Lecture 2The Ethics of

Business Ethics

Apart from this business ethics module, would you say your education at Cardiff University business school has helped you be

more ethically sensitive?

1. No it has not made me more ethically sensitive

2. Yes it has helped me be more ethically sensitive

What is Ethics?From Kyle to Kant – 4000 Years of Ethics

Ethics: a [tentative] definition]

Anthony FlewAnthony Flew(Prominent British Philosopher)(Prominent British Philosopher)

… … standards by which a standards by which a particular group or particular group or community decides to community decides to regulate its behaviour – regulate its behaviour – to distinguish what is to distinguish what is acceptable from what is acceptable from what is not in pursuit of their not in pursuit of their aimsaims

Morality and Morning TV

Ancient Athenian City State – 594 B.C. Ancient Athenian City State – 594 B.C.

Ancient Athenian Polity Ancient Athenian Polity

30%+ of the population = 30%+ of the population = slaves slaves

THINKING PHILOSOPHICALLY IS A REFUSAL TO TAKE

TRADITIONAL ANSWERS FOR

GRANTED

THAT’S WHAT THEY DO ON THE JEREMY KYLE SHOW

The Life and Times of Socrates

Socrates(469 BC–399 )

Socrates’ Ideas Radical and Fresh – Why?

Critic of all Critic of all injusticesinjustices

Knowledge cares Knowledge cares for the soulfor the soul

I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing …unexamined life is not worth living

I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world

AristotleAristotle Aristophanes PlatoPlato

How do should we live our lives?

René Descartes (1596 – 1650)

Gottfried Leibniz(1646-1716)

Benedict de Spinoza(1632-1677)

How do we understand our existence?

Immanuel Kant(1724 – 1804)

‘Normative ethics’

‘applied ethics’

What is business ethics?

Emerging Interest in Modern Business Ethics

Socio-economic crisis – 1960s/early 70s

Corporate Power

Avoiding harmAvoiding harm Positive social actionPositive social action

Being transparentBeing transparent

Begins where the law endsBegins where the law ends

Is Business Fundamentally

Unethical (or Evil Even)?

A father is explaining ethics to his son, who is about to open a shop with his friend and business partner. "Suppose a woman comes in and orders £50 worth of material. You wrap it up, and hand over the purchased material. She pays you with a £50 note. But as she goes out the door you realize she’s given you two £50 notes.

Reader, suppose you are a business man. Now suppose you are of greedy and ruthless character. Apologies, I repeat myself.

Now, here’s where business ethics come in: should you or should you not tell your partner?"

"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10)

“Money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10)

The money dilemma: Choose one of the following two options:

1. The £10 note should not be kept and should be put through the shredding machine as a public demonstration against money

2. The £10 note should be kept and be given away to a student in the lecture who answers a question correctly

Can Business Ethics Make you a Better

Manager/Executive/Human Being?

In the future, when you enter the world of work/business which of the following scenarios involving your personal morality do you envisage?

1. I will have to compromise my personal morals in the real business world

2. I will not have to compromise my personal morals

3. I would quite happily become a whistleblower if I witness unethical activities, even if it costs me my job

Stark, A. (1994), ‘What’s the matter with business ethics?’

Wood Wood et alet al (1988) – (1988) – business school business school students expected students expected to compromise own to compromise own ethical standardsethical standards

"... the only specific characteristic one could detect in his past as well as in his behavior during the trial … was something entirely negative: it was not stupidity but a curious, quite authentic inability to think."

What percentage of participant ‘teachers’ in Milgram’s obedience experiment administered the final massive 450-volt electric shock, which would guarantee to kill a human being?

1. 85%2. 20%3. 65%4. 5%

•Lecture this Friday at 2pm in L03