...The Evolution of Business Ethics Introduction In any business, decisions must be made to ensure that a business entity or firm is conformity with its vision as well as mission. Most of decisions made by businesses are tailored toward wealth maximization of the firm which ensures that there is continuity production and operation of the entity. It is clear that most if not all businesses want to make profits, however, it is undeniable too that businesses must also be socially responsible to their environment which in this case involves consumers, sellers, lenders, the government and the entire community at large (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2011). For a business to be able to accept its social responsibility, then the application of business ethics must be applied. Business ethics is considered to be the accepted norms or set standards that determine what is right and wrong in the context of a business organization. Therefore, this paper will summarize the development of business ethics over the past thousand years and describe the major changes that led to the focus of business ethics. In addition, the paper will illustrate how these changes impact business practices and compare them with my personal values that have evolved over time. Development of Business Ethics over the decades The origin of business ethics can be traced back during the time of business development, this goes back before 18th century, like any other personal values and norms, ethics in business...
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...Running head: THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ETHICS The Evolution of Business Ethics Ebony Thomas Ashford University OMM 640 April 6, 2015 1 THE EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS ETHICS 2 The Evolution of Business Ethics Ethics includes a mixture of one's beliefs and standards in civilization. Every person has their own perspective of ethics because every situation, person, and culture is different. According to Ferrell et al (2013), "business ethics comprises the principles, values, and standards that guide behavior in the world of business" (Ferrell, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013, p. 7). In simpler terms, business ethics are a collaboration of both society's ethics of right and wrong and the people who work for and have any involvement in an organization ethics. Therefore, regardless of an individual definition of ethics, it is equally important in a business environment and practicing good ethical behavior can eliminate the potential of a hostile environment. Ethics has changed tremendously over the years in society as well as the business world. This research will take a deeper look into the evolution of business ethics. A further analysis of the development of business ethics over the past decades and examines how the rise of social issues played an extensive role. Further, a discussion on how these changes impact current business philosophies and reporting practices will be also be reviewed. Development of Business Ethics Business ethics derived from innumerable changes that occurred...
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...The Role of Ethics in Business Evolution Reconciling works of Managerial Literature, Business Ethics Writer and Catholic Social Teaching, Domènec Melé argued that a firm should be considered as a wholesome person and suggested the ethical implications of his view (Melé, 2012). The concept that a firm should be regarded as a legal person, and not just a profit seeking entity, was brought forth by the House of Lords in the (Salomon v. A. Salomon & Co. Ltd., 1897) case, paving the way for modern firms. Melé’s argument was revolutionary in that he considered the firm a wholesome person, bearing moral responsibilities for communities that it may potentially affect. This response paper aims to analyse Melé’s paper, further discuss his ideas, and finally incorporate the role of ethics in human evolution to project the possible direction of business evolution. The article started by suggesting that there are two views of the firm. The former views the firms as a nexus of contracts, implying that the firm functions as an aggregate of agreements. The latter views the firm as an aggregate of interests, adding a human element of desire to the soul-less assembly of agreements. Extending the addition of human element into the firm, Melé argued that the main constituent of a firm is social bonds, and thus, a firm should be regarded as a community. Personally, I think that the progression of arguments is well organised. Contracts stem from self-interests, and self-interests are derived...
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...Marketing – Rohit Deshpande 4 1.3 Empirical Business Ethics Research and Paradigm Analysis – V. Brand 6 2 Summary on key learning notes 9 Bibliography 12 The Philosophy of Science The discussion of marketing as a science and the different paradigms related to it were unfamiliar to me before I read these articles included in the assignment. I had earlier gotten familiar with the discussion of economic sociology and the discussion and the debate between economics as a science (especially the neo-classic economic approach) and the subject it researches, i.e. the economic markets where these economic practices take place. It is thus also logical to become familiar with the evolution of marketing practices, as this to many degrees resembles and also equates to the evolution of economic sciences and other sciences alike. The articles are assessed in the order that I read them, since it is hopefully also possible for the reader to follow a logical construct in the development and adoption of the insight that the articles provide on marketing research. Even though this does not pose a logical progression of the articles time-wise, I still feel that it is natural to address these articles in this mentioned fashion. The first one of the articles discussed is “The Philosophy of Marketing Theory” by M. Tadajewski, the second one is “Paradigms Lost” by R. Deshpande, and the third and the last article is the “Empirical Business Ethics Research and Paradigm Analysis” by V. Brand...
