PART 1&2

• Peter F. Drucker


  Founder of "modern management"
• It's more important to do the right thing than to do things right
• Business Ethics


  The study of what is right and wrong human behavior and conduct in business
• Business Ethics


  The study of the perceptions of people about morality, moral norms, moral rules and ethical principles as they apply to people and institutions
• Business Ethics


  The study, evaluation, analysis and questioning of ethical standards, policies, moral norms and ethical theories that managers and decision makers use in resolving moral issues and ethical dilemmas affecting business
• Nature of Business


  • Hunted animals and cultivated land for food and clothing for their own
  • Proficient in doing one type of work or producing one or several types of goods
  • Sought products and services to not spend more time, money and effort to acquire goods needed
  • "Manufacturers" then do business as long as he had enough funds or goods to barter with
  • Expand his trades if more capital is available
  • The requirement is to EARN PROFIT
• NATURE OF BUSINESS Activities of business should be examined from the ethical perspective just like politics, economics, government, culture and religion from the moral point of view
• For the promotion of the common good, protection of the individual's interests and the preservation of the human society in general
• Business activities


  • Purchasing
  • Manufacturing
  • Marketing
  • Advertising
  • Selling
  • Accounting
• Business deals with suppliers, customers, workers, employees and even competitors– interaction of people
• Unethical business practices

  • Misrepresentation
  • Questionable pricing policies
  • False advertising
  • Misbranding
  • Lying
  • Adulteration
  • Unfair competition
  • Local price-cutting
• Business ethics


  Paves the way for a common ground of the fundamental idea of what is right and good and what is bad in our human conduct
• Without ethics, people/businessmen, will set their own moral standards, rules and principles that would result into a subjective morality – what is good for one may be bad for another and vice versa
• Business ethics


  Opens a novel way of resolving moral problems and ethical dilemmas affecting business transactions and interactions of people in the corporate world
• Business ethics


  Enhances the human and interpersonal skills of managers for effective management of people
• Business is an integral part of human society therefore actions of individuals and institutions in business must be subjected to moral rules and moral evaluation
• In business "what is legal may not necessarily be moral." Ethics provides us with a clear distinction between morality and legality

  
• Laws are insufficient and sometimes absent or unclear in some areas of human conduct while ethics is the unwritten law, written in the hearts of men that help him discern the correct conduct to follow based on the dictates of conscience and reason
• Today, managers are trained to maximize profits by quantifying the operations of business but also respond to complex situations bearing ethical consequences
• Peter Drucker states that business corporation is not just created to make profits but also to consider its moral and social obligations to its stakeholders
• Good side of Profit-Motive

  • Motivates people to do something meaningful, a goal to pursue and something to live for
  • Promotes ingenuity and cleverness in running a business
  • Makes people productive
  • Generates potential capital for the business
  • To earn a livelihood
  • Want to serve the society through goods and services they offer to the customers
• Bad side of Profit-Motive

  • Promotes rivalry among competitors
  • Makes people focus only on making money
  • Turns businessmen from being reflective and questioning person
  • Promotes self-interest rather than the common good
  • Do business for personal satisfaction
  • To make profit only
• Morality


  The quality of a thing, manifesting its conformity or non-conformity with its norms or criteria
• Norms of Morality


  The criteria of judgment about the sorts of persons we ought to be and the sort of actions we ought to perform

  
• Conscience


  The practical judgment of reason deciding upon an individual act as good and to be followed or as as evil and therefore, to be avoided
• Types of Conscience

  • Antecedent Conscience
  • Consequent Conscience
  • True Conscience
  • Erroneous Conscience
  • Certain Conscience
  • Doubtful Conscience
  • Scrupulous Conscience
  • Lax Conscience
• Natural Law


  A thing is good insofar as it is true to its nature and purpose
• Eternal Law


  The divine reason or will of God commanding the natural order of things be preserved and forbidding that it be disturbed
• Levels of Moral Development (Kohlberg)

  • Pre-Conventional
  • Conventional
  • Post-Conventional
• Machiavellian Principle


  "The end justifies the means" - you can use bad or immoral methods as long as you can accomplish something good by using them
• Utilitarianism (Bentham)


  An action is right or wrong depending on the consequences, with the goal being "the greatest good is the greatest pleasure of the greatest number"
• Utilitarianism (Mill)


  An act that promotes happiness is moral, and that which causes pain is immoral. Pleasure has two forms: physical (lower) and mental (higher)
• Kantian Ethics


  A deontological ethical theory where the morality of an action is judged based on the action's adherence to a rule, rather than the consequences of the action

  
• Moral Positivism (Hobbes)


  The basis of all moral laws are the laws of the state, so a behavior is good when it is in accordance with the laws of the state
• Ethical Egoism (Ayn Rand)


  The moral rule is to look after one's own self-interest, as the moral purpose of life is the achievement of one's own happiness