Business Ethics Lecture Notes PDF

Lecture 1 ========= **Essential characteristics** - Ethics has human behaviour as the primary object of study - Ethics is part of philosophy - Ethics has a practical methodology and practical ends "*A philosophical and practical study of human behaviour*" **Ethics as part of Philosophy**...

Lecture 1 ========= **Essential characteristics** - Ethics has human behaviour as the primary object of study - Ethics is part of philosophy - Ethics has a practical methodology and practical ends "*A philosophical and practical study of human behaviour*" **Ethics as part of Philosophy** - Philosophy is a Greek term meaning "*love of knowledge*" - Philosophers questions; - Why do we act? - What is the reasons behind our actions? - Why do we take one course of action instead of another? - Is it different to decide for oneself or for an entire community? - Do I adopt the same criteria when I decide something for my family or when I am managing an organisation which includes many different people? **Practical aspects of Ethics** - Defined as "*a guide for human excellence*" (Mele, 2019) - We study ethics to become good and to become virtuous (Aristotle, 2000) - Systematic and rational, it is important to distinguish ethics as a field of study from our moral experience - Moral experience is pre-philosophical - *"ethics proposes a rational and systematic approach to morality which permits one to verify personal views and to evaluate the morality of human actions and behaviour"* (Mele, 2019) - *"*our actions do not only relate to what we do but help define who we are*" (MacIntyre, 1992)* - "*we become just by performing just acts, temperate by performing temperate ones, brave by performing brave ones*" (Aristotle, 2000) Ethics does not take into account "acts of man". Instead, it is a rational inquiry into the actions under the control of our free will Ancient theories tend to be "agent centred", focusing on the action in the connect of the life of the acting person. Modern theories are "act centred", tend to abstract the action from the person who is acting **Deontological Ethics** - Focuses on duty and adherence to rules - Kant, a key figure in deontological ethics argues that ethics involves how the world "ought to be achieved" **Categorical imperatives** - The formulation of universal law; "act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become universal law" (Kant, 2002). When we act, we should think about whether our criteria for action can be universalised - The formula of humanity; " act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in any other person, always at the same time as an end, never merely a means". Each person has an intrinsic value for the fact of being a person, and should so be respected an not treated as a mean. - Advantaged -- recognises the existence of intrinsic values - Disadvantage -- it looks for adherence of actions to imperatives and not the outcome of the actions **Consequentialism** - The moral evaluation of actions and intention should be done according to the consequences that they produce. - Concerned with the outcome of the actions **Utilitarianism** - Fathers of Utilitarianism = Jermey Bentham and John Stuart Mill - The greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right or wrong - Happiness is the state occurring when pleasure prevails on pain **The principle of utility** - In every situation, the best thing to do is act in the way that will bring about the greatest good for the majority of people - Limitations -- doctors dilemma, the trolly dilemma and moral machine **Four virtues** - Practical wisdom; the virtue which enables us to identify the good end to pursue and to choose the best means to achieve it - Justice; is the habitual disposition which gives each person what is due - Courage; is the virtue that enables us to persevere in pursuing the good, even when we are in the middle of obstacles and adverse circumstances - Temperance; the virtue of moderation, it helps us to moderate our desire for pleasure by orienting it to a good end **Comparing ethical theories** **Personal ethics** -- how a person tends to flourish in the context of their life **Business ethics** -- how business helps to realise the best society possible, through providing goods and services for the good of society **Social ethics** -- how society tends to the realisation of the common good, which is the good of each and everyone living in society Lecture 2 ========= Mele (2019) affirms business ethics is challenged by cultural diversity in two particular instances; 1. When moral or religious beliefs and values at a personal or social level clash with the dominant culture of the workplace 2. When a company operates in a cultural environment in which the local values and the values of the company are different or even in tension **Cultural Relativism** The way of thinking about the reality that many people think to adhere to when taking positions towards reality. In general ethical relativism holds that "*the justifiability -- the validity status -- of moral principles is relative, for instance, relative to custom and that ethics has no universally justifiable binding principles"* Cannot judge what is right or wrong, even in situations where a large majority f people would agree that a particular practice is completely wrong Consequence of cultural relativism - Rejects the existence of universal values - States that differ cultures cannot be judged they are just different Criticism of cultural relativism - Does not prove the truth of cultural relativism - Moral judgement of cultural groups might be influenced by historical and social