...Business Morality AIU Online In an ever growing fast paced society with businesses popping up and flourishing comes the question to what is important, the people who work for and support the businesses or the money? For most businesses success is gauged based on product or services output and profit. This brings the question to what means brings the success? Does the business value morals? Does it display the type of ethics people expect? Businesses should operate with upstanding ethics and morals that show they value their employees as well as the consumers who are essential to the success of a business. Do businesses have an obligation to be moral? To ask that question one is asking if there is an authority telling the business what is right and wrong. To view a business overall as moral is questionable at best. More likely it could be said individuals within the business are moral. With that one needs to think more in terms of whether or not the business is ethical. Having good ethics, a system of appropriate and good conducts, are important for a business. It leads to good morale with the employees as well as showing consumers that the business is trustworthy. Some of the things to look at are the mentalities that drive a business. What motivates their way of thinking to set forth a set of ethics? Does it come down to one person and their beliefs or are a business’s ethics set by a collective standard? What is the basis for a company to decide what is good or bad...
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...Values have always been important for organizations, but it has only been in the last decade that they have become important topics for organizational leaders to address. As competitive advantage became associated with a less controlling management style and organizations worked to empower more of their people, an important question was: What keeps people behaving in a way that supports the goals of the enterprise? Any thinking person would ask, “Will they accept responsibility? Empowering people who avoid responsibility is a good strategy for failure. One important answer was: Their behavior is significantly controlled by the code of acceptable behavior which governs their work lives, their code of ethics. This has popularly been called “organizational values.” The relevant definition in The American Heritage Dictionary is: Value...4 A principle, standard, or quality considered worthwhile or desirable.” They are organizational values because they are shared by large numbers of people in the organization. The fact that values are a “principle or standard” suggests they go beyond current desired pleasures, such as having a drink or quarterly profits. Indeed Collins and Porras in their book Built To Last (1994) found that values contribute not only to success, but long-term survival. There are many shared values in any group and knowing which are the most important or fundamental is necessary to diminish confusion. A work group may value: getting to work on time; being cheerful;...
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...statement “What is morality in any given time and place? It is what the majority then and there happen to like, and immorality is what they dislike” (Solomon & Higgins, 2009, p.273). As for business, it can have ethical standards, even though businesses are not moral agents. This statement is true because to work well, any business has to incorporate an element of morality. Morality in business is evident when a company provides equal opportunities for all employees. As a result, morals in a business setting act as a guide for employees and managers to work conscientiously. The value of ethical standards in business is that it provides employment opportunities for potential personnel without putting into consideration such aspects as sex, race, sexual orientation, religion, age, nationality, and color. If business adopts the above ethical standards, it concurs with Whitehead’s statement of morality. The reason is that people will like this business and associate it with terms of work and consumer relations. In my opinion, the profit alone cannot be the bottom line of business, even though it is essential for any commerce to make a profit to prove that it is operating in the right direction. To be successful, business has to balance its goals and client service as vital aspects that contribute to a good return. The most significant goal of business is to make money, but there are other less tangible goals that are intrinsic. For instance, when business initiates a good relationship...
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...Issues in Business MGT/216 Dr. Linda Rose October 10, 2011 Business Ethics Perspective Ethical conclusions are made about actions or situations that are right or wrong, good or bad. One indication that an action or circumstance needs an ethical rather than simply a business judgment is that the action or situation involves real or potential harm to someone or some thing. Another indication would be that there seems to be a possibility of a violation of guidelines set forth by the company that would generally be considered right or good. This paper will discuss what business ethics is and explain three ethical issues within today’s business environment that impacts the community and an organization. I will differentiate between ethical issues and moral issues, as well as personal ethics and business ethics. Problems involving discrimination, harassment, and conflicts of interest are common occurrences of unethical practices in many organizations. These issues stem from our beliefs on what is ethical and moral; the difference between personal and business ethics. By definition ethics is a term that refers to the principles of right and wrong that individuals use to make choices to guide their behaviors (Rainer & Turban, 2008, p. 96). However, business ethics is not a separate ethics that restrict businesses in a way that other human and social activities are not controlled. Ethics studies morality. Morality is a...
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...society or culture BELIEVES that some action is morally wrong, then it IS morally wrong for everyone within that society. Businesspeople often claim something similar. They say, for instance, that businesses operate under their own system of morality. What is deemed to be right by some business IS right for that business. This makes morality relative. For instance, if one society says cannibalism is morally wrong, while another says it is morally permissible, then the fact of whether or not cannibalism is morally wrong will just be a relative one—namely, whether or not it is wrong for someone will just depend upon which society they are in. We will now ask the question: Does some action become right or wrong just because one’s society, or employer, SAYS it is right or wrong? Or rather, is it the case that there are some moral standards that apply to ALL businesses and societies, regardless of whether or not those societies believe in those standards? 2. The Argument From Disagreement: Why believe that morality is relative? Relativists often say that widespread moral disagreement proves that their view is true. They say: 1. Different people have different beliefs about morality. 2. Therefore, there are no objective facts about morality. Lots of people disagree about moral issues. There are heated debates and bitter arguments between people, and wars between civilizations, over what the morally right and wrong actions are. The relativist’s claim is that this disagreement...
