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• Ethics is often based on religious, philosophical, or cultural grounds.
• Personal integrity is the aspect of ethics commonly referred to as a "moral compass."
• There is an emphasis on 4 areas of the Canadian business system.

Canadian business system

• Increased awareness involves describing Canadian capitalism, the stakeholders, and societal attitudes.
• Identification of the business's response to its role in society.
• An understanding of how business operations respond to environmental challenges.
• Consideration from the perspective of a manager or owner, emphasizing the environment's dynamic nature.

Corporate responsibilities

• Meeting humanities needs without harming future generations by practicing sustainability.
• Social responsibility and corporate sustainability reports should transcend public relations.
• Accountability demanded beyond economics.
• Social, ethical, and environmental responses create valuable intangible assets.
• Executives need skills to manage additional responsibilities effectively.
• How corporations respond to these responsibilities determines their survival.

Integrity in Business

• Integrity involves a corporation's behavior aligning with moral guidelines accepted by society.
• Managing with integrity means business leaders behave in accordance with their highest values and norms.
• A responsible corporation responds to social, ethical, and environmental responsibilities in addition to economic obligations.

Key Terms

• Stakeholder: any group or individual that is affected by the activities of a company
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): involves initiatives that benefit society as a whole
• Corporate Sustainability (CS): ensures that business practices today do not impact negatively on the environment and resources available for future generations
• Corporate Citizenship: the actions a business takes to contribute to the welfare of the community
• Three dominant approaches to normative theories of ethics

Deontological Ethics

• Actions are ethical if performed for the sake of what is good, regardless of the consequences.
• Decisions are based on duty and adherence to universal principles.
• Duty to act ethically applies even if alternative actions seem more favorable.
• Example: The Ten Commandments & The Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Teleological Ethics

• Focuses on the outcomes or results of actions.
• Utilitarianism involves making decisions based on the action's consequences.
• Consequences determine morality: good consequences make the action right.
• Decisions should aim for the greatest good for most people.

Virtue Ethics

• Focuses on an individual's moral character traits.
• Morality stems from developing good character traits.
• Absolute rules are unlikely to apply in all situations.
• Good business leaders possess courage, integrity, humility, compassion, passion, wisdom, and humor.

Business as an Economic System:

• Capitalism is based on private ownership of production means.
• Free Enterprise System: few restrictions on business activities/ownership along with a competitive market/limited government.
• Laissez-faire Capitalism: transactions are free from intrusive government interference.

Responsible Enterprise System

• Free enterprise but with accountability.

Society's expectations

• Legitimacy is the belief in the rightness of the business system to supply society's needs.
• Businesses MUST adapt when needed.
• Social License: operating in society with few formalized restrictions.

Ethics and Capitalism

• Canadians receive goods and services via the market system, coordinating economic activities.
• The Canadian economic system includes many businesses operating in a market system.
• Capitalism Theory:

8 Elements of capitalism

• Right of Private Property: legally owning and using economic goods.
• Ethical concerns: wealth distribution, government property control, and resource ownership.
• Individualism & Economic Freedom: the individual (not the society) makes decisions.
• Ethical concerns: individual actions vs. collective action, and economic freedom's extent.
• Equality of opportunity is the assumption that individuals/groups can respond to societal conditions.
• Income inequity is crucial because if Canadians are better off, Canadian businesses benefit.
• Competition: many rival sellers provide goods and services to numerous buyers.
• Profits: competition, effectiveness and should be used as businesses wish
• The work Ethic: a code of values and moral principles
• Consumer Sovereignty: consumers have power over producers and corporations
• Government has minimal rules, however, they provide for national security and maintain internal order

Common forms of Capitalism:

• Consumer capitalism: limited government involvement and open borders
• Producer capitalism: the importance is production and employment
• Family capitalism: business activities are run by family members
• Frontier capitalism: fundamentals of business are newly introduced
• State capitalism: government bodies control state power for political means

