Chapter 1: Ethics and Business

1.2: Business Ethics as Personal Integrity & Social Responsibility

Ethics, in the practical sense, is having to do with how we act, choose, behave, and do things.
Personal Integrity is the meaning of ethics based on our value structure defined by our moral
systems; and, therefore, it is sometimes referred to as morality. If morals refer to the underlying
values on which our decisions are based, ethics refers to the applications of those morals to the
decisions themselves.
Social Responsibility is The broad social aspect of ethics that requires one to consider business
institutions from a social rather that from a personal perspective
Within a business setting, individuals will constantly be asked to make decisions affecting both
their own personal integrity and their social responsibilities.

1.3: Ethics and the Law:

 Legal norms and ethical norms are not identical, nor do they always agree.
1. Is the law, itself, is ethical. From the perspective of ethics, a business does not avoid its need
to consider ethical responsibilities just by obeying the law. Example; Discrimination.
2. The law is not effective at promoting “goods.” Even if it were, the cost in human freedom
of legally requiring such things as personal integrity would be extremely high. What would a
society be like if it had a law that prohibited lying under all circumstances?
3. There is a difficulty of trying to create laws to cover every possible business challenge;
the task would require such specificity that the number of regulated areas would become
unmanageable.
4. The law cannot possibly anticipate every new dilemma that businesses might face as a
result, one had no choice but to rely on the ethical decision-making processes. When new
dilemmas arise, one must be able to rely on ethics because the law might not yet—or might never
—provide a solution.
5. Finally, laws are not clear-cut and are ambiguous rules that cannot be easily applied.
Chapter 2: Ethical Decision Making: Personal and Professional Contexts
2.1: A Decision-Making Process for Ethics
1- Determine the facts of the situation; An ethical judgment made in light of determined facts
is the most reasonable ethical judgment.
2- Recognize a decision has an ethical issue; what appears to be an ethical issue for one person
will be perceived as a simple financial decision by others. The first and second steps might arise
in reverse order.
3- Identify and to consider all stakeholders affected by a decision; Examining issues from a
variety of perspectives leads to a more reasonable decision.
4- Consider the available alternatives; Use Moral Imagination to be creative in considering all
available ethical options.
5- Compare and weigh the alternatives; Understanding a situation from another’s point of
view contributes significantly to responsible ethical decision making.
6- Make a decision; making a decision means formulating a plan and carrying it out.
7- Evaluate the implications of our decision; monitor and learn from the outcomes.

2.2: When Ethical Decision Making Goes Wrong: Why Do “Good” People
Engage in “Bad” Acts?
 There are many stumbling blocks to responsible decision making and behavior.
I. Ignorance can account for bad ethical choices; Sometimes it is almost willful and
intentional.
II. Consider Only Limited Alternatives; Failure to use moral imagination and consider more
available alternatives.
III. Having a Simple Rule to Follow is very comfortable for people and comes to mind quickly.
IV. We Select the Option That Suffices, the one that you can live with, even if it might not be
the best.
V. Sometimes It Is Simply Easier to Do the Wrong Thing; It is often easy to do a little thing
that crosses the line and then, one day, you find yourself over your ethical line.
VI. Lack the Courage to make the right decision; It’s very easy to remain passive and simply
“go with the flow.”
Chapter 3: Philosophical Ethics and Business

Challenges to Utilitarian Ethics:

1. A first set of problems concerns the need for utilitarian reasoning to count, measure,
compare, and quantify consequences. There simply is no consensus among utilitarian’s on how
to measure and determine the overall good.
2. A second challenge utilitarianism is its reliance on consequences. In short, FOR
UTILITARIANS THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS. But this seems to deny one of the
earliest ethical principles that many of have learned: the end does not always justify the means.
there are certain things we must do, certain rules we should follow, no matter what the
consequences.

3.2: An Ethics of Principles and Rights (Principle Based)

 What principles or rules should guide our decisions?
1. Legal rules, one ought to obey legal rules.
2. Organizational rules; rules are derived from various institutions in which we participate.
3. Role-based rules; rule-based duties follow from our roles as friends, family members,
students.
4. Professional rules; Lawyers, accountants, auditors, financial analysts, and bankers have
important roles to play within political and economic institutions.