Business Ethics
What is (Business) Ethics? According to dictionary.com ethics is defined as a system of moral principles; the rules of conduct recognized in respect to a particular class of human actions or a particular group. Since ethics if recognized by particular classes’ of human actions and groups, it is safe to say that ethics has a place in business. As stated by ask.com business ethics can be defined as: the application of social and individual moral values upon business decisions, professional attitudes and behaviors, and the moral principles a work environment practices. 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.
Ethics is NOT:
- Ethics is not the same as feelings. Feelings provide important information for our ethical choices.
- Ethics is not religion. Many people are not religious, but ethics applies to everyone.
- 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 become ethically corrupt, as some totalitarian regimes have made it.
- 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.
- Ethics is not science. Social and natural science can provide important data to help us make better ethical choices.
Why Identifying Ethical Standards is Hard
There are two fundamental problems in identifying the ethical standards we are to follow:
1. On what do we base our ethical standards?
2. How do those standards get applied to specific situations we face?
If our ethics are not based on feelings, religion, law, accepted social practice, or science, what are they based on? The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University has suggested at least five different sources of ethical standards we should use.
Five Sources of Ethical Standards
- The Utilitarian Approach
Some ethicists emphasize that the ethical action is the one that provides the most good or does the least harm, or, to put it another way, produces the greatest balance of good over harm. The utilitarian approach deals with consequences; it tries both to increase the good done and to reduce the harm done. - The Rights Approach
This approach starts from the belief that humans have a dignity based on their human nature per se or on their ability to choose freely what they do with their lives. - The Fairness or Justice Approach
Today we use this idea to say that ethical actions treat all human beings equally-or if unequally, then fairly based on some standard that is defensible. We pay people more based on their harder work or the greater amount that they contribute to an organization, and say that is fair. - The Common Good Approach
This approach suggests that the interlocking relationships of society are the basis of ethical reasoning and that respect and compassion for all others-especially the vulnerable-are requirements of such reasoning.
- The Virtue Approach
Ethical actions ought to be consistent with certain ideal virtues that provide for the full development of our humanity. These virtues are dispositions and habits that enable us to act according to the highest potential of our character and on behalf of values like truth and beauty. Virtue ethics asks of any action, “What kind of person will I become if I do this?” or “Is this action consistent with my acting at my best?”
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University provides a framework that could be helpful method for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying ethical courses of action.
A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
- Recognize an Ethical Issue
- Get the Facts
- Evaluate Alternative Actions
- Make a Decision and Test It
- Act and Reflect on the Outcome
References:
Ask.com www.ask.com
Dictionary.com www.dictionary.com
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University http://www.scu.edu/ethics/practicing/decision/framework.html
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