Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

David W Hickman III

MGT/216

November 11, 2010

Instructor; Monica Neloms

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

This Ethical and Moral Issues in Business document will address the following topics: The differences between ethical issues and moral issues, the differences between personal ethics and business ethics and examples of common ethical issues in business today.

The difference between ethics and morals can seem confusing; however, some unique differences exist. Morals are personal character traits or beliefs usually influenced by religion, or family, ethics are a social system which morals are applied. Ethics are standards of behavior expected by individuals belonging to a group. These groups could be a business group, family group, a national group or a company’s code of ethics. Therefore, an individual’s moral code remains virtually unchanged while individual’s ethics can change depending on the group the individual belongs to.

Business ethics can be defined as written and unwritten codes of principles and values that govern decisions and actions within a company. Some companies have a written code of ethics. In the business world, the organization’s culture sets standards for determining the difference between good and bad decision making and behavior. “Any Code of Personal Ethics is Suborned and Compromised by the Motive of Profit. In an ideal world, maximized profits for the owners of a corporation or its shareholders would always be weighed in the balance against both the deontological and teleological ethical considerations of that decision” (Truth It, 2010). Sometimes individual ethics are forgotten for business gain.

Personal ethics are a set of rules that an individual uses to make decisions. Personal ethics usually stay the same; however, can be influenced depending on the situation. Personal ethics are learned during childhood through religion, parents and relationships. An example is a...