...Distinguish between consequentialist and non-consequentialist ethical perspectives and discuss their application in a business context. Andrew Brady 10358293 Ethics can be defined as distinguishing and choosing between right and wrong (Oxford English Dictionary) and is a central part of what makes us human. It is, however, not as simple as it would first appear. The idea of ethics has long been the topic of discussion for philosophers and there are many differing views on the issue ranging from utilitarianism to virtue ethics. Despite this multitude of views certain grounds are agreed upon with regards to ethics: * The possibility of free will. * The focus on an individual’s relationship with others. * Some form of individual responsibility. (O’Regan, A; 2012) Morality and ethics are the fabrics with which our society is sewn. Society, its laws, social order and ethics are all interlinked. One of the main goals of society is to create harmony among its people and as such morality plays a huge role (Anon; 2007). Without these moral principles humans would act on mere base instinct with little regard for consequence, be they positive or negative. With this in mind it can be said that ethics and morality arise when we are no longer bound by the rules and laws of our society and as such must look within ourselves to decide what is right or wrong (Anon; 2007). As I have already said ethics is seen as an entirely human concept and is often seen as a social construct...
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...The Ethics Thing: Why It Matters More in Hard Times and Why It’s So Hard to Do What Makes Good and Smart People Do Dumb and Unethical Things? Professor Marianne M. Jennings W.P. Carey School of Business Ethical Lapses • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Student loan lenders: Sallie Mae and 17 universities Adelphia Boeing Cendant Computer Associates Tyco International T I t ti l General Electric Global Crossing Merrill Lynch Enron Qwest WorldCom Royal Shell Nortel Krispy Kreme Refco UnitedHealth Group Merck Chiquita World Bank BP Madoff Investment Securities • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • AT&T Titan Xerox Kmart Citigroup Lucent ImClone Arthur Andersen HealthSouth Royal Ahold Parmalat Apollo Group Marsh & McLennan AIG (twice)(Putnam)(Mercer) Fannie Mae (twice) KPMG (twice) GM Options scandals (200 companies) HP Universities and travel Siemens Countrywide Financial Société General Milberg Weiss Bear Stearns Satyam (India) Stanford Investments Jennings 1 Government Issues • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Illinois – Gov. Ryan Illinois – Blago Baltimore’s mayor Detroit’s mayor – Kwame Kilpatrick San Diego -- $1.1 billion pension fund deficit; skimming to meet city budget Connecticut – Gov. Rowland Chicago – Mayor’s office and contracts Embezzlement – BLM E b l t Former Delay aides and guilty pleas Abramoff Duke Cunningham -- $2.4 million from defense contractors State crime labs and scandals Tom DeLay Clark...
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...Ethical Perspectives University of Phoenix MGT/344 Organizational Behavior and Ethical Responsibility Stephen D. Kempisty December 4, 2008 Ethics maybe considered as a large field of study, however, it is generally designed to demonstrate to people “what is right or wrong in human behavior and conduct” (Thiroux, 2003). Ethics is also applicable to the ability to make choices, so the absence of this ability or opportunity to make a choice could be considered to be unethical behavior. Even though one is sometimes unaware of it, when choices are made there are standards competing, or ethical perspectives, that governs one’s behavior. My ethical perspective can be basically summed up into the saying ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’. An individual’s duty lies within doing what is morally right. My perspective recognizes that ethical principles must be at all times appropriate, regardless of the circumstances, and at all times must be committed to enhancing individual freedom. (ethics-twi.org). Ethical perspectives can be put into four categories. Each category will identify a different standard for making choices, and also makes reference to some interest that is valued or referred. Utilitarianism is often times referred to as situational ethics. The ‘right’ thing to do does not necessarily depend in ethical standards, but rather on the assessment of the situation, the alternative...
