Why study Ethics

LESSON 1 : WHY STUDY ETHICS

RESEARCHED AND PREPARED BY:EDEN U. ALBERTO, MBA, LLB, MPA

PROFESSOR

Good Governance and Social Responsibility

Learning Objectives

Identify the reasons why the study of ethics is importance

Explain the nature and meaning of business ethics

Explain the difference between ethical values and other values

Clarify the difference between ethics and the lawDescribe the distinction between ethics and ethosDistinguish between personal morality, virtues &

social ethicsIdentify ethical issues within a case description

What is Ethics?

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that focuses on morality and the way in which moral principles are applied to everyday life.

Ethics has to do with fundamental questions such as

- “What is fair?” - “What is just?” - “What is the right thing to do in this

situation?”

What is Business Ethics?

Business ethics focuses on what constitutes right or wrong behavior in the world of business.

Corporate business executives have a responsibility to their shareholders and employees to make decisions that will help their business make a profit.

But in doing so, businesspeople also have a responsibility to the public and themselves to maintain ethical principles.

Note:

Although ethics provides moral guidelines, individuals must apply these guidelines in making decisions.

Ethics that applies to business (business ethics) is not a separate theory of ethics; rather, it is an application of ethics to business situations.

Although all people have ethical responsibilities, higher ethical standards are imposed upon professionals who serve as social models, such as physicians, attorneys, and businesspeople.

Why Study Ethics?

Need to be prepared for careers in businessMany have been harmed by lack of attention

to ethicsLaw requires itLack of knowledge creates risks in the

marketplace

Note:

A company can lose in the market place, it can go out of business, and its employees can go to jail if no one is paying attention to the ethical standards of the firm

Ethical behavior and ethical reputation can provide a competitive advantage, or disadvantage in the marketplace and with customers, suppliers, and employees.

For Business Students:

Without background in BE, student will be unprepared for a career in contemporary business;

Familiarity with BE is crucial, it is not only managers who can suffer from ethical lapses, employees, consumers, are also affected by decisions made within the business organizations, thus, everyone has a good reason for being concerned with the ethics of decision makers

Values and Ethics: Doing Good & Doing Well

In general, values are those beliefs or standards that incline us to act or choose in one way rather than the other.

Truly exceptional and enduring companies all placed great emphasis on a set of core value.

These core values are described as: - “the essential and enduring tenets” that

help define the company and are- “not to be compromised for financial gain or

short-term expediency”

Note:

A company’s core values, are those beliefs and principles that provide the ultimate guide in its decision making.

Different types of values; financial, religious, historical, nutritional, political, scientific, and aesthetic values.

Individuals can have their own personal values, and importantly, business organizations also have values.

No “right” set of core values

Set of core values are essential in long-term success of business organizations, but there is no specific right set of core values.

It is important that business organizations have values.

Two Important Elements of Values

1st Ethical values serve the ends of human well being.

acts and choices that aim to promote human well-being are acts and choices based on ethical values.

2nd The well being promoted by ethical values is not a personal and selfish well-being.

Ethics requires that the promotion of human well being be done impartially.

No one person’s well-being counts as more worthy than any other’s.

Ethical acts and choices should be acceptable and reasonable from all relevant points of view.

Two Important Elements of Values

Are strong ethical values good for business?

Sometimes they are, and sometimes they are not…,

Nature & Goals of Business Ethics

Business ethics focuses on what constitutes right or wrong behavior in the world of business.

In a descriptive sense BE refers to thoseValues, standards, and principles that

operate within business.

In normative and descriptive elementsBE also refers to an academic discipline

that not only studies those standards, values and principles, but also seeks to articulate and defend the ones that ought or should operate in business.

Nature & Goals of Business Ethics

The law is an expression of the ethical beliefs of our society.

Compliance with the law alone will prove insufficient for ethically responsible business.

Business Ethics and the Law

Law and ethics are not the same thing. The question,

“Is an act legal?” is different from the question, “Is an act ethical?”

The law cannot codify all ethical requirements. Therefore, an action might be unethical, yet not necessarily illegal~.

Business Ethics and the Law

Similarly, just because an act is illegal does not necessarily mean it is immoral.

Mr. A was acting illegally when he refused to give up her seat on the bus to a person with disability, but that does not necessarily mean he was acting unethically.

Business Ethics and the Law

Should an individual obey the law even if it would be unethical to do so? Under the theory of civil disobedience espoused by Martin Luther King, Mahatma Ghandi and others, an immoral law deserves to be disobeyed.

Can you think of any examples of acts that would be illegal, yet arguably ethical?

Business Ethics and the Law

Ethics and Ethos

Ethics is derived from the Greek word “ethos” meaning customary or conventional.

To be ethical, in the sense of ethos , is to conform to what is typically done, to obey the conventions and the rules of one’s society and religion

However, philosophical ethics denies that simple conformity and obedience are the best guides to how we should live.

Philosophical ethics requires us to abstract ourselves from what is normally or typically done, and reflect upon whether or not what is done, should be done, and whether what is valued should be valued.

Business Ethics and the Law

The difference between what is valued and what ought is the difference between ethos and ethics

As a branch of philosophical ethics, BE asks us to step back from our daily decisions, step back from the ethos of business, to reflect upon how business decisions affect our lives.

Business Ethics and the Law

Morality, Virtues and Social Ethics

How ought we to live~?This part of ethics is sometimes referred to as

morality. Part of morality involves examining principles

and rules that might help us decide how to act.

Another important part of morality involves an examination of those character traits, or virtues, that would constitute a life worth living~.

How we should “act”, person we should “be”In the collective sense, this is the question

about how a society to be structured (arranged, controlled), about how we ought to live together.

This area is sometimes referred to as social ethics and it raises questions of public policy, law, civic virtue, and political philosophy.

Morality, Virtues and Social Ethics

Ethical Perspectives: Managers and Other Stakeholders

BE often is interpreted to mean the ethics of those charged with acting on behalf of a business.

What should a business manager do in various situations? In this sense, BE can be interpreted as managerial ethics.

But, a decision faced from the point of view of business management raises different issues that those faced from the point of view of employees or owners

What ever social arrangement exists, BE asks us to step back from what is usually and customarily done in the business world to ask the normative question of ethics.

How should we live?How should I live as an individual?How should we live in a community?What kind of person I am choosing to

be?What kind of society ought we to create?

Ethical Perspectives: Managers and Other Stakeholders

Questions to Ponder

Can a good business be an unethical business?

How would you answer someone who asked “ Why should I study Ethics if I an’t to be an accountant?

Reference

An Introduction to Business Ethics Joseph DesJardins (2009) McGraw-Hill

To God Be the Glory