Business Ethics E-Book

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 2595

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

The fifth edition of Business Ethics addresses current, intriguing, often complex issues in corporate morality through 53 readings and 30 pertinent case studies. Now significantly updated, it includes new leading articles, related current cases, and mini-cases based on MBA student dilemmas.

• Addresses a broad range of the most current, intriguing, often complex issues and cases in corporate morality
• Provides impartial, point-counterpoint presentations of different perspectives on the most important and highly contended issues of business ethics
• Updated and significant case studies are included to reinforce student learning
• Now contains mini-cases based on actual MBA student dilemmas
• Each author has substantial experience in teaching, writing, and conducting research in the field

Leseprobe

Contents

About the Editors

Preface

General Introduction The Nature of Business Ethics

Part 1: Ethics and Business From Theory to Practice

Introduction

1 Theories of Economic Justice

Justice as Fairness

Distributive Justice

Distributive Justice and Utilitarianism

The “Invisible Hand”

Corporate Ethics in a Devilish System

Questions for Discussion

2 Ethics and Business Decision Making

Teaching Ethical Decision Making and Principled Reasoning

Business Ethics and Moral Motivation: A Criminological Perspective

Ethical Leadership and the Psychology of Decision Making

Cost-Benefit Analysis An Ethical Critique

Cost-Benefit Analysis Defended

Questions for Discussion

Cases for Part 1

Mini-Cases

MBA Student Mini-Dilemmas

The Parable of the Sadhu

The Ford Pinto

The Analyst’s Dilemma (A)

Walk Away From Your Mortgage!

The Ok Tedi Copper Mine

Part 2: The Nature of the Corporation

Introduction

3 Agency, Legitimacy, and Responsibility

Can a Corporation Have a Conscience?

Is Business Bluffing Ethical?

The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits

Stakeholder Theory of the Modern Corporation

Ethics in Business Two Skeptical Challenges

Commentary on the Social Responsibility of Corporate Entities: Bad and Not-so-Bad Arguments for Shareholder Primacy

Questions for Discussion

4 Corporate Governance and Accountability

Who Rules the Corporation?

Power and Accountability: The Changing Role of the Corporate Board of Directors

Who Should Control the Corporation?

Tone at the Top An Ethics Code for Directors?

Do CEOs Get Paid Too Much?

Questions for Discussion

Cases for Part 2

Mini-Cases

MBA Student Mini-Dilemmas

Fire Destroys Malden Mills

Merck & Co., Inc. (A)

Bailouts and Bonuses on Wall Street

Citigroup’s Chief Rebuffed on Pay by Shareholders

Part 3: Work in the Corporation

Introduction

5 Employee Rights and Duties

Employee Rights

Human Rights, Workers’ Rights, and the “Right” to Occupational Safety

Whistle-Blowing

The Morality of Whistleblowing: A Commentary on Richard T. De George

Conflicts of Interest

The Moral Problem in Insider Trading

Questions for Discussion

6 The Modern Workplace Obligations and Limits

A Kantian Theory of Meaningful Work

Organization of Work in the Company and Family Rights of the Employees

Workplace Wars: How Much Should I be Required to Meet the Needs of Your Children?

Discrimination, Harassment, and the Glass Ceiling: Women Executives as Change Agents

The Debate Over the Prohibition of Romance in the Workplace

Questions for Discussion

Cases for Part 3

Mini-Cases

MBA Student Mini-Dilemmas

The Case of the Mismanaged Ms.

Heineken NV: Workplace HIV/AIDS Programs in Africa (A)

Banking: A Crack in the Swiss Vault

Will Rewards for Whistleblowers Encourage Ethical Behavior?

