...Ethics in Business and Society Perfect wisdom has four parts: Wisdom, the principle of doing things aright. Justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private. Fortitude, the principle of not fleeing danger, but meeting it. Temperance, the principle of subduing desires and living moderately. Plato (427?-347? B.C.E.) When I first decided to take the course titled Business and Society 4395, I had no idea of all the dimensions of ethics or how ethics is intertwine into the business workforce and today’s society. To be honest, I actually thought that business people had very low ethics with their main focus on the contracts and/or the highest bid. I learned that society painted an image of questionable ethics by associating practices or traditions that are unethical and illegal or legal. Some of my classmates in my course did not believe that certain practices were a matter of ethics, however, they expressed that it was just the norms of business. For example, during class I received a handout that explained four situations and I had to choose if the details were ethical/legal, ethical/illegal, unethical/legal or unethical/illegal. Each situation I was familiar with in some way. I knew if the situations were legal or illegal right away, but I could not choose if they were ethical or unethical. I realized my mistake was believing that what I learned, while growing up, taught me how to behave appropriately in the business world or social situations...
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...Abstract The articles, “What is business ethics?” by Peter Drucker and “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” by Milton Friedman are about Business ethics and social responsibility to society at large. While both authors agree that we should have ethics in the business world, they argue that society holds corporations and ordinary individuals to different set of standards. Keywords: Social Responsibilities and Business Ethics In order to exam the assigned articles, it was important to understand the true definition of what is meant by social responsibility and business ethics to better understand whether Drucker and Friedman fully exploited ethics as we understand it in the business world today. Equally important was to examine the backgrounds of Milton Friedman and Peter Drucker. According to Wikipedia, Social responsibility is defined as an ethical ideology or theory that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act to benefit the society at large. According to Wikipedia, Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is defined as a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspect of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individual and business organizations as a whole. Based on Woopidoo “Milton Friedman (born July 31, 1912), won The Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences...
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...Human Element “Ethics” in Business Research Management Kanak Tara*, Archana Yadav** and Ritesh Kumar*** *JRF, Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad **M. Ed., Xt. Xavier College, Patna; ***Scientist, Central Institute of Mining & Fuel Research, Dhanbad ABSTRACT India, like some of the other developed and developing countries in the world, is greatly facing problem of ethics in business research and its management. The large amount of new wealth creates incentive to cut corners to get rich. The pressure to succeed at all costs has created a ‘cheating culture’ that threatens to undermine academia as well as the social and economic fabric of society. However, good business ethics help a society as a whole, and some say that good ethics can be a source of competitive advantage for an organization. Steps can be taken to improve ethics in business research and its management at the societal level, at the individual level, and more importantly at the organizational and the governmental level. In addition to ethical leadership, we believe that one key to improving ethics at the organizational level is human resource management. Improvement can be made in the areas of recruitment, selection, performance appraisal, performance management, compensation and benefits. Personnel policies can help ensure ethical conduct within the organization. This paper outlines and discusses the ethics in general as well as in Business research. INTRODUCTION Today’s challenge to business leadership...
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...ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS 3.1 Ethics Ethics has been defined as concerned with the development of moral standards by which actions, situations and behaviour can be judged. (Boyd et al) Oelgeschlager. et al gave the simplest definition of ethics as standards conduct. Ethics is the discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral standards of a society. It asks how these standards apply to our lives and whether these standards are reasonable or unreasonable, that is, whether they are supported by good reasons or poor ones. Therefore, a person starts to do ethics when he or she takes the moral standards absorbed from the family, church and friends and asks: “What do these standards imply for the situations in which I find myself? Do these standards really make sense? What are the reasons for or against these standards? Why should I continue to believe in them? What can be said in their favour and what can be said against them? Are they really reasonable for me to hold? Are their implications in this or that particular situation reasonable?” Ethics is the study of moral standards, the process of examining the moral standards of a person or society to determine whether these standards are reasonable or unreasonable in order to apply them to concrete situations and issues. The ultimate aim of ethics is to develop a body of moral standards that we feel are reasonable to hold standards that we have thought about carefully and have decided are justified standards for us...
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...Reference Material on Ethics Books and Book Chapters Baase, S. (1997) A Gift of Fire: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues in Computing, Prentice Hall. Berleur, J. and Bruunstein, K. (Eds.) (1996) Ethics of Computing: Codes, Spaces for Discussion and Law, Chapman & Hall: London. Berleur, J. and Whitehouse, D. (Eds.) (1997) An Ethical Global Information Society: Cuture and Democracy Revisited (Proceedings of the IFIP WG 9.2/9.5 Corfu International Conference) Chapman & Hall: London. Berleur, J., Duquenoy, P. and Whitehouse, D. (Eds) (1999) Ethics and the Governance of the Internet, IFIP-SIG 9.2.2 (IFIP Framework for the Ethics of Computing), IFIP Press: Laxenburg, Austria Bowman, J.S. and Menzel, D.C. (1998) Teaching Ethics and Values in Public Administration Programs: Innovations, Strategies and Issues, SUNY Press: Albany. Cappel, J.J. and Kappelman, L. (1997) The Year 2000 Problem: An Ethical Perspective, in: Kappelman, L., (Ed.), Year 2000 Problem: Strategies and Solutions from the Fortune 100, International Thomson Computer Press, Boston, 158-163. Floridi, L. (1999) Philosophy and Computing, London: Routledge. Johnson, D.G. and Nissenbaum, H. (1995) Computers, Ethics and Social Values, Prentice Hall. Kallman, E.A. and Grillo, J.P. (1996) Ethical Decision Making and Information Technology: An Introduction with Cases, McGraw Hill. Kaplan, B., Farzanfar, R. and Friedman R.H. (1999) Research and Ethical Issues Arising from Ethnographic Interviews of Patients’...