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...ARISTOTLE’S PRUDENCE IN UPHOLDING THE VANISHING FILIPINO VALUE; DELICADEZA A Termpaper Presented to Dr. Rodrigo Abenes,PH.D Rogationist Seminary College-Manila In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Course Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Submitted by: Sem. Joseph Jeric C. Umangga ARISTOTLE’S PRUDENCE IN UPHOLDING THE VANISHING FILIPINO VALUE; DELICADEZA I. INTRODUCTION Ancestors during their times are known for being disciplined and decent citizens.[1]Ancient law makers had filled the Philippines through instituting laws, rules and regulations to provide the citizens a peaceful and orderly way of life. Through the obedience of the Filipinos, they had practiced to be always properly conducted every time in accordance with the place they dwell with. Later on, Filipinos have found the conclusion which is to include the value called Delicadeza as one of the Filipino values. II. DELICADEZA AS A VALUE Delicadeza is a Spanish word coined from “Delicado” which means fragile, irreplaceable and precious.[2] In Spanish it can mean many things – ‘delicacy’, ‘kindness’, ‘tact.’ The word implies a care for what others think and the accordant behavior this requires from the person in act. When one does not exhibit delicadeza then one does not care what others think and will behave despite what has been deemed ‘improper. ’ Delicadeza, in this sense, can be seen to underline a sense of community...
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...Answer 1) Communication is the process of sending and receiving messages, whether we are exchanging e-mail, giving a formal presentation, or chatting with co-workers, sending our friends a letter/card/text message at lunch. Furthermore, the essence of communication is sharing-providing data, information and insights in an exchange that benefits both us and the people with whom we are communicating. In addition good communication is “effective communication”, when the messages given by the sender is properly understood by the receiver and the receiver will then act in the way the sender expects them to do.“Good communication” in an organization will tell us to succeed in business today. Specially, we need the ability to communicate with people both inside and outside our organization. Whether we are competing to get the job we want or to win the customers our company needs, our success or failure depends to a large degree on our ability to communicate. Good communication improves employee attitudes and performances. For example, when executives succeed to make an effective communication to their employees, they can properly share their decisions, provide information or help their employees completely understand their tasks, subsequently do the right things and achieve the best results at the boss request. Employers want staffs do a work according to their requirement, employers have to make decisions and transfer this information to the staffs. If this process of transferring...
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...Slavery is one of the things that everyone agrees is unethical. In fact there is such general agreement that most people would probably say that 'slavery is wrong just because it's wrong'. Even those who practice slavery don't usually try to defend it - they make excuses or attempt to avoid being caught; which suggests that they know that they are doing wrong. Although slavery does seem 'obviously wrong' it's worth listing some of the reasons why it's wrong. Slavery increases total human unhappiness. The slave-owner treats the slaves as the means to achieve the slave-owner's ends, not as an end in themselves. Slavery exploits and degrades human beings. Slavery violates human rights: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights explicitly forbids slavery and many of the practices associated with slavery. In 1807, Britain declared all slave trading illegal. The king of Bonny (in what is now the Nigerian delta) was dismayed at the conclusion of the practice. The Russian serfs were freed in 1861 by Emperor Alexander II. Four years later slavery was abolished in the...
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...Wal-Mart Inc. Ethical Treatment of Employees Prepared for Wal-Mart Corporation Prepared by Alexander W. Nash April 26, 2011 Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARYiii INTRODUCTION1 ANALYSIS OF WAL-MART’S ETHICAL TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES 2 THE COMPANY: WAL-MART INC.2 THE PRACTICE: ETHICAL TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES 2 WAL-MART’S ETHCIAL TREATMENT OF EMPLOYEES3 RECOMENDATIONS5 EVEN PAY SCALE 5 MORE ACCOUNTABILITY5 CHINA’S LABOR LAWS AND CONDITIONS 6 CONCLUSION6 Executive Summary Wal-Mart is one of the biggest empires in the world. It dominates many markets by providing many different products for the lowest prices guaranteed. You can’t go anywhere without seeing a Wal-Mart, which has more revenue than the entire workforce of Utah. It has revolutionized the world or commerce, through implementing state of the art inventory tracking systems and mastering logistics. Many argue that it has become so successful and powerful from being unethical with its employees. Wal-Mart is currently involved in the largest job discrimination class action lawsuit in U.S. history affecting about 1.5 million women. Wal-Mart also has lawsuits concerning wage and hour violations, executives also admitted to being told by superiors to not pay overtime. It continues to have problems with its labor force in china, forcing them to work seven days a week and paying them less than China’s minimum wage, and having employees work with dangerous chemicals without the “right to know”, as its...