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...The Evolution of Business Jennifer Sterkenburg OMM 640: Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Instructor Whitten September 4, 2013 The Evolution of Business Since the term “business” became a word everyone was familiar with, the purpose and principle behind business ethics and values was created. Even though no one in this day and age can be 100% sure how businesses were created, and how entrepreneurs were able to provide a sense of stability for themselves and their families, we can see how they evolved; the companies we know today would not exist without the men and women who created businesses throughout history. Over the last several decades, companies have developed a sense of business ethics that have defined the reputation of companies and the mission that drives the company. From the 1960s to today, people have been concerned with different ethical issues and have managed to develop a society where those issues have made them stronger. According to the Ethics Resource Center (2009), the 1960s caused the most strain on people and their ethics, and it grew the society into one of the most significant eras in American history. The dilemmas that surrounded the 60s were nothing short of tension and domination. For example, the Civil Rights issues dominated the minds and hearts of that particular generation, the escalation of drug use, as well as how the tension between employee and employer grew are just to name a few of the problems that had to be dealt...
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...Drucker In Drucker (1981), he takes us through a journey of evolution of Business Ethics and represents several controversial positions. While explaining the ethics in Western Culture he states that there was agreement on the following statement: “There are only one ethics, one set of rules of morality, one code, that of individual behavior in which the same rules apply to everyone alike” (Drucker, 1981, Page 19). He discusses the examples of "a poor mother", "nepotism in China" and "paid extortion" to articulated the impact of social, economical and cultural norms on implementing this on everyone. He considers practices of questionable morality under different circumstances as ethical. Casuistry (Drucker, 1981, Page 22) was the first attempt to think about social responsibility and embed it in a set of distinctive ethics for people in power. According to Drucker, ethics for people in social responsibility is a cross-benefit calculation involving demand of individual conscience and position. For then, demand of ethics can be excepted if actions result in benefit for other people. Drucker then moves on to introduce The Ethics of Prudence (Drucker, 1981, Page 27) as other major tradition in the West. He proposes that Ethics of Prudence appropriate to a society of organizations. Prudence, the consciousness not to do the wrong thing will enable the leader to exhibit a role model behavior. According to Drucker, Ethics of Prudence do not spell out the “right” behavior, but wrong...
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...A Biblical View of Science, Technology, and Business: Do Utilitarian’s Agree with These Biblical Views? Utilitarianism was originated by Epicurus in ancient Greece and is the doctrine that an action is right as long as it promotes happiness, usefulness, and overall pleasurableness. If the action inflicts pain than it is not seen as right. Many of these ideas adapted well with the all of the modernization and changes that were occurring in the technology, science, and business world during the eighteenth century. Although the idea’s did fit well there was one issue, the new Utilitarian views were clashing with one of the most respected religions teachings; the Bible. There are many differences between the Utilitarian point of view; compared to the Bible’s point of view. Let’s begin with Technology, the Bible does not discuss this topic very much throughout its readings. Technological advances in a sense do not seem necessary, seeing that God is provides and protects those who follow him. Throughout the reading of The Gospel According to Matthew an anti-materialistic approach is used; “contempt for even the necessities of life and the assurance that ‘God will provide’” (Newton, Source Reader, p. 61). For example, the young rich man in the reading asks God what good deed he can complete in order to receive eternal life. God first suggests to the man to follow the Ten Commandments, the man states that he has been following the Ten Commandments since he was a young boy. God...