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...BUSINESS AND SOCIETY INTRODUCTON With increasing urgency, market and social forces are rewriting the roles and responsibilities of business as well as its strategies. Though the profit motive of business is understood and accepted, people do not accept it as an excuse for ignoring the basic norms, values, and standards of being a good citizen. Modern businesses are expected to be responsible towards the community resources working toward the growth and success of both their companies and their communities. Business ethics can be examined from various new perspectives, including the perspective of the employee, the commercial enterprise, and society as a whole. Very often, situations arise in which there is conflict between one or more of the parties, such that serving the interest of one party is a detriment to the other(s). For example, a particular outcome might be good for the employee, whereas, it would be bad for the company, society, or vice versa. Social responsibility of business ethics and consumer right are the influential aspects of the business and society relations. The social responsibility of businesses to the society’s interest and resource utilization is determinant to the business success. The Consumer right is the main components of the social responsibility of businesses in addition to other components needs special emphasis. The other general sector in business and society is the idea of consumerism and environmental movement, which is claim...
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...SIGNIFICANCE OF BUSINESS ETHICS AND REFORM Creating meaningful ethical reform in business requires teaching students practical, concrete, psychological tools for how to work with their inner conflicts and emotional patterns, teaching them how to embrace the challenges that directly come up as we seek to build businesses that create both money and meaning, renouncing the fundamentalist dogmas of the cult reasons of the single bottom line. And evaluating different schools not just on whether they produce smart and successful students, but also on whether they produce wise and fulfilled ones. When speaking of the importance of ethics in business, most people like Debbie Vasen infer that the term ethics refers to the business as a whole contrary, business ethics applied individuals working within business acting on company affects the entire company not just individual. When employee works ethically and responsibly it leads to entire organization. This ethics are more than just a word used to enhance the image of corporation also a very foundation of success, it should applied at the very moment of a firm opens its doors. The term business ethics has always help controversial connotation that is why the researcher seeks answer for business conflict on its ups and down. Believers like Cameron Mclean says that a business trying to grow revenue and profits will have direct conflict with remaining ethical. The most important why the researcher of this topic written this is with the help...
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...MGT3110 Business and Society MODULE HANDBOOK 2013-2014 Module Leader (London): Dr. Andrea Werner Module Tutor (Dubai): Mr. Kieran Ross Middlesex University Dubai Business School Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION AND MODULE SUMMARY.............................................................3 Module aims .................................................................................................................3 Contacts .......................................................................................................................3 Module Website on MyUniHub .....................................................................................3 Learning Outcomes ......................................................................................................4 Assessment Scheme ...................................................................................................4 Employability Skills.......................................................................................................4 Code of Conduct ..........................................................................................................5 2. LEARNING MATERIALS ............................................................................................6 3. TIMETABLE AND TEACHING PROGRAMME ...........................................................8 Lecture and Seminar Schedule.................................................................................... 8 Lectures...
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...BUSINESS ETHICS Name Institution of Affiliation Introduction The business environment is changing to embrace ethical conduct in the performance of duties and activities of individuals in professional setting. Nowadays, companies are exposed to public scrutiny where their corporate social responsibility and social accountability are assessed. A shift towards rethinking the various functions of a business entity to encompass ethics into their daily management activities has been undertaken as entities seek to be market leaders. Business ethics encompasses the relationship the company has with the employees, customers, shareholders and the community. Business ethics is the analysis of business activities and situations where issues pertaining what constitute a right or wrong act are dealt with through institutional processes (Jennings, 2011). Consequently, ethics involves ascertaining good practices from bad practices based on the context of morals. On the other hand, moral conduct is the behaviour exhibited by human beings that can either be right or wrong depending on the context whereas business ethics. Business ethics can be viewed from two distinct perspectives; descriptive ethics and normative ethics. Normative ethics ascribes to the justification of moral systems whereas descriptive ethics depicts what ethical practices are. Ideally, the paper will delve into more details concerning what business ethics entails and the importance of business ethics...