conditions and by false beliefs - Cultural judgement can include basic common values and universal principles - Prevents any moral progress **Cultural Imperialism** An attitude that is at the opposite extreme of cultural relativism Tomlinson (2012) affirms that cultural imperialism "*refers most broadly to the exercise of domination in cultural relationships in which values, practices and meanings of a powerful foreign culture are imposed upon one or more native cultures"* In the context of business, cultural imperialism is when a company operating in a country which is not its country of origin imposes its culture on the culture that it finds there Assume their culture is the best culture possible **Moral pluralism and universalism** Pluralism -- - A way of thinking that accepts different moral convictions and backgrounds, while at the same time suggesting that c consensus on basic principles and rules in a certain social context can and should be reached Universalism -- - Argues for the existence of absolute moral principles whatever the culture - Universal principles needs to be respected anyway at any time in any circumstance - There are norms which constitute an absolute, regardless of the circumstances, while other norms need to be considered in light of the circumstance "**Intrinsic"** means that dignity is related to the mere fact of being a person, not to any other condition that arises in the course of this person's life Golden rule -- threat others as you want to be treated / do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you **UN Compact** Ten principles divided into four areas 1. Human rights 2. Labour 3. environment 4. Anti corruption " to mobilise a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders to create the world we want" To do business responsibility by aligning their strategies and operations with 10 principles on human rights, labour, environment and ant corruption and to take strategic actions to advance broader societal goals **Principles for responsible management education (PRIME)** PRIME represents the efforts of universities in supporting UN Global Compact in reaching its goals Engages in business and management schools to ensure they provide future leaders with the skills needed to balance economic, environmental and social goals  **Standards of international labour organisation** a. Freedom of association b. The elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour c. The effective abolition of child labour d. The elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation Lecture 3 -- Individual Ethics in Business ========================================== The term responsibility has its roots in the Latin work 'respondere' (to respond). Two main assumptions 1. The existence of someone else whom we are responsible 2. The freedom of action, as only those who are free and in control of their actions, can be responsible for them The concept of responsibility goes beyond the roles that we can assume in our everyday life and it is strictly related to the fact of being human **Modifiers of responsibility** Knowledge and consent are two factors that determine our moral responsibility. A lack of one or both modifies individual responsibility. If an action is performed without the full knowledge or consent, we could argue that the responsibility is partial or even absent 1. Lack of knowledge - Invincible ignorance; when someone's awareness of the current circumstance or actions cannot be overcome in an easy way. E.g. working for a company which is deceiving its clients and you are not aware of what your bosses are really doing, you are not directly responsible for what they are doing - Surmountable ignorance; the state of those who can easily acquire information that would improve their actions but due to laziness or negligence, they do not do it. - Intentional ignorance; someone acts 'as if' they do not know something that is really relevant for the purpose of protecting an interest or a position 2. Lack of full consent - There are certain situations in which there is a lack of consent for the will to perform an action. There are many cases of lack of full consent die to factors such as; - Mental illness - Physical coercion - Psychological coercion - Strong emotions - Intellectual fear - Habit - Sociological factors **Actions and responsibility** My own actions - Action; actions directly related - Omission; actions not realised, even though they should and could have been performed. Related to actions that are due and possible, however, they are not performed My action's in relation to the actions of others - Induction; actions that make other people act in a specific way (persuading, imposing, suggesting) - Cooperation; actions that directly or indirectly help someone else perform an action. Formal cooperation (deliberately and freely cooperating with someone's actions) and material cooperation (cooperating with someone else's actions without knowing that you are actually involved) Actions are transformative interventions on reality Omissions represent out failure to act Induction takes place when we ask someone else to act in a specific way Cooperation is when we help someone to do something Committing a voluntary action Cooperating to other people's actions Omitting what is due and possible Inducing other people's actions Ethical issues in business Frequent ethical issues in business - Misappropriation - Misuse of company resources - Misuse of company time - Misappropriation of intellectual property - Counterfeit - Violation, theft or not authorised disclosure of trade secrets - Fraud - Conflicts of interest - Tax evasion and avoidance