Chapter 1

The Foundation of Ethical Thought

Understanding Business Ethics

Stanwick and Stanwick
2nd Edition

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Ethics in Action
• The foundation arm of Panera Bread has
established the “Panera Cares Café”
program.
– A Panera Cares Café is a café in which the
customers decide how much to pay for their
meal.
• The average Panera Cares café will generate
revenue of $100,000 monthly and yield a
“profit” of $3,000 to $4,000 a month.
– The profits are used to fund job training
programs for high risk young people.

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Ethics

• Defined as the values which an individual

uses to interpret whether any particular
action or behavior is considered
acceptable and appropriate.

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Ethics
• Questions to ask to identify values needed to
interpret ethical action or behavior
1. Is the behavior or action consistent with the
overall basic duties of the individual in question?
2. Does the behavior or action acknowledge and
respect the underlying rights of all the
individuals who will be impacted by the action?
3. Would the behavior or action be considered the
best practice in that specific set of
circumstances?
4. Does the behavior or action match the overall
entrenched beliefs of the individual?

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Business Ethics
• Defined as the collective values of a
business organization that can be used
to evaluate whether the behavior of the
collective members of the organization
are considered acceptable and
appropriate

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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The Role of Morals

• Individual moral values have three
components
1. The individual’s principles
2. The individual’s character
3. The consequences of a particular action

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Why is Studying Ethics Important?

• 2012 Study by Ernst & Young among
1,700 executives from 43 countries
– 15% stated they would take cash
payments in the form of a bribe
– 39% responded that bribery and
corruption are common in their countries
– 24% stated that bribery and corruption
have increased

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Foundation of Ethical Theory

• Types of Ethical Examinations
– Descriptive Ethics
– Analytical Ethics
– Normative Ethics

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Descriptive Ethics
• Defined as the presentation of facts
related to the specific ethical actions of
an individual or organization
• Used when an observer wants to
understand the course of events that
generated the ethical issue

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Analytical Ethics
• Described as understanding the
reasons a course of action that may
have an ethical impact took place
• Moves from the how and when inquiry,
which is the basis of the descriptive
ethics viewpoint, to asking why

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Normative Ethics
• Defined as a prescribed course of action
that attempts to ensure that ethical
behavior will be followed in the future
• Moves the evaluation of ethical behavior
from the past to future tense
• Presents information on what should be
done in the future rather than what was
done in the past

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Teleological Frameworks
• Focus on the results of the conduct of the
individual
• Three frameworks are
– Ethical egoism
– Utilitarianism
– Sidgwick’s dualism

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Ethical Egoism
• Based on the belief that every individual
should act in a way to promote himself/herself
if the net result will generate, on balance,
positive rather than negative results

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Utilitarianism
• Any action of an individual will provide the
greatest good for the greatest number of
people
• Based on the principle of utility where each
person’s actions add to the overall utility of
the community

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Sidgwick’s Dualism
• Attempts to resolve the difference of
whether the actions for one’s self-benefit
impact just the individual or others
• Argued that utilitarianism is a foundation
component of any ethical framework

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Deontological Frameworks
• Focus on the duty or obligation in determining
whether the actions are right or wrong
– The three frameworks are
• Existentialism
• Contractarianism
• Kant’s ethics

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Existentialism
• Based on the underlying belief that the
only person who can determine right and
wrong is the person making the decisions
• Each individual determines his or her own
actions and is ultimately responsible for
the consequences of those actions

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Contractarianism
• Also called social contract theory
• Based on the belief that all
individuals agree to social contracts
to be members within a society

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Kant’s Ethics
• The free will to make decisions that
were considered rational needed to be
converted into a universal will
• Considered a dualism because it
attempts to bridge the gap between
the existentialist and contractarian
points of view

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Guiding Principles to Support Ethical
Actions
• Fidelity
• Reparation
• Gratitude
• Justice
• Beneficence
• Self-improvement
• Noninjury

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The Seven Deadly Sins

• For centuries, human behavior has been
evaluated on seven deadly sins.
– Lust
– Gluttony
– Greed
– Sloth
– Wrath
– Envy
– Pride

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Global Business Standards Codex

• The codex captures the eight major
underlying principles in which ethical
behavior can be interpreted and
evaluated
– Fiduciary
– Property
– Reliability
– Transparency
– Dignity
– Fairness
– Citizenship
– Responsiveness

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Fiduciary Principle
• Each officer of a company has a legal
fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of
the stakeholders and other employees
within the firm
 Traditional components include ensuring that
there are no actual or potential conflicts of
interest given the actions of the employee

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Property Principle
• Based on the belief that every
employee should respect property as
well as the rights of the owners of the
property
 Traditional examples of violations of this
principle include theft, misappropriation of
funds, and wasting resources

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Reliability Principle
• Based on the belief that it is the
employee’s responsibility to honor the
commitments he or she has made to
the firm
– Traditional violations of this principle
include breaching a promise or contract
or not fulfilling a promised action

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Transparency Principle
• Based on the belief that every employee
should conduct business in a truthful
and open manner.
– Traditional violations of this principle
include fraudulent and deceptive actions of
the employee

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Dignity Principle
• Based on the belief that each employee
needs to respect the dignity of all
individuals
– Violations include humiliation, coercion, or
other type of human offenses

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Fairness Principle
• Based on the belief that stakeholders
who have a vested interest in the firm
should be treated fairly
• Four types of fairness
1. Reciprocal Fairness
2. Distributive Fairness
3. Fair Competition
4. Procedural Fairness

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Citizenship Principle
• Based on the belief that every
employee should act as a responsible
citizen in the community
– It is also expected that employees respect
the laws of the community

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.

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Responsiveness Principle
• Based on the belief that employees
have a responsibility to respond to the
requests for information about the
operations from various stakeholders
– Employees must also be responsive to
ideas presented by the stakeholders

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Questions for Thought

1. Which of the teleological frameworks
most closely match your ethical
beliefs? Under what circumstances
would you shift towards another of
the frameworks?
2. Do you think “Greed is Good”? Can a
free market economic system survive
without human greed?

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Questions for Thought

3. Which of the seven deadly sins do you
believe is the most serious to commit?
Which of the seven deadly sins do you
believe is the least serious to commit? Do
you think certain sins have gained or been
reduced in importance over time?
4. Using the principles set forth in the Global
Business Standards Codex, find an example
of a company that does or did not follow
one of the principles. Discuss the
implications of the company’s actions.

Understanding Business Ethics 2nd Edition © 2014 SAGE Publications, Inc.