BUSINESS ETHICS

Submitted by :- Aashima
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INTRODUCTION
 Ethics:- Ethics is a set of rules that define right and
wrong conduct.
 Busines Ethics :- Business ethics can be defined as
written and unwritten codes of principles and values that
govern decisions and actions within a company. It refer
to the moral principles that tend to guide the operations
and functions of a company or a business. Some
common issues that come under the umbrella of business
ethics include the employee-employer relation, work
environment issues, discrimination, and social
responsibility
UNDERSTANDING BUSINESS ETHICS IN
THREE PARTS
To truly break down business ethics .it’s important to understand the three
basic components that the term can be dissected into.
1. History:-The first part is the history. While the idea of business ethics came
into existence along with the creation of the first companies or
organizations, what is most often referred to by the term is its recent history
since the early 1970s. This was when the term became commonly used in
the United States.  
2. Scandals:- The second major meaning behind the term is derived from its
close relationship and usage when scandals occur. Companies selling
goods in the U.S. that were created using child labor or poor working
conditions is one such scandalous occurrence.
 3. Integration:-Perhaps the most recent and continually developing aspect of
ethics is the third piece – the idea that companies are building business
ethics into the core of their companies, making them a standard part of
their operational blueprint As the world continues to grow more political –
and more politically correct – an increased focus on proper business ethics
and strong adherence to them become ever more the norm.
EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ETHICS
 Business Ethics from 1960 till 1980
 The 1960’s brought the first major wave of changes in the world of
business ethics. With the world coming into face with the new work
culture, the cultural values were shifting, with individualism and fierce
dedication to social issues.
 While the young worker in the 1960’s were idealistic and wanted to
make work a better place, they were seen to be lacking any ethical
values. Thus, companies established carious mission statements,
worked on the department of human resources to make it more
authoritative and outlines the codes of conduct. Further, businesses
also began embracing the social responsibility at a higher level.
 The 70’s and 80’s were building on the business ethics that were
established in the previous decades and working on improving the
conditions of the workforce. During this time where there was tension
booming between employers and employees, many governments
implemented strict policies and revamped the contracts with employees
focusing less on the rigidity of the work and more on the ethical values.
 The ’90s and Environmentalism
 The 1990’s saw a rebirth of environmentalism, new heights were reached
in social responsibility, and greater legal consequences were
implemented for any severe ethical misconduct. Many companies’ faces
great scrutiny, examples oil companies and chemical companies had to
deal with the consequences of the environment damages their product is
causing. Thus forth, business were forced to focus greatly on their legal
and their human resource department to make sure any error within the
company was handled in a professional manner.
 The Online Realm in 2000+
 2000 onwards, the world of business ethics has completely evolved, it has
now expanded to the online world. This means that now the major ethical
dilemma revolve around cybercrime and privacy issues. Events such as
identity theft, that were almost unheard of about 20 years before, are a
threat to anyone doing a business online. As a result, businesses face
social and legal pressure to take every measure possible to protect
sensitive customer information. The rise of data mining and target
marketing has forced businesses to walk a very fine line between
respecting the consumer privacy and using online activities to gather any
valuable marketing data. Thus, businesses now have to be ten times
more careful than they had to be before.
THEORIES OF BUSINESS ETHICS

Traditional Ethical
Theories

consequentialists Non-consequentialists

Utilitarianism Deontology Agent’s

(kant) virtue
(Aristotle)
CONSEQUENTIALISTS ETHICAL THEORY

 An ethical theory which bases moral judgement on the

outcomes of an action is called consequentialists .
 General principle:- of all the things a person might do at
any given moment , the morally right action is the one
with the best overall consequeces.
 The more good consequences an act produces, the better
or more right that act is .
UTILITARIANISM

 This philosophy is associated with jeremy bentham and

john stuart mill two towering british philosopher, and
political thinker.
 Utilitarianism is a moral theory that advocates action
that promotes overall happiness or pleasure and rejects
action that cause unhappiness or harm .
 A Utilitarianism philosophy, when directed to making
social , economic , or political decision , aims for the
betterment of society.
 Utilitarianism appears to be simple because it consist of
only one principle:- do what produces the best
consequences.
 But it is very comples because we cannot understand that
single principle unless we know three things .
I. what thing ar good or bad
II. whose good we aim to maximise (individual or group)
III. whether actions, policioes are made right or wrong .

STRENGTHS OF THEORY
1. It is believed that actions are right if they are useful to
a majority of people.
2. In this theory the worth of action is judged primiral on
its own merits.
CRITICISM OF UTILITARIANISM

 It is very difficult to determine what the maximum

utility would be for all affevted by a situation.
 there is doubt regarding majjority . Sometimes its action
may benefits the majority at the cost of exploitation of
minority .
 It may sometimes result unethical and immoral choices.

 it is very much difficult to forsee the consequences with

accuracy.
NON - CONSEQUENTIALISTS
ETHICAL THEORY

 Any ethical theory which bases moral judgement not

on the outcomes of an action but on its prinicples
(intrinsic) or on the agents characters .two main
theories comes under this are:-
I. Deontology (kant)
II. Agrnt’s virtue(Aristotle)
KANT AND DEONTOLOGICAL THEORY
 The ethical theories proposed by I.Kant and W.D. ross
are called a deontological philosophies because they
assumes the moral value of an action to depends upon
the agent,s intention to it rather than kits consequencses.
 this philosophy is centered in human autonomy.

 Humna Autonomy for formulating our own law on

basisi of our understanding and framework od four
experiences. Being self conscious and thus aware of our
reason behind our actions is therefore one of the highest
principles of kant’s philosophy.
STRENGTHS
 consistency:- What is right for one should be right for
all.
 Brings clarity in decisions

 focuses on intention of decision maker.

 Evokes a deep consideration for the well being of all

parties involved in our action.

CRITICISM
 This theory is questionable . How can we claim all
people all nation all beleifs and all cultures in every
single act we implement.
THE AGENT’S VIRTUE
 According to this theory , the central moral concept is
that the morally good character or morally good
disposition. It analyze the rightness or wrongness of
individual choices indirectly in terms of the character of
the agent making choices.
 As virtue ethics contends that morally correct actions are
those undertakes by actor with virtuous character.
 moral virtue is simply a matter of performing well in
function of being human.
STRENGTHS
 virtuous person are able to emphathize to imagine
themselves in other person’s shoes and to look at an
issue from other person,s perspective.
 virtuous person avoid actions that we recognise as
vicious action.
CRITICISM
 utilitarianism and dentology are hard universal theories
but virtue ethics does not make this claim . Those who
favour this theory may hold that certain virtues like
compassion , honesty and integrity.
THANK YOU !!