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Business Ethics
9th e di t i o n
William H. Shaw
San Jose State University
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Business Ethics, Ninth Edition © 2017, 2014, 2011, Cengage Learning
William H. Shaw
WCN: 02-200-208
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Contents
PREFACE viii
Pa r t O n e | Mo r a l Ph i l o s oph y a n d Bu s i n e s s 1
iii
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iv Contents
Pa rt T wo | Am e r ic a n Bu s i n e s s a n d i t s B a s i s 117
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Contents v
Pa r t T h r e e | Bu s i n e s s a n d So c i e t y 19 7
Pa rt f ou r | THE
O RG ANI Z ATIO N AND THE
PE O PLE IN IT 2 8 4
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vi Contents
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Contents vii
NOTES 439
INDE X 465
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PREFACE
It is difficult to imagine an area of study that has greater importance to society or greater relevance to
students than business ethics. As this text enters its ninth edition, business ethics has become a well-
established academic subject. Most colleges and universities offer courses in it, and scholarly interest
continues to grow.
Yet some people still scoff at the idea of business ethics, jesting that the very concept is an oxymoron.
To be sure, recent years have seen the newspapers filled with lurid stories of corporate misconduct and felo-
nious behavior by individual businesspeople, and many suspect that what the media report represents only
the proverbial tip of the iceberg. However, these scandals should prompt a reflective person not to make fun
of business ethics but rather to think more deeply about the nature and purpose of business in our society
and about the ethical choices individuals must inevitably make in their business and professional lives.
Business ethics has an interdisciplinary character. Questions of economic policy and business
practice intertwine with issues in politics, sociology, and organizational theory. Although business ethics
remains anchored in philosophy, even here abstract questions in normative ethics and political philosophy
mingle with analysis of practical problems and concrete moral dilemmas. Furthermore, business ethics is
not just an academic study but also an invitation to reflect on our own values and on our own responses to
the hard moral choices that the world of business can pose.
•••
viii
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preface ix
Case studies enhance the main text. These cases vary in kind and in length, but they are all designed
to enable instructors and students to pursue further some of the issues discussed in the text and to analyze
them in more specific contexts. The case studies should provide a lively springboard for classroom discus-
sions and the application of ethical concepts.
Business Ethics covers a wide range of topics relevant to today’s world. Three of these are worth
drawing particular attention to.
The Environment
Because of its ongoing relevance and heightened importance in today’s world, an entire chapter, Chapter 7,
with five case studies is devoted to this topic. In particular, the chapter highlights recent environmental
disasters, the environmental dilemmas and challenges we face, and their social and business costs, as well
as the changing attitude of business toward the environment and ecology.
•••
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x preface
Case 4.1, “Catastrophe in Bangladesh,” concerns responsibility for a factory collapse that killed over a thou-
sand workers making clothing for Western firms; Case 4.6, “Paying College Athletes,” examines the move
to give athletes a greater share of the revenues from college sports; Case 5.4, “Corporations and Religious
Faith,” deals with the claim that corporations have a right to do business in a way that reflects the religious
beliefs of their owners; and Case 5.6, “Corporate Taxation,” discusses tax avoidance by large corporations.
MindTap
MindTap® Ethics for Shaw’s Business Ethics is a digital learning solution that helps instructors engage
and transform today’s students into critical thinkers. Through paths of dynamic assignments and applica-
tions that can personalized by instructors (including ethics simulations, quizzing and BBC videos), real-time
course analytics and an accessible reader, MindTap helps turn cookie cutter into cutting edge, apathy into
engagement, and memorizers into higher-level thinkers.
•••
•••
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to acknowledge my great debt to the many people whose ideas and writing have influenced me over
the years. Philosophy is widely recognized to involve a process of ongoing dialogue. This is nowhere more
evident than in the writing to textbooks, whose authors can rarely claim that the ideas being synthesized,
organized, and presented are theirs alone. Without my colleagues, without my students, and without a larger
philosophical community concerned with business and ethics, this book would not have been possible.
I particularly want to acknowledge my debt to Vincent Barry. Readers familiar with our textbook and
reader Moral Issues in Business1 will realize the extent to which I have drawn on material from that work.
Business Ethics is, in effect, a revised and updated version of the textbook portion of that collaborative
work, and I am very grateful to Vince for permitting me to use our joint work here.
1
William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry, Moral Issues in Business, 13th ed. (Boston, Mass.: Cengage Learning, 2016).
