The Concept of Business EthicsJoin now to read essay The Concept of Business EthicsThe concept of business ethics has tried to change the way businesses operate over the years. Business ethics is a form of ethics that governs the actions of businesses to circumvent the affects business has on every day society. But some question its effectiveness in the application of capitalism. Several case studies have shown that this is the case; many companies place the pursuit of money in front of the pursuit of virtue. Although, the majority of companies are not in the spotlight of acting unethically, can we conclude that they follow the ethical norms? It is natural for normal human beings to act ethical but businesses are on a completely different playing field. But could business ethics be clearly possible in capitalism?
We decided to look into that. We have found a rich set of evidence that businesses are morally responsible—the evidence has been presented in four of the past five reviews of this article. The reason we chose to do so is simple: the evidence suggests that business ethics is a great improvement over prior practice and that it allows us to better represent the true nature of business. That’s right: for most organizations—including companies—the only way to achieve this goal is with a business ethics document that is aligned with the principles of business ethics. So far, there seems to be little to indicate that business ethics isn’t a very good way to approach ethical decisions.
While it isn’t quite as strong as prior practice, in theory it might be a good idea, especially in the near term, for business people. If you choose to apply business ethics to their business, you will find evidence that that would encourage you to treat your own and all those around you as equals rather than trying to impose your will on everyone else, which is a pretty useful thing to think about.
One good example of this is one that I use every day in an informal conversation with two of my two sons:
“I read the American philosopher Philip Plait. It’s very illuminating where we can learn more about modern business ethics, even though that philosophy was quite different from my own. Why are the best examples of this a lot lower on my list of most important books than the ones written by the best businessmen I’ve met? I understand their point. I hope there are others as well, or even some of my other top choices. If you don’t have the time to read this essay, get involved right now. I would suggest you read the book instead.”
As we all know, economics is a discipline with a lot of scientific research in it. It takes some study and practice to understand what the implications of these questions are for business. A good set of examples is the following:
The question about the value a company has and therefore its performance as a whole is one that has been debated in economics books for centuries. Many economists see value judgments that are so close to zero that it is hard to believe they would be so different than the true value they claim. These were the days of big financial markets, and these people came up with them when they thought they were having difficulties in making ends meet. But it’s possible that an economics major like Plait might find such a set of very difficult economics questions to answer and use them to teach the economics majors what they can learn with the knowledge that they can use these to make ends meet in a profitable business. They also took some years to complete and get comfortable with this fact and so have been taught the kinds of things that they couldn’t do in economics before they were economists. (Note that this is at the end of the essay and the following is from Plait’s essay in which he takes issue with what he calls “an economics major’s problem with using the power of money to make ends meet.”)
Even so, the idea that corporations do things like avoid taxes, or create jobs based on what someone earns while they’re in the firm is a bit of a stretch. A report in the Journal of the American Economics Association found that while the most effective companies
We decided to look into that. We have found a rich set of evidence that businesses are morally responsible—the evidence has been presented in four of the past five reviews of this article. The reason we chose to do so is simple: the evidence suggests that business ethics is a great improvement over prior practice and that it allows us to better represent the true nature of business. That’s right: for most organizations—including companies—the only way to achieve this goal is with a business ethics document that is aligned with the principles of business ethics. So far, there seems to be little to indicate that business ethics isn’t a very good way to approach ethical decisions.
While it isn’t quite as strong as prior practice, in theory it might be a good idea, especially in the near term, for business people. If you choose to apply business ethics to their business, you will find evidence that that would encourage you to treat your own and all those around you as equals rather than trying to impose your will on everyone else, which is a pretty useful thing to think about.
One good example of this is one that I use every day in an informal conversation with two of my two sons:
“I read the American philosopher Philip Plait. It’s very illuminating where we can learn more about modern business ethics, even though that philosophy was quite different from my own. Why are the best examples of this a lot lower on my list of most important books than the ones written by the best businessmen I’ve met? I understand their point. I hope there are others as well, or even some of my other top choices. If you don’t have the time to read this essay, get involved right now. I would suggest you read the book instead.”
As we all know, economics is a discipline with a lot of scientific research in it. It takes some study and practice to understand what the implications of these questions are for business. A good set of examples is the following:
The question about the value a company has and therefore its performance as a whole is one that has been debated in economics books for centuries. Many economists see value judgments that are so close to zero that it is hard to believe they would be so different than the true value they claim. These were the days of big financial markets, and these people came up with them when they thought they were having difficulties in making ends meet. But it’s possible that an economics major like Plait might find such a set of very difficult economics questions to answer and use them to teach the economics majors what they can learn with the knowledge that they can use these to make ends meet in a profitable business. They also took some years to complete and get comfortable with this fact and so have been taught the kinds of things that they couldn’t do in economics before they were economists. (Note that this is at the end of the essay and the following is from Plait’s essay in which he takes issue with what he calls “an economics major’s problem with using the power of money to make ends meet.”)
Even so, the idea that corporations do things like avoid taxes, or create jobs based on what someone earns while they’re in the firm is a bit of a stretch. A report in the Journal of the American Economics Association found that while the most effective companies
In order to understand the debate of business ethics, one must understand the concept of capitalism. Capitalism in its purest form is free enterprise, meaning that the market functions with minimal interference from government and other forces. If this is possible then businesses compete with each other on an equal playing field and whoever has the upper hand can gain much of the market. Each business will