Boeing Chief is Ousted after Admitting Affair

Abuse Scandal Inquiry Damns Paterno and Penn State

Timeline: The Penn State Scandal

You’ve Been Tagged! (Then Again, Maybe Not): Employers and Facebook

Part 4: The Corporation in Society

Introduction

7 The Consumer

The Dependence Effect

The Non Sequitur of the “Dependence Effect”

The Ethics of Consumer Protection

Marketing and the Vulnerable

Questions for Discussion

8 The Environment and Sustainability

Morality, Money, and Motor Cars

Business and Environmental Ethics

Creating Sustainable Value

Rethinking the Concept of Sustainability

Questions for Discussion

9 International Business

Ethical Dilemmas for Multinational Enterprise: A Philosophical Overview

International Business, Morality, and the Common Good

Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home

The Case for Leverage-Based Corporate Human Rights Responsibility

What’s Wrong with Bribery

Capitalism with a Human Face: The UN Global Compact

Questions for Discussion

Cases for Part 4

Mini-Cases

MBA Student Mini-Dilemmas

The Ethics of Marketing: Nestlé’s Infant Formula

TransAuto Corporation Trade-offs

Sony Online Entertainment: EverQuest®or EverCrack?

Dicing with Death? A Case Study of Guidant Corporation’s Implantable Defibrillator Business

Chiquita Accused of Funding Colombia Terrorists

Wal-Mart Hushed Up a Vast Mexican Bribery Case

Yahoo! and Google in China

Google Softens Tone on China

Part 5: Challenges and Emerging Issues

Introduction

10 Challenges and Emerging Issues

What’s the Matter with Business Ethics?

Developing and Sustaining an Ethical Corporate Culture: The Core Elements

The Ethics Officer as Agent of the Board: Leveraging Ethical Governance Capability in the Post-Enron Corporation

Can a Company be Too Ethical?

God as a Managerial Stakeholder?

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid

Questions for Discussion

Business Ethics in Hollywood Movies

Cases for Part 5

Mini-Cases

Global Corporation: Running a Global Ethics and Compliance Program

Barrick’s Tanzanian Project Tests Ethical Mining Policies

An Ethical Approach to Crisis Management

Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs

This edition first published 2014© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Registered OfficeJohn Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK

Editorial Offices350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UKThe Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK

For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley-blackwell.

The right of W. Michael Hoffman, Robert E. Frederick, and Mark S. Schwartz to be identified as the authors of the editorial material in this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.

Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author(s) have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data is available on request

ISBN (pb): 9781118336687

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Cover design by Richard Boxall Design Associates

About the Editors

W. Michael Hoffman, PhD, is the founding Executive Director of the Center for Business Ethics (1976), and the Hieken Professor of Business and Professional Ethics at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He has authored or edited 16 books and over 100 articles, and has consulted for numerous corporations, law firms, and government organizations. Dr. Hoffman served as the founding executive director of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association, co-founded and was president of the Society for Business Ethics, and served on the advisory board of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations. He received the Humanist of the Year Award from The Ethical Society of Boston in 2007, the Society for Corporate Compliance and Ethics Award for lifetime contributions to the profession in 2009, the lifetime achievement award for distinguished service to the field of business ethics from the Society for Business Ethics in 2011, the Champion’s Award from the Central and European Management Association for responsible management education in 2011, and a lifetime achievement award in the field of ethics and compliance by the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association in 2012.Robert E. Frederickis Professor of Philosophy at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass. He is also Research Scholar at the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley, and editor of the quarterly journalBusiness and Society Review. Dr. Frederick received a BA degree in Economics from Rice University and an MA and PhD in philosophy from Brown University. Dr. Frederick has published a number of articles in philosophy, business ethics and environmental ethics, and has edited or co-edited 10 books on various topics in applied ethics and philosophy. He has served as a consultant on business ethics for corporations and academic institutions, and has delivered addresses on business and environmental ethics to a variety of professional organizations. Prior to joining Bentley and the Center, Dr. Frederick worked for nine years for a large financial institution in Atlanta, GA, where he was Vice President for Administrative Services.Mark S. Schwartz is Associate Professor at York University’s School of Administrative Studies in Toronto, Canada. Dr. Schwartz received his JD from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, and his MBA and PhD specializing in business ethics from the Schulich School of Business at York University. Dr. Schwartz is a Research Fellow for the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University, in Waltham, Mass. Dr. Schwartz has received teaching awards at York University,The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Bar Ilan University, and Tel Aviv University. Dr. Schwartz has also received several research awards and recognitions and has published in such journals as Business Ethics Quarterly, Journal of Business Ethics, Business & Society, Business and Society Review,Corporate Governance: An International Review, and Business Horizons. Dr. Schwartz has consulted to a number of companies on business ethics-related matters and has been quoted in various media outlets including The New York Times, The Financial Times, and The National Post.

