...Business Ethics I have chosen to write my paper on business ethics and the different things that are being done to improve ethics in the business world. This tends to be the majority of what our book has focused on and what much of the corporate world is spending tons of resources to improve. I think much of the hype for improving business ethics stems from the most recent economic downturn in the world and America especially. This has led people to realize that corruption and unethical behavior was behind much of the financial meltdown that happened. People greed and selfish behavior led to doing bad business. That being said the government also had much to do with the business world becoming corrupt as well they seemed to promote this unhealthy greed and made people do the unethical decisions upon the basis that it felt good. It was the governments idea that everyone needed a home and should have a right because they live in America to own that home. Somewhere we forgot that owning a home has an ethical side to it as well. The ethics of owning a home are that a person makes a commitment to buy a home at a price and are obligated to pay for that home. An Ethical person would do everything necessary to pay for that home and honor the deal they made. On another Ethics note related to home mortgages if you look at the ethics of the lenders who are a business and the poor ethics that they maintained. An ethical company would not have given loans to people who could not afford...
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...Examining the Application Business Ethics and Laws in the Tobacco Industry Abstract “Ethics is not something exterior to the economy…rather, ethics is and interior principle of the economy itself, which cannot function if it does not take account of the human values of solidarity and reciprocal responsibility.” (Pope Benedict XVI) I agree with Pope Benedict. Ethics deals with values that relate to the nature of human conduct and values associated with that conduct. In today’s business environment it is critical to understand the relationship between ethics and business law as ethical behavior and corporate responsibility are more important than ever. It has been argued that good ethics within an organization equate to good business, although good ethics are not required to be successful in business. This examination will put a spotlight on the role of ethics in the business environment, with a particular look at the application of ethics in the tobacco industry. Keywords: ethics, business ethics, natural law, tobacco Examining the Application Business Ethics and Laws in the Tobacco Industry “Business transactions are completed through a combination on values of the parties and the laws that reflect those values and the importance of ones word in business.” (Twomey & Jennings, 2014, p. 33) Business ethics examine an organizations ethical principles and potential moral and ethical dilemmas. In a general sense, business ethics is the application of moral and...
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...Assignment Make a summary of the author’s main contentions This study starts with the point of view that classic ethics are failing when they are confronted with many global problems. Compared to other periods of time, the world is able to connect nowadays. Because of the possibilities of the media, nearly ever person has qualitatively and quantitatively choices. The author emphasizes that we don’t choose to be global citizens; she claims that the world’s people are global citizens. People would choose the way of living with the media. The human nature is the basis for the philosophical morality. The concept of virtue, which was defined by Aristotle and other philosophers is basing on the philosophical morality. They underline that people fulfill their potential by using their intellect and will. „Excellent“ would not be given by nature, people have to put afford in work to achieve this status. Besides, other philosophers characterized mortality apart from particular human talents and functions. For examples Kant refers to rationality or Hume choose rationality as criterion. Other authors also claim natural right as the source of ethics. In all of these described concepts, ethics are based on essential human experience and our notions of ethical goodness are intrinsically bound up with our self-definition. At the macro level, ethics deduce from the essential nature like social beings. Through social connections and the fabrics of communal life, people are shaped. Over those actions...
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...INTI INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY COURSE STRUCTURE COURSE: MGT3219 Business Ethics (4 cr.) PREREQUISITE(S): None COURSE DESCRIPTION: This module provides students with sound understanding of the moral principles that governs corporate, group and individual responsibilities in everyday business operations LEARNING OBJECTIVES: The aims of this course are to enable students to: 1. Introduce students to the ethical concepts that are relevant to resolving moral issues in business 2. Impart the reasoning and analytical skills needed to apply ethical concepts to business decisions making 3. Identify the moral issues involved in the management of specific problem areas in business 4. Provide an understanding of the social and natural environments within which moral issues in business arise LEARNING OUTCOMES: Successful students will be able to: 1. Discuss the importance of practicing ethics in business 2. Describe the relationship between justice and different types of economic distribution 3. Discuss the legitimate and illegitimate influence of organisation on their employees and to link the possible moral issues in personnel policies and procedures 4. Integrate the concept of informed consent with various methods of obtaining information, privacy 5. Assess moral issues such as loyalty to company, conflict of interest, abuse of official position, insider trading, bribes, kickbacks, receiving gifts and entertainment that can influence...