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...Ethics Reflection Name of Student Institution Affiliation Ethics Reflection Ethics refer to the moral principles governing a person’s behavior or a group’s behavior, especially at the workplace (Johnson, 2007). In an organization, the workers should relate to each other in a moral manner with aim of working in harmony to accomplish organizational goals. Employees should also relate morally with the customers and other stakeholders. Therefore, an organization finds ethics and social responsibility extremely necessary for organizational growth. Ethics and social responsibility are applicable in the development of an organizational strategic plan considering the requirement of stakeholders (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). This discussion will consider the role of ethics and social responsibility in strategic planning, overall impact of ethics and responsibility on stakeholders, as well as evolution of ethical perspective. Role of Ethics in Strategic Planning Professionals have the responsibility to reflect actively and critically on ethical issues that they experience during their practice (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). A thorough observation of ethics will ensure that an organization attains its objectives, mission, goals, and visions in a way that will give the business a framework and direction. Organizations depend upon ethics when creating guidelines that ensure that the organizational employees work in harmony to accomplish organizational goals. In the...
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...The Evolution of the CPA Practice Introduction According to Pepe (2011), everyone understands that accounting is the mode of communication in business. It is the channel through which investors and businessmen get to understand whether their investments are worth it or not. It helps in giving the value of an investment at any given time. The contemporary accounting practice and methods are quite diverse. However, they have not been so since the beginning. According to Waweru (2010), there are numerous changes that have marked the evolution of accounting. This research paper seeks to look into the accounting evolution process. Reese and Janes (2012) indicate that accounting has changes both in terms of accounting theories, as well as application of technology in accounting. Therefore, when looking at the history and evolution of accounting, it is imperative to look at the changes that have occurred. These changes are both in theory, and the application of technology in accounting. It is also worth looking at the various accounting theories that have come up. These have to be related to the changes in technology, higher literacy levels, and more complex business operations which call for the review of accounting practices. The need to protect the interest of the public is also a chief reason why changes in the accounting practice needed to occur. This essay looks at the changes both in practice and application of technology. Evolution in Theory and Practice According to...
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...Introduction The history of business ethics is as old as the religious books like the Bible and the holy Quran. These religious books have talked about truthfulness, transparency and honesty among people. The prohibition of theft, self-interest at the cost of others, and malice in these religious sources have a direct application the world of business. The history of business ethics has evolved during the long course of time and is still in this phase of development. The application of business ethics varies in different context. There have been radical changes in the world of business which has evolved the business ethics to its current form. And with continuously changing business world we can presume that in the future business ethics will undergo more changes. It will evolve continuously. The business ethics has an immense scope touching every human living in the society. The affects the daily decision making in the society, irrespective of whether it is a big decision affecting large masses or small decision affecting just one person. Business ethics can be looked at by different perspectives. One perspective is that of organization point of view which concerns about the things that an organization should do. While the other perspective is the things that must really be done irrespective of an organization. The latter one gauges the different aspects of an organization. The literary evidence for the history and development of modern era business ethics can be traced back to 1930s...
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...Reflection on Ethics Luis Heredia STR/581 May 20, 2015 Robert Cantu Role of Ethics In the business organizations ethics represent the base core management beliefs and credo. When implementing a code of ethics, organizations need to ensure that they are working towards the objective of protecting interest of shareholders and employees. At the present time, ethics has become a priority for the organization. It is important for organizations to ensure that it makes this particular thing as priority for its activities. After various kinds of scandals occurring within the organizations in Wall-Street, role of ethics is definitely important for the organizations over a period of time in the future. Ethics in organization is crucial regarding certain kinds of areas. First area for role of ethics within the organization is the area regarding benefit of shareholders of the organization. Second are for role of ethics in organization is regarding organizational employees. Regarding the shareholders, organization should make sure that it is working for the purpose of ensuring that it provides transparent information to the shareholders. Financial reporting of the organization should be accurate. In this area, ethics is important as it will help organization to a larger level for ensuring that, shareholders are motivated to invest more in the organization. Ethics will avoid any instance of fraudulent activity within the organization. Such activities will result in the area that...
