AN OVERVIEW

 the nature, scope and purpose of business ethics

 the distinguishing features of morality and how it
differs from etiquette, law and professional codes of
conduct
 the doctrine of ethical relativism and its difficulties
 what it means to have moral principles, the nature of
conscience and the relationship between morality and
self-interest.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students should be able to

 elaborate on morality, ethics and business ethics

 discuss the difference between morality and etiquette,
law and professional codes of conduct
 identify the importance of having moral principles
ETHICS
Comes from the Greek word ethos, meaning character or custom

Basic concerns of ETHICS, according to R.C. Solomon:

 (1) individual character – what it means to be “good person”

 (2) the social rules that govern and limit our conduct – the
ultimate rules concerning right and wrong which call morality

 Moral values – guide how we ought to behave, such as respect,

honesty, fairness, responsibilities

* Learning what are right or wrong and then doing the right thing
Business Ethics

 Business – any organization whose objective is to

provide goods or services for profit

 Business Ethics – what is right or wrong in the

workplace and doing what is right – this is in regard to
effects of products/ services and in relationships with
stakeholders (which include employees, customers,
suppliers and the community)
Personal and Business Ethics

 One’s personal ethics cannot be neatly divorced from

one’s organizational ethics.

 Ethics in the workplace helps ensure that when

leaders and managers are struggling in times of crises
and confusion, they retain a strong moral compass.
MORAL VERSUS NONMORAL
STANDARDS
MORAL STANDARDS

Moral Standards are different because they:

(1) concern behaviour that is of serious consequences to human welfare

(2) are more important than other considerations, including self-interest

(3) their soundness depends on the adequacy of the reasons that support
or justify them

Moral standards do not have bodies to govern them unlike:

 fashion standards set by fashion designers

 technical standards set out by experts

 laws and legislation by Parliaments

Non Moral Standards
 What falls outside the scope of moral concern

 Any violations that does not pose a serious threat to

human well-being

Example: wearing shorts to a formal party

* Morality is different from etiquette, law and

professional codes of ethics
Etiquette
 Rules for well-mannered behaviour
Example: Bad etiquette – chew with one’s mouth open
Good etiquette – to say “please” when requesting and
“thank you” when receiving

 However, violations of etiquette can have moral

implications
Example: The male boss calls his female
subordinates as “honey” shows bad manners – verbal
sex abuse – raise moral issues concerning equal
treatment.
 Morality and Law

(1) An action can be illegal but morally right

Example: helping a Jewish family to hide from the Nazis
was against German law in 1939.

(2) An action that is legal can be morally wrong

Example: A profitable company lay off workers.

 Professional Codes of Ethics

Rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of members

of a given profession.
Example: Client confidentiality

Not a completely reliable guide to one’s moral obligations.

Where Do Moral Standards Come
From? Law, Etiquette, Religion?

Sources of Influence on Moral Standards:

 Early upbringing
 Behaviour of those around us
 Explicit and implicit standards of our culture – formal
education and informal exposure
 Past experiences - Personal critical reflections on
those experiences
ETHICAL RELATIVISM
 The theory that what is right in one place may be
wrong in another, because the only criterion for
distinguishing right from wrong is the moral system
of the society in which the act occurs.

Example: Abortion is condemned as immoral in

Catholic Ireland but is practiced as morally neutral
form of birth control in Japan

Wrong in Ireland BUT morally permissible in Japan

ETHICAL RELATIVISM
 Unpleasant Implications:

1) Undermines any moral criticism of the practices of other

societies as long as their actions conform to their own
standards.

2) There is no such thing as ethical progress.

3) The moral code itself cannot be criticized because whatever a

society takes to be right really is right for it.

The minority can never be right in moral matters; to be

right it must become the majority.
HAVING MORAL PRINCIPLES
 When a person accepts a moral principle, that person is
strongly motivated toward the conduct required by the
principle, and against behaviour that conflicts with that
principle.

 Conscience – sense of right and wrong

Moral Principles and Self-Interest

 Morality serves to restrain our purely self-interested desires so

we can all live together.

 The moral standards of a society provide the basic guidelines for

cooperative social existence and allow conflicts to be resolved
by appeal to shared principles of justification.
MORALITY AND PERSONAL VALUES
Morality

 In narrow sense – is the principles that do or should

guide people’s conduct and relations with others.

 In broader sense – encompasses values, principles and

aspirations (goals) that shape a person’s life.
INDIVIDUAL INTEGRITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY
The Individual Inside the Corporation

 The structure and function of organizations require

their members adhere to organizational norms and
force commitment and conformity to them.
INDIVIDUAL INTEGRITY AND
RESPONSIBILITY
Organizational Norms

 One of the major characteristics of an organization is the shared

acceptance of organizational rules by its members – can be conscious
or unconscious – because an organization can survive only if it holds
its members together.

 One’s degree of commitment – the extent to which one accepts group

norms and subordinates self to organizational goals – is a measure of
one’s loyalty to the “team”.

 Role conflict between what is expected of them as efficient, profit-

minded members of an organization and what is expected of them as
ethical persons.
Discussion Questions

(1) Why ethical reasoning is used in business?

Discuss.

(2) It is imperative to use ethical reasoning in

business. Discuss.