Business Ethics

Business-Ethics-Mind-Map
PRODUCTION
producing a product that is harmful to consumers:
TOBACCO
NUCLEAR ENERGY
environmental impacts
habitat destruction
pollution
air
noise
water
urban sprawl
Energy Consumption
Carbon Emission
Depletion of the Ozone Layer
Outsourcing
company using suppliers that are unethical
child labour
POLICIES
many businesses have created internal policies pertaining to ethical conduct of employees:
Ethic Statements and Code
A competitive business environment may call for unethical behaviour .
Lying has become expected in some fields such
as trading.
An example of this are the issues surrounding the unethical actions of the Saloman Brothers.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Unions:
create unsustainable conditions for employers
create sustainable conditions for employees
the longer you work the more rights you have?
Longer you work the more money you get for
same job as co worker?
SALES AND MARKETING
food/products, saying something is good for you when it isn't.
Transparency
Fairness in pricing and distribution
Advertising truthfullness
marketing dangerous products/services
Business Ethics?
business ethics is the study of standards of business behavior which promote human welfare and the good.
can extend to animal welfare, environment welfare
HOW INDIVIDUALS ACT IN BUSINESS
STRUCTURING BUSINESSES AND THE WAY WORK
how we structure our business society, our laws affecting business , our systems
Ethical Dilemmas
Shareholder Wealth
stock appreciation
earnings per share
Profit Maximization
decrease quality of product
lower wages
outsourcing
minimizing taxes
not contributing to counties that allow their
business
greed
Return on Investment
easy to put cost on services but hard to quantify
benefits of those said services
Externalities
financial liabilities that do not appear on the
balance sheet/income statement/cash
reports
waste generated as part of the production
process?
Environmental Damage as result of rapid
industrialization
Fiduciary Responsiblity
acting in the best interest of of the corporation
short term financial goals having a long term
impact on society / environment
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Patent, Copyright, Trademark infringements. Misuse
native land
patent monopolies
patent protection
drug companies re coup losses for a time because they are the sole maker of a drug. What if it was a high demand drug that could save lives?
Gene patents
Monopolizing talent
INTERNATIONAL
dumping / selling products at a lower price, lower then value.
Different codes/Standards
multinational corporations using standards biased on the nation they are in
Globalization
Cultural Imperialism
Outsourcing to cheaper labour / sweatshops
Child labour
MANAGING ETHICS
Compliance
Basically compliance with the law
standard of minimum behaviour
write standards stating explicit rules
establish penalties
Most common ethical standard in the US
RISKS
may give the impression that you only need
minimum behaviour
can imply low level employees are target
gives no guidance on ethic issues that arise
Relying on employee values
The employee makes the ethical decisions
Assumes everyone is ethical / honorable
Expects ethical behavior
RISKS
Not everyone is ethical
Not everyone shares same ethical values
Possibility of ethical issues not being resolved
Ethics exhortation
exhorting people to act ethically
train employees
RISKS
no help identifying correct ethical standards
no guidance
may imply employees are to pay shortterm
cost of acting ethically
Managing Values
defining a set of values and then managing them
educate model, reward values and standards
ADVANTAGES
gives guidance/ description for all types of
choices
makes managing values integral part of the
company
RISKS
takes more management effort
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