Business Ethics Flashcards
What is the sin of Usury?
- Found in many religious scriptures, the act of lending money at unreasonably high interest rates
- Through all ages we have found it necessary to legislate against dishonest and deceitful business practice
What was the ethical issues of the 19th century industrial revolution?
- Employment of millions in unhygienic environments , dangerous long hours, no holidays, pollution and low wages
What were reforms made during the industrial revolution and what wasn’t?
- Earl of Shaftesbury wanted to improve general working conditions especially for children
- 1970 Equal pay act for men and women
- Until 1971 no protection against unfair dismissal, e.g women dismissed for marriage/pregnancy and one group of shops employed ‘no coloured people’
Why did the Great Dock Strike of 1889 occur? (Quote)
- Paid poorly and not guaranteed work as formen would select dockers and the rest would be left
- “the poor fellows are miserably clad… in a most miserable state” - General Manager of Millwall Docks
What did the workers do at the Great Dock Strike of 1889?
- Created an effective Trade Union
- Wore fish heads around their neck to show poverty
- Parliament were involved and morality in employment discussed
- Frederick Temple and Cardinal Henry Manning pushed for a settlement
What did Pope Leo XI’s encyclical ‘The Workers Charter’ emphasise? (Rerum Novarum)
- Condemned unbridled capitalism and materialist communism
- Set out theory of a just wage, set up wage boards and a reminder of social responsibility in business
- Followed to this day in the tradition of Natural Law
Who led the Christian Socialist Movement of 1840?
Led by Frederick Denison Maurice, John Malcolm Ludlow and Charles Kingsley
What was the aim of the Christian Social Movement of 1840? Include details about William Temple
- Find more just arrangements for business not only for the worker
- William Temple placed close attention to Natural Law tradition for social reform despite being Anglican
- In his Christianity and Social Order he coined the term ‘Welfare State’
What does a contract entail and why it has ethical issue attached?
- e.g Building a warehouse with suppliers, builders, architects with entails a series of contracts
- Contract has both duties and responsibilities, e.g o expect builder to complete the work and they expect to be paid
- There is therefore a DUTY on either side which is showing ethical connotations in contracts
Why does business not operate in a vacuum when considering contracts?
- The lives of many are affected
- We speak of rights, duties and responsibility when talking of business implying an ethical side being involved
What is Corporate Social Responsibility?
What is a Stakeholder in a business?
- Businesses have wider responsibility to governments, tax authorities and population etc
- A stakeholder is anyone with interest in a business and is affected by their activities, e.g suppliers, customers, wider community etc
Who have a Catholic Blueprint for better business and corporate social responsibility?
The Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols
What are the 7 points of the Catholic Blueprint for better business?
- Human Dignity
- The Common Good
- Solidarity
- Subsidiary
- Fraternity
- Reciprocity
- Sustainability
Expand on Human Dignity
- We are all made in the image of God
- “can never merely be used as an instrument… just for their usefulness”
- Kants 2nd Form of Cat. Imperative
- William Temple emphasised things are done for the sake of people
Expand on The Common Good
- Set of social conditions which allow people more easily to develop individually and communally
- Moving beyond the goal of profit and working for the actual good of people
