Course Impact Paper for Business Ethics

1/29/2018 -1

During our last module we learned why ethics is important in the business environment and the nature of business ethics as an academic discipline.  We also learned how to distinguish the ethics of personal integrity from the ethics of social responsibility.  Also, to distinguish ethical norms and values from other business-related norms and values.  One thing I found interesting was the difference between legal responsibilities from ethical responsibilities and why ethical responsibilities go beyond legal compliance.  Finally, we should be able to describe ethical decision making as a form of practical reasoning.

The one thing that stood out in this firsts chapter is really something everyone should already know and that is being ethical is the right thing to do.

I felt the “Reality Check” sections in the book really helped to understand the material with the examples.

I am not real sure this first chapter has changed my way of thinking but supported it.  I believe that everyone should know that being ethical is the right thing to do as I stated above.

2/01/2018 -2

During this module we learned to describe a process for ethically responsible decision making and how to apply this model to ethical decision points.  Also learned the reasons why “good” people might engage in unethical behavior and explored the impact of managerial roles on the nature of our decisions making.

We examined ethical decision making as it occurs in everyday life and within business contexts.  We also examined various elements involved in individual decision making and applied those concepts to the decisions individuals make every day.  We learned many ways in which ethical decision making can go wrong, as well as the ways in which business leaders can model the most effective ethical decision making.

One thing very interesting is I found out that I am an analytical decision maker. Basically, I do a great deal of homework before deciding. I research and make lists of the pros and cons. I read and consult experts. I take my time because I want to know that the decision I make is right.

And once I’ve made my decision, I’m not likely to change my mind.

02/11/2018 - 3

Well week 4 is in the books!  This past week we completed Chapter 3 Philosophical Ethics and Business.  During this chapter we learned about the ethical framework of utilitarianism and to describe how utilitarian thinking underlies economic and business decision making.  We also learn how the free market is thought to serve the utilitarian goal of maximizing the overall good and some challenges to utilitarian decision making along with the principle-based, rights-based, framework of ethics.  A few other things that were covered was the concept of human rights and how they are relevant to business and how to distinguish moral rights from legal rights.  We also learned that there are several challenges to principle-based ethics and how to describe and explain virtue-based framework for thinking about ethical character.  At last we watched a presentation from Prof. Roger Steare, Cass Business School, London LIVE at Zermatt Summit 2011 that addressed ethics/morality and moral DNA.  This presentation was very interesting especially the comparison between men and women.

2/18/2018 - 4

During this module we examined the ways in which corporations develop ethical cultures.  We also learned that cultures in organizations encourage and support individuals in making ethically responsible decisions or not.  The ethical decision-making model emphasizes the individual responsibility for the decisions they make in business.  These decisions impact personal integrity and have consequences for many stakeholders with whom business organizations interact. 

We also learned that personal decision making does not exist in a vacuum.  Decision making with in a firm is influenced, limited, shaped, and, in some cases, virtually determined by the corporate culture of the firm.  Individuals can be helped or hindered in making the right or wrong decisions by the expectations, values, and structure of the organization in which they live and work. We explored some of the major issues surrounding the development, influence, and management of a corporate culture, as well as the role of business leaders in creating, enhancing, and preserving cultures that support ethical behavior.

2/28/2018 - 5

During this module we learned to identify ethical issuers, theories, frameworks and tools for decision making.  Identify business ethics issues and the information resources on the latest nationwide issues.  Articulate and defend choices in ethical judgments.  Examine the consequences of unethical and ethical business decisions.  Report on the factors that led to unethical actions of individuals associated with notorious business ethics cases.  Integrate individual, organizational, and societal values and articulate ways to make a positive impact on each.  Assess how our personal values influence our decisions.

The Enron video was long, and I struggled to focus.  Unfortunately, it showed in my quiz results.

