THE INFLUENCE OF BELIEF

SYSTEMS IN BUSINESS
PRACTICES
for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Senior High School (ABM)
Quarter 1 / Week 6

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 FOREWORD

This Self Learning Kit for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
explores all concepts necessary to help learners know the different
belief systems that serve a great impact on business practices.
This gives students a strong foundation which will be used when they
will choose to start their own business or choose business courses in the
future.
It is aligned with the BEC of the Department of Education following the
prescribed MELCs (Most Essential Learning Competencies.
It has the following features proven to be valuable aids to learning
BESR even at home.
What Happened
This section contains pre-activities like a story that will give them
motivation to study and also a pretest of the prior knowledge.
What You Need To Know (Discussion)
This section includes the definition of terms and explanation of the
impact of the belief system to the business practices.
What Have I Learned (Evaluation/Post Test)
The exercises contained in this section are guaranteed to build
comprehension, skills, and competence. These serve as a diagnostic
tool to identify the learners’ areas of strengths and difficulties.
 OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the learners are expected to:
K: Familiarize with the belief systems that influence business
practices;
S: Explain how the belief systems influence business practices;
A: Appreciate the importance of these belief systems to
businesses.

LEARNING COMPETENCY:
Explain how the belief systems influence business practices
(ABM_ESR12-IIIe-h-2.2)

I. What Happened

In the field of business, belief systems supply core values

and provide directions for organizational operations. Many
parts of the world are heavily influenced by religious belief
systems and religious institutions.

Now, can you identify the different religious beliefs that

possibly influence business practices?. Of course you will
know some of them by answering the questions in the puzzle.

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PRETEST:
Let's talk about beliefs!
Instruction: Read the clues below and fill in the correct answer.

Across
1. It is set of beliefs and practices that is often focused on one or more deities, or
gods.
2. Have many deities.
3. Founded by Siddhartha Gautama.
4. Believed that there is one God, and Jesus is the only Son of God.
10. Ideology or set of principles that helps us to interpret our everyday reality. This
could be in the form of religion, philosophy, or moral code.
Down
5. Founded by The Prophet Muhammad
6. Believes in one deity.
7. Founded by Guru Nanak
8. Believed that souls continue to be reborn. The cycle of rebirth ends when the
soul achieves enlightenment, or freedom from earthly desires.
9. Founded by Abraham. Believed that there is one God. People serve God by
living according to his teachings. God handed down the Ten Commandments to
guide human behavior.

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II. What You Need to Know
Belief System

It is a set of principles or tenets which together form the basis of a religion,

philosophy, or moral code.

Religion and belief systems are important parts of cultures around the world.

Religion
A set of beliefs and practices that is often focused on one or more deities, or
gods.

Monotheistic
Believes in one deity
Examples are Christianity, Islam and Judaism

Polytheistic
Believes in many deities
Example is Hinduism

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 6 MAJOR RELIGIONS
(Anthony 2014)

Buddhism
Founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha
Basic Belief: People reach enlightenment, or wisdom, by following the Eightfold
Path and understanding the Four Noble Truths.

Hinduism
DISCUSSION
Basic Belief: Souls continue to be reborn. The cycle of rebirth ends only when
the soul achieves enlightenment, or freedom from earthly desires.

Christianity
Founded by Jesus of Nazareth
Basic Belief: There is one God, and Jesus is the only Son of God. Jesus was
crucified but was resurrected. Followers reach salvation by following the
teachings of Jesus.

Islam
Founded by the Prophet Muhammad
Basic Belief: There is one God. Followers must follow the Five Pillars of Islam in
order to achieve salvation.

Judaism
Founded by Abraham
Basic Belief: There is one God. People serve God by living according to his
teachings. God handed down the Ten Commandments to guide human
behavior.

Sikhism
Founded by Guru Nanak
Basic Belief: There is one God. Souls are reborn. The goal is to achieve union
with God, which a person does by acting selflessly, meditating and helping
others.

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 The Impact of Belief System to Business Practices
Islamic Business Ethic

It is a set of values about the good, bad, right, wrong, and halal, haram in the
business world based on the principles of morality are in accordance with
Shariah.
Islamic business ethics are based on Al-qur’an and Hadits.

The principles of business ethics according to Al-Qur’an:

Prohibits business conducted by the evil (Surah 4:29)
The business must not contain elements of usury (Surah 2:275).
Business activities also have a social function either through Zakat and alms
(Surah 9:34).
The right to prohibit the reduction of an item or commodity that is acquired or
processed with medium dose or scales because it is a form of tyranny (Surah
11:85).
Upholding the values of both economic and social balance, safety and
kindness and do not approve of the damage and injustice.
Prohibited businesses do wrong (cheating) either for himself or to other
businesses (Surah 7:85, QS.2 : 205)

Ethics in Business Guide Rasulullah

Honesty
Awareness about the social significance of business activity.
Did not perjury.
Welcoming/friendly.
Should not pretend bid at high prices, so that other people are interested in
buying at that price.
Should not speak ill of other people’s business.
Business mut not interfere with the activities of worship to God.
Paying employee wages before the sweat dried.
Not monopoly.
Should not be doing business in a state danger that can be harmful and
damaging individual and social life.
Commodity businesses that sell goods that are holy and lawful.
Business done voluntarily, without coercion.

