SHS

BUSINESS ETHICS
Module 7
Business Ethics
Grade 12: Module 7
First Edition, 2021

Copyright © 2021
La Union Schools Division
Region I

All rights reserved. No part of this module may be reproduced in any

form without written permission from the copyright owners.

Development Team of the Module

Author: Hannah Chorie Lynne S. Tejada, T I

Editor: SDO La Union, Learning Resource Quality Assurance Team

Illustrator: Ernesto F. Ramos Jr., P II

Management Team:

Atty. Donato D. Balderas, Jr.

Schools Division Superintendent

Vivian Luz S. Pagatpatan, Ph.D

Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

German E. Flora, Ph.D, CID Chief

Virgilio C. Boado, Ph.D, EPS in Charge of LRMS
Lorna O. Gaspar, EPS in Charge of ABM
Michael Jason D. Morales, PDO II
Claire P. Toluyen, Librarian II
 Target

Philosophies, belief systems and values are the foundation of business

practices. Those were patterned to create a more balanced working environment.
With those, work place can function effectively.

In your previous lessons, you have learned how philosophies, belief systems
and Filipino value system influence business practices.

This learning material will provide you with information and activities that
will help you understand and create ways to improve some of the practices
observed in a business setting.

After going through this learning material, you are expected to:

1. Generate ways to improve business practices guided by the philosophies,

belief system or Filipino values (ABM_ESR12-IIIe-h-2.4)
 Jumpstart
Activity 1: Recall me!

Given on the previous learning materials, you can recall that there are different
factors that influence the practices in the business world, here’s some activity
prepared for you in order to understand more the lesson.

A. Direction: Answer the questions below. Use a clean sheet of paper in

answering the questions.
1. Which of the following refers to the moral principle that guide the way a
business behaves and is the study of what is the right and wrong human
behavior and conduct in business?

A. Business ethics B. Code of ethics

C. Moral values D. Virtue ethics
2. Which of the following refers to the harmonious interpersonal relationship?

A. Bahala na B. Mañana habit

C. Ningas-cogon D. Pakikisama
3. Under what principle does business decision makers should be reminded
that the Earth’s resources are not constant and therefore, being responsible
in its usage is a way of respecting the natural order of things as planned by
God himself?

A. Egalitarianism B. Equality
C. Parity D. Stewardship
4. Which of the following focuses on the character of the person and the virtue
he manifests?

A. Business ethics B. Code of ethics

C. Moral values D. Virtue ethics
5. “This means in everything that we do, we must avoid doing the extremes.”
The preceding statement is a demonstration of what principle?

A. Golden mean B. Golden Rule

C. Principle of Equality D. Principle of parity

B. Direction: Examine each statement below. Identify what it pertains to

and choose from the pool of words for your answer.
6. He is famous for his method of question and answer that leads to critical
thinking.
7. It is the reflection of Filipinos’ strong faith in God as seen in their various
practices like observing customary holidays.
 8. Its ethical teaching is to relieve all forms of human suffering.
9. It refers to the friendly and generous reception and entertaining of guests,
visitors or strangers.
10. He is a towering figure in ancient Greek philosophy, making contributions to
logic, metaphysics, mathematics, physics, biology, botany, ethics, politics,
agriculture, medicine, dance, and theater.

Hinduism Plato Christianity

Filial Piety Islam Aristotle
Socrates Resilience and Religiosity Faith and Religiosity
Buddhism Hospitality Thales

Discover

Being inside the business world, one can observe that there certain actions
being practiced inside by the employees and also the employers. And it exists
because of the traditions, policies, belief of the people around it. Here are some of
the key points that you should consider in improving those practices:

1. Establish good communication with your co-workers.

Communication is one of the vital elements in having a good work environment. It

is the bridge that connects the two different into understanding each other. Aside
from that, having a good communication within the workplace avoids conflict. It
also welcomes new ideas from your co-worker.

2. Treating all stakeholders honestly, fairly and with respect.

Having you, treating all your stakeholders honestly, fairly and with respect have a
great impact on them. This will make your employees feel important and thus, will
boost their morale and will make their work more productive.

3. Regularly evaluate the policies implemented in your business.

Reevaluating policies is one of the important keys in improving the business

practice in work environment. It is because policies can be effective for a certain
time but not always. It can affect the productivity of your employees or much
worse, it will create conflict.

