Business Ethics
W.C.C.C. Bushy Run Campus
Introduction to Business
By: David Hatok
November 18, 2008
Before we dive into business ethics, let’s first define what are ethics are outside of the business world. Ethics refers to the moral values that regulate the appropriate conduct of an individual or group. Ethics speaks to how we ought to live, how we ought to treat others, and how we ought to run our own lives. It helps people differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable behavior, between just and unjust. Ethics affects in the way that it focuses on what ought to be the case rather than what is the case. People learn ethical norms at home, school, and in social settings as they grow up. However each individual has a different interpretation of these norms as they are affected by the individual’s life experiences. The location someone is raised in takes greatly into account for this. One person raised in rural Kansas will more than likely have a different set of morals and ethics compared to someone raised in New York City. To sum up, ethics can be defined as rules for distinguishing between what is morally right and wrong, what is responsible and irresponsible, and what is good or bad in general.
Business ethics relates to the application of ethical norms to business. It tries to answer questions like, whether a corporation should consider only the interest of its stakeholders when making decisions or should their decisions take into consideration the impact on the larger society as well. For example would it really be better to begin layoffs to increase your share holdings or to try to create more jobs to help stimulate the economy. General business ethics generally involve the application of ethical norms to issues concerning relation between companies, between companies and workers and between a company and the society at larger (corporate social responsibility). The importance of business ethics has increased over the years with...