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...What is business ethics? There are many different definitions of business ethics. In general, the term is used to mean a form of applied ethics in which a system of ethics and morality is applied in the business world. The exact application of business ethics will differ from organization to organization, and place to place. Different organizations deal with different stakeholders, different clients and customers, and different dimensions of the work world, industry, and market. The way business ethics must be applied is determined by the nature, mission, purpose and goals of a given company. The universal purpose of business ethics is to ensure that companies treat their workers, partners, clients, and any other involved shareholders or stakeholders with ethical and moral integrity. Business ethics used to be taken for granted and assumed, almost as an extension of the personal ethics of those involved in the business. In more recent years, however, following different issues including the 2001 Enron scandal, individuals and businesses have focused more on analyzing and formalizing business ethics (cf WiseGeek, retrieved 2010). A Model Organization: Integral business ethics in terms of social issues, legal issues, and profit. Taking a fictitious restaurant food supply organization called The Ultimate Deal, as an organization that serves as a model of business ethics, the practical implications of business ethics can be explained. The Ultimate Deal, as a restaurant...
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...Running head: Code of ethics Code of ethics within businesses Saif Mustafa Ali Monash University Ethics relate to an individual's moral judgements about right and wrong. Decisions taken within a corporation may be made by individuals or groups, but whoever makes them will be influenced by the culture of the company. The decision to act ethically is a moral one; employees must choose what they think is the right course of action. This may require declining the route that would lead to the largest short-term profit. Ethical behavior and corporate social responsibility can bring considerable advantages to a business. Ethics and ethical behavior are very high priorities for companies today (Davis 2004; Weber 2006). Although codes of ethics are tools that are frequently used as one of the efforts to promote ethical behavior, research suggests that there may be a great deal of room for enhancement of existing codes (Kitson 1996; Blodgett and Carlson 1997; Moyes and Park 1997; Hume, Larkins and Iyer 1999; Schwartz 2001). The aim of this paper is to recognize and discuss ways to improve the code of ethics of an corporation. Blodgett and Carlson reviewed twenty-nine business codes of ethics and concluded that "the codes often contained unclear references to acting ethically, then give widespread compliance lists which operate mainly to forbid breach of current laws"(1997, 1369). Schwartz (2001) in his research based on fifty-seven in detail interviews at four large Canadian companies...
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...Ethics and ethical theories: a road map for teaching ethics in business schools Joan Fontrodona (IESE Business School, Spain), Manuel Guillén (University of Valencia, Spain), and Alfredo Rodríguez-Sedano (University of Navarre, Spain) Introduction A three-dimensional framework to explain ethical theories Ethical approaches of business firms Teaching ethics experiences using this framework Discussion of the teaching experiences Conclusions References 1 2 6 9 10 12 13 Introduction This paper tries to contribute, in some way, to the urgent need recently warned by Benedict XVI: “the university, for its part, must never lose sight of its particular calling to be a "universitas" in which the various disciplines, each in its own way, are seen as part of a greater unum. How urgent is the need to rediscover the unity of knowledge and to counter the tendency to fragmentation and lack of communicability that is all too often the case in our schools!”1 This seems to be a challenge for both, Catholic and non-Catholic universities. The purpose of this paper is to present a theoretical framework that helps to conceptualize ethics and to clarify the characteristics and limits of the different ethical theories. In other words, students without philosophical background will find here a synthetic “road map” of ethical approaches. This framework has been previously published in a book in Spain2. In this paper, authors will describe the model and discuss how it has been successfully tested...
