Unit 1 - Understanding Ethics (23) Flashcards
Business Ethics reflects
The philosophy of the business, of which one objective is to determine the fundamental
purpose of the business.
Ethics are the
rules or standards that govern our decisions on a daily basis.
Many equate ‘ethics’ with
conscience or a simplistic sense of “right” or “wrong”. Others would say that ethics is an internal code that governs an individual’s conduct, ingrained into each person by family, faith, tradition, community, laws, and personal feelings.
It is important to note that “law” and “ethics”
are not synonymous, nor are the “legal” and “ethical” courses of action in a given situation necessarily the same. Statutes and regulations passed by the legislative bodies and administrative boards set forth the “law”.
Ethical issues in business include the
the rights and duties between a business and its employees, suppliers, customers and neighbours, its fiduciary responsibility to its owners. Issues concerning relations between different businesses include hostile takeovers and industrial espionage.
Related ethical issues include
- corporate governance;
- corporate social entrepreneurship;
- political contributions;
- legal issues such as the ethical debate over introducing a crime of corporate manslaughter; and
- marketing of corporations’ ethics policies.
According to IBE the three major areas of public concern
regarding business ethics in Britain are executive pay, corporate tax avoidance and bribery and corruption.
Ethical issues are closely tied to
important matters of human behaviour and morals, common law, public policy, religious beliefs.
You might encounter ethical issues at
home (the inner circle), extended family and friends (the outer circle), in the community in which you live (the second outer circle), work ethics and ethics in the business world.
Ethics are the
rules or standards that direct our decisions on a daily basis. These rules or standards are ingrained into each person in our personal development by parents and family (the inner circle), traditions, religious leanings, the surrounding community, common laws (the outer circles), and most of all our personal feelings.
Organisations are run by
human beings. So, this “ethics thing” is basically a human phenomenon. The human element has to be factored into every single ethical situation.
Ethics has to be differentiated from
morals or moral values which direct our peculiar behavioural patterns. Ethics, then, is the way in which our behaviour is managed mentally and emotionally.
Moral issues encountered at home (the inner circle)
Children are subjected to certain rules laid down by their parents – rules directing their generally accepted behaviour and ranging from “table manners”, politeness, punctuality, honesty, religious beliefs, the use of dangerous substances and a host of other norms and moral values.
Ethical issues encountered in outer circle of
acquaintances, extended family and friends and in the community in which we live.
Ethical issues differ somewhat from
moral issues that are entrenched at home by our inner circle. Ethics controls the behaviour of anybody in the outside world - people have to ponder over the moral issues that were ingrained by their parents and siblings. E.g. School children have to abide by the different codes of conduct laid down by each school and the education authorities and governing bodies