Preview

Ethics and Moral Philosophies Essay Example

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1581 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Ethics and Moral Philosophies Essay Example
Ethical and Moral Philosophies

Ashford University

May 20, 2013

Introduction
The inner works of a successful business is based on the values and beliefs of its owner. In comparison to a family, the owner may be considered the matriarch and employees considered sons and daughters. Based on that assumption, the responsibility for success and prosperity lie solely on the leader. Family success is based on the philosophy of values and morals of its matriarch that are passed down to the children. A business should operate on the same basic philosophy of a family by creating a set of values and beliefs that will represents the best attributes of a company. Those same attributes are then passed down to employees creating a mutual understanding and adopted attitudes and principles. There are as many approaches to business philosophy as there are moral philosophies. This paper will define and discuss moral philosophies application to business, illustrate how they can influence behavior and decision-making, how moral philosophies may impact global strategic planning, describe how companies can integrate moral philosophies into their business practices, and finally, provide an example of a company that has integrated moral philosophy into decision-making and codes of conduct.
Moral and Business Philosophy
Moral and business philosophies could be considered synonymous. Moral philosophy is the principles or rules that people use to decide what is right and wrong (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2013, pg. 153). Business philosophy deals with the role of business in the solutions to moral principles. As individuals or groups there is a conscious need to keep values, ethics, and the human factor in mind in decision-making whether in business or life decisions.
Behavior and Decision-Making Ethics and moral behavior are hot button issues in business due to the unethical decisions made by executives at Enron, Tyco, and Worldcom. The amoral decision to lie-cheat-steal

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Ethics play a role in everyday business. Many company executives in an attempt to build a profitable organization and build individual wealth are confronted with ethical decisions daily. Penn Square Bank and Dow Corning have both made decisions in their business that started out making millions of dollars but ultimately cost them more than could have been imagined. Unethical decisions cause more than just cash to an organization, the loss of reputation could be even more detrimental.…

    • 850 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the planet’s largest and greatest -running Ponzi schemes was engineer by the 70-year-old Bernie Madoff. While Enron was also one of the world’s greatest substantial catastrophe, do partially because of its magnitude, as well as of its complication, moderately because the needs to guard the truthfulness of investment markets botched, and especially because of the enormous gluttony and involvement of key contributors.…

    • 920 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    All three of these ethical practices have tangible similarities. The primary similarity is consequence of action. Even though consequence is not always the primary focus of the action, it is expected in all three theories that the consequence should have a beneficial result as an outcome of the action.…

    • 761 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The principals of ethics are what address an organizational issue or assist in the decision-making process. In this essay, I will discuss the principals of ethics and their impact on organizations. The Liberty Mutual website offered videos titled “The Responsibility Project”. These videos demonstrated how important the principals of ethics are in any organization. Each clip established how ethics can shape and change decision-making and impacts a business and those that work for the company. The video that I viewed for this assignment was titled “Good Vibrations”.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In a business setting moral ethics plays a small role because as a business, the responsibility involves many people. It could involve shareholders, managers, fellow employees and the…

    • 569 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Best Person for the Job

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages

    [ 1 ]. William H. Shaw and Vincent Barry, Moral Issues in Business, 11th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2010), 75-76.…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    • Write a 150- to 300-word summary of the economic, social, and political standings of that group. Use additional resources if necessary, from the University Library or your textbooks. Provide citations for all the sources you use.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Personal Ethical Framework

    • 2597 Words
    • 11 Pages

    According to Johnson (2012) leaders are powerful role models, and policies will have a little effect if leaders do not follow the rules they set. In Enron case, corruption and ethical misconduct were deeply embedded in their business culture where profitability was more important than ethics. In this paper, I will address the factors that had led to the development of the culture of profit before principle at Enron. Also, I will create my personal code of ethics that will guide me in my professional and personal decision making and doing the right thing when faced with ethical challenges.…

    • 2597 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nurses are faced with ethical issues and dilemmas on a regular basis. Nurses must understand his or her values and morals to be able to deal adequately with the ethical issues he or she is faced with. Some ethical issues nurses are exposed to may be more difficult than others and the ethical decision making process is learned over time.…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Business Ethics

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages

    A moral point of view refers to approaching a problem or issue from the perspective of its being morally wrong or right or rather, morally excellent. As opposed to the Economic or Legal point of view, the moral point of view comprises of two main features. The first, is the commitment or willingness to search for reasons and act on them. The best action is that which is supported by the best possible reasons, as opposed to acting upon emotion, some already existing morality or without deliberation. The second feature is commitment to impartiality. This involves putting into consideration the interests of all in equal measure, rather than being self-interested. It is essential for business people to operate from the perspective of a moral viewpoint since, by so doing, they will be able to serve their customers well because it involves being careful about their interests. It is, therefore, sensible to state that business people must…

    • 1334 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Enron's Ethics Breakdown

    • 2754 Words
    • 12 Pages

    It is perhaps the most compelling business ethics case in a generation—a textbook version of what can go wrong in an organization that lacks a true culture of ethical compliance. Investors and the media once considered Enron to be the company of the future, but as its demise suggests, it was in reality not a particularly modern business organization, especially in its approach to ethics. On the surface, at least, it appeared to reject progressive innovation in governance and ethics programs and instead sought to circumvent systems that were designed to protect the company and its shareholders. The purpose of this report is not to comment on the legal or political ramifications of the case but rather to focus on the business ethics issues raised by the conduct of the company’s directors and officers, its accountants, and lawyers as it is known to date. It is meant to be a reminder that simply having a detailed code of ethics on the books (as Enron certainly did) is not enough. Organizations need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success.…

    • 2754 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Personal code of ethics influence us a lot in our everyday activities. They influence us in our decisions, the way we interact with others depending upon their nature, the way we choose our close friends, the way we behave, the way we show our anger and tolerance. Personal code of ethics are nature of person that shows in his actions and behaviors. They are naturally made depending on our preferences, the society we live and their influence on us.…

    • 336 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ethic Essay

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Stakeholders are the people who have direct influence on and/or from the business. Following are the key stakeholders in this case study and what has happened to them in the context:…

    • 2643 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are seven different major ethical systems and they are: ethical formalism, utilitarianism, religion, natural law, ethics of virtue, ethics of care, and egoism. All seven of these ethical systems are dealt with on a daily basis and sometimes it is hard to determine which one you are dealing with. Ethical systems intertwine with one another and make up how humans respond and react to situations they are faced with every day. Each ethical system has its own way of coming across to each individual, and it is also going to depend on how each individual person looks at the problems and situations they are dealing with.…

    • 1511 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ethics and morals are a requirement in the corporate business world. Each day employees are faced with moral and ethical issues; and because they have their own individual set of morals, they behave differently. Many have formed a good understanding of the basics of ethics, leadership, morality and social responsibility; but most do not really understand the true meaning of values, ethics and morality. The roots of ethics in America teach us “Ten Universal Values,” namely, honesty, integrity, promise-keeping, fidelity, fairness, caring, respect for others, responsible citizenship, pursuit of excellence, and accountability. However, recent history teaches us 12 ethical principles that include two additional values, namely leadership, and reputation and morals to the list that I will discuss in this essay. I will also discuss the differences between ethical and moral issues. In business, ethics and character count. Therefore, I will also discuss some organizations that have been destroyed or damaged due to their unethical and immoral behavior in business.…

    • 1631 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays