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Business Ethics SENIOR CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS STEPHEN M. BYARS, USC MARSHALL SCHOOL OF BUSINESS KURT STANBERRY, UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON-DOWNTOWN OpenStax Rice University 6100 Main Street MS-375 Houston, Texas 77005 To learn more about OpenStax, visit https://openstax.org. Individual print copies and bulk orders can be purchased through our website. ©2018 Rice University. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). 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OpenStax.org TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface 1 1 Why Ethics Matter 7 1.1 Being a Professional of Integrity 8 1.2 Ethics and Profitability 13 1.3 Multiple versus Single Ethical Standards 20 2 Ethics from Antiquity to the Present 27 2.1 The Concept of Ethical Business in Ancient Athens 28 2.2 Ethical Advice for Nobles and Civil Servants in Ancient China 35 2.3 Comparing the Virtue Ethics of East and West 40 2.4 Utilitarianism: The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number 44 2.5 Deontology: Ethics as Duty 50 2.6 A Theory of Justice 54 3 Defining and Prioritizing Stakeholders 67 3.1 Adopting a Stakeholder Orientation 68 3.2 Weighing Stakeholder Claims 72 3.3 Ethical Decision-Making and Prioritizing Stakeholders 78 3.4 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 83 4 Three Special Stakeholders: Society, the Environment, and 93 Government 4.1 Corporate Law and Corporate Responsibility 94 4.2 Sustainability: Business and the Environment 103 4.3 Government and the Private Sector 117 5 The Impact of Culture and Time on Business Ethics 131 5.1 The Relationship between Business Ethics and Culture 132 5.2 Business Ethics over Time 139 5.3 The Influence of Geography and Religion 144 5.4 Are the Values Central to Business Ethics Universal? 149 6 What Employers Owe Employees 159 6.1 The Workplace Environment and Working Conditions 160 6.2 What Constitutes a Fair Wage? 169 6.3 An Organized Workforce 177 6.4 Privacy in the Workplace 184 7 What Employees Owe Employers 195 7.1 Loyalty to the Company 196 7.2 Loyalty to the Brand and to Customers 203 7.3 Contributing to a Positive Work Atmosphere 207 7.4 Financial Integrity 212 7.5 Criticism of the Company and Whistleblowing 218 8 Recognizing and Respecting the Rights of All 231 8.1 Diversity and Inclusion in the Workforce 232 8.2 Accommodating Different Abilities and Faiths 239 8.3 Sexual Identification and Orientation 244 8.4 Income Inequalities 247 8.5 Animal Rights and the Implications for Business 252 9 Professions under the Microscope 265 9.1 Entrepreneurship and Start-Up Culture 266 9.2 The Influence of Advertising 271 9.3 The Insurance Industry 276 9.4 Ethical Issues in the Provision of Health Care 280 10 Changing Work Environments and Future Trends 295 10.1 More Telecommuting or Less? 296 10.2 Workplace Campuses 301 10.3 Alternatives to Traditional Patterns of Work 306 10.4 Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, and the Workplace of the Future 314 11 Epilogue: Why Ethics Still Matter 325 11.1 Business Ethics in an Evolving Environment 326 11.2 Committing to an Ethical View 329 11.3 Becoming an Ethical Professional 332 11.4 Making a Difference in the Business World 336 A The Lives of Ethical Philosophers 341 This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col25722/1.3 B Profiles in Business Ethics: Contemporary Thought Leaders 347 C A Succinct Theory of Business Ethics 357 Index 365 This OpenStax book is available for free at http://cnx.org/content/col25722/1.3