Now that you already know the key points in improving business practices, let’s
examine the examples below what philosophies/belief/value does each statement
embodies.
Example No. 1
Assessing benefits and associated risks of a venture before proceeding.

Given the statement above, it is safe to say that it was influenced by the Socratic
method of questions and answer because it constantly questions the decision
makers if their chosen answer is the best among all their choices considering the
consequences of their choice.

Example No. 2
Ensuring the sustainability of a business by reconsidering the environmental
issues faced by the community.

This statement can be related to the principle of stewardship wherein God

appointed people to become the stewards of Earth. It simply says that we, human
being should take good care of all the things on earth.

Explore

Enrichment Activity 1: Riddle, riddle on the table.

Direction: Read and understand what is being said on the article below.
Identify the business practices mentioned below and write in a separate
sheet of paper.

Just as the year 2020 started, the world has been greeted with several
problems that had put a lot of people in danger and one of those is the
spread of the Corona Virus Disease or what they called CoViD-19 that later
on became a pandemic that threatens the lives of human beings. In
response with the precautionary measures advised by the World Health
Organization, ABC Corporation, a brewing company based in the
Philippines, reevaluated their employees’ work arrangement from going into
office into work-from-home to ensure their safety against CoViD-19. They
also provide another work arrangement for their employees that are
included in the skeleton workforce by providing them a shuttle bus that will
fetch and take them back to their homes. Recently, the said corporation
also converted one of its factories into making disinfectant alcohol because
of the low stock of disinfecting alcohol at hospitals and also at homes. Said
corporation also intends to donate the produced disinfecting alcohol to
hospitals and communities under quarantine. ABC Corporation’s
subsidiary XYZ Pharmaceuticals also converted one of their facilities into
CoViD-19 testing laboratory for their 50,000 employees.
Enrichment Activity 2: Understand me, classify me!

Using the philosophies, belief system/Filipino value discussed on the

previous learning materials, generate a good practice that can be seen in the
business setting. Write your answer on a clean sheet of paper.

1.
Business practice:

Guided by which philosophy?

2.
Business practice:

Guided by which philosophy?

3.
Business practice:

Guided by what belief system?

4.
Business practice: __ _
__ _

Guided by what belief system?

 5.
Business practice:

Guided by what Filipino value?

6.
Business practice: _

Guided by what Filipino value?

Deepen
Direction: Read the following business practices. Think of ways to improve
each statement by revising it to become good business practice. Write your
answer on a clean sheet of paper.

1. Not evaluating the performance of all employees of the unit, using

established performance management guidelines.

Revised:

2. Stagnant professional development of the employees.

Revised:

3. Hasty decision making without considering the risks of the venture.

Revised:

4. Putting employee’s work station without assessing their capabilities.

Revised:

5. No proper flow of communication inside the work place.

Revised:

6. Goals are not clear.

Revised:

7. No specific job description for the employees.

Revised:

8. Managers are still involved in small decision making that should be done by
his subordinates.

Revised:

9. Assigning responsibility and delegating authority to deal appropriately with

the organization's goals and objectives, operating functions and regulatory
requirements.

Revised:

10. The objective of the organization coincides with profit maximization.

Revised:
 Gauge

Directions: Read each item carefully. Use a separate sheet of paper for your
answers. Write only the letter of the best answer for each test item.

1. Which of the following refers to the moral principle that guide the way a
business behaves and is the study of what is the right and wrong human
behavior and conduct in business?
A. business ethics B. code of ethics
C. moral values D. virtue ethics

2. Which of the following is one of the key points on improving a business

practice?
A. Fairness B. Good communication
C. Reevaluating the policy D. Sustainability

3. What can be avoided if there is a good communication?

A. Conflict B. Corruption C. Dishonesty D. Embezzlement

4. Which of the following belief systems emphasizes the treatment of the

stakeholders as a member of a family?
A. Christianity B. Judaism C. Shintoism D. Taoism

5. What belief system, when applied to business, encourages companies to

nourish people, and the aim should not be personal success or gain, but the
common good?
A. Christianity B. Judaism C. Shintoism D. Taoism

6. Under what principle that business decision makers should be reminded

that the earth’s resources are not constant and therefore, being responsible
in its usage is a way of respecting the natural order of things as planned by
God Himself?
A. Principle of Egalitarianism B. Principle of Equality
C. Principle of Parity D. Principle of Stewardship

7. Which of the following believes that they should search for the “right
livelihood” and are generally against companies that do not care for the
environment or that abuse animals?
A. Buddhists B. Christians C. Muslims D. Taoists

