Business Ethics Unit 1

Unit 1
Business Ethics
Introduction to Ethics
Meaning
• Moral and Ethics : Morals are the principles on which one's
judgments of right and wrong are based. Ethics are
principles of right conduct.
• Morals have a greater social element to values and tend to
have a very broad acceptance. Morals are far more about
good and bad than other values. We thus judge others
more strongly on morals than values. A person can be
described as immoral, yet there is no word for them not
following values.
• Ethics tend to be codified into a formal system or set of
rules which are explicitly adopted by a group of people.
Ethics is …
1. the philosophical study of the moral value of
human conduct and of
the rules and principles that ought to govern it;
moral philosophy
• 2. a social, religious, or civil

code of behaviour considered correct, esp that of
a particular group, profession, or individual
Morals Vs. Ethics
Ethics Morals
What are The rules of conduct Principles or habits with
they? recognized in respect respect to right or wrong
to a particular class of conduct. While morals also
human actions or a prescribe dos and don'ts,
particular group or morality is ultimately a
culture. personal compass of right
and wrong.
Where do Social system - Individual - Internal

they come External
from?
Why we do Because society says it Because we believe in
it? is the right thing to something being right or
do. wrong.
Morals Vs. Ethics
Ethics Morals
Origin Greek word "ethos" Latin word "mos"
meaning “character" meaning "custom"
Ethics are dependent on Usually consistent,
others for definition. although can change if
Flexibility They tend to be
consistent within a
an individual’s beliefs
change.
certain context, but can
vary between contexts.
Ethics are governed by Morality transcends
professional and legal cultural norms
Accepta- guidelines within a
bility
particular time and
place
Morals Vs. Ethics
Ethics Morals
A person strictly following A Moral Person

Ethical Principles may not although perhaps
have any Morals at all. bound by a higher
Likewise, one could covenant, may choose
The violate Ethical Principles to follow a code of
"Gray" within a given system of ethics as it would apply
rules in order to maintain to a system. "Make it
Moral integrity. fit"
Types of Ethics
• Normative Ethics
• Metaethics Ethics
• Descriptive Ethics
• Relativism Ethics
• Applied Ethics
Normative Ethics
• An attempt to establish “normal” ethical
standards for behavior, based on
metaethical principles.
• This addresses issues such as habits to
which people should aspire, the obligations
that individuals have toward others, and
the consequences of one person’s behavior
and choices on other people.
Metaethics or Analytical ethics
• It is about the theoretical meaning and reference of moral
propositions and how their truth values may be determined.
• It can be defined as he study of the origin and meaning of ethical
concepts.
• An example question within metaethics is: "How can we know
what is right and wrong?" There are almost as many different
answers as there are different people answering the question.
Some individuals may say that right and wrong are dictated by
holy books, or philosophy books, or political books, or by popular
speakers, but there is not yet a good explanation within
philosophy that can illustrate the origins and nature of right and
wrong that are verifiable and acceptable to everyone.
Descriptive Ethics
• The category of descriptive ethics is the easiest to

understand - it simply involves describing how people
behave and/or what sorts of moral standards they claim to
follow. Descriptive ethics incorporates research from the
fields of anthropology, psychology, sociology and history as
part of the process of understanding what people do or have
believed about moral norms.
• It is all about….
• 1. what are the normal norms of behaviour of an individual?
• 2. How do people actually behave when it comes to moral
problems.
Relativism Ethics
• Ethical relativism is the theory that holds that morality is
relative to the norms of one's culture. That is, whether an
action is right or wrong depends on the moral norms of the
society in which it is practiced. The same action may be
morally right in one society but be morally wrong in another.
• challenges the idea that the same standards of ethics should
apply everywhereis concerned with exploring variations in
people’s attitudes towards ethics and considering why these
variations might existputs a lot of emphasis on ethical
autonomy; encourages people to give expression to their
own, deepest ethical convictions
Applied Ethics
• The application of ethical principles to real-
world situations.
• Specific emphasis on controversial issues such
as abortion, animal rights, environmental
concerns, capital punishment, the justness of
war, and so on.
Importance Of Ethics
• ethics in practice that makes sense; just having it carefully drafted and redrafted in
books may not serve the purpose. ethics is important because of the following:
• Satisfying Basic Human Needs: Being fair, honest and ethical is one the basic
human needs. Every employee desires to be such himself and to work for an
organization that is fair and ethical in its practices.
• Creating Credibility: An organization that is believed to be driven by moral values is
respected in the society even by those who may have no information about the
working and the businesses or an organization. Infosys, for example is perceived as
an organization for good corporate governance and social responsibility initiatives.
This perception is held far and wide even by those who do not even know what
business the organization is into.
• Uniting People and Leadership: An organization driven by values is revered by its
employees also. They are the common thread that brings the employees and the
decision makers on a common platform. This goes a long way in aligning behaviors
within the organization towards achievement of one common goal or mission.
• Improving Decision Making: A man’s destiny is the sum total of all the decisions that
he/she takes in course of his life. The same holds true for organizations. Decisions are
driven by values. For example an organization that does not value competition will be
fierce in its operations aiming to wipe out its competitors and establish a monopoly in the
market.
• Long Term Gains: Organizations guided by ethics and values are profitable in the long run,
though in the short run they may seem to lose money. Tata group, one of the largest
business conglomerates in India was seen on the verge of decline at the beginning of
1990’s, which soon turned out to be otherwise. The same company’s Tata NANO car was
predicted as a failure, and failed to do well but the same is picking up fast now.
• Securing the Society: Often ethics succeeds law in safeguarding the society. The law
machinery is often found acting as a mute spectator, unable to save the society and the
environment. Technology, for example is growing at such a fast pace that the by the time
law comes up with a regulation we have a newer technology with new threats replacing
the older one. Lawyers and public interest litigations may not help a great deal but ethics
can.
Nature of Ethics
• Deals with Moral Judgement, related to
voluntary human conduct.
• Related to humans only
• Systematic
• It is a science determining ethical norms
• Deals with voluntary human conduct
• Descriptive
• Focuses on human values
Utilitarianism Ethics
• Ethical Egoism
• Ethical Altruism
• Utilitarianism
Relativism Ethics
• Meaning
• Social preferences and patterns
• Moral principles and relativism
Gandhian Ethics
• Truth, non violence and religion
• Trusteeship
• Exploitation, inequalities and injustice
• Rights and duties
• Gandhian theory of holistic development

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Unit 1

• 2. a social, religious, or civil

Where do Social system - Individual - Internal

A person strictly following A Moral Person

• The category of descriptive ethics is the easiest to

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