Your Business Ethics Versus the Moral Standards of the Business Community
We close out Week 1 of MGMT520 with a review of the question of ethics versus morality. The basic questions are “What is the definition of ethics?” and “What is the definition of morality?”
- Everyone has his or her own ethics. As you grow up, you develop ideas about what is right and what is wrong in your head. Your ethics are a matter of your personal beliefs.
- Morality or moral standards is the recognition of what is right and what is wrong in an organization. This organization may be your local community, your school, your employer, and so on.
Hopefully, your ethics fit with the moral standards of the groups with which you associate as you go through life.
The basic theories of ethics and morality include the following.
- Business ethics
- Social responsibility of business
- Consequential theories of ethics
- Deontological theories of ethics (your duty)
- Humanist theories of ethics (how they impact our day-to-day actions)
- Individual codes of ethics
- Business codes of ethics
- Industry codes of ethics
- Professional codes of ethics (licensed doctor, lawyer, CPA, etc.)
References
Kubasek, N.K., Brennan, B.A., and Browne, M.N. (2015). The legal environment of business: A critical thinking approach. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
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