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...news today is full of sensational reports involving scandals. Stories of abuses of power, bribery, corporate mismanagement, stealing and other disgraceful behavior constantly assault our consciences day after day, leading us to question the place morals and ethics really have in today’s world. For a business to be successful, morals and ethics are paramount (DeGeorge, 2010). All stakeholders in a business must be able to define, maintain, and defend the ethics of their organization. After carefully reading the first five chapters of Managing Business Ethics, I will now take the time to define differences between ethical issues and moral issues, the differences between personal ethics and business ethics, and then provide relevant examples of common ethical problems in business. Morals and Ethics are often used interchangeably, referring to a certain code of acceptable behavior within a social context. However, there are subtle differences. Moral standards are determined by a society as a whole. These are the standards of right and wrong that individuals are born into, perceive growing up, and are defined in adulthood. Ethics are a modified from these same standards, applied to an organization. Simply worded, ethics are born of morals. Because moral standards are determined by society in general, and our society is very diverse, moral issues can vary somewhat person to person. Ethical issues, in contrast, are clearly defined within professions, businesses, and organizations...
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...Abstract Social Darwinism is a political theory that emphasizes struggle and competition, and claims that human racial stock improves by allowing ruthless and unrestrained competition in the economic realm. Social Darwinism apples the concepts of biological evolution to social and moral development by stating that it is social evolution through the "survival of the fittest" in a struggle for an existence in which the strong prevail and the weak are defeated. Currently, we use the terms of Darwinism, natural selection, and evolution interchangeably and use them to describe a process which uses random variations, and mutations are preserved through a process of natural competition that favors beneficial changes. A History and Understanding of Social Darwinism The term Darwinism may cause confusion in some people because they confuse Darwinism, the scientific theory, with Social Darwinism, the ethical theory. In truth, except for the name and a few basic principles, the two ideas do not have much in common and has very little to do with Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who famously suggested the scientific theory which states that a branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection. Social Darwinism is a term that started near the end of the nineteenth century and describes a set of social policies and theories designed to reduce the power of government with theories that attempt to explain the biological cause of human behavior. For the...
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...Business Essay on Morality and Ethics in Corporate World - Research Pa... http://www.studymode.com/essays/Business-Essay-On-Morality-And-Eth... Business Essay on Morality and Ethics in Corporate World SIGN IN SIGN UP SEARCH DOCUMENT S BOOK NOTES AP NOT ES Business Essay on Morality and Ethics in Corporate World By Divyashrii | August 2013 Page 1 of 1 The term "business ethics" is used in a lot of different ways. Business ethics is a form of applied ethics (Broni, 2010) that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment (Solomon, 1991). It applies to all aspects of business conduct (Baumhart, 1968; Ferell - Fraedrich, 1997; Singer, 1991) and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole (Bernard, 1972; Donaldson, 1982:36). Applied ethics is a field of ethics that deals with ethical questions in many fields such as technical, legal, business and medical ethics (Preston, 1997:6-11). Business ethics consists of a set of moral principles and values (Jones Parker - Bos, 2005:17) that govern the behavior of the organization with respect to what is right and what is wrong (Badiou, 2001; Seglin, 2003). It spells out the basic philosophy and priorities of an organization in concrete terms (French, 1979; French, 1995). It also contains the prohibitory actions at the workplace 1 of 5 8/7/2014 8:16 PM Business Essay on Morality and Ethics in Corporate World - Research Pa... http://www.studymode...
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...Value Alignment Juan Garrido BUS 475 August 20, 2012 Richard Taylor Value Alignment Pearce and Robinson quote Aristotle as saying, “Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit” (Strategic Management, 2009). Values are what make people and businesses operate as they do. They are the deciding factor in behaviors and plans. ExxonMobil is a market leader in petroleum because of their ability to focus on their core values and beliefs in the operating procedure. Evolution of Values To understand the origins and subsequent evolution of personal and workplace values, the meaning of values must first be understood. Values are the sincere beliefs and underlying feelings a person will pledge, and they are the standards people strive to achieve (Pearce & Robinson, 2009). A value is a belief, a calling, or a philosophy, which is meaningful to an individual or a society. Childhood is the time to cement core values. These values will shape a person’s beliefs and actions for the rest his or her life. Interactions and watching family members are a way for children to gain their initial set of values. They can gain values from exposure and explanation of the world around them. Whereas, workplace values are the values people apply on the job. The origin of workplace values are combination of the personal values and the values the organization has put into place. There...
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