Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

Richard G. Manahl
James Madison University
March 2016

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

Abstract

For my research question I chose is business ethics obsolete or not? What this question
means is if people lose sight of morals within a business setting and are overcome with greed and
corruption. My main reason for choosing this topic is because of my slight business background
thanks to my major, management, as well as my topic helping me learn more of what a business
setting is like, as I hope to work in one someday. This topic is just as important to my professor
and peers as it helps to show some of the corrupt practices that go on within business and helps
to open their eyes to the arrogance that business can have. In addition, I know that a good
number of my peers in the class are also business majors so this topic helps them in their field as
well.

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

Throughout life people are always told to act in a moral manner because it is the right
thing to do for ones conscience. These moral standards often become questioned within the field
of business. The problem with business and its ethics is that many times the field revolves around
greed and suspicious practices regardless of the ethical dilemma. Unfortunately, this is often
thought of as necessary to ensure a successful business. Although, there isnt solely unethical
ways of handling business. The four primary ways of handling business ethics include
maximizing profits, the moral minimum, stakeholder interests, and corporate citizenship. Each
has a differently unique standard of approaching moral norms, which results in a more or less
ethical way of thinking.
Maximizing profits is the first ethical way of handling business, and it is exactly what it
sounds like. In this method, the businesss primary goal is to generate the most amount of profits
regardless of what actions need to take place, thus resulting in this method being thought of as
the least ethical. The second method, the moral minimum, focuses on the interests of the
shareholders, which are those who own stock in the company. Essentially, in this method you are
obliged to do what the shareholders want and find ethically correct because proper morals say to
make your shareholders happy. The stakeholder interests modal takes a utilitarian approach in
how it attempts to create maximum happiness for everyone associated with the company,
including managers, employees, customers, and more. This view may appear to be perfect, but
shady practices can still be applied to try and ensure this. The final method is corporate
citizenship, which follows a moral guide where a corporation actively tries to improve not only
the benefits for people involved in the company, but the entire community that it serves. These
several methods of ethical standards help further the questions surrounding business ethics and
are essential to understanding the state of business ethics today.

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

The first reading is an encyclopedia entry titled Corporate Code of Conduct (CCC) and
doesnt have the author specified. Even so, the article discusses a code of ethics within business
and how corporations try to achieve this. The article believes these codes of conduct are set in
stone and help to create moral norms within the business. However, the article also discusses
how these codes are generated by corporations themselves and discusses the subjective matter of
business ethics. Because of this subjective make-up of the codes, the article questions if they are
beneficial or harmful because many times it comes off more as marketing for that corporation as
opposed to their codes of conduct.
corporate code of conduct (CCC). (2016). In Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved
from http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/1920543/corporate-code-of-conduct
The next article titled Business Ethics has author Thomas Donaldson discussing the ins
and outs of ethics specifically in the business setting. Throughout the article, Donaldson attempts
to put business ethics in perspective to the audience by explaining it as having three parts to it.
These three parts include the individuals, business systems, and the large scale organizations.
The individual aspect includes all stakeholders associated with the business and how they think
about business ethics. Because it is the individual aspect, Donaldson discusses the subjective
matter of business ethics. Donaldson discusses theories which display the different ways of
thinking about morals, one of which is Adam Smiths view, who believes in the darker nature of
humans. This theory results in people having more emphasis on the importance of their personal
gains and is just one theory. The next portion has Donaldson assessing the roles of business
systems. Donaldson displays the issues with a free market economy through the description of
business systems. He argues that to imagine such a scenario of perfect exchanges between people
and businesses is impossible due to the idea that people cant be made better off unless someone

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

else feels worse off. In addition, he exhibits some massive unethical practices that business
partake in frequently, such as child labor, bribery, and false advertising. In the final portion of the
article, Donaldson lays out the idea that organizations have a large responsibility to ensuring
morality within the entire corporation. However, Donaldson argues that it is tricky due to the
several different ways of handling business and does so with the assistance of the primary four
ways.
Donaldson, T. (2006). Business Ethics. In D. M. Borchert (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 776-780). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?
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Throughout the final article, author Charley Reese explores the views which believe it
isnt the responsibility of major corporations or the government to create moral guidelines. And
see that they are followed. It displays the readers how many of these ideas are faulty, like how
government is supposed to create the standards. Instead, Reese argues that morals are a personal
responsibility because people choose to do wrongful things. He does this by explaining to the
readers that the unethical business models are a problem related to immoral decisions rather than
public policies. While the article does discuss many of the applications of ethics similar to those
in business ethics, Reese primarily focuses on the government aspect of ethics. In addition, the

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

article analyzes how the government could not regulate morality even if it wanted to and same
idea goes for businesses controlling business ethics; in the end it is a personal responsibility.
Reese, C. (2000). The Government Should Not Legislate Morality. In J. A. Hurley (Ed.),
Opposing Viewpoints. American Values. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from
Conservative Chronicle, 1998, August 19) Retrieved from
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&displayquery=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighti
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The primary similarity that all of the readings have is there shared idea that the
ethics within a business is a subjective matter and because of that everyone has the personal
responsibility to ensure positive ethics. For the first reading, it proves this idea by describing
corporate codes of conduct as being commonly generated by corporations themselves and
vary extensively in design and objective (Corporate code of conduct, 2016). This description
creates a subjective outlook for business ethics and the article goes on to say many businesses
have adopted this style, including McDonalds and Dell. The next reading believes that ethical
decision making is subjective and displays this through explaining the social responsibility that
individuals have, Only individual businesspersons, not corporations, are the true bearers of
ethical responsibility (Donaldson, 2006). Due to the fact that people have different goals when
entering business, it has created a subjective nature around business ethics. The final reading

