WHAT IS ETHICS?

DERIVED FROM THE GREEK WORD ETHOS ALSO KNOWN AS MORAL PHILOSOPHY

WHAT ETHICS IS NOT!!!

COMMON UNETHICAL ACTS lying to supervisors;

falsifying records;
alcohol and drug abuse; conflict of interest; stealing ; gift/entertainment receipt in violation of company policy

KEY CAUSES OF UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR

meeting overly aggressive financial or business objectives meeting schedule pressures helping the organization survive rationalizing that others do it resisting competitive threats Pressure to perform at expected levels Competition within the industry

ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE

PLENTY OF EXAMPLES ON UNETHICAL CORPORATE PRACTICES; BUSINESS EXISTS IN THE SOCIAL AND NATURAL ENVIRONMENT;

TWO TRAJECTORIES AVAILABLE

 BEING PAID TO DO THE WRONG JOB DOES NOT MAKE IT THE RIGHT THING; UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS WRONG;

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHICS AND LAWS & RULES;

ETHICAL COURSES CONTENT

WHY BUSINESS ETHICS

WHY SHOULD BUSINESS PEOPLE BE ETHICAL; WHAT IS THE MOTIVATION; ETHICS IS SOMETHING YOU FEEL, NOT SOMETHING YOU THINK

UNETHICAL BUSINESS PRACTICES

CUTTING CORNERS ON QUALITY; COVERING UP INCIDENTS; LYING CUSTOMERS;

TAKING CREDITS FROM COWORKERS IDEAS/WORK; FINANCIAL SCANDALS;

 Discrimination; Sexual harassment;

Firing an employee for whistle blowing;

Divulging confidential information;

PRODUCT SAFETY

KEY INFLUENCES ON ETHICAL BEHAVIOR;

PERSONAL VALUES; SUPERVISOR INFLUENCE; SENIOR MANAGEMENT INFLUENCE; INTERNAL DRIVE TO SUCCEED;

Cont
PERFORMANCE PRESSURES; LACK OF PUNISHMENT; FRIENDS/COWORKER INFLUENCE

BRIEF HISTORY
EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURY;

ETHICAL= HONOUR + VIRTUE;

THOMAS PERCIVAL PROPOSED A LIST FOR THE MEDICAL FRATERNITY; BOSTON MEDICAL SOCIETY DEVELOPED ITS OWN CODE; AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PREPARED THE FIRST CODE OF ETHICS

NORMATIVE/ PRESCRIPTIVE ETHICS

BRANCH OF PHILOSPHICAL ETHICS;

THE QUESTION
HOW OUGHT ONE ACT, MORALLY SPEAKING?

THREE TYPES OF NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES;

VIRTUE ETHICS
THE AGENT ADVOCATED BY ARISTOTLE

DEONTOLOGY
THE ACT

CONSEQUENTIALISM
CONSEQUENCES OF THE ACT

MORALITY
DERIVED FROM THE LATIN WORD MORES, MORALIS OR MOR ;

SYSTEM OR SET OF BELIEFS OR PRINCIPLES.

APPLIED ETHICS
WHAT IS IT? THE QUESTION
HOW DO WE TAKE MORAL KNOWLEDGE AND PUT IT INTO PRACTICE?

DUTY
DERIVED FROM THE WORD "DUE," WHICH MEANS OWING; CONVEYS A SENSE OF MORAL COMMITMENT TO SOMETHING OR SOMEONE ; BREACH OF TRUST- UNETHICAL;

COMES OUT OF A POSITION THAT A PERSON HOLDS.

RIGHT
EVERYONE HAS THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY,TO INFORMATION, TO SAFETY, TO EQUITY; ANY ACT THAT VIOLATES THESE RIGHTS IS TERMED AS UNETHICAL;

E.G. DRIVING INTERNET

Ethical Dilemmas
STEM FROM SOURCES: THREE

FACETO-FACE ETHICS

CORPORATE ETHICS FUNCTIONALETHICS

POLICY

AREA

FACETOFACE ETHICS HUMAN ELEMENT IS INVOLVED

SUCH DILEMMAS ARISE OFTEN

CORPORATE POLICY ETHICS

COMPANIES ARE OFTEN FACED WITH ETHICAL DILEMMAS THAT AFFECT THEIR OPERATIONS ACROSS ALL DEPARTMENTS AND DIVISIONS. THE ETHICAL DECIDING BURDEN OF CORPORATE

 THE TOP MANAGEMENT AND THE DIRECTORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING THE CORPORATE POLICIES AND THE ONUS OF IMPLEMENTING THEM.
YOUR R&D DEPT HAS MODERNIZED ONE OF THE PRODUCTS. BUT IT IS NOT REALLY IMPROVED AND NEW. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

FUNCTIONAL AREA ETHICS

RELATES TO THE DIFFERENT FUNCTIONAL DEPARTMENTS OF A COMPANY.

ACCOUNTING IS A CRITICAL FUNCTION OF ANY BUSINESS.

ACCOUNTING STATEMENTS REVEAL TO THE MANAGERS AND THE OWNERS ABOUT THE FINANCIAL

EGOISM VS. ALTRUISM

ETHICAL EGOISM STATES THAT WE OUGHT TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR US, THAT IT IS NOT ONLY OUR RIGHT, BUT OUR DUTY TO LOOK AFTER OUR OWN INTERESTS FIRST.

 ETHICAL ALTRUISM IS THE OPPOSITE, AND STATES THAT WE SHOULD LOOK AFTER THE INTERESTS OF OTHERS AHEAD OF OURS.
IF THE SOCIETY HAD TO CHOOSE ONE OF THESE TWO EXTREMES, WITH WHICH DO YOU THINK WE'D BE BETTER OFF?

METHODS OF ETHICAL REASONING

UTILITARIAN: COMPARES THE COSTS AND BENEFITS OF A DECISION, POLICY, OR AN ACTION. RIGHTS: RESPECTING BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS. JUSTICE: JUSTICE OR FAIRNESS EXISTS WHEN BENEFITS AND BURDENS ARE DISTRIBUTED

METHODS OF ETHICAL REASONING

METHOD CRITICAL DETERMININ G FACTOR AN ACTION IS ETHICAL WHEN. LIMITATIONS
UTILITARIAN Comparing benefits Net benefits and costs exceed net costs Difficult to measure some human and social costs. Majority may disregard rights of minority Difficult to balance conflicting rights

RIGHTS

Respecting rights

Basic human rights are respected

JUSTICE

Distributing fair shares

Benefits and costs Difficult to measure are equally benefits and costs. distributed Lack of agreement on fair shares

AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

STEP 1 Ask
UTILITY Do benefits exceed costs? RIGHTS Are human rights respected?

JUSTICE Are benefits and costs

fairly distributed?

AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

STEP 2 Compare results
If yes is the answer to all three questions, it is probably ethical.

If yes and no are mixed, it could be either ethical or unethical.

If no is the answer to all three questions, it is probably unethical.

AN ANALYTICAL APPROACH TO ETHICAL PROBLEMS

STEP 3 ASSIGN PRIORITIES TO

UTILITY

RIGHTS

JUSTICE

STEPS TO SOLVE ETHICAL DILEMMAS

CONSIDER ONES MOTIVES AND DETACH THEM FROM ONES DECISIONS; CONSIDER ONES OWN CODE OF CONDUCT/ ETHICS;

CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES;

LISTEN TO ONES GUT FEELINGS