Business Ethics

"It's difficult to imagine an area of study that has greater importance to society or greater relevance to students than business ethics. As this text enters its tenth edition, business ethics has become a well-established academic subject. Most colleges and universities offer courses in it, and scholarly interest continues to grow. Yet some people still scoff at the idea of business ethics, jesting that the very concept is an oxymoron. To be sure, recent years have seen the newspapers filled with lurid stories of corporate misconduct and felonious behavior by individual businesspeople, and many suspect that what the media report represents only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. However, these scandals should prompt a reflective person not to make fun of business ethics but rather to think more deeply about the nature and purpose of business in our society and about the ethical choices individuals must inevitably make in their business and professional lives. Business ethics has an interdisciplinary character. Questions of economic policy and business practice intertwine with issues in politics, sociology, and organizational theory. Indeed, courses in business ethics are taught both by philosophy departments and by business schools, and where the course is being offered may make a difference to how it's structured. In a business school, considerable attention will probably be given to existing rules that can't be violated without consequences: rules found in the law, in the codes of ethics of professional associations, or just in the minds of the public. This is undeniably important information for an aspiring businessperson to have. When philosophers teach business ethics, in contrast, they may be more willing to call current expectations into question. In a business ethics course taught by a philosopher, many discussions will center on the question of whether a given practice is morally wrong. Whether the practice is presently illegal or whether an opinion poll conducted today would show that the public generally condemns the practice may not be important considerations in reaching an answer. Of course, nothing precludes instructors who aren't philosophers from raising this sort of question, and business ethics courses that aren't taught by philosophers may still critically examine the status quo. Frequently, though, which department offers the course will determine where the most emphasis is placed. The authors of this textbook are philosophers, and their approach to business ethics remains anchored in philosophy. Nevertheless, abstract questions in normative ethics and political philosophy mingle with analysis of practical problems and concrete moral dilemmas. Moreover, philosophical debates about how the world should be must still start from an understanding of how it is now; as Chapter 1 explains, sound moral arguments have factual as well as moral premises. So, the book is not an exercise in armchair speculation divorced from facts and figures"--