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Unit 1Moral Philosophy
and Business
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WHAT IS ETHICSETHICS in Latin language is called Ethicus and in Greek , it is called
Ethikos. Infact, this word has originated from Ethos, meaning character,
norms, morals and ideals.
Ethics may be referred to some standardized form of conduct or behavior of
individuals understood and accepted in a particular field of activity
Ethics is a mass of moral principles or set of values about what conduct ought
to be. They give an idea what is right or wrong, true of false, fair or unfair, just
or unjust, proper or improper, e.g. Honesty, obedience, equality, fairness, etc
and respect and then doing the right thing
Simply stated, ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human
beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves-as
friends, parents, children, citizens, businesspeople, teachers, professionals, and
so on.
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Character
of a man
Conduct
of a person
Series
Of actions
Good or Bad,
Right or
Wrong, Moral
or Immoral
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Ethics is a branch of philosophy and is considered a normative science
because it is concerned with the norms of human conduct, as
distinguished from formal sciences such as mathematics and logic,physical sciences such as chemistry and physics, and empirical sciences
such as economics and psychology.
Ethics, as a science, involves systemizing, defending and recommendingconcepts of right and wrong behaviour.
The principles of ethical reasoning are useful tools for sorting out the
good and bad components within complex human interactions.
For this reason, the study of ethics has been at the heart of intellectual
thought and its ongoing contribution to the advancement of knowledge
and science makes ethics a relevant, if not vital, aspect of management
theor .
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Principles of Personal Ethics
Personal values are the conception of what an individual or a group
regards as desirable.
Personal ethics refer to the application of these values in everything one
does.
Personal ethics might also be called morality, since they reflect generalexpectation of any person in any society, acting in any capacity.
The principles of personal ethics are:
1. Concern and respect for the autonomy of others.
2. Honesty and the willingness to comply with the law.
3. Fairness and the ability not to take any undue advantage of others.
4. Benevolence and preventing harm to any creature.
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Principles of Professional Ethics
A profession is a vocation founded upon specialised educational
training, the purpose of which is to supply disinterested counsel and
service to others, for a direct and definite compensation, for example,
the profession of a doctor, advocate, professor, scientist or a business
manager.
A professional is a person who prosecutes anything professionally, or
for a livelihood.
Professional behavior in a work place means you conduct yourself in a
way that represents your company at all times. Proper attire, respect for
co-workers as well as management, speaking without bad language and
keep personal conversations, phone calls and emails to a minimum.
In other words.. Work is not the place for Fun..
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WHEN AND WHERE DO WE
DEVELOP ETHICAL VALUES?
According to those who study the history
and philosophy of ethics, infants would not
survive without a nurturer who teaches
them about right and wrong behavior. In
human society, a series of nurturer and
teachers influence the ethical views ofeach individual.
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Business Ethics
Business ethics means the scale where you measure the do's or don't
for the purpose of the future of business.
Ethical business behavior is expected by the public, it facilitates andpromotes good to society, improves profitability, fosters business
relations and employee productivity, reduces criminal penalties from
public authority and regulators, protects business against
unscrupulous employees and competitors, protect employees from
harmful actions by their employer, and allows people in business to
act consistently with their personal ethical beliefs.
Business ethics is based on the principle of integrity and fairness and
concentrates on the benefits to the stakeholders, both internal and
external. Stakeholders include those individuals and groups without which the
organisation does not have existence.
It includes shareholders, creditors, employees, customers, dealers,
vendors, government and the society.
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Carter McNamara has defined: Business ethics is generally coming to
know what is right and wrong in the workplace and doing what is right-
this is in regard to efforts of products/ services and in relationships with
stakeholders.Business ethics set the standard for how your business is conducted.
They define the value system of how your operate in the marketplace
and within your business. With legal scandals concerning insider trading
and employee theft making the news, it is no wonder that businesses are
increasingly giving attention to the ethical basis of their business andhow to lead in an ethical way.
While the examples above seem to be clear cut breaches of ethics, many
ethical dilemmas that not so clear cut are faced on a daily basis in
business. In fact, there may not even be a "right" or "wrong" answer tothe dilemma, but how you deal with it will say much about you and your
business. These decisions are often referred to as being in the "gray"
area. They are not black-or-white, but could be argued appropriately
either way.
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How To Resolve Ethical Dilemmas In Business
In todays business, the workforce comprises of people who are diverse
in their nationality, religion, caste, race, age, education and even
socioeconomic status.
They are all expected to work together as a team towards the success of
the organization.
Dilemmas are bound to rise in issues such as downsizing the staff,pollution control, toxic waste disposal, utilization of resources, changes
in law and technology, issues related to discrimination, employee rights
and even on product quality.
All these issues are relatively complex and are difficult to resolve.
Entrepreneurial managers have to rely on their individual judgment
while resolving all these different dilemmas related to business.
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Ethical resolution of conflicts requires discussion, analysis,
problem solving and decision making.
In order to resolve ethical dilemmas, managers need to
have interpersonal communication and negotiation skills,
conflict resolution skills and critical thinking.
Before making any decision, one has to analyze all the
positive and negative consequences that are connected with
the issue.
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Here is an example.
Ritu has been operating a consulting business for about a year and has
been doing very well.
About a month ago, she decided she needed to hire someone to help her.
After interviewing several candidates, she decided to hire the best one
of the group, Gita.
She called Gita on Monday to tell her she had gotten the job.
They both agreed that she would start the following Monday and thatGita could come in and fill out all of the hiring paperwork at that time.