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...Journal of Accounting, Ethics & Public Policy Volume 3, Number 1 (Winter 2003), pp. 1‐26 Ayn Rand and Contemporary Business Ethics Stephen R. C. Hicks Introduction: business and the free society Advocates of the free society think of business as an integral part of the dynamic, progressive society they advocate. In the West, the rise of a culture hospitable to business has unleashed incalculable productive energies. Business professionals have taken the products of science and revolutionized the fields of agriculture, transportation, and medicine. Business professionals have taken the products of art and dramatically increased our access to them. We have more food, we are more mobile, we have more health care, we have more access to works of fiction, theater, and music than anyone could reasonably have predicted a few centuries ago. The result of business in the West, and more recently in parts of the East, has been an enormous rise in the standard of human living. We have gone, in the space of a few centuries, from a time in which perhaps 10% of the population lived comfortably while 90% lived near subsistence to a time in which 90% live better than comfortably and 10% live near subsistence. And we haven’t given up on the remaining 10%. Intellectuals who study the free society have, in the fields of economics and politics, a good understanding of what makes this possible: individualism. In economics there exists a well worked out understanding of ...
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...are personal identity, virtue ethics, and ethical relativism. A personal philosophy in relation to each concept is identified and described. In conclusion, philosophical findings are incorporated into a personal view on the ultimate meaning of life. Philosophical Issues Personal Identity Personal identity of the most basic nature is “what makes one the person one is” (Olson, 2010). This basic nature then leads to the complexities of personal identity. Complexities include questions such as: * Who am I? * What is it to be a person? * What does it take for a person to persist from one time to another – that is, for the same person to exist at different times? * How do we find out who is who? * What am I? * How could I have been? * How different could I have been from the way I actually am? (2010) These questions are crucial to discovering self-purpose of life. Hume’s philosophy is that personal identity is “nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions” and “too inconstant” (n.d.). Several philosophers disagree, arguing that “when the soul and the body are united, then nature orders the soul to rule and govern, and the body to obey and serve” (Chaffee, 2011, p. 91). There are many theories of philosophy pertaining to personal identity and social identity. In most cases, the compulsion to rationalize identity by understanding and knowing who we are and where we belong is a derivative of human nature need. We are compelled to find...
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...practice of ethics in management and business is a subject that causes a lot of discussion in today’s business world. What is the right thing to do? When is the right time to do the right thing? Who has what right to have input on answering these questions? How does an individual or company always know how to answer these questions? In exploring these questions, and striving to find answers to them in the textbook Business Ethics by Denis Collins. The first two chapters come down to the practice of ethics in the workplace. In chapter one of the textbook, the first question that starts to find an answer is what is the right thing to do? Starting with an ethical dilemma that seems viable on page three, a small company faces buying a design that might increase sales, but show support for a criminal that has become an antihero. This raises questions about what is ethical on many moral standards. Does the business wish to show solidarity with the community? Should that be a guiding factor in the businesses conduct? Should profits be the deciding factor in behavior, if the behavior is legal? This case study shows that the right thing to do is not always the easy thing to do. The definition of the right thing can become a murky issue. The question needs analyzed and understanding what the implication of acting or not acting will be when faced with a dilemma. Unfortunately, there seem to be more questions than answers. Certainly more complicated than the definition of ethics given on...
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...Morals and Ethics in Society Kalob Lisk Rasmussen College Author Note This paper is being submitted on July 14, 2016, for Thomas Santangelo’s B406 Business Law and Ethical Behavior course. Morals and Ethics in Society Morals and ethics in society play major roles in our lives and our work environments and I am more than happy to write this research paper to help explain the similarities and its key differences. And this research paper will also include where both morals and ethics derived from and what can cause both of these. How can ethics or morals affect the work atmosphere and even outside of work. And with ethics and morals the key difference is that ethics comes from the social system and can be an external factor, while morals can be derived from the individual and is an internal factor. Ethics can be linked back to the Greek word “ethos” (Diffen, 2016) meaning “character”. And according to Merriam-Webster the full definition of ethos “The distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group or institution”. (Merriam-Webster, 2016) Ethical behavior can be motivated by self-interest, or some intuitive sense of right and wrong and this can stem from our social system which I briefly describe in the first paragraph is an external factor. And consequently there is no clear-cut blueprint of ethics that you can use to project your business’ reputation and well-being of your employees and customers (Small Business, 2016)...
