Defining Business
Ethics
Business ethics involves the application of standards
of moral behavior to business situations. Just as we
saw in our review of the basic ethical concepts of right
and wrong in Chapter 1, students of business ethics
can approach the topic from two distinct perspectives:
1. A descriptive summation of the customs, attitudes,
and rules that are observed within a business. As
such, we are simply documenting what is happening.
2. A normative (or prescriptive) evaluation of the
degree to which the observed customs, attitudes,
and rules can be said to be ethical. Here we are
more interested in recommending what should be
happening.
In either case, business ethics
should not be applied
as a separate set of moral
standards or ethical concepts
from general ethics.
Ethical behavior, it is
argued, should be the same
both inside and outside a
business situation. By recognizing the challenging
environment of business, we are acknowledging the
identity of the key players impacted by any potentially
unethical behavior—the stakeholders. In addition,
we can identify the troubling situation where your
personal values may be placed in direct conflict with
the standards of behavior you feel are expected of you
by your employer.