UnitI

PHI 6301, Business Ethics 1 Course Learning Outcomes for Unit I Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to: 1. Analyze the application of ethical principles to business. 1.1 Determine the need to study ethics in business. 1.2 Explain a contribution that a current article has made to the knowledge of business ethics. Required Unit Resources Chapter 1: Why Study Ethics? Chapter 2: Ethical Theory and Business In order to access the following resource, click the link below. Hazels, T. (2015, May). Ethics and morality: What should be taught in business law? Academy of Educational Leadership Journal, 19 (2), 77–89. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/ethics-morality-what- should-be-taught-business/docview/1750973188/se-2?accountid=33337 Unit Lesson People may assume business and ethics are contrary to each other. In fact, the expression business ethics may be considered an oxymoron by those who are skeptical of this somewhat recently emerging discipline. People like Milton Friedman argue the principal aim of business is profit, and according to some, ethics is contrary to achieving that aim. However, in recent years, growing evidence suggests ethics is an important part of developing a successful business and earning profit. The intention of this lesson is to persuade students that applying ethical principles is an essential part of running a successful business. Take, for example, corporate social responsibility: when businesses take seriously social and environmental concerns, they can help ensure a more sustainable business in the long run. Businesses that invest in ethics, also invest in their own long-term health and growth as an organization. Another pressing aspect of this lesson is to give a definition of the term business ethics , and to examine why it is important to study and consider some counterarguments against business ethics. The author of your textbook gives an extended and persuasive argument as a response to these very questions. Today, business ethics has become an academic discipline in its own right, and one may find courses in business ethics are taught in several universities and colleges across the United States, and around the world. Business ethics rose to prominence as an academic discipline in the early-to-middle 1970s when the expression became more commonplace. What, exactly, does business ethics mean? A simple definition of business ethics is that it examines ethical and moral issues that emerge in the business setting. Yet, there are also more sophisticated and nuanced definitions of the expression business ethics that should be considered as well and will be touched on next. According to Richard T. De George (2015), university distinguished professor at the University of Kansas, the term business ethics is used in several different ways and therefore has several different meanings. However, the expression may be reduced into three different, though roughly related definitions: • the use of moral or ethical norms to business, • a field of academic endeavor, and UNIT I STUDY GUIDE Business Applications of Philosophical Ethics

PHI 6301, Business Ethics 2 UNIT x STUDY GUIDE Title • a form of social engagement. Though all of these meanings are equally important, it is perhaps especially important for students, at least during the progression of this course, to focus on the first sense of the expression of business ethics, which is the application of everyday moral or ethical norms to business (De George, 2015). According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , business ethics is the study of the ethical dimensions regarding the exchange of goods and services and of the individuals offering goods and services for exchange (Moriarty, n.d.). What ought to be highlighted is the expression ethical dimensions , and how it relates to entities such as businesses, people, and/or corporations, engaging in such activities, social or otherwise, surrounding the exchange of monetary goods and services. Upon further consideration of the expression ethical dimensions, there should be some mention of the more general philosophical concept of ethics in and of itself, and how the concept is applicable to the arena of business. Business ethics, like philosophical ethics, has several different meanings; however, can generally be defined as established values of right and wrong that delineate what humans ought to do, often in relation to obligations, rights, virtue, and fairness and how each of these ideas has some benefit for society (Velasquez et al., 2010). With the above definition in mind, one could easily conclude the broad contours of the philosophical concept of ethics could be applied to business in many different contexts, domains, and formats. Questions we might raise in relation to this broad concept of ethics include some of the following issues. • How does a company benefit a society? • How can managers be fair and just toward their workers? • What are some virtues of character that one ought to deem important in an executive, manager, or worker? • What are workers’ rights, and why are they important inside and outside the work setting? • What obligations does a corporation have to its workers? • How could the stakeholders of a company produce the greatest amount of happiness for all involved in its operations? During this unit, we will also explore and give several reasons for why the law is simply not enough to sustain ethical obligations in business. Many people may make the counterargument that enforcement of the law ought to be sufficient for all stakeholders working for a company or business to abide by, to avert any unethical or immoral actions. There is yet an additional challenge to why one should not study business ethics, and that is the philosophical concept of moral relativism or subjectivity that, in a nutshell, makes the assertion that everything is merely opinion or is subjective, and any individual’s opinion on a given topic is just as valid as anyone else’s. These and more counterarguments will be addressed throughout the course readings. Also, there will be a discussion on how social justice and fairness is an important principle to maintain throughout all aspects of a given business entity. In addition to considering arguments about why it is not important to study business ethics and vice versa, there will also be a discussion of some of the more general major philosophical principles of ethics and how they may be applied to the business arena. These principles include virtue ethics, utilitarianism, principle-based or deontological ethics, not to mention some of the objections raised against these theoretical principles. With that said, let us begin our exploration and journey into the realm of how ethics is applied to the business arena, and how the significance of the former is valuable for not only a business’ long-term sustainability but also our own personal lives. The ethics, in effect, gives us a deeper sense of well-being and knowledge of how the actions we take today will be meaningful for those people who come after us tomorrow. References De George, R. T. (2015, November 17). A history of business ethics . Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University. https://www.scu.edu/ethics/focus-areas/business-ethics/resources/a-history- of-business-ethics/