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...discuss their application in a business context. Andrew Brady 10358293 Ethics can be defined as distinguishing and choosing between right and wrong (Oxford English Dictionary) and is a central part of what makes us human. It is, however, not as simple as it would first appear. The idea of ethics has long been the topic of discussion for philosophers and there are many differing views on the issue ranging from utilitarianism to virtue ethics. Despite this multitude of views certain grounds are agreed upon with regards to ethics: * The possibility of free will. * The focus on an individual’s relationship with others. * Some form of individual responsibility. (O’Regan, A; 2012) Morality and ethics are the fabrics with which our society is sewn. Society, its laws, social order and ethics are all interlinked. One of the main goals of society is to create harmony among its people and as such morality plays a huge role (Anon; 2007). Without these moral principles humans would act on mere base instinct with little regard for consequence, be they positive or negative. With this in mind it can be said that ethics and morality arise when we are no longer bound by the rules and laws of our society and as such must look within ourselves to decide what is right or wrong (Anon; 2007). As I have already said ethics is seen as an entirely human concept and is often seen as a social construct. I would be inclined to agree with this sentiment as ethics tend to change from culture...
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...Should Social Responsibility and Business Ethics serve a role in Corporations? NorthCentral University Abstract When you turn on the television, surf the internet or browse the Wall Street Journal the terms – business ethics and social responsibility are discussed. Recently, the Gulf coast oil spill has questioned the social responsibility of British Petroleum. However, can the terms business ethics and social responsibility apply to corporations? A review of two articles - “What is business ethics?” by P. Drucker and “The social responsibility of business to increase its profits written” by M. Friedman evaluates the two ethical terms. These articles suggest both business ethics and social responsibility should not apply to corporations. The focus of this paper will compare and contrast two approaches to business ethics. The conflicting objectives between the two parties will be analyzed. Lastly, my view and definition of business ethics and social responsibility will be conversed. Research for this paper consists primarily of peer reviewed articles and published articles. Should Social Responsibility and Business Ethics serve a role in Corporations? During the twenty- first century, businesses are confronted with many different responsibilities. Each responsibility must be address while ensuring obligations to stakeholders, special interest groups, employees and the environment. Businesses are expected to have very strong ethics, but often this is not the case...
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...BUSINESS ETHICS 'COLLECTIVE ACTION PROBLEMS' IN PARTICULAR HOW MUCH RESPONSIBILITY DOES AN INDIVIDUAL MANAGER HAVE FOR THE ETHICAL CULTURE OF HIS/HER ORGANISATION? Ram Visvanathan Business Ethics May 28, 2014 Introduction. Ethics is very important for the prosperity of any organization. Every employee or stakeholder of an organization has got an important role to play in nurturing an ethical culture in an organization. This research paper discusses the level of responsibility that an individual manager has in the ethical culture of his or her organization. This is done with close attention to academic journals and research. The paper will derive its arguments from veteran theories like the Utilitarian and the Kantian theories. The paper will also relate its discussions with the case study about Enron a USA company that collapsed as a result of unethical behavior in the management. Some of the components that will be highlighted in the paper include; the importance of an ethical culture in an organization, the dangers of lack of ethics in an organization and the strategies that can be used to promote ethics in an organization. Justification of the research. The study of the role of individual managers in the ethical culture of an organization is a justified venture. This is because of the increased calls for ethical behaviors in organizations. The expectations of the staff and the society at large on ethical behaviors have increased tremendously...
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...[pic] |A History of Business Ethics | |By Richard T. De George | |The term 'business ethics' is used in a lot of different ways, and the history of business ethics will vary depending on | |how one conceives of the object under discussion. The history will also vary somewhat on the historian—how he or she sees | |the subject, what facts he or she seeks to discover or has at hand, and the relative importance the historian gives to | |those facts. Hence the story I'm going to tell will be somewhat different from the story someone else might tell in various| |particulars, and I hope that instead of being a dull recitation of facts it might in fact prompt some discussion at the end| |by those who would tell a somewhat different story. | |The story I will tell has three strands, because I believe the term business ethics is used in at least three different, | |although related, senses. Which sense one chooses therefore gives priority to nature of the history of the topic. The | |primary sense of the term refers to recent developments and to the period, since roughly the early 1970s, when the term | |'business ethics' came into common use in the United States. Its origin in this sense is found...
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...Running Head: Business Ethics Main Title: The Cultural Dimensions of Business Ethic Monroe College Contents Rationale 3 Introduction 3 Some Factors which may Influence Business Ethics 3 How Peoples Action can Affect Business Ethics 4 How Structure Affects Business ethics 4 How Culture, Norms and Laws Affect Business Ethics 5 Unethical Practices and How They May Affect a Business 5 Recommendations 7 Conclusion 8 Sources 10 Rationale The purpose of this paper is to discuss and address cultural aspects of business ethics. It will also examine how these cultural aspects may affect businesses and shape societies view on these organizations. Recommendations will also be made for example, on the aspect of setting companies policy while taking morals and ethical matters into consideration. Introduction Ethics is a huge area of interest, study and debate. According to Dictionary.com, Ethics is a body of moral principles or values governing or distinctive of a particular culture or group. Business ethics can be described as the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily interactions with society .The ethical standards of a business can be examined by looking into the firm’s human rights policy, its regulations of bribery and corruption, and its execution and compliance of its codes of ethics. The ethical standards of business can vary significantly depending on the country it is headquartered in. These standards apply not only...
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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 behavior...
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