Blw Ch 2

Front 1

Ethics
Business Ethics

Back 1

___ study of what is right or good for human beings
Business Ethics study of what is right and good in a business setting

Front 2

Ethical Fundamentalism

Back 2

___ individuals look to a central authority or set of rules to guide them in ethical decision making

Front 3

Ethical Relativism

Back 3

___ actions must be judged by what individuals subjectively feel is right or wrong for themselves

Front 4

Situational Ethics

Back 4

___ one must judge a person’s actions by first putting oneself in the actor’s situation

Front 5

Utilitarianism moral actions

Back 5

___moral actions are those that produce the greatest net pleasure compared with net pain
• Act Utilitarianism assesses each separate act according to whether it maximizes pleasure over pain
• Rule Utilitarianism supports rules that on balance produce the greatest pleasure for society
• Cost-Benefit Analysis quantifies the benefits and costs of alternatives

Front 6

Deontology

Back 6

___actions must be judged by their motives and means as well as their results

Front 7

Social Ethics Theories

Back 7

____ focus is on a person’s obligations to other members in society and also on the individual’s rights and obligations within society
• Social Egalitarians believe that society should provide all its members with equal amounts of goods and services regardless of their relative contributions
• Distributive Justice stresses equality of opportunity rather than results
• Libertarians stress market outcomes as the basis for distributing society’s rewards

Front 8

Other Ethical Theories

Back 8

Other ____ Theories
• Intuitionism a rational person possesses inherent power to assess the correctness of actions
• Good Person individuals should seek out and emulate good role models

Front 9

Ethical Standards In Business

Back 9

Choosing an Ethical System Kohlberg’s stages of moral development is a widely
accepted model
Corporations as Moral Agents because a corporation is a statutorily created entity, it is not clear whether it should be held morally responsible

Front 10

Regulation of Business

Back 10

___ governmental regulation has been necessary because all the conditions for perfect competition have not been satisfied and free competition cannot by itself achieve other societal objectives

Front 11

Corporate Governance

Back 11

___ vast amounts of wealth and power have become concentrated in a small number of corporations, which are in turn controlled by a small group of corporate officers

Front 12

Arguments against Social Responsibility

Back 12

___ against Social Responsibility
• Profitability because corporations are artificial entities established for profit-making activities, their only social obligation should be to return as much money as possible to shareholders
• Unfairness whenever corporations engage in social activities such as supporting the arts or education, they divert funds rightfully belonging to shareholders and/or employees to unrelated third parties
• Accountability a corporation is subject to less public accountability than public bodies are
• Expertise although a corporation may have a high level of expertise in selling its goods and services, there is absolutely no guarantee that any promotion of social activities will be carried on with the same degree of competence

Front 13

Arguments in Favor of Social Responsibility

Back 13

____in Favor of Social Responsibility
• The Social Contract because society allows for the creation of corporations and gives them special rights, including a grant of limited liability, corporations owe a responsibility to our society
• Less Government Regulation by taking a more proactive role in addressing society’s problems, corporations create a climate of trust and respect that has the effect of reducing government regulation
• Long-Run Profits corporate involvement in social causes creates goodwill, which simply makes good business sense

Front 14

Ethical Qusetiones apply to relationships among and between ... (give 6)

Back 14

A Business and its employees
'' and its customers
'' and its owners
'' and society at large
competing businesses
businesess and countries at an international level

Front 15

What is the seeing-knowing-doing model? What are the steps?

Back 15

• See (identify) the ethical issues in the proposed conduct and any alternative options
• Know (resolve) which is the best option
• Do (implement) the chosen option

Front 16

Law V.S. Ethics

Back 16

Law is strongly affected by moral concepts (ethics), but law and morality are not the same. Legality is often a reliable guide to ethical behavior, but it cannot be relied upon as a perfect standard. Legal acts may be immoral, illegal acts may be moral

Front 17

Name some of the ethical theories

Back 17

Ethical Fundamentalism
Ethical Relativism
Utilitarianism
Deontology
Social Ethical Theories
Other Theories (Intuitonism, Good Person)

Front 18

Kohlberg's Stages of moral Development

Back 18

Under Kohlberg’s model, people progress through stages of moral development basically as a function of age and education. The pre-conventional or childhood stage, is one where a person’s moral perspective is based only on a punishment/reward concept. The conventional or adolescent stage is one where an individual conforms his behavior to meet group or peer expectations. Some people may reach the third, or post-conventional, adult level where individuals conform to internalized moral principles simply because they understand why the principles are right.

Front 19

You receive a telephone call from a company that you never do business with requesting a reference on one of your employees, Mary Sunshine. You believe that Mary is generally incompetent and would be delighted to see her take another job. You give her a glowing reference. Is this right? Explain.

Back 19

Pawning off an incompetent employee would certainly help the profitability of an employer. However, relatively accurate referrals are expected, and good corporate citizenship would impose a moral responsibility to act properly. The employer would be better advised to give a more accurate, but not overly negative, description of Mary's job performance (while staying within the conditional privilege of avoiding a defamation action), rather than generate animosity and gain a reputation as a liar among other businesses in the area.