Unit 1: Introduction to Business Ethics
Ethics and Values] * Values = what is good and desirable? * People do not share the same values * Values are influenced by………
Moral dilemmas……..
EXAMPLE
A brilliant transplant surgeon has five patients, each in need of a different organ, each of whom will die without that organ. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of these five transplant operations. A healthy young traveller, just passing through the city the doctor works in, comes in for a routine check-up. In the course of doing the check-up, the doctor discovers that his organs are compatible with all five of his dying patients. Suppose further that if the young man were to disappear, no one would suspect the doctor.
Ethical dilemmas:
Definitions
Business Ethics = refers to the principles, norms and standards that guide an organisation’s conduct of its activities, internal relations and interactions with external stakeholders
Economic Activity = Business
Voluntarily enter into transactions of economic exchange of goods or services
Broad definition of economic activity including the state
Dimensions of Business Ethics
Impact of environment on an individual’s ethical behaviour and vice versa- Personal and Organisational ethics
Virtues * Character trait – predisposes one to do the right thing * Can improve on them * Opposite = Vice
Virtues of the accounting profession * Independence * Integrity * Objectivity
Chapter 2: Religious and secular moral value systems for professionals in South Africa Learning Outcomes * Examples of unethical behaviour in SA * Explore and explain the value systems in South Africa as you may encounter this among colleagues and clients. * Enhance sensitivity towards other practices and people from other cultures. * Summarise and