Midterm Flashcards
Ethics
Analysis of the principles of right or wrong (moral standards) that govern
Descriptive Ethics
Involves describing, characterizing, and studying morality
Focuses on what is occurring
Normative Ethics
Demands a more meaningful moral anchor than just “everyone is doing it”
Focuses on what ought or should be occurring
Relativism across time & cultures
Morality changes with time and across cultures and corporations must adapt to meet modern standards of society to remain profitable.
Moral Relativism
Nobody is right or wrong. Everyone ought to tolerate the behavior of others even when large disagreements about morality exist.
Moral Absolutism
There are universal ethical standards.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Milestone document in the history of human rights as it sets for the first time in history fundamental human rights to be universally protected
Conventional Approach
Moral conduct (act that has been committed) compared with Moral standards (principles of what is good and bad)
Moral reasoning: Outcome of applying standards to conduct
Moral standards in business
Respect for authority structure
Loyalty to organization
Performance/results driven
Conformity to principles and practices
Behavioral Ethics
A field of social scientific research that seeks to understand how people actually behave when confronted with ethical dilemmas. It refers to behavior that is judged according to generally accepted norms of behavior
Danger of Conventional Approach
Biases: Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment
o The “Self-Serving” Bias: To pick and choose which source of norms one wishes to use based on what will justify current actions or to maximize self-return
o Monkey Business Illusion
Ethical Decision-Making Levels
- Individual level
- Organizational level
- Business system level
Ethical Displacement
Identification of the appropriate level for a decision is crucial
Ethics and the Law
Law covers the basics, ethics covers more
Ethics, Economy, and the Law
Tradeoff between legality, morality, and profitability
Utilitarianism
Moral worth of actions is determined by their consequences
* Ethicality of actions is irrelevant
* Actions and policies should be evaluated based on the benefits and costs they impose on society
* The only morally right action in any situation is that whose utility is greatest by comparison to the utility of all other alternatives
* Example: Robin hood good
Disadvantages of Utilitarianism
- Human lives have a price tag
- Ignores legality of actions
- Allows for discrimination of people if outcome is good
Cost-Benefit Analysis
Use of monetary units (instead of pleasure or pain) to express the consequences of various alternatives
* Utilitarianism
* Any project in which the dollar amount of benefits exceeds dollar amount of costs ought to be chosen
* Example: Health insurance covers expensive medicine for young people before old or disabled people
Kantian Ethics
Actions are primary from a moral standpoint
* An action is socially acceptable if it can be universalized
* Universalizability: “What if everyone did that?”
* Reversibility: “How would you like it if someone did that to you?”
* People should be treated as ends and never purely as means to the ends of others
* Safeguards human rights, legality, integrity of people
* Example: Duty to tell the truth regardless of consequences; Robin Hood bad
How are Utilitarianism and Kantian similar?
Both focus on universality of actions and respect for people
Virtue Ethics
“What kind of person should we be?”
* Morality is about acquiring and practicing characters traits that conduce to a good life
* Doesn’t focus on ethicity of actions or their ends
* Example: Robin Hood questionable
*Not in competition with Deontological nor Utilitarian approach- An additional tool
Justice Theories
Focus on the attainment of a just distribution of economic goods and services
* A just distribution is one that is considered fair and equitable
* John Rawls argued that all economic goods and services should be distributed equally except when an unequal distribution would work to everyone’s advantage
* Example: Socialism countries; Robin Hood
Internationalization
Producing in one country but selling locally or vice versa
Globalization
The shift toward a more integrated and interdependent world economy
Integration of
technology, markets, politics, cultures,
labor, production, and commerce
*Both process and result of integration
Globalization of Markets
The merging of historically distinct and separate national markets into one huge global marketplace leads to creating of global products i.e. McDonalds
Globalization of Production
Sourcing of goods and services from locations around the globe to take advantage of national differences in the cost and quality of factors of production (labor, energy, land, and capital)
Macro Drivers of Globalization
- Technological Changes
o Internet
o Logistics 4.0: Efficient transportation i.e. Amazon Prime & Supply chain i.e. Automation - Decline of Barriers to Trade
o Decrease on import taxes
o Lower trade barriers enable companies to view the world as a single market and establish production activities in optimal locations
o Made globalization of markets and production a theoretical possibility. Technological change made it a tangible reality. - Openness to Foreign Investments: Free circulation of capital worldwide
o Used to be forbidden from investing in other countries i.e. China
o Most common: Investments from Western countries to Eastern countries & Eastern countries to third-world countries BUT vice versa can happen
Current Barriers to Trade
Technical barriers- Security reasons
o Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures
o Most protectionist country: United States- Most important customers worldwide so want to keep them protected and safeMost protectionist country: United States- Most important customers worldwide so want to keep them protected and safe
