Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ethics Ch1
Ethics Ch1
Ethics Ch1
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-2
1-3
Discussion Questions
Identify what ethical issues and questions are involved in the Madoff case.
1-4
Identify all the people you think may have been harmed, and how they were harmed, by the Madoff fraud.
Do you think that a scandal such as this is the result mostly of unethical individuals, or are there organizational issues that allowed, encouraged, or were responsible for the harms? To what degree was this case mostly a failure of individuals, or organizational structure, or of government? Can you imagine anything that would have prevented the Madoff fraud?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
1-5
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-6
The questions today are less about why or should ethics be a part of business, than about which ethics should guide business decisions and how ethics can be integrated within business.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-7
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-8
1-9
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-10
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-11
Key finding: Exceptional and enduring companies place great emphasis on a set of core values These core values are essential and enduring tenets defining the company, and not to be compromised for financial gain.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
1-12
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-13
Those beliefs or standards that incline us to act or to choose in one way rather than another A companys core values are those beliefs and principles that provide the ultimate guide in the companys decision-making.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Corporate Culture
Another way of saying a corporation has a set of identifiable values. But there is no right set of core values.
1-14
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-15
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-16
1-17
Malden Mills
December 11, 1995 A fire destroys most of Malden Mills, the manufacturer of Polartec. The last major textile manufacturer in town with 2,400 employees; community lifes blood Malden Mills provides fabric to L.L. Bean, Lands End, J. Crew and Eddie Bauer Aaron Feuerstein, the owner pledged to rebuild the plant, keep jobs in the community and pay his employees until work resumes.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-18
1-19
1-20
But
1-21
There is a growing body of literature in business ethics about the right ways to teach and learn business ethics. There are a set of principles, standards, concepts, and values common to business ethics.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-22
1-23
1-24
The process of ethical reasoning must be emphasized. Reasoning is distinct from answers. Begin with an accurate and fair account of the facts from all sides. Be objective and open-minded. Analyze each issue fully and rigorously.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
1-25
1-26
Whether we examine ethical questions explicitly or not, they are answered by each of us every day in the course of our lives.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-27
Philosophical Ethics
Denies that simple conformity and obedience are the best guides to living Rejects authority as the source of ethics Defends the use of reason as the foundation of ethics Seeks a reasoned analysis of custom and a reasoned defense of how we ought to live
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-28
Philosophical Ethics
Distinguishes what people do value from what people should value Requires we stand back, abstract ourselves from what is typically done and reflect upon whether or not what is done, should be done. The difference between what is valued and what ought to be valued is the difference between ethos and ethics.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-29
Business Ethics
A branch of philosophical ethics Reflect: In what ways do the practices and decisions made within business promote or undermine human wellbeing? How ought we to live?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-30
1-31
1-32
Ethical perspectives
Managerial ethics: What should a business manager do in various situations? The types of questions asked will vary from perspective to perspective. All decisions faced by business managers, from finance to marketing to ethics and human resources, exist in a social and legal context.
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
1-33
1-34
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Review Questions
1-35
Describe several reasons why ethics is relevant to business? Can a good business be an unethical business? What are values? What is the difference between ethical values and other types of values? What is the difference between value when used as a verb, and value when used as a noun?
McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
1-36
1-37