Preface

The preface to the first edition of Business Ethics: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality began with advice from Cicero’s De officiis: “To everyone who proposes to have a good career, moral philosophy is indispensable.” Cicero’s words are as true and as timely as ever, and the fifth edition of this text represents our continuing commitment to the union of ethics and business.

The field of business ethics has grown tremendously since 1984, when the first edition was released. At that time, business ethics had just begun to gain momentum. Today it is a mature field. In a 1988 report, the Business Roundtable referred to corporate ethics as “a prime business asset,” and corporations have begun to take significant steps toward integrating ethical values into their corporate cultures. In fact, the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University was the facilitating institution for a newly formed organization made up of practicing ethics officers of major corporations. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business has strengthened its call for grounding in ethics as one of the essential elements of sound business education. Literature in business ethics continues to grow and deepen.

In the fifth edition of Business Ethics, we have attempted to include both the best new thinking on ethical issues in business and the first, second, third, and fourth editions’ time-tested favorites. The goals of the text remain the same. We have tried to be comprehensive. In our coverage of the issues, we have selected what we believe to be the most important currently debated moral concerns in the field. We have retained many of the topics from the fourth edition and have added new material on issues such as workplace romance and business sustainability.All of the chapters have been revised to some extent. The final section has been extensively revised and now includes material on developing and sustaining an ethical corporate culture. Many cases from the fourth edition remain, but we have included timely new cases such as those on Heineken and African employees with HIV/AIDS, football coach Joe Paterno and whistleblowing obligations, and Walmart’s bribery scandal in Mexico. We have also added a new feature to the fifth edition, a series of ethical mini-dilemmas faced by MBA students. The ethical dilemmas add another means for readers to consider and discuss ethical issues faced by individuals in business. As an additional feature, we have also added a list of potential Hollywood movies students can watch that contain important business ethics issues.

As with earlier editions, we have tried to be impartial. The format of the text, wherever appropriate, is point/counter-point, and we have included the strongest statements we could find of different perspectives on the issues. We have made an effort to include articles by thinkers from a wide range of constituencies – not just academics, but representatives from a variety of other professions.

Finally, we have tried to be systematic. We have retained the basic organization of earlier editions. We begin with theoretical, structural, or more widely focused issues such as economic justice, the justice of economic systems, and the nature and responsibility of business. These give a framework for discussion and understanding of more specific, concrete issues, such as employee rights, the ethics of marketing and production, environmental ethics, and multinational issues. We conclude with a chapter on current challenges and future issues. Of course, the book may be used in many different ways. Some instructors may prefer to save the more abstract topics for the end of their course. We believe that the book lends itself readily to organizational variations.

The fifth edition continues to include an introduction to each part that sets out the major themes of the articles and places them in context. This edition includes brief introductions to the mini-cases and cases, and points out which articles might be most directly relevant to them. A set of discussion questions follow each chapter. These can be used as a focus for student discussion, for review, or for tests, quizzes, or student assignments.

We would like to express our appreciation to Bentley University for its support of this and other projects in business ethics. Thanks also go to Mary Chiasson, senior associate director of the Center for Business Ethics, Jeffrey Kimball, graduate research assistant at the Center, and Faidat Olamuyiwa, Leon Sullivan Scholar at the Center, for their help in the preparation of this manuscript.

Finally, we are grateful to the following scholars for their reviews of earlier versions of this book: William C. Gentry, Henderson State University; Charles T. Hughes, Chapman University; William L. Langenfus, John Carroll University; ChristopherP. Mooney, Nassau Community College; Jon W.Nelson, University of Nebraska at Kearney; and Richard Srb, Middlesex Community Technical College.

