptance of organizational rules by its members.
o Group cohesiveness requires that individual members
commit themselves – relinquish some of their
personal freedom in order to further organizational
goals.
o According to recent survey by the American
Management Association, pressure to meet unrealistic
business objectives & deadlines is the leading cause
of unethical business conduct
1-19
20. Conformity
o Organizations exert pressure on their members to conform to
norms & goals.
o Sometimes, some people didn’t want to seem different, even
though they continued to believe their judgments were correct,
the majority couldn’t be wrong.
o Groupthink happens when pressure for unanimity within a
highly cohesive group overwhelms its members’ desire/ability
to appraise the situation realistically & consider alternative
courses of action.
o Members of the group close their eyes to negative information,
ignore warnings that the group may be mistaken & discount
outside ideas that might contradict the thinking or the
decisions of the group.
1-20
21. Diffusion of responsibility
o Diffusion of responsibility inside an organization
can weaken people’s sense of moral responsibility.
o They tend to see themselves simply as small
players in a process
o No control and are unaccountable
o I’m just doing my job
1-21
22. o Defensible moral judgments
o Moral judgments should be supported by moral
standards & relevant facts.
o Patterns of defense & challenge:
4. Evaluating the factual claims
5. Challenging the moral standard
6. Defending the moral standard
7. Revising & modifying the argument
1-22
23. Requirements for moral judgments:
o Should be logical
o Able to support our moral judgments with reasons & evidence
rather than basing them solely on emotion, sentiment or social
or personal preference.
o Our moral judgments should be logically compatible with our
other moral & nonmoral beliefs – avoid inconsistency.
o Should be based on facts
o Information should actually relate to the judgment, should be
complete or inclusive of all significant data, accurate or true.
o Should be based on acceptable moral principles
o Reliable moral judgments must be based on sound moral
principles – principles that are unambiguous & can withstand
critical scrutiny & rational criticism.
1-23
24. BUSINESS ETHICS IS A PROCESS OF
RESPONSIBLE DECISION-MAKING
The scandals and ruin experienced since the Enron collapse were
brought about by ethical failures.
We will discuss a decision-making model that can help individuals to
understand such failures and avoid future business and personal
tragedies.
Why explore ethics in business?
Because
Ethics Failures = Business Failures
1-24
25. AN ETHICAL CORPORATE
CLIMATE . . .
“…is either developing or deteriorating, enriching
itself or impoverishing itself. It needs constant
care and attention.”
Study by the Woodstock Center
Georgetown University, D.C.
1-25
26. AN ETHICAL CORPORATE CLIMATE…
“…the hottest places in hell are reserved for those
who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their
neutrality.”
- Dante
“In morality, as in literature – or in any field of
human creativity – indifference is the enemy;
indifference to evil is worse than evil.”
- Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
1-26
27. WHY IS ETHICS IMPORTANT IN THE
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT?
Consider the range of people who were harmed by the collapse
of Enron.
Stockholders lost over $1 billion in stock value.
Thousands of employees lost their jobs, their retirement
funds, and their health care benefits.
Consumers in California suffered from energy shortages
and blackouts that were caused by Enron’s manipulation
of the market.
Hundreds of businesses that worked with Enron as
suppliers suffered economic loss with the loss of a large
client. 1-27
28. WHY IS ETHICS IMPORTANT IN THE
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT?
Enron’s accounting firm, Arthur Andersen, went out
of business as a direct result.
The wider Houston community was also hurt by the
loss of a major employer and community benefactor.
Families of employees, investors, suppliers were
also hurt.
Many of the individuals directly involved will
themselves suffer criminal and civil punishment,
including prison sentences for some.
1-28
29. Multiply the harms by the dozens of other
companies implicated in similar scandals and
one gets an idea of why ethics is no longer
dismissed as irrelevant.
The consequences of unethical behavior and
unethical business institutions are too serious
for too many people to be ignored.
1-29
30. “STAKEHOLDERS”
The decisions made within a business firm will affect many more
people than only an individual.
Ethically responsible business decision-making must move beyond a
narrow concern with stockholders, and consider the impact that
decisions will have on a wide range of stakeholders.
A business stakeholder will be anyone who affects or is affected by
decisions made within the firm.
Failure to consider these additional stakeholders will have a
detrimental impact on those stakeholders, stockholders, and on the
firm’s long-term sustainability.
1-30
31. WHY CARE ABOUT ETHICS?
Unethical behavior creates financial and marketing risks.
