Business Ethics (Essay Sample)

BUSINESS ETHICS
By Henry Mbae Nabea
# University
Abstract
Business Ethics can variously be defined as Ethics applied in the field of business or commerce. But what is Ethics, and how is it relevant to the field of business? How does business Ethics, as a discipline help in ensuring a more successful business characterised by the respect of human dignity and the rule of law. These are the questions that this paper answers. The paper, also, gives numerous examples of how Business Ethics is useful in the business world. Lack of a strong moral foundation guiding us in the manner in which we carry out businesses can lead to many human abuses, and suffering. This is contrary to the intention of starting a business, which is to bring joy and happiness to the lives of all the stakeholders of a business.
TABLE OF CONTENT
PAGE NO. CONTENT
2. ……………………………………………………………………………INTRODUCTION
2-5. …………………………………………………………………………TASK 1- LEARNING OUTCOME 1
5-7. ………………………………………………………………………..TASK 2- LEARNING OUTCOME 2
7-9. ……………………………………………………………………… TASK 3- LEARNING OUTCOME 3
9-11. ……………………………………………………………………….TASK 3- LEARNING OUTCOME 4
12. …………………………………………………………………………REFERENCE LIST
Introduction
Ethics as a discipline investigates human conducts, with the aim of finding out whether the conducts are based on right reason and, consequently, consonant with the natural law. Unlike other fields of study that, also, have human conduct and behaviour as their subject matter, Ethics does not stop with the mere explanation of human behaviour, but goes ahead to proscribe how human beings ought to behave, so as to live happily, and harmoniously with one other, and even with the environment around them. But since human life is multi-faceted, we have various forms of Ethics applied to different, particular aspects of human life. As a result, we have Business Ethics, which is, actually, Ethics as applied to business or commercial matters. As a discipline, Business Ethics covers the whole sphere of human conducts in business field. This paper, therefore, looks in details what Business Ethics entails, and its relevance and usefulness in the business world by answering some specific questions regarding the Business Ethics.
Task 1- Learning Outcome 1
1. Explain the background and development of theoretical ethical approaches. For example, the difference between the ontological and the teleological ethical theories
The development of the different ethical approaches can be traced back to the different conceptions of what, actually constitutes the morality of an action. In Ethics, there are three main determinants of the morality of an action (Rickaby 2008). These determinants of the morality of an action are, the action itself, the end in view or the objectives, and the prevailing circumstances that led to the commission of the act. These three determinants of the morality of an action have given rise to different theoretical ethical approaches. Is the morality of an action determined by the action itself, the objective, or the surrounding circumstances?
The proponents of the deontological theory of Ethics hold that the morality of an action is determined, solely, by the action itself. Emmanuel Kant is credited as the scholar who systematized the deontological Ethics. According to this theoretical approach, an action is either good, or bad, and the end in view or the surrounding circumstances cannot change either a bad action to a good action, or vice versa. In judging whether an action is morally right or not, the deontological ethicists looks only at the action done, and, for them the actual action committed or about to be committed is enough to judge whether an action is moral, or immoral. The advocates of deontological theory of Ethics hold that, we should never do a bad action, irrespective of the objective or the prevailing circumstances. When applied to business Ethics, those who subscribe to the theory maintain that if an action is deemed a bad action in any form of business, then the action should never be committed, irrespective of the circumstances. For instance, since any form of lying is an immoral act, then the business people should never lie to their clients in any form, even in advertising their products so as to attract more people to buy their products, or services.
The second main theory of Ethics is the teleological theory of Ethics. Contrary to the deontological theory of Ethics, the proponents of the teleological theory of Ethics view the objective, or the main aim, goal, or the intention of the action as constituting the determinant of the morality of an action. In this view, what one intends to achieve in doing something or in taking a particular action is what can be either morally good or bad. For the proponents of the teleological theory of Ethics, the action committed is not enough to measure the morality of an action.
As it can be seen from these two explanations of the deontological, and the teleological theories of Ethics, the main difference between the two theories lies in the fact that while the deontological theory of Ethics is action views the main determinant of the morality of an action as the action itself, the teleological ethicists holds the contrary view that the morality of an action is not determined, solely, by the action, but by the objectives of doing the action.
2. Compare and contrast Absolute and Relative Ethics
Apart from the above two main theories of Ethics, there is also the relative theory of Ethics which is opposed to the absolute theory of Ethics. The advocates of the relative theory of Ethics holds that the person who is doing the act is, actually, the determinant of the morality of an action, and not the action itself, the objective or the accompanying circumstances. An action is morally right depending on how we ‘see’ it, but not according to how other people or some authorities deem it to be. So, the proponents of this theory holds that there is no action, irrespective of the objectives, and the accompanying circumstances, can be regarded as being either as absolutely right or absolutely wrong. We are our own judges of what is good, and what is bad, but not any other person, or authority. When applied to business Ethics, the morality of an action in any business dealing would be determined by how each person judges the action to be, but not according to the conventional ways of judging the morality of an action.
The absolute theorists, on the other hand, are of the view that Ethics is absolute, and not relative. The absolute ethicists maintain that we can gauge the morality of an action, by employing various conventions, or rules set by some authority on how to judge the morality of an action. According to these ethical theorists, Ethics is absolute, and the morality of an action is not determined, merely, by the way we judge an action to be, without relying on any authority or conventional method of judging the act, but the morality of an action is determined by the employing the conventional methods of judging the morality of an action, so as to gauge whether an action is morally right, or wrong.
3. Give a range of examples of ethical issues which can affect operation activities of a Business which and provide an explanation of each.
There are a number of ethical issues that can affect the operation activities of any business. The first ethical issue that can affect the operation of a business is on the relationship between the management of the business, or the owners of the business and the employees. The management of any business should treat their employees with dignity and respect as human beings. This will boost the morale of the employees and this, in turn, will lead to increased productivity in the company (Ferrell and Friedrich 2008). Secondly, the ethica...