BUSINESS ETHICS

Business Ethics



Business Ethics

Part 1

Preconceptions of Business Ethics

Business ethics often appears in the news about financial and accounting scandals, swindles; industrial and environmental disasters, and featuring abuses by companies and their executives. This is responsible for direct damage to consumers, workers, savers, investors, government, environment, etc. Business ethics is the attempt to subdue criticism of these institutions ubiquitous, whose owners, managers or governing bodies wield immense power of dubious legitimacy (Kornberger, Brown, 2007, 518). Currently, business ethics has been partially accepted between science and management techniques or business administration (management). The approach based on personal ethics of managers and their moral dilemmas, dominant in the seventies and eighties has given way to an approach based on the organization and its challenges as a legitimate member of society. Thus, the term "corporate social responsibility" or "entrepreneur" is a reference for ethical reflection on what can an organization do for its profits and how to relate to society (Kornberger, Brown, 2007, 517). Indirectly, this notion may serve to suggest what moral obligations are for managers, employees, customers and consumers, governments and other actors involved or associated with business.

In the discussion of business ethics we often hear about corporate responsibility in connection with the environment. Large companies usually linked to areas such as chemical and manufacturing are under pressure to pay attention to social responsibilities. It should be noted, among other things, the selective pressures that are generally targeted at business when all people and all activities actually have moral responsibility (Jackall, 1988, 21). The responsibility should be placed in evidence whenever there is an injury to rights in any area concerned. Personally, although it is controversial, do not share the notion of limited liability (Jackall, 1988, 21).

This is a concept inherited from the feudal era in which corporations established by royal permission. Corporations were not the result of people who associated freely and voluntarily but were born following a permit from the crown (Harrington, 1997, 363). Because, the permit received by corporations as the exclusive domain was granted in exchange for limits on their responsibility. Their liability was limited as a grace of the crown for not paying the full costs of could cause damage. I really think that this limited liability is not appropriate for today's corporations are not creations of the crown (Barley, Tolbert, 1997, 117). This leads to people like Ralph Nader says that the special privileges involve special obligations, i.e., a moral obligation to act on behalf of society (or king) rather than following the interests of shareholders.

Part 2

Ethical Theories

Stakeholder Theory

The debate on corporate social responsibility is given in the context of stakeholder theory. The English term stakeholder (which can move as "interested", "involved", "interest group") names the management theory's most influential at this time (the author in question is Edward Freeman). According to this theory, to manage efficiently a company means meeting the greatest extent possible the demands and expectations of all people, objects and groups actually or potentially affected by their ...