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Continuation

Soon be paying off credit obligations.

Gives grace period if the debtor has not been able to afford.
Christian Business Ethic

The Bible is the guidelines of business ethic

Work is God’s gift to humans as well as being God’s call to them (Gen 1:28).
The Old Testament contains laws and injunctions about the fair treatment of
employees, e.g. Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 25:13-15.
Honesty in business. (Prov. 3:32).

Business Ethics in Hinduism

There are three key reasons why ethics plays a key role in business in Hinduism:
It is crucial that ethics have a considerable influence if we want an efficient,
smoothly operating economy. Ethics helps the market to its best.
The government, laws and lawyers cannot resolve certain key problems of
business and protect the society: ethics can.
Ethical activity is valuable, for its own sake, because it enhances the quality of
lives and the work we do. Business has an ethical responsibility for fairness for
humanity.

Virtues in the Bhagavad Gita (Paramitha 2014)

Krishna mentions qualities in business, which are:
To be peaceful
Charitable
Simple
Clean
Mild-mannered
Magnanimous
Saintly
Equitable
Truthful
Obedient and merciful
“One should surrender the fruits of one’s actions to God and avoid greediness.”

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Buddhism and Business Ethics

Explaining the intersection of Buddhism and business ethics is easy and difficult
at the same time. It is easy because there are so many grounds on which this is
justified, and hard, because space for explaining and analyzing all these
grounds is limited.
The justification for adhering to Buddhist psychology in business will therefore be
limited to four perspectives:
1. Accepting personal responsibility for actions.

Buddhism strongly emphasizes the concept of cause and effect. It says the
what is happening now is just the result of our prior decisions and actions. The
Buddhist mindset will discourage mean-spirited and predatory actions.
2. Understanding the importance of healthy detachment

Detachment is yet another strong virtue in Buddhist practice. It says that those
business practitioners will have less control issues, power hunger, or profit
insatiability. Those people will refrain from greedily reach for positions, titles or
possessions, to think that these are impermanent.
3. Nurturing the will to collaborate with others

These encourage the Buddhist practitioners to open themselves to others, to

have a greater collaboration and less selfishness. It says that the ego is a
hindrance toward interconnectivity. At any rate, today’s business environments
call for heightened levels of collaboration.
4. Practicing right livelihood

Right livelihood is one of the elements of the “Noble Eightfold Path,” in

Buddhism also known as the “Fourth Noble Truth.” The four noble truths are
foundational in Buddhism and basically entail that suffering exists (first Noble
Truth), suffering has a cause (second Noble Truth), suffering can be ended (third
Noble Truth), and the way to end suffering is through the Noble Eightfold Path
(fourth Noble Truth). The Noble Eightfold Path encompasses the following
practices or insights: Right View; Right Intention; Right Speech; Right Action;
Right Livelihood; Right Effort; Right Mindfulness; and Right Concentration. There
is no specific sequence in this set of insights, because they are interrelated
(Marques HYPERLINK
"https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-23514-
1_550-1" \l "CR6" \o "View reference" 2017).
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 Example of How Belief Systems Affect Business Practices

In first decade of the second millennium, Christian Ethics scholars have fruitfully
debated whether capitalism and the market economy deserve grateful
praise because of its virtues or calls for abolition for being praiseworthy in
taking up the call to make businesses more socially responsible.
In the specific case of Catholic faith-in-action, one integrative finding involves
the Catholic perspective of human life. A Catholic businessman obliges
himself to struggle to succeed in business while serving the community and
trying to live the life of a good Catholic in a world of temptations and
contradicting realities. They have to be ready to question the status quo, to
stand on principles, and to transform their communities: Catholic men and
women, leaving the halls of learning ready to fight good fight – to pay taxes
properly, to not bribe, to speak against corruption, to create jobs and pay
living wages, to provide quality goods and services, to not steal nor cheat,
men and women whose hearts and minds are oriented toward the alleviation
of poverty and to being good Catholic business people.

In the Philippines, a good number of Filipino Catholics/Christians have given

ground to the demand that religion resonate with the needs and desires of
ordinary believers, especially the poor and marginalized (Sison and Palma-
Angeles, 1997). Two successful Philippine cases of socially oriented enterprises
created by prominent Catholic or Christian businessmen are: (1) Gawad
Kaling and (2) Bangko Kabayan, an economy of Communion based bank.
(Racelis 2017)

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III. What Have I Learned

EVALUATION/POST TEST:

Direction: Choose the best answer for each of the following questions. Write
your answer in your activity notebook.

