Business Ethics - Unit One

These flashcards cover the core vocabulary and concepts from Unit I of Business Ethics, including definitions of ethics, various ethical types, moral development stages, and global business ethical issues.

Ethics

The discipline that examines one's moral standards or the moral standards of society to evaluate their reasonableness and their implications for one's life.

Business Ethics

A specialization study of moral right and wrong that concentrates on moral standards as they apply to business institutions, organizations, and behaviour.

Descriptive/Comparative Ethics

An investigation that seeks to tell us what business people actually do and why they do it, incorporating research from anthropology, psychology, sociology, and history.

Normative Ethics

An investigation involving creating or evaluating moral standards to reach conclusions about what things are good or bad or what actions are right or wrong.

Meta/Analytic Ethics

An area of ethics arguing that the nature of morality is relative and that there are no moral standards independent of social groups.

Applied Ethics

The philosophical examination from a moral standpoint of particular issues in private and public life, such as bioethics or environmental ethics.

Prisoner's Dilemma

A situation between two parties where cooperation is more advantageous than trying to take advantage of others, demonstrated by choices between cooperation and non-cooperation.

Globalization

The worldwide process by which the economic and social systems of nations have become connected, facilitating the flow of goods, money, culture, and people.

Multinational

A company that maintains manufacturing, marketing, service, or administrative operations in several host countries, such as Adidas, Apple, or Coca-Cola.

Cultural Relativism

The assertion that morality varies from one culture to another, as similar practices are regarded as right in some cultures and wrong in others.

Ethical Relativism

The theory that because different societies have different ethical beliefs, there is no rational way of determining if an action is right or wrong other than by the beliefs of that particular society.

Morality

The subject matter that ethics investigates, consisting of norms about actions believed to be right and wrong and values placed on objects believed to be good and bad.

Moral Standards

Standards that deal with matters that can seriously injure or benefit humans, are not established by authoritative bodies, and are based on impartial considerations.

Nonmoral Standards

The standards by which we judge what is good or bad in areas of etiquette, law, aesthetics, or athletic performance.

Moral Development

The process by which people change their values in deep and profound ways as they mature, moving from self-absorbed pain avoidance to internalized standards.

Punishment and Obedience Orientation

The first stage of Kohlberg's moral development where the physical consequences of an act determine its goodness or badness to avoid punishment.

Instrument and Relativity Orientation

The second stage of Kohlberg's moral development where right actions are those that serve as instruments for satisfying one's own needs or the needs of cared-for others.

Interpersonal Concordance Orientation

The third stage in Kohlberg's model where good behavior is living up to the expectations of family and friends for whom one feels loyalty and affection.

Law and Order Orientation

The fourth stage in Kohlberg's model where right and wrong are determined by loyalty to one’s larger nation or society.

Social Contract Orientation

The fifth stage of moral development where a person becomes aware of conflicting personal views and emphasizes fair ways of reaching consensus through agreement.

Universal Ethical Principles Orientation

The final stage of Kohlberg's moral development where right action is defined by moral principles chosen for their logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency.

Moral Reasoning

The process by which human behaviors, institutions, or policies are judged to be in accordance with or in violation of moral standards.

Systemic Issues

Ethical questions raised about economic, political, legal, or social systems, including the morality of capitalism or specific industrial structures.

Corporate Issues

Ethical questions about a particular company's activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure taken as a whole.

Individual Issues

Ethical questions about a specific individual within an organization and their specific behaviors, decisions, or character.

Ethical Dilemma

A complex situation involving a mental conflict between moral imperatives, where obeying one resulted in transgressing another, or where no option is ethically acceptable.