*1Business Ethics Fundamentals

An Introduction.

ImportanceEthical Issues InventoryPublic OpinionSources of Ethical Norms

*Learning Objective

Understanding business ethics and social responsibility makes you informed of your rights as a consumer, an employee, and a citizen.

*Why it is Important?

*IntroductionInventory of Ethical Issues in Business

Employee-Employer RelationsEmployer-Employee RelationsCompany-Customer RelationsCompany-Shareholder RelationsCompany-Community/Public Interest

*Publics Opinion of Business EthicsTo understand public sentiment towards business ethics, ask three questionsHas business ethics really deteriorated?Are the media reporting ethical problems more frequently and vigorously?Are practices that once were socially acceptable no longer socially acceptable?

*Business Ethics: What Does It Really Mean?DefinitionsEthics involves a discipline that examines good or bad practices within the context of a moral dutyMoral conduct is behavior that is right or wrongBusiness ethics include practices and behaviors that are good or bad

*Business Ethics: What Does It Really Mean?Two Key Branches of EthicsDescriptive ethics involves describing, characterizing and studying moralityWhat isNormative ethics involves supplying and justifying moral systemsWhat should be

*Conventional Approach to Business EthicsConventional approach to business ethics involves a comparison of a decision or practice to prevailing societal normsPitfall: ethical relativism

Decision or Practice Prevailing Norms

*Sources of Ethical Norms

*Ethics and the LawLaw often represents an ethical minimumEthics often represents a standard that exceeds the legal minimumEthicsLawFrequent Overlap

*Making Ethical Judgments Behavior or act that has been committedPrevailing norms of acceptabilityValue judgments and perceptions of the observercompared with

*Four Important Ethical QuestionsWhat is?What ought to be?How to we get from what is to what ought to be?What is our motivation for acting ethically?

*3 Models of Management EthicsImmoral ManagementA style devoid of ethical principles and active opposition to what is ethical.Moral ManagementConforms to high standards of ethical behavior.Amoral ManagementIntentional - does not consider ethical factorsUnintentional - casual or careless about ethical considerations in business

Developing Moral Judgment6-23

*Developing Moral JudgmentExternal Sources of a Managers ValuesReligious valuesPhilosophical valuesCultural valuesLegal valuesProfessional values

*Developing Moral JudgmentInternal Sources of a Managers ValuesRespect for the authority structureLoyaltyConformityPerformanceResults

*Elements of Moral JudgmentMoral imaginationMoral identification and orderingMoral evaluationTolerance of moral disagreement and ambiguityIntegration of managerial and moral competenceA sense of moral obligation

THANK YOU*

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