Contemporary Reflections on Business Ethics (Issues in Business Ethics)

279 Pages·2006·4.15 MB·English

by  Ronald F.

CONTEMPORARY REFLECTIONS ON BUSINESS ETHICS
Issues in Business Ethics
VOLUME 23
Series Editors
Henk van Luijk, Emeritus Professor of Business Ethics
Patricia Werhane, Darden Graduate School of Business and
DePaul University, U.S.A.
Editorial Board
Brenda Almond, University of Hull, Hull, U.K.
Antonio Argandoña, IESE, Barcelona, Spain
William C. Frederick, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.
Georges Enderle, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, U.S.A.
Norman E. Bowie, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
Brian Harvey, Manchester Business School, Manchester, U.K.
Horst Steinmann, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Nürnberg, Germany
The titles published in this series are listed at the end of this volume.
Contemporary
Reflections on
Business Ethics
by
RONALD DUSKA
The American College
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 1-4020-4983-8 (HB)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4983-5 (HB)
ISBN-10 1-4020-4984-6 (e-book)
ISBN-13 978-1-4020-4984-2 (e-book)
Published by Springer,
P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands.
www.springer.com
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 2007 Springer
No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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To my grand children—the joys of my present and the hopes
of the future: Jack, Luke, David, Nicholas, Bryan,
Mary Kate, Gabriel, Kyle, Kaitlyn, Sarah, Jessica, Jacob,
Samuel, Jonathan, Daniel, Timothy, Genevieve, Beatrice
and whomever else might join the family.
CONTENTS
Preface xiii
Acknowledgements xv
Introduction xvii
Business Ethics
Chapter 1:
What is Ethics? 3
1 The Discipline of Ethics 3
1.1 Moral Beliefs 4
1.2 Actions, Social Practices, Institutions, and Systems 4
1.3 Why Study Ethics in Business? 6
2 Ethics in Business 7
2.1 The Social Responsibility of Business 9
2.2 How to Determine What is Ethical 11
3 Ethical Theory 13
3.1 Questions to Ask to Justify Any Action 15
3.1.1 “Is the Action Good for Me?” 15
3.1.2 “Is the Action Good or Harmful for Society?” 16
3.1.3 “Is the Action Fair or Just?” 16
3.1.4 “Does the Action Violate Anyone’s Rights?” 16
3.1.5 “Have I Made a Commitment, Implied or Explicit?” 17
3.2 Using the Reasons 18
3.3 Ethical Dilemmas 19
3.3.1 A Classic Moral Dilemma 20
3.4 Egoism 22
3.5 Utilitarianism 25
3.6 Deontology 28
3.6.1 The First Formulation of the Categorical Imperative 30
3.6.2 The Second Formulation of the Categorical Imperative 31
3.7 Is Ethical Knowledge Possible? 32
3.7.1 Intellectual Subjectivism 33
3.7.2 Emotivism 34
3.7.3 Relativism 35
viii CONTENTS
4 Virtue Ethics 37
5 Conclusion 38
Chapter 2:
The Why’s of Business Revisited 39
Chapter 3:
Business Ethics:Oxymoron or Good Business? 51
1 Business Ethics as Oxymoron 52
2 Business as Pursuit of Self-Interest: The Bottom-Line
Perspective 52
3 Countering the Friedman Approach to Ethical Business 54
4 Ethics as a Prerequisite for Social Stability 55
5 Ethics as a Strategy for Good (i.e., Profitable) Business 56
6 The Purpose of Ethics 57
7 Two Notions of Justice 59
8 A Moral Schizophrenia 60
9 The Soulless Corporation 61
10 On Refurbishing Business Ethics 62
11 Is Business Ethics Impossible? 62
Chapter 4:
Aristotle:A Pre-Modern Post-Modern? Implications
for Business Ethics 67
1 Postmodernism 69
2 The Aristotelian Solution 76
3 Conclusion 84
Chapter 5:
The Religious Roots of Business Ethics 89
1 Meaning of Spirit 91
2 The History of the Right to Property 93
3 Locke’s Theory 94
4 The Invention of Money 96
5 Putting Money to Work 96
6 A Changing View of Usury 97
7 A New View of Man 98
8 The Protection Against Unconstrained Egoism 100
9 The Laws of Justice Smith’s Appeal Fails 100
10 Justice, Capitalism, and Religion 101
CONTENTS ix
11 Turning Psychological Impulse into a Social Function Versus Aims 101
12 A New Ideal Type 102
13 Recommendations 103
14 Can Rawls’View be Justified? 105
Chapter 6:
Life Boat Ethics:A Problem in Economic Justice 109
Ethical Issues in Employment Loyalty and Agency
Chapter 7:
What’s the Point of a Business Ethics Course? 121
1 Skepticism as a Pervasive Attitude 124
2 Relativism as Skepticism 126
3 Critiques of Relativism 127
4 The Possibility of Moral Knowledge 129
5 Implications for Teaching Business Ethics Courses 131
6 Is There a Solution? 132
7 What Ethics Courses Need to Add to Common Opinion 133
8 A Final Difficulty: “Who Are You To Say?” Teaching One’s Values 134
9 Conclusion 136
Chapter 8:
Whistleblowing and Employee Loyalty 139
Chapter 9:
Why Be A Loyal Agent? A Systemic Ethical Analysis 149
1 Agency and the Problem of Agency 151
2 The Economists’Problem of Agency 152
3 Agency Costs 156
4 Glaucon’s Problem 158
5 Self-Interested Pursuit of Profit is Egoistic 159
6 Challenging the Corporate Ethos 161
7 The Neo-Egoistic Purpose of Business 161
8 A New Paradigm for Business: Agency and Professionalism,
the Enlightened View 162
9 The Agent in Business as Professional, or the
Professional as Agent 166
10 Is the Enlightened View Also naïve? 167
x CONTENTS
Chapter 10:
Employee Rights 171
1 Employee Rights 175
1.1 The Right to Meaningful Work 178
1.2 The Rights of the Employee 178
1.2.1 The Right to a Safe and Healthy Work Environment 179
1.2.2 The Right to Job Security and Due Process in
Disciplining, Demoting, Promoting, and Firing 179
1.2.3 The Right to Privacy 180
1.2.4 The Right to Compensation for Injury 181
1.2.5 The Right to Participation or Voice in Matters
Affecting Workers 181
1.2.6 The Right to Equal Treatment without Regard
to Race or Gender 182
1.2.7 The Right to Pension Protection 182
1.2.8 The Right to Organization Bargaining and
The Right to Strike 182
1.2.9 The Right to be Free From Harassment 182
1.2.10 The Right to a Living Wage 182
Ethical Issues in Financial Services
Chapter 11:
Ethical Issues in Financial Services 187
1 The Financial System 189
2 Financial Markets 189
3 Types of Markets 189
3.1 Markets According to Time 189
3.2 Markets According to Purpose 190
4 Capital Generation 190
5 Security Exchange 190
6 Financial Instruments and Institutions 191
7 Financial Intermediaries 192
8 The Ethics of the Market System 193
9 Ethical Practices within the System 194
10 A Litany of Unethical Practices Deception and Fraud 194
11 Basic Ethical Principles 197
12 The Avoidance of Deception and Fraud 197
13 Types of Roles in Financial Markets 200
14 Regulatory Procedures 200
15 Professionalism 200
16 The Legal Environment 201