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...adfh JIS S e c 3 (1 ) 2 0 0 7 Journal of Inform ation System Security w w w.jissec.o rg Ethics and Morality - a business opportunity for the Amoral? Ian O. Angell Professor of Information Systems Information Systems Department London School of Economics and Political Science London, United Kingdom Preamble It is common for speakers at computer security conferences to tell audiences that 'they should do' this, and 'should do' that. The word 'should' is regularly thrown about as some jumbled-up mixture of efficiency and ethics, without any justification of the imperative. This paper will concentrate on the ethical issues, and so it will quickly dispose of 'efficiency,' leaving detailed argument for another time. Then, taking the devil's advocate position, it will focus on demolishing the certainty behind the ethical obligation, by questioning the role of ethics in society in general, but specifically in computer security. Indeed this paper will claim that an unsuspected morality and ritual lies behind many real-world security choices and much so-called 'objective' academic analysis. Furthermore, it will propose that such moralistic positions are highly problematic, and that all recommendations phrased in terms of virtue rather than pragmatism be treated as highly suspect. This polemical paper formed the basis of a keynote address given at the 5th Computer Security Conference, held in Las Vegas on the 20th-21st April 2006. 4 Angell, JISSec adfh The quest for efficiency, where...
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...the aforementioned phrases. However, what are they classified as? Do these expressions deal with morality, ethics, or both? Although these terms are often confused, morality and ethics are very distinct. On the surface this terminology may seem analogous, but their definitions are quite dissimilar. Morality and ethics are major components when examining the decision making of corporations. Despite having different meanings, morality and ethics are interrelated words that play a major part in business organizations. Morality The term morality deals with an individual or groups interpretation of what is right and wrong. In fact, it can be defined as the standards that a group or individual has about what is good and evil or right and wrong (Velasquez, 2006). Morals for the most part, are fairly unwavering within a group. The vast majority of people would agree that it is wrong or immoral to murder, steal, lie, or cheat. These are examples of moral standards. Moral standards are described as the types of behaviors or actions believed to be morally good or bad (Velasquez, 2006). There is also what is known as nonmoral standards. These principles judge what is good or bad in a nonmoral way such as good grammar or proper etiquette (Velasquez, 2006). In addition to understanding the meaning of morality, it is important to understand where these standards come from. Morality comes from many different influences in a person’s life. These standards are usually absorbed as...
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...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) With my ethics project I’m writing about having a medical marijuana business and an example that could be used is that...
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...and such other immoral behaviors. It is apparently a play that teaches about morality. Morality, according to Oxford dictionary, is defined as the principles of right and wrong behavior as well as goodness and badness of human character. Macbeth is all about how the characters deal with morality and how they face the consequences of immoral choices. Morality is universal and it is not only based on a society. It helps maintain law and order and serve justice upon the wicked. Morality sets order in the society because when people act according to their ethics misdemeanors will be eliminated. The perfect example of this would be Banquo. Banquo, although he hears his share of the prophecy, does not make haste to make it happen. He does not try to conspire or plot against the king. He adheres to morality and continues to fulfill his tasks. Although he does think about it and tries to talk about the witches’ words with Macbeth, he is not consumed by it as Macbeth is. Instead he says “…but still keep my bosom franchised and allegiance clear/ I shall be counseled” (Shakespeare 2.1.37-39) which means that he is not apprehensive about the matter. And another example of how morality helps people to act conscientiously would be when Macbeth becomes inept in carrying out the plot. He feels wrong about killing the king because he has been honored by the king. He says, “We will proceed no further in this business/ He hath honored me of late, and I have bought/ Golden opinion from all sorts...
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...Essay On Morality & Ethics in corporate world In today’s world of development the company form of organisation is said to be the most beneficial one and after availing the development how to sustain the same is of much significance. Two important principles that could help one sustain the same are Morality & Ethics. In broader sense the terms morality & ethics are defined as under : Morality : It is differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are “good” and those that are “bad”. Ethics : It is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. So in order to develop an organisational structure that has a strong resistivity in the competitive edge, it must have the above said to principles at its base. Talking about morality and ethics in the context of a corporate world, it is must that a company that has development of themselves and the development of the country as its final mission it is surely got to have Morality and Ethics as is Milestone In today’s world economy there are many companies who claim that their morals and ethics are strong enough so as to guide the entire organisation and the nation as well. It is the duty of all the business entrepreneurs and the corporate entities to inculcate the feeling of returning the society what they want and in all the ways as is desirable. Being ethical in the business requires acting with an awareness of: The need for...