A company can go out of business, and its employees can go to jail,
if no one is paying attention to the ethical standards of the firm.
A firm’s ethical reputation can provide a competitive advantage, or
disadvantage.
Consumer boycotts give even the most skeptical business leader
reason to pay attention to ethics.
Managing ethically can also pay significant dividends in
organizational structure and efficiency.
Trust, loyalty, commitment, creativity, and initiative are just some of
the organizational benefits that are more likely to flourish within
ethically stable and credible organizations.
1-31
32. REALITY CHECK
Why be good?
The Institute for Business, Technology and Ethics suggests the
following “Nine Good Reasons” to run a business ethically:
6. Litigation/indictment avoidance
7. Regulatory freedom
8. Public acceptance
9. Investor confidence
10. Supplier/partner trust
11. Customer loyalty
12. Employee performance
13. Personal pride
14. It’s right
1-32
33. DOES “RIGHT” OR “INTEGRITY” HAVE
REWARDS?
“While the headlines are going to all the guys who are doing it
wrong, there is a very strong corps of people who are really
committed to doing it right. Part of doing it right is you're not
doing it to get headlines. You're doing it to really make a
difference in the lives of people.”
-- Georgetown College President Bill Crouch, speaking at a
business ethics conference sponsored by the Ethical
Leadership Institute. ("Strong Ethics Help Businesses
Succeed, Conference Speakers Say," AP, Mar. 25)
1-33
34. BUSINESS ETHICS AS ETHICAL
DECISION-MAKING
Decisions which follow from a process of thoughtful and
conscientious reasoning will be more responsible and ethical
decisions.
Responsible decision-making and deliberation will result in
more responsible behavior.
What is the point of a business ethics course?
Ethics refers not only to an academic discipline, but to
that arena of human life studied by this academic
discipline, namely, how human beings should properly
live their lives.
An ethics course will not change your capacity to think,
but it could stimulate your choices of what to think about.
1-34
35. BUSINESS ETHICS AS ETHICAL
DECISION-MAKING
An ethics class strives to produce more ethical
behavior among the students who enroll. But the only
academically and ethically legitimate way to do this
is through careful and reasoned decision-making.
A process of rational decision-making, a process that
involves careful thought and deliberation, can and
will result in behavior that is both more reasonable
and more ethical.
1-35
38. WHAT IS “ETHICS?”
At its most basic level, ethics is concerned
with how we act and how we live our lives.
1-38
39. WHAT IS “ETHICS?”
Ethics involves what is perhaps the most monumental
question any human being can ask:
How should we live?
Ethics is, in this sense, practical, having to do with
how we act, choose, behave, do things.
Philosophers often emphasize that ethics is
normative, in that it deals with our reasoning about
how we should act.
1-39
40. WHAT IS “ETHICS?”
How should we live?
This fundamental question of ethics can be interpreted in two
ways.
"We" can mean each one of us individually, or it might mean
all of us collectively.
In the first sense, this is a question about how I should live my
life, how I should act, what I should do, what kind of person I
should be.
This meaning of ethics is sometimes referred to as morality,
and it is the aspect of ethics that we refer to by the phrase
“personal integrity.”
1-40
41. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY VS.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?
There will be many times within a business setting where an
individual will need to step back and ask:
What should I do? How should I act?
Social ethics raises questions of justice, public policy, law, civic
virtues, organizational structure, and political philosophy.
In the second sense, “How should we live?” refers to how we live
together in a community.
Business ethics is concerned with how business institutions ought to
be structured, about corporate social responsibility, and about
making decisions that will impact many people other than the
individual decision-maker.
1-41
42. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY VS.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY?
This aspect of business ethics asks us to examine
business institutions from a social rather than an
individual perspective.
We refer to this broader social aspect of ethics as
decision-making for social responsibility.
1-42
43. ETHICAL NORMS AND VALUES
Values =
Those beliefs that incline us to act or to choose in one way
rather than another.
A company’s core values, for example, are those beliefs and
principles that provide the ultimate guide in its decision-
making.
Individuals can have their own personal values and,
importantly, institutions also have values.
1-43
44. DISTINGUISHING VALUES
One way to distinguish various types of values is in terms of
the ends that they serve.
Financial values serve monetary ends, religious values
serve spiritual ends, aesthetic values serve the end of
beauty, legal values serve law, order, and justice, and so
forth.
Different types of values are distinguished by the various
ends served by those acts and choices.
