Business Ethics Decision Making
for Personal Integrity & Social
Responsibility,
6th Edition by Laura Hartman
Complete Chapter Solutions Manual
are included (Ch 1 to 50)
** Immediate Download
** Swift Response
** All Chapters included
,Chapter 01—Ethics and Business
IM Chapter 1: Ethics and Business
Chapter Objectives
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Explain three levels at which ethical decisions get made in business.
2. Explain the nature of business ethics as an academic discipline.
3. Explain why ethics is important in the business environment.
4. Explain why ethical responsibilities go beyond legal compliance.
5. Distinguish the ethics of personal integrity from the ethics of social responsibility.
6. Distinguish ethical norms and values from other business-related norms and values.
7. Describe ethical decision making as a form of practical reasoning.
Opening Decision Point—Wells Fargo and Facebook
The Wells Fargo and Facebook cases can be used to introduce a range of topics that will emerge
throughout this book. The case involves decision making at a number of levels, from individual
entry-level employees (like many of our students), to branch managers, to mid-level
management, senior executives, and the board of directors. The cases also include decisions
individuals directly involved in wrongdoing as well as individuals who blew the whistle on
wrongdoing. A good discussion can be generated by asking students to assign responsibility,
both in terms of who is at fault (who is accountable?) and what could be one to prevent it from
reoccurring (what caused it?).
We have added a new short case description involving Facebook to this Decision Point for
several reasons. First, Facebook helps bring out the broader social and political dimensions of
ethical decision making more directly. Students will see the difficulty in separating business
decisions from broader social and ethical decisions. Second, the Facebook case also involves
some examples of insiders who called out unethical activities. Despite the pressures in all
organizations to conform, it is possible for individuals to stand up for their ethical beliefs.
Finally, Facebook and social media can be a more relevant example for many students than
banking.
These discussions can easily lead into the decision-making model that will be introduced later in
the chapter. What facts would be helpful to make these judgments of responsibility? What facts
would change your decision? What facts confirmed your initial thoughts? Who are the
stakeholders involved, ranging from entry-level employees, to customers, to stockholders, to
competitors. What stake, exactly, do these groups have in this case? How were they harmed?
How, if at all, were their interests represented in the process?
These are also good cases with which to introduce the topics of corporate culture and leadership.
How were the decisions made by individuals influenced by the surrounding culture, and how did
1-1
,Chapter 01—Ethics and Business
that culture emerge at Wells Fargo? At Facebook? How free were employees at every level,
including senior executives, to diverge from the prevalent culture? How might that institutional
culture be changed? Who is responsible for institutional decisions? Which institutional policies
and practices enabled this scandal? How might they be changed to avoid a reoccurrence?
Another topic that can be introduced involves professional responsibilities of bankers and
financial professionals at Wells, and IT specialists at Facebook. This discussion can be helpful in
setting the stage for Chapter 5 and the general topic of corporate social responsibility. A
discussion of fiduciary duties can introduce several important questions. What responsibilities do
managers, perhaps especially senior executives, have to stockholders? How might these
responsibilities conflict with their responsibilities as financial professionals? Facebook case also
can focus discussion on questions of the social and political responsibilities of both individuals
and corporations.
Finally, this case can also introduce the question of government regulation within a market
economy. What is the proper role for government agencies, both in terms offsetting standards to
prevent misconduct and in enforcing sanctions after the fact? How does this influence the “free
market” system? In what sense are corporations “citizens” of the countries in which they operate,
and what responsibilities does that imply?
I. Introduction: Getting Comfortable with the Topic
It is not uncommon for students to enter a business ethics class with some degree of doubt,
confusion, and apprehension about the topic. This opening chapter aims to relieve those concerns
by introducing business ethics as an unavoidable and nonthreatening part of business (and life).
The topic is introduced by reviewing some of the past and recent well-known scandals but also
pointing out some well-known examples of commendable corporate ethics. It can be worthwhile
to remind students of best case examples as a means to reminding them that business ethics does
not assume that only the bad cases deserve attention.
We also remind students that business ethics is not limited to the type of major corporate
decisions with dramatic social consequences. At some point every worker, and certainly
everyone in a management role, will be faced with an issue that will require ethical decision
making. We have also expanded this section to include a broader discussion of the role ethics
plays in many life experiences outside as well as inside business.
This opening section identifies five general goals for a business ethics class:
1. Develop the knowledge base and skills needed to identify ethical issues.
2. Understand how and why people behave unethically.
3. Decide how we should act, what we should do, and the type of person we should be as
individuals.
4. Create ethical organizations.
5. Think through the social, economic, and political policies that we should support as citizens.
1-2
, Chapter 01—Ethics and Business
II. Business Ethics as Ethical Decision making
We moved this section up to an early point in this chapter so that students can be more
directly and immediately introduced to WHAT ethics involves and what it is. Some
reviewers suggested that the previous organization spent too much time talking ABOUT
ethics, before actually saying what it is.
a. So what is the point of a business ethics course? Our general approach throughout
this text is to explain ethics as a middle ground between those who understand ethics
in absolutist and certain terms, and those who deny any reasonable or objective basis
for ethical claims. This text neither preaches dogmatic ethical truths nor abandons
hope for ethical progress and rationality.
b. We include a discussion of Socrates and Thrasymachus. Rational decision making
and persuasion versus imposing one’s view on others. While students might initially
see this as an aside, the crucial point is worth emphasizing—perhaps more so in light
of recent U.S. political debates. This text (like Socrates) does assume that humans can
be rational enough to settle disagreements by thinking them through and finding
rational conclusions that bind all people. In any society in which people disagree (and
where would that not be?), the alternative to rational discussion, persuasion, and
ultimately an agreement is power/force (Thrasymachus).
i. As the title of this book suggests, our approach to business ethics will
emphasize ethical decision making.
ii. Historical Context: On one hand, ethics refers to an academic discipline with
a centuries old history and we might expect knowledge about this history to be
among the primary goals of a class in ethics.
1. Thus, in an ethics course, students might be expected to learn about the
great ethicists of history such as Aristotle, John Stuart Mill, and
Immanuel Kant. As happens in many other courses, this approach to
ethics would focus on the informational content of the class.
*Chapter Objective 2 Addressed Below*
iii. Ethical Behavior/Normative Content: Yet, according to some observers,
learning about ethical theories and gaining knowledge about the history of
ethics is beside the point.
1. Many people, ranging from businesses looking to hire college
graduates to business students and teachers themselves, expect an
ethics class to address ethical behavior, not just information and
knowledge about ethics.
2. After all, should not an ethics class help prevent future ethical
scandals? Ethics refers not only to an academic discipline but to that
arena of human life studied by this academic discipline, namely, how
human beings properly should live their lives.
1-3