8. Who emphasized that profit in business is acceptable as long as it is

acquired with righteousness?
A. Buddha B. Confucius C. Mencius D. Tao Te Ching
9. In ethical business practices, which of the following statements fall under
business integrity?
A. Any form of corruption, extortion and embezzlement is prohibited.
B. We shall protect confidential and proprietary information, including
personal information collected for or from the Food Group.
C. We shall not solicit nor accept gifts in any situation that may influence, or
appear to influence decision in relation to Business Partners.
D. Animals shall be treated humanely. Efforts shall be exerted to refine
procedures in order to minimize pain, stress, and distress, which shall be
scientifically valid and acceptable to regulators.

10. What is needed in business ethics training program to be successful?

A. It should be limited to upper executives.
B. It should be focused on personal opinions of employees.
C. Promote the use of emotions in making tough ethical decisions.
D. Educate employees on formal ethical frameworks and models of ethical
decision making.

11. Venus ordered a pair of sneakers from an online shop. When her order was
delivered, she opened the box of the product but was surprised to see that
the sneakers that she bought do not look the same from the picture of the
product that she ordered. What should be done in order to avoid unethical
practice does the online seller did?
A. The buyer should return all the products.
B. The seller should apologize for the inconvenience
C. The seller should attend a seminar on online selling.
D. The seller should check his product before shipping it to the buyer.

12. Suppose you are the HR supervisor and you were interviewing three female
applicants but there are only two vacant jobs. What should you do to show
that you are fair in hiring applicants?
A. Will not hire any of them because you think that men can only do the job.
B. Will not hire any of them because they will want a lot of time off work to
handle family situations.
C. Hire all three because the all have the requirements needed to fill the
positions they applied for.
D. Hire two applicants who are the most qualified according to the
requirements needed in having the job.

13. Jasmine gave her manager, Almira, a gift during their Christmas party as an
appreciation for guiding her the necessary things to do when she was still
new in her work. Is the above statement morally accepted inside the
business? Why?
A. No. It is because giving gifts are prohibited.
B. No. It is because the gift was given during their Christmas party.
C. Yes. It is because giving gift during is very common during Christmas
party.
D. Yes. It is because it is just a small gift and it can be given to her any time
of the year.
14. Which of the following approaches is likely to be the most effective in
creating an ethical and socially responsible workplace?
A. Top management acting as models of the right behavior.
B. Placing posters about ethics throughout the organization.
C. Passing out buttons with the statement “Just Say No to Bad Ethics”.
D. Including a statement about ethics and social responsibility in the
employee handbook.

15. Which of the following statements could be classified as unethical business

practice?
A. Hiring a former government employee to audit the books.
B. Firing an employee for failing to show up for work.
C. Filing a worker’s compensation claim for an injured hand
D. Submitting a confidential lead to a local newspaper about illegal dumping
of an establishment.
References
Printed Materials:

Roa, Floriano C. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Manila: Rex Book Store, 2007.

Racelis, Aliza. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility. Firsted. Quezon city: Rex Printing Company
Inc., 2017.

Website:

Robillard, Robert. “Good Business Practices.” Concord Carpenter, 2017.

https://www.aconcordcarpenter.com/good-business-practices.html.

Corkery, Liz. “Selected Examples of Good Business Practices.” Finance & Business, November 29,
2018. https://financeandbusiness.ucdavis.edu/finance/controls-accountability/admin-
handbook/example.

Tucker, Robert. “Seven Strategies for Generating Business Ideas.” InnovationManagement, April 2,
2020. https://innovationmanagement.se/imtool-articles/seven-strategies-for-generating-
business-ideas/.

Lotich, Patricia. “8 Sustainable Business Practices - Are You Doing Your Part?” The Thriving Small
Business, June 3, 2020. https://thethrivingsmallbusiness.com/sustainable-business-
practices/.

Team, Editorial. “Filipino Culture and Values: Work Ethic.” SendFriend, October 18, 2019.
https://www.sendfriend.io/filipino-values-and-work-ethic-not-your-average-employee/.

Team, Editorial. “7 Key Aspects Of A Professional Business Philosophy.” Work It Daily | Where
Careers Go To Grow. Work It Daily | Where Careers Go To Grow, October 9, 2019.
https://www.workitdaily.com/7-key-aspects-professional-business-philosophy.