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...repercussions are too far reaching. In a business environment, a business should be more conscious of acting morally correct than any individual, because the number of live affected are incalculable. In a business environment, why should people be moral as individuals? Introduction Businesses should be morally responsible because the damage they can do is monumental. Businesses that do not act morally destroy lives; while these individual may not die their lives are irrevocably changed. For example, the collapse of a factory in Bangladesh in 2013 killed eleven-hundred people. This collapse was entirely preventable; had the owner not violated building codes and failed to respond appropriately to information that the building was not safe, the accident would not have happened. (Fortune, 2013) Furthermore, this businesses immorality not only affected those employees that died but the lives of their families, as well as all those whom witnessed the event. One will never know the extent of damage caused by immoral acts such as this one; the repercussions are too far reaching. In a business environment, a business should be more conscious of acting morally correct than any individual, because the number of live affected are incalculable. Deontological Ethics Deontological ethics is the position that judges the morality of an action based on the action’s adherence to the rules. (Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 2014) This means that morality is what the law says it is; the law...
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...1. - What should Peter do? Should he submit a false discount claim on the Peabody account? Peter should support his beliefs: not lie or steal. He should tell the top manager of the whole company this kind of situation. No, he should not submit a false discount claim on the Peabody account, even this action will keep the major account, but it less the benefit of the company, and I believe there should be other way of discount to assistant the shipping cost. 2. - What can he do? He should talk about this kind of situation to the manager of the headquarter, since this kind of discount for customer made less profits for company, let the top manager figure out. That is their job responsibility. 3. - What would Murphy say? Murphy would say Peter is a liar, and Peter just lost the major customer on purpose and make excuse for himself, He would claim that the merchandise sold to Peabody had portion of second-quality goods indeed. 4. - Does a boss have a right to expect an employee to bend the rules if he or she sees fit to do so? No, I do not think so, when boss made the rules, that are responsibilities the boss expected the employee will follow and keep, However if the employee himself or herself want to change the rule as he or she saw fit to do so in kind of situation, that is not right, tell your boss the rules are not perfect and give some suggestions about revision. 5. - Does an employee have a right to disobey a boss? Yes, I believe so .when...
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...SHEILA JANE M. ESPINA CONCEPT PAPER MFC 301 MBA ETHICAL RELATIVISM & REASONING IN ETHICS INTRODUCTION People develop their judgment concerning morality over time. They improve and widen them through interactions with individuals and social institutions. In different societies each with their own ethnicity and traditions, there are different thoughts concerning how humans are to behave. Different societies and cultures have different policies, different customs, laws and regulations and moral ideas. ETHICAL RELATIVISM Cultures vary extensively in their ethical practices. Whatvarious practices that some societies considers morally acceptable, can be condemned in others, like polygamy or adultery, racism, sexism, and genocide, which is the deliberate killing of people who belong to a particular racial, political or cultural group. Differences like these may make us question whether there are any universal moral principles or whether morality is merely a matter of "cultural taste."Dissimilarities in these practices across cultures raise a vitalconcern in ethics -- the concept of "ethical relativism." Ethical relativism is the philosophy that states that morality is relative to the customs of one's culture. Albeit, whether an action is right or wrong is contingent on the moral norms of the society in which it is practiced.The same action may be morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another. It is a theory in which the...
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...Terms: Pluralism- existence of different groups within society: the existence of groups with different ethnic, religious, or political backgrounds within one society SOCIOLOGY social policy and theory: the policy or theory that minority groups within a society should maintain cultural differences, but share overall political and economic power Tyranny- A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power. arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. Absolutism – political system: a political system in which the power of a ruler is unchecked and absolute theory of objective values: a philosophical theory in which values such as truth or morality are absolute and not conditional upon human perception something absolute: a standard, principle, or theory that is absolute Utilitarianism: ethical doctrine of greatest good: the ethical doctrine that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the criterion of the virtue of action doctrine based on value of usefulness: the doctrine that the value of an action or an object lies in usefulness utilitarian quality: the quality of being designed primarily for practical use rather than beauty Libertarianism: advocate of individual responsibility: somebody who believes in the doctrine of free will advocate of individual freedom: somebody who believes in the principle that people should have complete freedom of thought and action Categorical Imperative: Kantian...
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...BMB2033: BUSINESS ETHICS AND VALUES Course Leader: Shaharudin Yunus COURSE NOTES TOPIC 1: Fundamentals of Values, Ethics and Morality LEARNING OBJECTIVES At the end of this chapter, you will be able to: Define values List the sources of value Identify the roles of values in decision-making Identify the definition of ethics Identify the nature of ethical reasoning Identify the concept of ethical standards and judgement Define morality Identify the various phases of Kohlberg's theory of moral development Identify the differences between ethics and morality Identify the similarities between ethics and morality Identify the basic unification of ethics, values and morality NATURE OF VALUES 1.1.1 Definition A small company has just employed Rizal as a marketing executive. As a fresh graduate, Rizal feels enthusiastic about the job and is determined to be a good worker. On the first day of work, new employees were briefed on how work is done. At that point, Rizal realized that some of the company's marketing strategies somewhat deceived the customers. This is just one example of ethical issues in business that we will look at in this course. Values, ethics, and morality are three concepts used in discussing 'Business Ethics and Values'. We will see how they should be applied in businesses. However, in this section, we will discuss values first. Values are defined as fundamental principles or enduring beliefs about the most desirable conditions and...
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