Reflective Paper for 2/16/2013 Lecture
The lecture of Father Roa last February 16 is an introduction to Business Ethics subject. The discussion included businessman’s myth about business ethics, the relationship of ethics and business, moral reasoning in business, the theory of profit motive, and business ethics definition. These given me deeper understanding of the subject “Business Ethics and Social Responsibility”.
Some of businessman’s myth about business ethics includes: Ethics is a personal affair and not a public debatable matter; Ethics and business do not mix; This in business is relative; Good business means good ethics; and Business is war. These myths will remain a myth.
The relationship of ethics and business which cannot be separated from one another. Ethics is an unwritten law, written in the heart of men. Business is an integral part of the human society with activities must also be examine from the moral perspective. In business, what is legal may not be necessary be moral. Today, the trend is to train managers to maximize profits and to quantify the operation of business.
With moral reasoning in business, ethical issues and problems affecting the organization must be solved by the manager. Always judge the action based on an ethical principle. A good moral standard will be necessary have a good for me and for everyone, must be objective and not subjective, and when violated bring about feelings of guilt, share and remorse of conscience.
The assumption of profit-motive is that it is an ethical issue in business and operates within the framework of freedom and structure of the business itself. There are two sides of profit-motive, good and bad. The good side is that profit-motive motivates people to do something meaningful, promotes ingenuity and cleverness in running a business, makes people productive and generates potential capital for business. If here is a good side, bad side also exist that includes promoting