Business Ethics and Corporate Culture Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts, ethical frameworks, decision-making models, and corporate culture topics from Chapters 1 through 4.

Business Ethics

An academic discipline and practice that examines the responsibilities owed to oneself and others within the business environment.

Practical Reasoning

Reasoning directed toward determining what one ought to do and how one should act and behave.

Theoretical Reasoning

Reasoning aimed at establishing truth and determining what one should believe.

Normative Ethics

A study of ethics that seeks an account of how and why people should act, establishing standards and norms for behavior.

Descriptive Ethics

An empirical account from social sciences detailing how and why people actually act, rather than how they should act.

Norms

Standards of appropriate and proper behavior that establish guidelines for what individuals should do and how they should act.

Ethical Values

Beliefs that incline individuals to act in ways that serve human well-being in impartial rather than selfish ways.

Morals

Society's external rules of conduct, social boundaries, and underlying values on which decisions are based.

Values

An individual's internal personal beliefs and principles regarding what is important, which incline them to choose one course of action over another.

Principles

Fundamental truths and objective ethical rules, originating both externally and internally, that put values into action.

Duties

Moral or legal obligations that bind an individual to execute specific actions.

Separation Thesis

The view holding that ordinary ethical standards should be kept separate from business decisions because business has its own standards of good and bad.

Psychological Egoism

The theory asserting that all human actions are inherently selfish and driven exclusively by self-interest.

Stakeholder

Any individual or group that affects or is affected by the decisions, policies, or operations of a firm.

Risk Assessment

A process to identify and evaluate potential events and ethical harms that may affect an entity, managing risk to stay within its risk appetite.

Normative Myopia

Shortsightedness regarding values, leading to an inability to recognize ethical issues or decision points.

Inattentional Blindness

A failure to notice important information or ethical issues due to focusing on too narrow a range of questions.

Moral Imagination

The ability to envision various alternative choices, consequences, resolutions, benefits, and harms when facing an ethical decision.

Satisficing

Selecting an alternative that meets the minimum decision criteria rather than identifying the optimal solution.

Social Roles

Responsibilities fulfilled within personal and societal relationships, such as friend, spouse, parent, neighbor, or citizen.

Institutional Roles

Responsibilities defined by organizational positions, such as employee, manager, executive, professor, or student club president.

Ethical Framework

A systematic attempt to provide a structured answer and rational justification for how human beings should live their lives.

Utilitarianism

A consequentialist ethical framework that directs decision-makers to act in ways that maximize overall happiness and produce the greatest good for the greatest number.

Consequentialism

An ethical approach determining the rightness or wrongness of an action based primarily on its outcomes and consequences.

Egoism

A consequentialist theory focusing exclusively on maximizing the happiness and interests of the individual making the decision.

Deontology

An ethical framework emphasizing duties, principles, and obligations over consequences when determining moral action.

Categorical Imperative

An absolute, unconditional ethical rule that must be obeyed regardless of situation or desired ends, containing no "if" clause.

Hypothetical Duties

Conditional rules or professional obligations that bind an individual only under specific circumstances or roles, containing an "if" clause.

Autonomy

The fundamental human right of self-rule and independent moral decision-making.

Libertarian View of Justice

A theory of justice prioritizing individual liberty and freedom from governmental interference as long as others are not harmed.

Egalitarian View of Justice

A theory of justice prioritizing equality, advocating for equal distribution of basic goods or equal opportunity through governmental intervention.

Virtue Ethics

An ethical framework focusing on the moral character of individuals and how character traits contribute to or obstruct a meaningful human life.

Character

The collection of dispositions, relationships, attitudes, values, and habits that form an individual's ethical personality.

Corporate Culture

A shared pattern of beliefs, expectations, norms, and meanings that guides the thinking and behaviors of members within an organization.

Compliance-Based Culture

A corporate culture emphasizing obedience to rules, laws, and regulations as the primary responsibility of ethics.

Values-Based Culture

A corporate culture relying on conformity to shared principles and personal integrity rather than strict adherence to detailed rules.

Whistleblowing

The act of an organizational member reporting wrongdoing internally to authorities or externally to public agencies.

United States Sentencing Commission (USSC)

An independent agency in the federal judiciary responsible for regulating federal sentencing policies and standards.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations (FSGO)

Prescribed federal standards that provide reduced penalties to organizations that maintain effective ethics and compliance programs.

Transformational Leadership

A leadership approach that employs methods empowering subordinates to take initiative, develop character, and solve problems independently.

Transactional Leadership

A leadership approach focused on exchanged interactions, compliance, and specific performance-based transactions between leaders and followers.