- "Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment."
The study of moral principles and values that guide individual behavior and decision-making within organizational contexts.
Ethical principles and theories: Understanding the main ethical principles such as utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and consequentialism, and how they apply to business management.
Corporate social responsibility: The importance of companies being responsible for their actions and their impact on society and the environment.
Stakeholder management: Understanding the complex relationships between a company and its stakeholders (including employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and the wider community) and how ethical decision-making can affect these relationships.
Ethical leadership: What it means to be a responsible leader, the role of leadership in promoting ethical practices, and the challenges of leading ethically.
Business ethics codes and policies: The importance of formal codes and policies for guiding ethical behavior in business, including how to develop and enforce them.
Ethical decision-making models: Understanding the different approaches to ethical decision-making and knowing how to apply them in practice.
Whistleblowing: The ethical issues surrounding whistleblowing, and the legal and practical considerations that must be taken into account.
Bribery and corruption: The importance of avoiding bribery and corruption and how to identify and deal with potential issues.
Ethical dilemmas: Strategies for dealing with ethical dilemmas in business, including how to avoid them and how to make difficult ethical decisions.
Sustainability and the environment: Understanding the ethical implications of sustainability and environmental issues for businesses, and how to manage them responsibly.
Ethics in supply chain management: Understanding the importance of ethical practices in supply chain management and the challenges of ensuring ethical standards throughout the supply chain.
Diversity and inclusion: Understanding the ethical implications of diversity and inclusion, and how to build a workplace that is inclusive and welcoming for everyone.
Utilitarianism: This type of ethics focuses on maximizing overall happiness and minimizing overall suffering for the majority of people affected by a decision.
Deontological Ethics: This type of ethics places emphasis on the individual's duty to follow certain ethical obligations or principles, regardless of the consequences.
Virtue Ethics: This type of ethics concentrates on the cultivation of personal character traits or virtues such as honesty, integrity, and compassion in the decision-making process.
Social Contract Theory: This type of ethics is based on the idea that ethical principles are grounded in an agreed-upon social contract, which outlines the rights, responsibilities, and norms for the community.
Egoism: This type of ethics involves prioritizing an individual's self-interests above all else, even if it results in negative consequences for others.
Feminist Ethics: This type of ethics revolves around the principles of equality, justice, and fairness for all genders and aims to foster a more inclusive and equitable society.
Environmental Ethics: This type of ethics is concerned with the preservation of the natural environment and the promotion of sustainable practices that minimize harm to the environment.
Comparative Ethics: This type of ethics involves analyzing different cultural, religious, and philosophical perspectives on what is considered ethical.
Situational Ethics: This type of ethics is based on the idea that moral principles can vary depending on the context or the circumstances of a given situation.
Discourse Ethics: This type of ethics involves open and honest communication between all parties involved in a decision-making process to ensure that all views are taken into account.
Care Ethics: This type of ethics emphasizes emotional connections and the importance of creating caring relationships between people, particularly in compassionate fields such as healthcare and social work.
- "It applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and entire organizations."
- "These ethics originate from individuals, organizational statements or the legal system."
- "These norms, values, ethical, and unethical practices are the principles that guide a business."
- "Business ethics have two dimensions, normative business ethics or descriptive business ethics."
- "Academics attempting to understand business behavior employ descriptive methods."
- "The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit-maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns."
- "Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s."
- "Most major corporations today promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters."
- "Adam Smith said in 1776, 'People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.'"
- "Governments use laws and regulations to point business behavior in what they perceive to be beneficial directions."
- "Ethics implicitly regulates areas and details of behavior that lie beyond governmental control."
- "The emergence of large corporations with limited relationships and sensitivity to the communities in which they operate accelerated the development of formal ethics regimes."
- "Maintaining an ethical status is the responsibility of the manager of the business."
- "According to a 1990 article in the Journal of Business Ethics, 'Managing ethical behavior is one of the most pervasive and complex problems facing business organizations today.'" (Note: There were not enough specific quotes to address additional questions beyond this point.)