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

shares this view and explains it in a way that relates it to ethics as a whole through the idea of
personal responsibility, No one can make us lie, cheat, steal, rob, murder, or abandon people we
are responsible for. When these things happen, it's because people freely choose to do them
(Reese, 2000). With this way of thinking all the readings show that they believe business ethics is
still apparent in todays society and the reason why it is still clearly seen is because of the illnatured morals of people. Acting greedy or deceitful, usually for personal gain, are some of the
unethical ways of acting that prove the subjective nature of business ethics.
The latter two articles have a similarity in the way that both authors believe that
businesses partake in a lot of blaming when it comes to unethical decision making. In addition,
both authors believe it would be better for businesses to except blame when it is due because it
would help correct some of the unethical choices done. For author Donaldson, he presents this
view with the help of the business model, maximizing profits. Donaldson believes that many of
the decisions made by business leaders are poor because they lack ethical decision-making skills,
Critics of the this approach are quick to point out that corporate executives are not publicly
elected officials and as such are poor choices for shouldering decision-making promoting the
common good (Donaldson, 2006). Donaldsons perspective believes that the government should
be in charge of these decisions because often times thats where businesses put the blame. For
author Reese, he spends a majority of his article discussing this same idea of not putting the
blame on others. Reese does an excellent job of portraying this through his explanation of
personal responsibility, The second idea Americans ought to get shut of is that if they do
something wrong, it's somebody else's fault (Reese, 2000). Often times the government takes
the blame with businesses accusing that there arent clear enough regulations. This idea
revolving the governments role is another idea surrounding ethics which is debated.

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

A clear difference that can be seen between the articles is the view they hold on how the
government should be involved in maintaining positive morals. For Donaldson, he argues that
the government should play a role in helping maintain morals, They [ethics theorists] assert
that, in addition to problems such as the prisoner's dilemma, persistent discrimination, sexual
harassment, environmental pollution, false advertising, financial scandals, child labor, and
bribery require a more of a "visible hand" (usually government's) than an "invisible" one
(Donaldson, 2006). With this view, Donaldson believes that we have to ensure there arent social
issues, such as racism or sexism, and the government is essential to that. Although both of the
other article believe that businesses have a larger social responsibility to create a positive moral
code. In addition, the third article has Reese arguing firmly against the government and its role,
stating that the problems arent issues with public policy, but rather moral code, A government
cannot make bad people good, but good people can make bad government good (Reese, 2000).
Although all the articles believe that business ethics isnt dead or obsolete, the third
articles view is different in how it believes that the ethics within business is slowly dying.
Whereas, the first two articles believe that business ethics is instead filled with corruption that
stirs unethical ideas. From Reeses perspective, he believes that morality has become too
corrupted, as a result of personal greed, to fix business ethics in way that they would be
positively beneficial and moral, if America is to become a better society, individuals must
take responsibility for their actions and stop engaging in immoral behavior (Reese, 2000). The
other two readings dont go very in depth on changing of the ethics though, besides that theyre
not currently the best. However, even with those morals, businesses still run today on current
moral ideals.

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

The first reading gives solid background information and good facts to back it up, but
doesnt go as in depth on if the ethics practiced today are strictly moral or not. In addition, it
shares good insight on how they feel ethics should be handled. The reading seemed short
primarily because it was a brief encyclopedia entry, but it was written well for the topic it was
discussing. I do however wish that I had known the author as that would help weaken or
strengthen the claims made.
The second reading analyzes several aspects of businesses, which are individual persons,
business systems, and the organizations, and how each relate to business ethics. The reading does
a great job integrating all of these in a way that displays the importance of all of them within
business ethics. It helps create a large image of business ethics and the elements that go into
creating social standards for morals. Although, the reading discusses the elements in strictly a
philosophical way it goes very in depth on the theories and ideas around business and ethics.
The final reading examines ethics in depth and how they should be done, but it focuses
primarily on the government aspect. There are still mentions of ethics relating to business, but
theyre slim. The main strength is how the article discusses the connections between government
and businesses on an ethical level. In addition, it has the audience thinking critically by asking
questions and proposing ethically questionable situations.
Having completed researching the topic of business ethics, I feel even more connected
with my major of management. In addition, I have learned that business ethics are essential to
having a successful economy, because if they didnt exist then businesses wouldnt run. This
relates to both positive and negative ethics, with each having its own positives and negatives,
although these effects many times dont hurt all parties at once. Business ethics will usually have
a negative outlook on it due to the concepts around businesses being things like greed and

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

personal gain. However, the business ethics models try to fix this way of thinking, but, this is
hard due to business and the ethics surrounding it being subjective.

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Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

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References
"corporate code of conduct (CCC)." Encyclopaedia Britannica. Britannica Academic.
Encyclopdia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. From
http://academic.eb.com/EBchecked/topic/1920543/corporate-code-of-conduct.
Donaldson, T. (2006). Business Ethics. In D. M. Borchert (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(2nd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 776-780). Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA. Retrieved from
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&displ
ayquery=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHig
hlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e
&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE
%7CCX3446800284&source=Bookmark&u=viva_jmu&jsid=9e82858c38f443706166cfa
f990fefa4
Reese, C. (2000). The Government Should Not Legislate Morality. In J. A. Hurley (Ed.),
Opposing Viewpoints. American Values. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from
Conservative Chronicle, 1998, August 19) Retrieved from
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?
failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&displ
ayquery=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&currPage=&disableHi
ghlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=

Is Business Ethics Obsolete?

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