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...During the American Civil War, Louisiana, alone, boasted 28,000 troops to fight for the Confederacy. While the number itself appears incredibly small for the total amount of soldiers the Confederacy had, it is important to note that all of these troops were free african-american men. The New Orleans Picayune, in February 1862, stated that, “the companies of free colored men [were] all very well drilled and comfortably equipped.” Initially, the idea that these men fought for the preservation of slavery and the splitting of the union is baffling, however, the growing mentality on slavery in the North and the South are completely different. In summary, many slaves and free blacks in the South supported the Confederacy, due to the general belief of slavery...
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...Introduction Ethics, or moral philosophy as it sometimes called, is the systematic endeavor to understand the moral concepts and justify on the moral principles and theories. It undertakes to analyze such concepts as ‘right,’ ‘wrong,’ or ‘ought,’ ‘good, and ‘evil’ in their moral contexts. It builds and scrutinizes arguments setting forth large-scale theories on how we ought to act, and it seeks to discover valid principles such as (never kill an innocent human beings) and the relationship between those principles are (does saving a life in some situations constitute a valid reason for breaking a promises?). Whereas much of philosophy is concerned with the knowledge of what is the (methaphysics, philosophy of science, philosophy of religion, and philosophy of the mind), ethics is concerned with values that what not is, but what ought to be (Pojman, 1998) Based on the assessment that has been given, it require us to choose an organization of our choice (could be a company or other organization in the private or public sector) that have a relevant reference to the key principles and approaches of the business ethics. However, in this assessment, we need to critically evaluate its performance by applying an appropriate criteria that may identify the extent to which ethical issues are being managed or resolved. With this, we need to include two of the following approaches in the assessment and that is by (1) including an identification and evaluation of ethical dilemmas within...
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...need to use for the experiment, or obtain more results for the animals used, and Refinement: using methods to make the process as painless as possible and reducing the stress that the animal experiments. While not all laboratories dance along these guiding principles, it proves that some do animal experimentation as a necessary evil for results but try to make it as painless as possible; that’s why animal testing shouldn’t be banned. We need it for human advancement, and some people try to make it as humane as possible; trying to avoid it if they can. While most...
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...Introduction to Business Ethics Objectives: * Gain an understanding of why business ethics is important. * Learn how business ethics fits into the broader discipline of philosophy. * Realize that the culture in which we live influences our thinking. Business ethics, some would say, is an oxymoron. After all, the media presents, on nearly a daily basis, the shenanigans of corporate representatives as they ply their trade. Price fixing, anti-competitive behavior, fraud, deceptive advertising, and insider trading are but a few of the many questionable tactics found in the quivers of corporate moguls and their charges. Corporations and their activities have been fair game for attack, both factual and fictional. The level of corruption is epidemic in the estimation of many observers. This rather bleak picture is probably the one most familiar to what has become a very cynical populace. We have come to think of ourselves as current or potential victims of evil corporations. Is business evil incarnate? Of course it isn't. Is business completely innocent of the charges against it? Again, the answer is no. The truth lies somewhere in between. It is, after all, the modern enterprise, with all of its strengths and weaknesses, that has brought to larger numbers of people around the world, a level of material comfort and cultural opportunities than has ever before existed. Businesses must be doing something right. In fact, while business has less than a stellar reputation...
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...Asian Journal of Business Management 3(3): 152-160, 2011 ISSN: 2041-8744 © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2011 Received: April 21, 2011 Accepted: June 10, 2011 Published: August 20, 2011 Ethical Compliance by the Accountant on the Quality of Financial Reporting and Performance of Quoted Companies in Nigeria 1 G.N. Ogbonna and 2Appah Ebimobowei Department of Accounting, Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Port-Harcourt, Port-Harcourt, Nigeria 2 Department of Accounting, Bayelsa State College of Education, Okpoama, Brass Island, P.M.B. 74 Yenagoa, Nigeria 1 Abstract: The study investigates the ethical compliance by the accountant on the quality of financial reporting and performance of quoted companies in Nigeria. Five hypotheses guided the study. The sample for the study which was twenty companies from five sectors quoted in the Nigerian Stock Exchange. They were systematically and purposively selected from the number of quoted companies in the exchange. A five point scale questionnaire was used with items on ethical issues on organizational financial reporting and performance. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistical tools and Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficient. Findings suggest that the compliance by the accountant positively and significantly affect the quality of financial reports and performance of organizations. The conclusion drawn from the findings is that the compliance by the accountant on professional ethics of integrity, objectivity...
