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Chapter 4 Business Ethics

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Chapter 4. Business Ethics. OXYMORON? ACCOUNTING SCANDAL #1. ACCOUNTING SCANDAL #2 ... Why ethics is particularly challenging in business. Class Exercise ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Chapter 4 Business Ethics


1
Chapter 4Business Ethics
OXYMORON?
2
ACCOUNTING SCANDAL 1
3
ACCOUNTING SCANDAL 2
4
ACCOUNTING SCANDAL 3
5
CEO GREED 1
6
CEO GREED 2
7
INSIDER TRADING
8
Is business ethics an oxymoron?
9
Todays Plan
  • Profit-motive and greed
  • Wall Street
  • Philosophy of Ethics
  • Why ethics is particularly challenging in
    business
  • Class Exercise Selling Cigarettes

10
Is business ethics an oxymoron?
  • profit-motive / self-interest / greed
  • some say no difference
  • business inherently wrong
  • greed is good

11
Is business ethics an oxymoron?
  • Milton Friedman
  • moral obligation
  • make as much money as possible
  • obey the law
  • the business of business is business
  • governments responsibility
  • race to the bottom

12
Is business ethics an oxymoron?
  • Critique Milton Friedmans view. What are the
    problems with the view that the business of
    business is business?
  • After considering a summary of Friedmans
    position and some critiques of it, what do you
    think? Does a business have any obligation
    beyond making money and obeying the law? If so,
    give some examples.

13
Philosophy of Ethics
  • Two most commonly held schools of thought
  • Consequentialism
  • Deontology
  • (There are others)
  • No wide spread agreement on which approach to
    ethics is most valid

14
Consequentialism
  • the belief that what ultimately matters in
    evaluating actions or policies of action are the
    consequences that result from choosing one action
    or policy rather than the alternative.
  • consequences of all affected persons
  • e.g. why should Enron have disclosed its true
    liabilities?
  • e.g. lying to Nazi prison guards

15
Questions for Consequentialism
  • What is a good consequence and what is a bad
    consequence? Pleasure and pain?
  • Experience machine?
  • How should we rank good consequences and bad
    consequences when we face a trade-off?
  • e.g. forestry practices
  • Is morality determined by actual consequences or
    expected consequences?
  • e.g. drunk driving

16
Questions for Consequentialism (contd)
  • What about personal rights?
  • Is it right to kill one person if that killing
    saves 4 other people?
  • Consequences to whom?
  • How heavily should one consider the consequences
    to oneself, or to ones friends?
  • What about animals, the environment, fetuses,
    etc.

17
Consequentialism (contd)
  • Utilitarianism
  • One form of consequentialism
  • greatest good for the greatest number

18
Consequentialism (contd)
  • Some people have criticized consequentialism
    because it implies that child labour practices in
    extremely poor countries might be a good thing.
    What do you think about this criticism?

19
Deontology
  • Ethical rules
  • dont lie
  • do for others as you would have them do for you
  • Ends dont justify the means
  • Nazi prison guard example
  • Holding on to political power
  • Keeping company alive and thus saving jobs

20
Deontology - Kant
  • Kantian theory
  • Duty to treat people with respect
  • Duty to not treat people as a means to your own
    ends
  • Implies people have rights
  • Problems
  • What are those rights? (What are some rights
    that people claim that are open to question?)
  • Which rights over-ride others? (e.g. nurses
    right to strike versus peoples right to
    healthcare)

21
Deontology Kant (contd)
  • Kant criticizes consequentialism by arguing that
    only our own actions are under our control the
    consequences of our actions are often out of our
    control. What do you think of this criticism?

22
Ethics and Religion
  • Many people get at least some of their ethics
    from religious teachings
  • Problem Cant persuade a non-believer with God
    says so.

23
Ethics in Business
  • Problem 1 Competing Demands
  • Opposing interests
  • E.g. shareholder interests versus employee
    interests
  • Are primary obligations towards those who hired
    you?
  • E.g. Coke managers

24
Ethics in Business (contd)
  • Problem 2 Strong Temptation
  • Primarily evaluated based on financial results
  • Great results great rewards
  • Poor results tough consequences
  • E.g. Kenneth Lay positive image kept share
    value up for him
  • E.g. Andersen partner in charge of Enron account
    (David Duncan)

25
Ethics in Business (contd)
  • Problem 3 Group Ethics
  • Business activities involves numerous people
  • People differ in
  • Approaches to ethics
  • Views on what is ethical and what is not
  • Level of commitment to ethical behaviour
  • Hard to get adherence
  • Need to be able to persuade

26
Ethics in Business (contd)
  • Problem 4 Employer Authority
  • employee acts on employers behalf
  • when disagreement arises, employer may expect
    employee to defer to the employer

Some Advice from Dons Soapbox Dont ever let a
boss or anyone else presume to have the authority
to make your moral decisions for you.
27
(No Transcript)
28
Selling cigarettes
  • Is it ethical to sell cigarettes? Why or why
    not? Try to come up with as many arguments as
    you can for both sides of the issue. But
    formulate a conclusion.
  • What types of arguments did you use? Did you use
    either consequentialist or deontological
    arguments? Or perhaps other types of arguments?
    What arguments do you think would be most
    persuasive if you were a middle manager trying to
    change your supervisors mind?

29
Is business ethics an oxymoron?
NO!
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