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...Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Dawn Sandell Robbins MGT/216 February 14, 2011 Carolyn Flynn Ethical and Moral Issues in Business The words ethical and moral are often considered as being one in the same. Although the meaning may be closely related in some aspects, the two have different meanings. While something may be ethical or legal, it may conflict with one’s personal beliefs and morals. It’s hard to imagine that one might not know right from wrong. Honestly, think about it. Are we not molded and nurtured to know what is socially acceptable? Were we not brought up knowing that it is wrong to lie, cheat, and steal? In this paper, I will define the differences between ethical issues and moral issues as well as the difference between personal ethics and business ethics. Ethics can be defined as the principles, norms, and standards of conduct that govern an individual or group in which focus is on conduct (Trevino, Nelson 2007). Ethics is considered to be a science of conduct by many philosophers and is the ground rules by which we live our lives. The rules, code of conduct, policy or handbook is typically a written form of the ethics in which a business expects its employees to follow and behave. Generally these rules are what most would consider normal rights and wrongs, dos and don’ts. An ethical issue might be a situation that concerns right and wrong where values are in conflict (Trevino, Nelson 2007). As mentioned in the opening of this...
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...The Ultimate Deal: A Code of Ethics The Ultimate Deal has a formal code of ethics that expresses the expectations and application of business ethics toward all stakeholders. The topics include legal ethics – the need to act honestly and ethically faced to legal matters including regulations, inspections, taxes, etc.; ethics in dealings toward investors, keeping them informed and involved; ethics toward customers, ensuring responsibility, reliability and coherence, providing what has been committed to; ethics toward the press in terms of advertising and press releases; ethics toward employees including rights and duties and ethics toward the executive officers, both in terms of how they should be treated and what their duties are. The code of ethics is distributed to all shareholders. Each category of shareholder (executive, employee, investor, customer…) receives a verbal explanation of the ethics that apply to them, and have the opportunity to voice any concerns or questions. Ethics applied to customers are also posted in the appropriate customer service and sales areas for public viewing. Decisions, in terms of whether or not to proceed with an initiative or project are made based on the code of ethics. Rewards are also determined based on ethics: financial raises, and awards such as employee of the month/year take the code of ethics into consideration as a major determining factor. The code is reviewed in employee evaluations and in the weekly managerial meetings...
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...Introduction Business ethics are not as complicated or abstract as one might think. A simple way to evaluate whether or not a practice is ethical is to determine the ultimate effect of that practice. For example, if the manager of a store paid his cleaning employee less than the going rate to clean his store, knowing exactly what the going rate is, several things could happen to damage the business. The employee could suffer serious financial implications or the employee could leave and find another position where she does not feel exploited. The subject of ethics is often considered abstract or relative by those who believe that rules do not always apply to them. Rules and laws apply to everyone. It is unfortunate that some employees in the upper echelons of the corporate ladder decide to act unethically, but it is a fact of business and of life. For this reason, it is best for a business to be careful of who they promote within their company. Corporate responsibility is a phrase heavily used in the business world. Often mentioned to enhance the image of an organization, corporate responsibility does have a true meaning. Businesses that use energy efficient lighting and offer their employees a fair pay rate are practicing corporate responsibility. Corporate responsibility is an integral part of business ethics and should be practiced by all entities, whether large or small. Corporate responsibility simply means that each individual within a company is practicing personal...
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...Life’s paths are guided by a set of rules call Ethics. Ethics are principles that set forth parameters for us to determine what is right or wrong. These parameters define practices that should be performed in our personal and business lives. The Programming Code of Ethics and God’s Ten Commandments are different in nature but possess some similarities. The Programming Code of Ethics speaks against dishonesty. It states that “...never reuse copyrighted code unless the proper license is purchased or permission is obtained” (Programming Code of Ethics). Use of unauthorized copyrighted code is known as copyright infringement. Copyright infringement as defined by copyright holders is theft (Wikipedia.org). God commands us not to steal (Exodus 20:15 KJV). It is immoral to be dishonest. In the Ten Commandments God tell us “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain” (Exodus 20:7 KJV). This verse tells us we are to be reverence to God and not defame his name. The Programming Code of Ethics has such similarity when it states “…never defame the profession” (Programming Code of Ethics). As professionals we should be loyal and respect the profession. The Programming Code of Ethics also talks about truthfulness. It states “…never maliciously injure the reputation of an employer or members of the development team” (Programming Code of Ethics). God commands that “Thou shalt not bear false...
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