The ethics of capitalism: challenges

• Greed
• Economic downturns
• Business failures
• Increasing income and wealth inequality
• Increasing corporate crime and wrongdoing
• Stagnant Incomes versus Increasing CEO Salaries
• Damaging to the Environment
• Reliance on a market system that seldom works perfectly

Capitalism as an ethical system: pros

• Creates prosperity and provides wealth for many people
• Allows creative and productive forces to operate
• Cooperation is encouraged despite a competitive market
• Respects freedoms, including the right for individuals to succeed

Identifying Stakeholders and Issues:

• Business operates in a pluralistic social system.
• A pluralistic social system means influence is decentralized.
• Stakeholders: entities that influence, or are influenced by, an organization’s achievements.

Managers' responsibilities:

• Identifying stakeholders and understand how they are perceived
• Assessing how stakeholders influence the firm
• Assessing opportunities and threats
• Prioritizing them by influence
• Creating programs about dealing with these shareholders

The stakeholder concept: arguments against

• Problems of categorisation
• Challenges by meeting the expectations of all stakeholders
• Dilution of top management focus
• Impracticality

The stakeholder concept: arguments for

• Good business as you don't want a negative impact on the bottom line
• Ignoring stakeholders has substantial negative impacts
• More systematic approach to stakeholder success

Society

• Civil society: contributes to the functioning of society
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
• Society
• Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
• Groups holding shared values that advocate for change
• NGO challenges:
  • Animal Rights
  • Technology
  • Economic: often opposed to capitalism
  • Workers and human rights
  • Environment: one of the most common
  • Religious activism: prevalent in the US

Relationships with NGO's

• Identify risks
• Influence public opinion
• Innovation
• Reputation
• Expertise on issues
• Employee engagement

Relationship strategies with NGO's

• Proactively engage NGO
• Do not underestimate NGO's influence
• Decisions from a project shouldn't be seen as an attack
• Selected concessions are sufficient
• Dealing with the "realist" ones
• Pre-emptive strategies are better

Key ingredients to partnership with NGO's

• Leadership must be shown
• Be open to change
• Have commitment
• Share similar goals

The media stakeholder

• Influences opinions
• Most operations are managed by private sector organizations
• Media is divided into traditional, print, broadcast and social media

The tradition traditional media

• Written and broadcast approaches and books
• Managers attempt to manage relationships to suit their purposes
• Libel chill: threats of business through legal action
• Media spin: the "spin" of a company can create controversy.

The challenges of social media

• The use of new technology
• Allows society and stakeholders to share feedback
• Information can be exchanged instantly
• Participation costs are low
• Corporations' can either grow or face termination

Policy Development Institutions (Think Tanks)

• Analyzes social, economic, and political issues of society
• However, some believe they lack transparency

Ethics of Business: powerpoint

• Business ethic guidelines are the baseline for truth in all situations

Ethics of Business: powerpoint

• Business ethic guidelines are the baseline for truth in all situations

Influences on ethical behaviour

• Impacts for on value judgments
• Standards
• Home
• Religion
• Education
• Corporate or organizational: superiors of business, code and conduct
• Governmental and Legal System: codes and laws
• Ethics are relational and people are setting standards for judgements
• Societies have different belief system

Theoretical basis for ethical conduct

• Set by individuals to judge from values

Theoretical basis for ethical conduct

• Set by individuals or corporation to judge values
• Honesty: pride, and self-worth

Ethics of caring

• Golden rule and stakeholders

Golden rule and stakeholders

• Utilitarian Ethic
• Benefits to communities and stakeholders

Universals rule

• Moral obligations
• Reliant on list by everyone

Ethic of justice

• Justice
• Different types
• Non-biased
• Ethics Dilemmas
• Two choices but neither resolves in an ethically acceptable fashion Personal
• Ethical principals involves
• Perspective of someone