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Part One | Moral Philosophy and Business
C ha p ter 1
SOMETIMES THE RICH AND MIGHTY FALL. Take end. Even with the company’s financial demise fast approach-
Kenneth Lay, for example. Convicted by a jury of conspiracy ing, Kenneth Lay was still recommending the company’s stock
and multiple counts of fraud, he had been chairman and CEO to its employees—at the same time that he and other execu-
of Enron until that once mighty company took a nose dive and tives were cashing in their shares and bailing out.
crashed. Founded in the 1980s, Enron soon became a domi- Enron’s crash cost the retirement accounts of its employ-
nant player in the field of energy trading, growing rapidly to ees more than a billion dollars as the company’s stock fell
become America’s seventh biggest company. Wall Street loves from the stratosphere to only a few pennies a share. Outside
growth, and Enron was its darling, ad- investors lost even more. The reason
mired as dynamic, innovative, and—of Enron’s collapse caught investors by
course—profitable. Enron stock ex- surprise—the company’s market value
THE REASON ENRON’S
ploded in value, increasing 40 percent was $28 billion just two months before
collapse caught investors
in a single year. The next year it shot up its bankruptcy—was that Enron had
58 percent and the year after that an by surprise . . . was always made its financial records and
unbelievable 89 percent. The fact that that Enron had always accounts as opaque as possible. It did
nobody could quite understand exactly made its financial this by creating a Byzantine financial
how the company made its money didn’t records and accounts as structure of off-balance-sheet special-
seem to matter. opaque as possible. purpose entities—reportedly as many
Fortune magazine voted Enron Amer as 9,000—that were supposed to be
ica’s “Most Innovative Company” for six separate and independent from the
consecutive years, and Enron proudly main company. Enron’s board of direc-
took to calling itself not just “the world’s leading energy com- tors condoned these and other dubious accounting practices
pany” but also “the world’s leading company.” But when Enron and voted twice to permit executives to pursue personal
was later forced to declare bankruptcy—at the time the largest interests that ran contrary to those of the company. When
Chapter 11 filing in U.S. history—the world learned that its leg- Enron was obliged to redo its financial statements for one
endary financial prowess was illusory and the company’s suc- three-year period, its profits dropped $600 million and its
cess built on the sands of hype. And the hype continued to the debts increased $630 million.
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2 part one moral philosophy and business
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chapter One The Nature of Morality 3
about a product or a service? When does aggressive should organizations respond to the problem of sexual
marketing become consumer manipulation? Is adver- harassment?
tising useful and important or deceptive, misleading,
and socially detrimental? When are prices unfair or
exploitative? Learning Objectives
Are corporations obliged to help combat social prob- These questions typify business issues with moral significance.
lems? What are the environmental responsibilities of
The answers we give to them are determined, in large part,
business, and is it living up to them? Are pollution per-
mits a good idea? Is factory farming morally justifiable? by our moral standards—that is, by the moral principles and
values we accept. What moral standards are, where they come
May employers screen potential employees on the basis
from, and how they can be assessed are some of the concerns
of lifestyle, physical appearance, or personality tests?
What rights do employees have on the job? Under what of this opening chapter. In particular, you will encounter the fol-
conditions may they be disciplined or fired? What, if lowing topics:
anything, must business do to improve work conditions?
1. The nature, scope, and purpose of business ethics
When are wages fair? Do unions promote the interests
of workers or infringe their rights? When, if ever, is an 2. The distinguishing features of morality and how it differs
employee morally required to blow the whistle? from etiquette, law, and professional codes of conduct
3. The relationship between morality and religion
May employees ever use their positions inside an orga-
nization to advance their own interests? Is insider trad- 4. The doctrine of ethical relativism and its difficulties
ing or the use of privileged information immoral? How 5. What it means to have moral principles; the nature of
much loyalty do workers owe their companies? What conscience; and the relationship between morality and
say should a business have over the off-the-job activi- self-interest
ties of its employees? Do drug tests violate their right 6. The place of values and ideals in a person’s life
to privacy?
7. The social and psychological factors that sometimes
What constitutes job discrimination, and how far must jeopardize an individual’s integrity
business go to ensure equality of opportunity? Is affir-
8. The characteristics of sound moral reasoning
mative action a matter of justice, or a poor idea? How
•••
Ethics
Ethics (or moral philosophy) is a broad field of inquiry that addresses a fundamental
Summary
query that all of us, at least from time to time, inevitably think about—namely, How
Ethics deals with
should I live my life? That question, of course, leads to others, such as: What sort of individual character
person should I strive to be? What values are important? What standards or principles and the moral rules
should I live by? Exploring these issues immerses one in the study of right and wrong. that govern and
Among other things, moral philosophers and others who think seriously about ethics limit our conduct.
