MGT 601 - Ethical Theores

Ethics (Individual Sense)

How one should live their life; also referred to as morality or personal integrity.

Social Ethics

How we live together in a community and judge companies from a social perspective.

Values

Underlying beliefs that cause us to act or decide one way rather than another.

Ethical Values

Properties of life that contribute to human well-being and a life well lived.

Descriptive vs. Normative

Descriptive explains how people do act; normative explains how people should act.

Norms

Standards of appropriate and proper behavior that establish guidelines for how we should act.

Ethos vs. Ethics

Ethos is what is typically valued; ethics is what ought to be valued.

Business Ethics

The principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group.

Legal vs. Ethical Norms

They are not identical; compliance with the law is not enough to be ethical.

Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002)

A law passed by Congress to address corporate scandals and financial risks.

Core Values (Built to Last)

Essential, enduring tenets defining a company that are not compromised for financial gain.

Ethical Judgment vs. Behavior

Knowing what is right is different from doing what is right.

Front Page Test

An ethical compliance test asking how a decision would look on the news.

Mirror Test

An ethical compliance test asking if you can look at yourself in the mirror.

Universalism / Deontology

A principled approach focused on duty and right intentions rather than consequences.

Utilitarianism

A consequentialist theory where actions are right if they maximize overall benefits over harms.

Rights-Based Ethics

The theory that humans have basic, inalienable rights regardless of status or culture.

Justice as Fairness

Treating everyone as an equal and giving every person what they are owed.

Virtue Ethics

An approach focused on acting in line with good habits, character, and integrity.

Deontology Challenge

Strict adherence to principles can produce harms rather than benefits.

Utilitarianism Weakness

It can miscalculate costs/benefits and fail to protect minority interests.

Inalienable Rights (Locke)

Basic rights to life, liberty, labor, and private property.

Distributive Justice

The fair distribution of opportunities, goods, services, and welfare in society.

Veil of Ignorance (Rawls)

A mental state where decision-makers choose rules without knowing their own societal status.

Pluralism (Crane and Matten)

Using multiple ethical theories to view a problem from different angles.

Mectizan

The drug developed by Merck that successfully cures river blindness with one pill.

George Merck's Philosophy

Medicine is for the people, not for profits; profits will naturally follow.

Power Distance (Hofstede)

The degree of social inequality and hierarchical distance considered normal by a culture.

Individualism vs. Collectivism

The degree to which people prefer acting as individuals rather than in groups.

Uncertainty Avoidance

The degree to which a society prefers structured situations over unstructured ones.

Cultural Relativism

The belief that appropriate behavior is determined solely by local laws and customs.

Cultural Imperialism

Maintaining home-country standards internationally and judging other cultures by those standards.

Conflict of Relative Development

A conflict arising because different countries are at different stages of economic development.

Conflict of Cultural Tradition

A conflict arising from differences in deeply rooted cultural practices and values.

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)

A US law making bribery of foreign officials a criminal offense for companies.

Facilitating Payments (FCPA)

Small payments to low-level government employees to expedite routine, non-discretionary actions.

DeGeorge's MNC Guidelines

Ten ethical rules for multinational corporations, including doing no intentional direct harm.

UN Global Compact Categories

Human Rights, Labor, Environment, and Anti-Corruption.

Bayer Crop Science Dilemma

Discovering that cotton seeds purchased in India were harvested using traditional child labor.

Triple Bottom Line

An approach measuring business success in terms of economic, ethical, and environmental sustainability.

Backcasting

Imagining a sustainable future first, then looking backward to determine steps to achieve it.

Externalities

Environmental degradation costs borne by parties external to the economic exchange, like future generations.

Biophysical Limits to Growth

The boundary where biosphere resources cannot be used faster than they are replaced or absorbed.

Eco-efficiency

A practice of reducing resource usage in the production cycle ("doing more with less").

Cradle-to-Cradle

A business responsibility to incorporate the end results of its products back into production.

Biomimicry

A production model based on biological processes, aiming to eliminate waste altogether.

Service-Based Economy

An economy interpreting consumer demand as a demand for services rather than physical products.

Greenwashing

Misleading consumers about the environmentally beneficial aspects of a product or practice.

Circular Flow Model Limitation

It fails to explain resource origins and treats economic growth as boundless.

Compliance

The extent to which a company conducts business in accordance with applicable regulations and statutes.

Corporate Culture

The shared beliefs, values, and behaviors creating the organizational context for employee-manager interaction.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A business viewing itself as a societal member with implicit obligations and environmental/social responsibility.

Goodwill

A business's value beyond tangible assets, including reputation, brand value, workforce attitude, and customer relations.

Integrity

Adherence to a moral code implying trustworthiness and unity between what is said and done.

Social Contract

An implicit agreement among societal members to cooperate for mutual social and community benefit.

Stakeholders

Individuals and entities affected by a business's decisions, including customers, employees, community, and environment.

Eudaimonia

The happiness or human flourishing that results from virtuous activity.

Golden Mean

In Aristotelian virtue ethics, the aim of ethical behavior, a value between excess and deficiency.

Harm Principle

The idea that the state's power can only rightly be used to prevent harm to others.

Phrónēsis

In Aristotelian virtue ethics, the practical wisdom and most important virtue for guiding moral behavior.

Dao

In Confucian virtue ethics, the path of humanity representing true harmonious living.

Quan (Expediency)

In Confucian ethics, a practical way to achieve dao alongside sincerity and the constant mean.

Normative Approach (Stakeholder Theory)

The most comprehensive view of stakeholder theory, treating stakeholders as ends with intrinsic value.

Diffused Stakeholders

Stakeholders who are linked to the firm but arise from its actions, such as neighbors or activists.

Internal Marketing

The process by which a company instills employee commitment to the brand and builds loyalty.

Access Economy

A collaborative consumption business model where consumers rent or share access to goods and services.

Gig Economy

A labor market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts, freelance work, or independent contractors.