So, how are ethical values to be distinguished from these other
types of values? What ends are served by ethics?
Ethical values are those beliefs and principles that
impartially promote human well-being.
1-44
45. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES VS.
ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES
The law provides a very important guide to ethical decision-
making, but legal norms and ethical norms are not identical nor
do they always agree.
Over the last decade, many corporations have established
ethics programs and hired ethics officers who are charged with
managing corporate ethics programs.
Much good work gets done by ethics officers, but it is fair to
say that much of this focuses on compliance issues. The
Sarbanes-Oxley Act created a dramatic and vast new layer of
legal compliance issues.
1-45
46. CAN’T THE LAW ANSWER THE
QUESTION OF RIGHT OR WRONG?
What’s good about this approach?
What’s challenging (negative) about this approach?
1-46
47. WHY LEGAL COMPLIANCE IS
INSUFFICIENT?
Holding that obedience to the law is sufficient to fulfill one’s
ethical duties begs the question of whether the law, itself, is
ethical.
Societies that value individual freedom will be reluctant to
legally require more than just an ethical minimum.
On a practical level, telling business that its ethical
responsibilities end with obedience to the law is just inviting
more legal regulation.
The law cannot possibly anticipate every new dilemma that
businesses might face; so, often, there may not be a regulation
for the particular dilemma that confronts a business leader.
The perspective that compliance is enough relies on a
misleading understanding of law. 1-47
48. REALITY CHECK
ETHICS GOES MAINSTREAM!
A 2003 poll by Deloitte of 5,000 directors of the top 4,000 publicly
traded companies reported that 98 percent believed that an ethics
and compliance program was an essential part of corporate
governance.
Over 80 percent had developed formal codes of ethics beyond those
required by Sarbanes-Oxley, and over 90 percent included
statements concerning the company’s obligations to employees,
shareholders, suppliers, customers, and the community at large in
their corporate code of ethics.
1-48
49. HOW IS ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING
DIFFERENT FROM OTHER DECISION-
MAKING?
Ethics is practical and normative
Ethics is therefore a vital element of practical
reasoning: reasoning about what we should do, and
is distinguished from theoretical reasoning, which is
reasoning about what we should believe.
Theoretical reason is the pursuit of truth, which is the
highest standard for what we should believe.
1-49
50. PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS AND
THEORIES
Is there a comparable methodology or procedure for
deciding what we should do and how we should act?
There are guidelines that can provide direction and
criteria for decisions that are more or less reasonable
and responsible: philosophical ethics.
Ethical theories are patterns of thinking, or
methodologies, to help us decide what to do.
1-50
There is an appropriate caution about influencing behavior within a classroom. Part of this hesitation involves the potential for abuse; expecting teachers to influence behavior may be viewed as permission for teachers to impose their own views on students. Many believe that teachers should remain value-neutral in the classroom and respect a student’s own views. Another part of this concern is that there can be a narrow line between motivating students and manipulating students. There are many ways to influence someone’s behavior, including threats, guilt, pressure, bullying, intimidation. Some of the executives involved in the worst of the recent corporate scandals were very good at using some of these means to motivate the people who worked for them. Presumably, none of these approaches belong in a college classroom, and especially not in an ethical classroom. But not all forms of influencing behavior raise such concerns. There is a major difference between manipulating someone and persuading someone, between threats and reasons. This textbook resolves the tension between knowledge and behavior by emphasizing ethical judgment, ethical deliberation, ethical decision-making. We agree with those who believe that an ethics class should strive to produce more ethical behavior among the students who enroll. But we believe that the only academically and ethically legitimate way to do this is through careful, and reasoned decision-making. Our fundamental assumption is that a process of rational decision-making, a process that involves careful thought and deliberation, can and will result in behavior that is both more reasonable and more ethical.
Example : Perhaps this view is not surprising after all. Consider any course within a business school curriculum. Doesn’t a management course aim to create better managers? Wouldn’t we judge as a failure any finance or accounting course that denied a connection between the course material and financial or accounting practice? Every course in a business school assumes a connection between what is taught in the classroom and appropriate business behavior. Classes in management, accounting, finance, marketing all aim to influence students’ behavior. All assume that the knowledge and reasoning skills learned in the classroom will lead to better decisions-making and therefore better behavior within a business context. A business ethics class is no different. While few teachers think that it is our role to tell students the right answers and proclaim what they ought to think and how they ought to live, fewer still think that there should be no connection between knowledge and behavior. Our role should not be to preach ethical dogma to a passive audience, but to treat students as active learners and engage them in an active process of thinking, questioning, and deliberating. Taking Socrates as our model, philosophical ethics rejects the view that passive obedience to authority or the simple acceptance of customary norms is an adequate ethical perspective. Teaching ethics must, on this view, involve students thinking for themselves. The decision-making model that will be presented in the next chapter offers one process of such ethical analysis, deliberation, and reasoning.