W. Michael HoffmanRobert E. FrederickMark S. Schwartz

General IntroductionThe Nature of Business Ethics

Business is a complex web of human relationships – relationships between manufacturers and consumers, employers and employees, managers and stockholders, members of corporations and members of communities in which those corporations operate. These are economic relationships, created by the exchange of goods and services; but they are alsomoralrelationships. Questions concerning profit, growth, and technological advance have ethical dimensions. These include the effects of pollution and depletion of natural resources on society at large, the quality and character of the work environment, and the safety of consumers. As an anthology in business ethics, this text proposes to explore the moral dimension of business.

Ethics may be defined as the study of what is good or right for human beings. It asks what goals people ought to pursue and what actions they ought to perform. Business ethics is a branch of applied ethics; it studies the relationship of what is good and right to business.1

But how do we know what is right or wrong or good or bad for business? Before discussing in more detail the content of the various ethical principles, it might be helpful to clarify what ethics is not.

Ethics and etiquette: For some, ethics or morality is confused with the notion of etiquette. In most cases etiquette refers to behavior that is considered socially acceptable, as opposed to morally right or wrong. Concepts such as politeness, manners, one’s dress, or rules of conduct might be associated with etiquette. For example, etiquette might require one to use a handkerchief upon sneezing, or to shake hands when meeting someone for the first time. There may be cases though when proper etiquette can cross over the line into the domain of morality. For example, in some countries acceptance of gifts in business might be considered proper etiquette, although arguments can be raised that such activity is unethical.

Ethics and the law: Typically, the law tends to reflect or embody the moral norms of society, and on this basis it can be suggested that what is legal is also ethical. Although ethics and the law often overlap, this may not always be the case. Some laws could be considered amoral, such as driving on the right-hand or left-hand side of the road. Alternatively, many acts which are legal might still be considered to be unethical, such as receiving gifts from suppliers, conducting personal business on company time, or invasions of privacy. Still, in other cases, laws themselves may be determined to be unethical, such as the previous Apartheid laws in South Africa, or the previous racial discrimination laws in the USA. For this reason, it is important to realize that the law does not always equal ethics, and in most cases merely sets out the minimum standards of expected behavior.

Ethics and religion: In a number of respects, ethics and religion are related to each other. Many of our ethical prescriptions, such as don’t kill or steal, derive from religious doctrine. The “golden rule,” or “do unto others as you would want done to yourself,” can be found expressed in some form across most religions. Although ethics and religion often overlap, this is also not always the case. Certain religious prescriptions have been considered by others to be immoral, such as religious decrees prohibiting abortion or euthanasia. Certain religious prescriptions regarding the role of women in society have alsobeen considered by others as being immoral or unethical. One must therefore be careful before necessarily accepting that ethics and religion are oneand the same.

It is sometimes said that business and ethics don’t mix. In business, some argue, profit takes precedence. Business has its own rules and objectives, and ethical concepts, standards, and judgments are inappropriate in the context of business. But this view is fundamentally mistaken. Business is an economic institution, but like our economy as a whole, it has a moral foundation. The free-market system reflects our convictions about the nature of the good life and the good society, about the fair distribution of goods and services, and about what kinds of goods and services to distribute. It is true that the goal of business has been profit, but profit-making is not a morally neutral activity. Traditionally, we have encouraged business to pursue profits because we believed – rightly or wrongly – that profit-seeking violates no rights and is best for society as a whole. This conviction has been the source of business’s legitimacy, our belief in its right to exist. In the past two decades, however, the belief that business makes an entirely positive contribution to the general welfare has been challenged. For many, business’s connection with the moral foundation which justified it no longer seems clear. Distrust of business has increased; recent polls, for example, indicate that Americans believe that the ethical standards of business are lower than those of society as a whole. Many thinkers contend that business faces a crisis of legitimacy. In such a climate, an investigation of business values, of the moral dimension of business, and of the role of business in society becomes urgent. To undertake such an investigation is the task of business ethics. This anthology approaches this task on four levels:

1. An ethical investigation of the context in which American business is conducted – that is, capitalism or the free-market system. Does the system truly contribute to a good society and reflect our most important social values? In particular, is it a just system, one that reflects our beliefs about the fair distribution of goods and services? The selections included in Part 1 of this text explore the meaning of justice in a modern economy, and the question of whether capitalism embodies that ideal. It also suggests some specific ways in which ethical values have operated or should operate in business decision making.