Business Ethics

Ethics: An attempt to guide human conduct through well based standards of right and wrong, prescribing what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness or specific virtues.

Types of Ethics:

1. Meta Ethics: Area of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of human conduct. 
2. Political Ethics: Examination of the good society and origins and forms of political power.
3. Normative Ethics: Concerned with developing theories that determine which human actions are right or wrong.
4. Virtue Ethics: Distinguished from other forms of normative ethics because it's concerned with possessing moral traits and living a good life generally as opposed to evaluating actions alone. 
5. Rule Based Ethics: Evaluate moral considerations against a set of rules that consitute a moral theory which determines acceptable behaviour. 
1. Teleology: (Consequentialism) - Actions should be judged according to their consequences.
2. Deontology: Rightness or wrongness is a judgment not dependent on consequences but rather on the intrinsic goodness of the action in and of itself.
6. Practical/ Applied Ethics: Guidance on specific issues

Business Ethics: Application of general ethical ideas to business behaviour - important because it promotes good business.

Characteristics of Business Ethics

1. Principles which govern and guide business people to perform business functions - a discipline.
2. Continuously tests the rules and moral standards and is dynamic.
3. Theological principles such as sincerity, human welfare, service, good behaviour, etc.
4. Universal application 

Principles of Business Ethics

1. The means and techniques adopted to serve business ends must be pure. The end doesn't justify the means.
2. Proportionality: One should make proper judgement before doing anything so that others don't suffer from the cost of doing business.
3. Co-operation 
4. Refraining from co-operating with negative actions.
5. Transparency 
6. Business to be done on the basis of universal values.
7. Human dignity 
8. Non violence 

Elements of Business Ethics Management

1. Formal code of Conduct
2. Ethics Committee
3. Ethical communication 
4. Ethics office and officers 
5. Ethics training programme 
6. Disciplinary system 
7. Establishing an ombudsperson 
8. Monitoring 

Challenges in Business Ethics 

• Balancing responsibility to shareholders with social responsibility to the community and employees. 
• Decisions that balance corporate profit against compensation to workers 
• Philanthropic activities contributing to the economic good of the community. 
• Legal compliance with laws and regulations. 

Ethical Dilemma

A situation where one is in conflict between moral imperatives. 

• Choice between equally undesirable alternatives 
• Value judgments re: actions or consequences 
• Different sources, different resolutions. 
• Choices that have far reaching effects on persons, relationships and society. 
• Finite or limited resources to be allocated 

Principles that are used to resolve ethical dilemmas include:

1. Principle of sacrifice 
2. Harmony 
3. Non violence 
4. Reward 
5. Justice 
6. Taxation 
7. Integrity 
8. Polygamy - wedding of two cultures through absorption or takeover.