On Tuesday, of the same week, a friend of Ritu's called her to say that
she had found the perfect person for Ritu.
Ritu explained that she had already hired someone, but the friendinsisted. "Just meet Pooja.
Who knows, maybe you might want to hire her in the future!" Rather
reluctantly, Ritu consented. "All right, if she can come in tomorrow, I'll
meet with her, but that's all." "Oh, I'm so glad. I just know you're going
to like her!" Ritu's friend exclaimed.
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And Ritu did like her. She like her a lot. Ritu had met with Pooja on
Wednesday morning.
She was everything that Ritu had been looking for and more. In terms of
experience, Pooja far surpassed any of the candidates Ritu had
previously interviewed, including Gita.
On top of that, she was willing to bring in clients of her own which
would only increase business.
All in all, Ritu knew this was a win-win situation. But what about Gita?
She had already given her word to Gita that she could start work onMonday.
And yet she only had the resources to hire one person at this point.
Clearly, the best business decision was to hire Pooja.
But what about the ethical decision? If her business did poorly or Gitacouldn't provide enough support, the business would suffer.
As a result, her family would suffer. Money was already tight, what with
two boys in college.
And yet she knew Gita also had a family she was supporting. Plus, she
had been so enthusiastic about starting to work.
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Obviously, Ritu had a problem - an ethical problem.
Should she hire Gita (whom she'd already given her word) or Pooja
(who was obviously the best person for the job)?
Questions like these touch on our deepest values.
Depending on who you would ask, you would get strong arguments for
both decisions.
This is what we mean when we talk about "gray" area. So what is the
answer?According to Kenneth Blanchard and Norman Vincent Peale, authors of
The Power of Ethical Management, there are three questions you should
ask yourself whenever you are faced with an ethical dilemma.
Is it legal?In other words, will you be violating any criminal laws, civil laws or
company policies by engaging in this activity?
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Is it balanced?
Is it fair to all parties concerned both in the short-term as well as the
long-term? Is this a win-win situation for those directly as well asindirectly involved?
Is it right?
Most of us know the difference between right and wrong, but when push
comes to shove, how does this decision make you feel about yourself?
Are you proud of yourself for making this decision? Would you like
others to know you made the decision you did?
Most of the time, when dealing with "gray decisions", just one of these
questions is not enough. But by taking the time to reflect on all three,
you will often times find that the answer becomes very clear.
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What is not Business Ethics?
Ethics Is Different From Religion
Though all religions preach high ethical/moral standards generally, theydo not address all the types of problems people confront today.
For instance, cyber crimes and environment-related issues are totally
new in the context of most religions.
Moreover, many persons today do not subscribe to religious beliefs andhave turned agnostics.
But ethics applies to all people, irrespective of their religious
affiliations.
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Ethics Is not synonymous With Law
Ethics is not following the law.
A good system of law does incorporate many ethical standards, but law
can deviate from what is ethical.
Law can be a function of power alone and designed to serve the
interests of narrow groups.
Law may have a difficult time designing or enforcing standards in some
important areas, and may be slow to address new problems.Ethics is not following culturally accepted norms.
Some cultures are quite ethical, but others become corrupt -or blind to
certain ethical concerns (as the United States was to slavery before the
Civil War).
"When in Rome, do as the Romans do" is not a satisfactory ethical
standard.
For instance, our system of castes reflects an unethical streak in as much
as it tends to take for granted that some people are superior to others in
Gods creation.
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Ethics is not the same as feelings.
Feelings provide important information for our ethical choices. Some
people have highly developed habits that make them feel bad when they
do something wrong, but many people feel good even though they aredoing something wrong.
And often our feelings will tell us it is uncomfortable to do the right
thing if it is hard.
Ethics is not science. Social and natural science can provide important data to help us make
better ethical choices.
But science alone does not tell us what we ought to do.
Science may provide an explanation for what humans are like. But ethics provides reasons for how humans ought to act.
And just because something is scientifically or technologically possible,
it may not be ethical to do it.
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Code of Conduct and Ethics for Managers
Managers must observe the following ethical values:
Responsiveness to the public interest
Accountability
Honesty
Transparency
Integrity
Impartiality
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Global Ethical Issues
Wages and hours
Child labour
Discrimination
Legal and ethical business practices
Product safety and quality
Environment
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FACTORS THAT AFFECT ETHICALBEHAVIOUR
MODERATORS
INDIVIDUALCHRACTERECTICS
ORGNIZATIONALCULTURE
ISSUEINTENSITY
STRUCTURALCHARECTERISTICSOF ORGANIZATION
STAGES OFMORAL
DEVELOPMENT
ETHICALDILEMA
ETHICAL /UNETHICALBEHAVIOUR
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What causes unethicalbehaviour
Stress
Confusion
Pressure to perform at expected levels
Competition within the industry
No knowledge
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Some of the Unethical Businesspractices are :
Cutting corners on quality
Covering up incidents
Abusing or lying Lying customers
Stealing from the company
Taking credits from co-workers ideas/work Taking or giving bribe
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Government corruption
Financial scandals
Product safety
discrimination
Sexual harassment
Firing an employee for whistle blowing
Divulging confidential information
Unethical business practices(contd)
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Whats in it for me to be
ethical?
-A more accurate perception of the world around you, follow yourconscience.
-Have the courage to do what is right and do try new things evenwhen it is hard or costly.
-Dont loose heart if you fail or dont get what you want
-A stronger personality, and greater likelihood of being happy inlife