Definitions: Ethics is not something one abides by when convenient and then discards if too much trouble. All too often, firms in distress say they can’t “afford” to be ethical when their very existence is on the line. The bottom line is that they can’t afford not to be ethical at that point. [ Process: Later you’ll ask participants if there’s anything they would quit their job over. At this slide, you want to point out that firms, too, should have limits. There should be things they shouldn’t do and, if standing by their ethics means failing to survive, maybe they weren’t meant to survive.]
Social sciences such as psychology and sociology also examine human decision-making and actions, but these sciences are descriptive rather than normative. They provide an account of how and why people do act the way they do; as a normative discipline, ethics seeks an account of how and why people should act, rather than how they do act.
Ethical business leadership is exactly this skill: to create the circumstances in which good people are able to do good, and bad people are prevented from doing bad. Example: The Enron case provides an example. Sherron Watkins, an Enron vice president, seemed to understand fully the corruption and deception that was occurring within the company and she took some small steps to address the problems. But when it became clear that her concerns might be used against her by her boss, she backed off. So, too, with some of the Arthur Andersen auditors involved. When some individuals raised concerns about Enron’s accounting practices, their supervisors pointed out that the $100 million annual revenues generated by the Enron account provided good reasons to back off. The Decision Point, below, exemplifies the culture present at Enron during the heat of its downfall. Refer to: DECISION POINT Sherron Watkins
In essence, managerial decision-making will always involve both aspects of ethics. Each decision made by a business manager not only involves a personal decision, but also involves making a decision on behalf of, and in the name of, an organization that exists within a particular social, legal, and political environment. Within a business setting, individuals will constantly be asked to make decisions affecting both their own personal integrity and their social responsibilities. Refer to: Decision Point Management and Ethics
Company’s core values could refer to financial, religious, legal, historical, nutritional, political, scientific, and aesthetic values.
Example: One approach to Malden Mills, from the perspective of ethics, steps back from the facts of the situation to raise such questions as: What should the manager do? What are the rights and responsibilities involved? What advice ought Feuerstein’s tax accountant or human resource manager offer? What good will come from this situation? Is Feuerstein being fair, just, virtuous, kind, loyal, trustworthy ? This normative approach to business is at the center of business ethics. Ethical decision-making involves the basic categories, concepts, and language of ethics: shoulds, oughts, rights and responsibilities, goodness, fairness, justice, virtue, kindness, loyalty, trustworthiness, honesty, and the like.
Can’t the law answer our ethical dilemmas? [ Process: ask the participants to answer the slide’s questions.]
Consider one law that has significant impact of business decision-making: the Americans with Disability Act. This law requires employers to make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities. But what counts as a disability and what counts as a reasonable accommodation? Over the years, claims have been made that relevant disabilities include obesity, depression, dyslexia, arthritis, hearing loss, high blood pressure, facial scars, and the fear of heights. Whether or not such conditions are covered under the law will depend on a number of factors, including how severe the illness is and how it affects the employee’s ability to work. Imagine that you are a corporate human resource manager and an employee asks that you make reasonable accommodations for her allergy? How would you decide if allergies and hay-fever are disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act? The legal answer is ambiguous. The law offers general rules that get specified in case law. Most of the laws that concern business are based on past cases that establish legal precedents. Each precedent applies general rules to the specific circumstances of an individual case. In most business situations, asking “Is this legal?” is really to ask “Are these circumstances similar enough to past cases that the conclusions reached in those cases will also apply here?” Since there will always be some differences between cases, this will always remain an open question. Thus, there is not unambiguous answer to the conscientious business manager who wishes simply to obey the law. One simply cannot find the applicable rule, apply it to the situation, and deduce a decision from it.
According to this tradition, science is the great arbiter of truth. Science provides the methods and procedures for determining what is true. Thus, the scientific method can be thought of as the answer to the fundamental questions of theoretical reason: What should we believe?
These traditions, or what are often referred to as ethical theories, explain and defend various norms, standards, values, and principles that contribute to responsible ethical decision-making.