It investigates
want to understand the nature of morality, the meaning of its basic concepts, the charac-
questions of right
teristics of good moral reasoning, how moral judgments can be justified, and, of course, and wrong, duty and
the principles or properties that distinguish right actions from wrong actions. Thus, obligation, and moral
ethics deals with individual character and with the moral rules that govern and limit our responsibility.
conduct. It investigates questions of right and wrong, fairness and unfairness, good and
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4 part one moral philosophy and business
bad, duty and obligation, and justice and injustice, as well as moral responsibility and the
values that should guide our actions.
You sometimes hear it said that there’s a difference between a person’s ethics and
his or her morals. This can be confusing because what some people mean by saying that
something is a matter of ethics (as opposed to morals) is often what other people mean
by saying that it is a matter of morals (and not ethics). In fact, however, most people (and
most philosophers) see no real distinction between a person’s “morals” and a person’s
“ethics.” And almost everyone uses “ethical” and “moral” interchangeably to describe
people we consider good and actions we consider right, and “unethical” and “immoral”
to designate bad people and wrong actions. This book follows that common usage.
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chapter One The Nature of Morality 5
But this book takes a broader view as well because it is concerned with moral issues
that arise wherever employers and employees come together. Thus, it addresses organi- Summary
zational ethics as well as business ethics. An organization is a group of people working Business ethics
together to achieve a common purpose. The purpose may be to offer a product or a is the study of
what constitutes
service primarily for profit, as in business. But the purpose also could be health care, as right and wrong
in medical organizations; public safety and order, as in law enforcement organizations; (or good and bad)
education, as in academic organizations; and so on. The cases and illustrations presented human conduct in
in this book deal with moral issues and dilemmas in both business and nonbusiness orga- a business context.
nizational settings. Closely related moral
questions arise in
People occasionally poke fun at the idea of business ethics, declaring that the term is other organizational
a contradiction or that business has no ethics. Such people take themselves to be worldly contexts.
and realistic. They think they have a down-to-earth idea of how things really work. In
fact, despite its pretense of sophistication, their attitude shows little grasp of the nature
of ethics and only a superficial understanding of the real world of business. Reading this
book should help you comprehend how inaccurate and mistaken their view is.
•••
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chapter One The Nature of Morality 17
When Seth had ascended the throne of his father, says Tabari, he
was the greatest of the sons of Adam. Every year he made the
pilgrimage to the Kaaba, and he ruled the world with equity, and
everything flourished during his reign. At the age of fifty he had a
son; he called his name Enoch and named him his executor. He died
at the age of nine hundred.[142]
Seth and the other sons of Adam waged perpetual war against the
Divs, or giants, the sons of Kabil, or Cain.
Rocail was another son of Adam, born next after Seth.
He possessed, says the Tahmurath Nâmeh, the most wonderful
knowledge in all mysteries. He had a genius so quick and piercing,
that he seemed to be rather an angel than a man.
Surkrag, a great giant, son of Cain, commanded in the mountains of
Kaf, which encompass the centre of the earth. This giant asked Seth
to send him Rocail, his brother, to assist him in governing his
subjects. Seth consented, and Rocail became the vizier or prime
minister of Surkrag, in the mountains of Kaf.
After having governed many centuries, and knowing, by divine
revelation, that the time of his death drew nigh, he thus addressed
Surkrag: “I am about to depart hence and enter on another
existence; but before I leave, I wish to bequeath to you some famous
work, which shall perpetuate my name into remote ages.”
Thereupon Rocail erected an enormous sepulchre, adorned with
statues of various metals, made by talismanic art, which moved, and
spake, and acted like living men.[143]
According to the Rabbinic traditions, Seth was one of the thirteen
who came circumcised into the world. The rest were Adam, Enoch,
Noah, Shem, Terah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, David, Isaiah,
and Jeremiah.[144] The book Schene Luchôth says that the soul of
righteous Abel passed into the body of Seth, and afterwards this
same soul passed into Moses; thus the law, which was known to
Adam and in which Abel had been instructed, was not new to Moses.
[145]
The Little Genesis says, that Seth was instructed by the angels in
what was to take place in the world; how its iniquity was to grow, and
a flood was to overwhelm it; and how the Messiah would come and
restore all things. Seth was remarkable for the majesty and beauty of
his appearance, as he had inherited much of the loveliness of
unfallen man. He married his sister Azur, or, according to others,
Noræa or Horæa. Suidas, under the heading ‘Σήδ,’ says: “Seth was
the son of Adam: of this it is said, the sons of God went in unto the
daughters of men; that is to say, the sons of Seth went in unto the
daughters of Cain. For in that age Seth was called God, because he
had discovered Hebrew letters, and the names of the stars; but
especially on account of his great piety, so that he was the first to
bear the name of God.”
