Ethisphere® Institute

Students must answer TWO questions with equal weighting, a compulsory question on stakeholders and a further question from a choice of THREE optional questions. Enron’s auditor, Arthur Andersen, was found guilty in a United States District Court of illegally destroying documents relevant to the SEC investigation which voided its license to audit public companies, effectively closing the business. Strudler (2017) legitimates altruistic behavior by firms by undermining the claim that shareholders own them, and so are owed their surplus wealth. In the case of two exam questions each question counts for half the points to earn.

It is impossible to discuss business ethics as a branch of academia without taking a look at the relationship between business ethics and public image. The unique position that the small business owner is in regarding the formation of an ethics policy yields a great responsibility. I will show examples of both good and bad ethical decisions, and give you an example of how a company makes tough ethical decisions. Corporate social responsibility, or CSR, is not the only term that business ethicists use to describe actions like Merck’s.

Featuring articles carefully selected for clarity and accessibility, the text follows a dialogic pro-con format presenting divergent positions on each topic, ensuring that students are both exposed to and understand both sides of every topic so they can develop their own informed positions. Within those conflicting circumstances, investors may choose either morality or their business interest.

Using a managerial framework, the authors address the overall concepts, processes, and best practices associated with successful business ethics programs-helping students see how ethics can be integrated into key strategic business decisions. Ethics can, and often does, evaluate the actions of the past – and while there may be some value in doing so (to judge and punish wrongdoers), its principle value is as a guide for actions to be taken in the future. Discussing ethics is always relevant because it is about how human relates himself/herself to other fellow human, society, and environment.

As philosopher Joseph Heath has convincingly argued , this idea of constrained competition serves as a strong foundation for an ethics of business grounded in the goals of markets themselves. When there is no social connection between the individuals, the motivation of the other person to intervene is less defensible. Questions to which Alex Oliver should know the answers: he runs The Forum for Philosophy in Business at Cambridge University.