Moral Dilemmas: Testing Ethical Values

Reflections on Moral Values

• Moral values are often tested in everyday life, and the actions we take in these situations define our character.
• Contemporary issues in politics, business, and religion that raise ethical concerns include corruption, bribery, and fraud.

The Concept of Ethics

• The word "ethics" comes from the Greek word "ethos," meaning character, custom, or a set of moral behaviors.
• Morality is derived from the Latin word "mores" or "moralis," meaning the same as ethics.
• Ethics is the study of social rules that govern conduct, concerning what is morally right and wrong.

Morality and Ethics

• Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with principles of right and wrong.
• Morality is the rules for guiding conduct and the principles for evaluating conduct.
• Ethics is the concept of morals, enabling individuals to choose between right and wrong.

Business Ethics

• Business ethics deals with questions about whether specific business practices are acceptable or not.
• Most companies have a code of ethics for employees to conduct themselves in a particular manner while doing business.
• Recent scandals have led to a demand for improved business ethics and greater corporate responsibility.

Principles, Values, and Standards

• Principles are specific and pervasive boundaries for behavior that are universal and absolute.
• Values are used to develop norms that are socially enforced, such as integrity, accountability, and trust.
• Investors, employees, customers, interest groups, the legal system, and the community influence society's acceptance or rejection of a business.

Business Ethics in Practice

• Business ethics deals with questions like whether a salesperson should omit facts about a product's poor safety record in a sales presentation.
• It also deals with whether an automobile tire manufacturer should conceal safety concerns to avoid a massive and costly tire recall.