Defining Ethics
Defining Ethics
Ethics are the basis for decisions about what is right or wrong. To behave in an ethical fashion means to make choices that embody right behavior rather than wrong behavior.
Legality and Ethics Activity can be: | Example | Illegal and unethical | Stock brokers who "churn" stocks, repeatedly buying and selling stocks to gain personal commissions without the client's best interests in mind | Legal and unethical | Selling legal products (for example, heavily sugared cereal to minors) when their effects may be harmful | Illegal and ethical | Refusing to comply with laws that mandate religious or racial discrimination |
Business Ethics
Business ethicists consider moral and ethical challenges within a commercial context. They ask a number of questions about the rules and principles governing ethical behavior in the world of business. What are or should be the ethical obligations of people working in business settings to investors or owners? To the businesses they deal with as customers or sellers? To their peers and employees? To society?
Business ethics is regarded as a form of applied ethics: theories and concepts are applied to practical problems and specific business situations. The range of issues addressed by business ethics is broad: accounting and financial standards, insider trading, corporate social responsibility (CSR), employee rights, product liability, bribery, tax avoidance and evasion, whistleblowing, socially responsible investing (SRI), bioethics, privacy rights, child labor, working conditions in "sweatshops," and corporate governance, to name but a few.
Recent Ethical Problems
A number of highly publicized accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Global Crossing and Adelphia Cable have brought questions of business ethics to the forefront. The insurance and mutual fund industry have also been under scrutiny for questionable business practices. Not surprisingly, many Americans now question the honesty and integrity
Ethics are the basis for decisions about what is right or wrong. To behave in an ethical fashion means to make choices that embody right behavior rather than wrong behavior.
Legality and Ethics Activity can be: | Example | Illegal and unethical | Stock brokers who "churn" stocks, repeatedly buying and selling stocks to gain personal commissions without the client's best interests in mind | Legal and unethical | Selling legal products (for example, heavily sugared cereal to minors) when their effects may be harmful | Illegal and ethical | Refusing to comply with laws that mandate religious or racial discrimination |
Business Ethics
Business ethicists consider moral and ethical challenges within a commercial context. They ask a number of questions about the rules and principles governing ethical behavior in the world of business. What are or should be the ethical obligations of people working in business settings to investors or owners? To the businesses they deal with as customers or sellers? To their peers and employees? To society?
Business ethics is regarded as a form of applied ethics: theories and concepts are applied to practical problems and specific business situations. The range of issues addressed by business ethics is broad: accounting and financial standards, insider trading, corporate social responsibility (CSR), employee rights, product liability, bribery, tax avoidance and evasion, whistleblowing, socially responsible investing (SRI), bioethics, privacy rights, child labor, working conditions in "sweatshops," and corporate governance, to name but a few.
Recent Ethical Problems
A number of highly publicized accounting scandals at Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Global Crossing and Adelphia Cable have brought questions of business ethics to the forefront. The insurance and mutual fund industry have also been under scrutiny for questionable business practices. Not surprisingly, many Americans now question the honesty and integrity