1. Which does NOT belong to the four perspectives of Buddhism to business ?

A. Accepting personal responsibility for actions.
B. Understanding the importance of healthy detachment
C. Nurturing the will to separate with others
D. Practicing right livelihood

2. Which does NOT belong to the key reasons why ethics plays a key role in
business in Hinduism?
A. Ethics have an influence if we want an efficient, smoothly operating
economy.
B. The government, laws and lawyers can resolve certain key problems of
business and protect the society based on the perspective of Hinduism.
C. Ethics can resolve certain key problems of business and protect society.
D. Business has an ethical responsibility for fairness for humanity.

3. What religion says that “Work is God’s gift to humans as well as being God’s call
to them (Gen 1:28).”?
A. Hinduism
B. Buddhism
C. Christianism
D. Islam

4. What is the basis of Islamic Business Ethics?

A. Al-qur’an and Hadits
B. The Bible
C. The Ten Commandments
D. Four Noble Truths

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5. Krishna mentions qualities in business except for __________.
A. Clean
B. Simple
C. Equitable
D. Wild-mannered

6. Right livelihood is one of the elements of the “Noble Eightfold Path” in Buddhism
also Known as _________________.
A. Livelihood
B. The Bible
C. The Fourth Noble Truth
D. The Ten Commandments

7. Which statement is the principle of business ethics according to Al-Qur’an?

A. Awareness about the social significance of business activity
B. Should not speak ill of other people’s business
C. Should not pretend bid at high prices
D. Upholding the values of both economic and social balance, safety and
kindness and do not approve of the damage and injustice.

8. What business ethics religion where ethical activity is valuable, for its own sake,
because it enhances the quality of lives and the work they do. Business has an
ethical responsibility for fairness for humanity.
A. Business ethics in Buddhism
B. Business ethics in Christianity
C. Business ethics in Hinduism
D. Business ethics in Islam

9. A religion where the basic belief that Jesus was crucified but was resurrected.
Also, Followers reach salvation by following the teachings of Jesus.
A. Buddhism
B. Christianity
C. Hinduism
D. Islam

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10. One of the perspectives in the justification for adhering Buddhist psychology
in business of which Buddhism strongly emphasizes the concept of cause and
effect.

A. Accepting personal responsibility for actions

B. Nurturing the will to collaborate with others
C. Practicing right livelihood
D. Understanding the importance of healthy detachment

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 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

JOELYZA M. ARCILLA, EdD

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

MARCELO K. PALISPIS, EdD

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

NILITA L. RAGAY, EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent
CID Chief

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)

ELISA L. BAGUIO, EdD

Division Education Program Supervisor – MATHEMATICS

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

KRISTA MARIE P. ALMOGEN

Writer

LITTIE BETH S. BERNADEZ

Lay-out Artist
________________________________

ALPHA QA TEAM
LITTIE BETH S. BERNADEZ
MERCYDITHA D. ENOLPE
RONALD G. TOLENTINO
DIDITH T. YAP

BETA QA TEAM
ELIZABETH A. ALAP-AP
EPIFANIA Q. CUEVAS
NIDA BARBARA S. SUASIN
VRENDIE P. SYGACO
MELBA S. TUMARONG
HANNAHLY L. UMALI

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 REFERENCES

Anthony, S. 03 Dec 2014. Religions and Belief System. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/SandyAn, thony1/232-religions-and-belief-
systems?from_action=save

Marquez, J. 2 Aug 2019. Retrieved from

https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-23514-
1_550-1

Paramitha, M. 14 Jun 2014. Business Ethics in Religion. Retrieved from

https://www.slideshare.net/michaparamitha/business-ethic-in-religion

Racelis, A. 2017. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. 856 Nicanor Reyes, Sr.
St. Sampaloc, Manila: Rex Printing Company, Inc.,

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 SYNOPSIS AND ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ANSWER KEY
This Self Learning Kit (SLK) is about 10. A D
explaining how the different 9. B A
belief system influences the 8. C C
business practices. 7. D B
6. C C
There is an inspiring story that will POST TEST

help you appreciate the Judaism

importance of these belief Hinduism
system to the business practices. Sikkhism

Moreover, you will also know the

Monotheistic
Islam
different religion and their belief Down:
system.
Belief system
Christianity
Find enjoyment in learning this Buddhism

SLK and go over the discussion

Polytheistic
Religion
and examples if you have not yet Across
mastered a concept. PRETEST

Krista Marie Pastidio Almogen graduated at St.

Francis College – Guihulngan with a degree of
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major
in Banking and Finance. Studied at Foundation
University with a course of Bachelor of Secondary
Education – Crash Program. Studied Master of Arts in
Teaching Mathematics at CTU Moalboal campus in
2016. She worked at Semigire Corporation from 2009-
2016. She is currently teaching at Sibulan National
High School Balugo Extension as grade 11 STEM
Adviser.
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