Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

Saudia Hampton

University of Phoenix

MGT/216

Tangelia Frazier

April 30, 2012

Ethical and Moral Issues in Business

*Many people fail to differentiate between ethics and morals. The author will use this paper as an opportunity to discuss these concepts. In particular, the author will explain the differences between ethical issues and moral issues and differences between personal ethics and business ethics by providing real-world examples of common ethical problems in business for each.

Ethical issues arise when a person or organization is not fulfilling a promise or obligation. This promise or obligation may be part of a contract or an implied promise deriving from the type of relationship or business arrangement between the parties. However, moral issues involve deciding whether a person or organization is adhering to behaviors others view as appropriate. Behaving ethically does not always lead to moral behavior, and vice versa. An action may be moral, ethical, both, or neither (Taylor, 2011).

For example, in the 1990s Sears, Roebuck enacts a sales goal of $147 an hour for their mechanics hoping the mechanics will work more quickly, which only led to mechanics overcharging for their services and falsifying repair receipts by adding repairs they did not do or need to do (Bazerman & Tenbrunsel, 2011). Overcharging clients is a moral issue because society believes this behavior is wrong. Charging the clients for services they did not need or receive is an ethical issue. The mechanic has an obligation to customers to be honest about the repairs he or she makes. One could also argue this action is immoral because the action is wrong.

Personal ethics are putative principles of right and wrong governing the conduct of individuals (Hill, 2009). Business ethics govern the actions and beliefs of people in their working environments. Business ethics usually consists of the following five activities: applying common ethical ideologies, exploration, analysis of assumptions, going beyond the field of ethics to solve certain problems, and describing morally praiseworthy and exemplary actions (DeGeorge, pg. 16-17, 2010). The most common difference between personal ethics and business ethics is personal ethics often influence business ethics, but sometimes people must ignore personal ethics to comply with business ethics.

A perfect example of professional people intertwining personal ethics with their business lives is the issues many doctors face when dealing with a female rape victim. Some women will want the morning after pill, which many people, including doctors, consider murder. A doctor in Lebanon

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