International Management

Business Ethics
Lesson aims

By the end of the lesson, you will be able to …

Communication focus
• discuss business ethics.
• analyze unethical business behavior.
• consider ethical guidelines.
Language focus
• practice business words and idioms related to business
ethics.
• learn phrasal verbs referring to business ethics.
International Management – Business Ethics

Speaking
Business ethics

Discuss these questions.

1. What does the phrase 'business ethics' refer to?

2. Why is it important for companies to have clear ethical standards?
3. What are the differences between ethical standards and laws?
4. Why is there now pressure on companies to demonstrate better
business ethics?
5. How can big businesses raise their ethical standards?
Unethical business behavior

Here are some types of unethical business behavior. Match them with an
example of that behavior.
1. conflicts of interest a. Encouraging other people to buy shares in a
company so as to artificially raise the stock price,
2. insider trading then selling your own shares at a profit.
b. Accepting a gift (bribe) in exchange for doing
3. kickbacks something unethical, such as sharing information.

4. product content c. When someone with access to non-public

information uses that information to make a
deception
personal profit or help someone else to make a
profit.
5. share price pumping
d. Misleading people about a product, for example,
making an investment seem safer than it really is.
e. When someone in a position of trust, such as
a board member, has competing professional
interests that make it difficult for him/her to carry
out duties ethically.
International Management – Business Ethics

Reading
Ethical guidelines

Read the list of guidelines for employees at an accounting firm. Tick the items
that could be called ethical guidelines.

1. It is your duty to report any information you have about illegal activity at this
company to your manager.

2. As a representative of this company, it is your duty to dress smartly and

professionally at all times.

3. To maintain the confidence of our customers it is essential that you declare any
conflicts of interest on your application form (e.g. ownership of shares in
another financial institution).

4. Employees are forbidden from discussing customers’ personal information

outside work.

5. You may not use your office telephone to make personal calls.

6. Do not address customers by their first name unless asked to do so.

International Management – Business Ethics

Vocabulary
Business words
Discuss this text using the vocabulary words below.
In an ideal world ethics should play a large part in the decision-making of every
business, big or small.
In practice, however, though most businesses will have a written set of ethical
guidelines, these are usually discretionary, and employees can choose whether or
not to follow them.
Ethics can be very subjective: what one person sees as insider trading may be just
good business practice to another. If business is to discourage corruption and give
consumers and shareholders greater confidence, industries should get together and
agree on a set of ethical
ethical
standards that insider
legislation apply to all. credibility subjective
standards scandal trading ethical overwhelming
guidelines bankruptcy kickback written responsible
decision-making downfall corruption unwritten conflict of
consequences deception discretionar interest
fiasco
compliance dilemma y
Business idioms
Look at these idioms relating to business and ethics. Use each one in a
sentence.
1. the big cheese: someone very important or high up in an organization (such as the
boss or CEO). Example:
Everyone was on their best behavior when the big cheese was in the office.
2. (to have your) finger in the pie: to be involved in an illegal or unethical practice in
order to make money.
He got caught with his finger in the pie and was suspended from financial trading
for ten years.
3. (a call for) heads (to) roll: a demand for those responsible for a crime or unethical
action tofinancial
When the be firedcrisis happened, the government called for heads to roll at all the major banks.

4. bad apple: was

Our manager a dishonest person;
such a bad apple someone
– never who
caring who often acts
he damaged illegally
as long or unethically
as he made a lot of money.
Business phrasal verbs

Match the phrasal verbs to the meaning.

1. boil down to d a. understand; get

understand; the
get idea
the idea
2. be carried away f b. appear from
appear a hidden
from place
a hidden place
3. clean up (your c behaveininaamore
c. behave more ethical
ethical or
orsuitable
suitableway
way
act) a d. summarize; condense
summarize; to to
condense the main
the idea
main idea
4. catch on
e e. describe; explain
describe; anan
explain idea
idea
5. set out
b f. get
gettoo excited
too excited
6. bubble up

Use the phrasal verbs to form some sentences.

International Management – Business Ethics

Task – speaking
Ethical do's and dont's

Think about your own industry. Write a list of ethical ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ to guide your
colleagues.
Do's Dont's
• Respect • Don’t use
customers' company
privacy resources for
• Report instances personal business
of bullying or • Don’t engage
harassment in illegal behavior
• Obey the law such as selling
company secrets
• Don’t discuss
sensitive
information with
friends and
family
Lesson summary

In this lesson, you have...

• discussed business ethics.

• analyzed unethical business behavior.
• considered ethical guidelines.
• practiced business words and idioms related to business ethics.
• learned phrasal verbs referring to business ethics.
Well done on completing the lesson.
Do you have any questions that you would like to ask now?