Theodoret thus refers to the verse,—“And to Seth, to him also there
was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to
call upon the name of the Lord,” or as our marginal reading is, “then
began men to call themselves by the name of the Lord.” “Aquila
interpreted it thus, ‘then Seth began to be called by the name of the
Lord.’ These words intimate his piety, which deserved that he should
receive the sacred name; and he was called God by his
acquaintance, and his children were termed the sons of God, just as
we are called Christians after Christ.”[146]
The origin of this tradition seems to be the fact that Seth was the
name of an ancient Egyptian deity, at first regarded as the giver of
light and civilization, but afterwards identified with Typhon by the
Egyptians, who considered Seth to be the chief god of the Hyksos or
shepherd kings; and in their hatred of these oppressors, the name of
Seth was everywhere obliterated on their monuments, and he was
regarded as one with the great adversary, Typhon; and was
represented as an ass, or with an ass’s head.[147]
Abulfaraj, in his history, says that Seth discovered letters, and that,
desirous to recover the Blessed Life, he and his sons went to Mount
Hermon, where they served God in piety and continence, and
associated not with the people of the land, nor took to themselves
wives; wherefore they were called the sons of God.[148]
Flavius Josephus relates that after the things that were to take place
had been revealed to Seth,—how the earth was to be destroyed, first
with water and then with fire,—lest those things which he had
discovered should perish from the memory of his posterity, he set up
two pillars, one of brick, the other of stone, and he wrote thereon all
the science he had acquired, hoping that, in the event of the brick
pillar perishing by the rain, the stone one would endure.[149]
Freculphus adds that Jubal assisted the sons of Seth in engraving
on the columns all that was known of the conduct and order of the
heavens, and all the arts then known.[150]
The stone pillar was to be seen, in the time of Josephus, in Syria.
Anastasius of Sinai says that, when God created Adam after His
image and likeness, He breathed into him grace, and illumination,
and a ray of the Holy Spirit. But when he sinned, this glory left him,
and his face became clouded. Then he became the father of Cain
and Abel. But afterwards it is said in Scripture, “He begat a son in his
own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth;” which is
not said of Cain and Abel; and this means that Seth was begotten in
the likeness of unfallen man and after the image of Adam in
Paradise; and he called his name Seth, that is, by interpretation,
Resurrection, because in him he saw the resurrection of his departed
beauty, and wisdom, and glory, and radiance of the Holy Spirit. And
all those then living, when they saw how the face of Seth shone with
divine light, and heard him speak with divine wisdom, said, He is
God; therefore his sons were commonly called the sons of God.[151]
As Seth was an ancient Egyptian Sun-god, the origin of the myth of
his shining face can be ascertained without difficulty.
To Seth were attributed several apocryphal writings.
IX.
CAINAN SON OF ENOS.
“And Seth lived an hundred and five years, and begat Enos: and
Seth lived after he begat Enos eight hundred and seven years, and
begat sons and daughters: and all the days of Seth were nine
hundred and twelve years: and he died. And Enos lived ninety years,
and begat Cainan.”[152]
Alexander wrote many epistles to Aristotle, his preceptor, in which he
narrated what had befallen him in India. Amongst other things he
wrote: “After I had entered the Persian region, which is a province of
India, I arrived at some islands of the sea, and there I found men,
like women, who fed on raw fish, and spake a language very like
Greek; they said to me that there was in the island the sepulchre of a
most ancient king, who was called Cainan, son of Enos, and who
ruled the whole world, and taught men all kinds of knowledge, and
had demons and all kinds of evil spirits under his control. He, by his
wisdom, understood that the ever-blessed God would bring in a flood
in the times of Noah; wherefore he engraved all that was to take
place on stone tables, which exist there to this day, and are written in
Hebrew characters. He wrote therein that the ocean would, in that
age, overflow a third part of the world, which took place in the
lifetime of Enos, the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, our first
parent.
“In the same island, Cainan built a most extensive city, surrounded
with walls; and a great marble citadel, in which he treasured jewels
and pearls, and gold and silver in great abundance.
“Moreover, he erected a tower, very lofty, over a sepulchre for
himself, to serve as his monument. This tower can be approached by
no man; for it was built by astronomical art under the seven planets,
and with magical skill, so that every one who draws near the wall is
struck down with sudden death.”[153]
X.
ENOCH.
1. THE TRANSLATION OF ENOCH.