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...Series) by Roy J. Lewicki, Alexander Hiam, Paperback - 288 pages, (October 1998) John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471256986 Tactic #1. Make Feelings Measurable: Sometimes you can make intangible goals tangible by converting them to measurable milestones. “Get my husband home by 7:00 every night” is more measurable then “Reform my husband,” although perhaps no easier to accomplish! Other goals must remain intangible, but are still important. But always try to attach measurable outcomes or indicators to every goal, regardless of how intangible or emotional the goal may be. If all else fails, you can say, “I want to feel at least 50 – percent better about my husband’s overworking by the end of next month or I’m outta here.” That quantifies your feelings, making it easier to think about how to achieve your emotional goal. Tactic #2. The Why Question: One way to get at underlying interests is to ask yourself the “why” question that was mentioned in chapter 3. Why do you want a particular objective? For example, do you need a car to get to work, or do you want a particular model to show people that you are successful? Are you looking for a house in a particular section of town because it is a better neighborhood, or do you need a larger house because your family is expanding? And why do you want to live in a particular section of town? To use this surfacing tactic to explore your underlying interests, write as many sentences as possible beginning, “Why do I want…” Then answer...
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...couples. Annotated Bibliography (1)Alexander, L. J. (2013). Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Cole: Another step toward same sex marriage in Arkansas? Arkansas Law Review. Vol. 66 (Issue 2), p527-547.The article focuses on the judgment of Arkansas Supreme Court case in Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Cole; the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act of 2008, known as “Act1”, was an unconstitutional violation of the fundamental privacy rights granted by the Arkansas Constitution. The source is relevant to my thesis statement because it provides the legality of the law. The author pointed out that the election of November 2008, 58 % of Arkansas voters cast ballots that prohibit a person who cohabited “with a sexual partner outside of a marriage that is valid under the Arkansas Constitution and the laws of Arkansas” from adopting or fostering children. The source of the article was from the Arkansas Law Review 2013, vol. 66. The author, LaToya Alexander, is a teaching assistant at the University of Arkansas. She received her Juris Doctor at University of Arkansas School of Law. According to the case the Arkansas Supreme Court decisions suggest that the Arkansas judiciary is taking a more liberal approach to human-rights issues regarding equality and privacy. This is a quality source because it analyzes the legal and policy arguments addressed in Cole and discusses whether the Arkansas General Assembly will extend to same-sex...
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...Flight MH370 * Scope/Application- * What country has the best resources for searching for and finding people, especially large numbers of people? The United States. Nasa could have used satellite imagery to locate the plane wreckage much sooner, but wasn't playing an active part because NASA is fuelled by American Taxes, and it would have been costly to relocate satellites to look for just one American. (where you are located plays a role in what you see in the mediaWOKreasoning since reporting from a US standpoint was simply telling a sad story, whereas if you compare it with an Australian source, it had a ton more heroics since their coastguard started adding shifts to look for wreckage) * America isn't going to be super keen to help find Chinese nationals, because although the countries are 'friendly' right now, they hold very different ideologies, and are- for all extents and purposes- rivals. (AOKhistory There are definitely still Americans who will remember the Vietnam and Korean wars which were backed by Russia and China and stemmed a lot of the negative feelingscreating feelings of fear and communist affiliationsWOKemotion) Now, if the plan was mostly full of American Citizens, America would have possibly taken a more active role in the search and rescue. Similarly, since it was presumed that the plane went down off the coast of Australia, they did play an active role in search and rescue, but it was still more passive than if their own nationals were...
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