3/4/2018 - 6

Hello again!  This past week’s module addressed the nature of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how firms opt to meet this perceived responsibility.   No one denies that business has some social responsibilities. At a minimum, it is indisputable that business has a social responsibility to obey the law. A large part of this legal responsibility includes the responsibility to fulfill the terms of contract with employees, customers, suppliers, lenders, accounting firms, and so forth. Legal responsibilities also include responsibilities to avoid negligence and other liabilities under tort law. Economists might also say that business has a social responsibility to produce the goods and services that society demands. If a firm fails to meet society’s interests and demands, it will fail. But beyond these legal and economic responsibilities, controversies abound. 

3/18/2018 - 7

During this module we learned that ethics in the employment context is perhaps the most universal topic in business ethics because nearly every person will have the experience of being employed or employing someone else. While legislators and the courts have addressed many aspects of the working environment, countless ethical issues remain that these regulatory and judicial bodies have left unresolved. The law provides guidance for thinking about ethical issues in the workplace, but these issues go well beyond legal considerations!

Also, during this module, we explored those areas of ethical decision making in the workplace where the law remains relatively fluid and where answers are not easily found by simply calling the company lawyer. Issues may also arise where the law does seem clear but, for one reason or another, it is insufficient to protect the interests of all stakeholders. We will examine various ethical challenges that face the nature of employer responsibilities and the employee, whether that employee is a worker on an assembly line, the manager of a restaurant, or the CEO of a large corporation. Although individual perspectives may change, similar conflicts and stakeholders present themselves across business settings.

3/25/2018 – 8

Well this past week was really just a review for our Exam 2 over Chapters 4-6.  We should now be able to discuss the interrelationship of ethics and social responsibility and demonstrate social responsibility.  Identify and evaluate major view on social responsibility and report a positive difference made in society.  We also should be able to discuss the importance of developing an effective ethics program.  Examine how culture, including corporate or business culture, is a very strong influence on individual behavior in business.  Lastly, integrate individual, organizational, and societal values and articulate ways to make a positive impact on each. Assessing how our personal values influence our decisions.

4/01/2018 – 9

This past week was a rather easier week.  We had a posting requirement in our Ethics Blog Discussion.  We had to visit the Business Ethics Blog by Chris MacDonald, Ph.D.  Pick a story of interest to me; then, give the title and source of the story I picked.  In a paragraph, summarize the ethical issue involved and give your personal opinion on the ethical response to this situation.  I chose “What Baseball’s Rules — Written and Unwritten — Tell us About Business Ethics”.  With a conclusion that it is essential for a business to have a better understanding of both written and unwritten rules are quite significant for the overall growth of the company.  We also took this line quiz.  Not real sure about it because I couldn’t get the link to work I think??  I attempted twice then realized I had achieved the points for the exercise and decided I had done what was needed.  Finally, we were to continue work on our Social Responsibility project due in a few weeks.  The following was the objectives for Module 10.

· Identify ethical issues, theories, frameworks and tools for decision making. 

· Confirm that personal information should remain personal unless a relationship exists that legitimizes collecting and using that information. 

· Discuss the interrelationship of ethics and social responsibility. 

· Differentiate between what is legal, ethical, and socially responsible. 

· Demonstrate social responsibility. 

· Discuss the complexity of ethical behavior in the global economy. 

· Consider the permanence of all electronic communication. 

· Discuss privacy as a rapidly growing ethical issue due to the technological revolution. 

· Integrate individual, organizational, and societal values and articulate ways to make a positive impact on each. 

· Assess how our personal values influence our decisions. 

· Paraphrase the concept of “reciprocal obligation” for employees and employers. 

4/8/2018 - 10

This week was all about Privacy & Technology in the workplace.  Privacy issues in the workplace raise ethical issues involving individual rights as well as those involving utilitarian consequences. Workplace privacy issues evoke an inherent conflict (or some might call it a delicate balance) between what some may consider to be a fundamental right of the employer to protect its interests and the similarly grounded right of the employee to be free from wrongful intrusions into her or his personal affairs. This conflict can arise in the workplace environment through the regulation of personal activities or personal choices, or through various forms of monitoring. Some forms of monitoring, such as drug testing, may occur after a job offer has been made but even before the individual begins working. Other forms might also occur once the individual begins to work, such as electronic surveillance of e-mail.  There can be no doubt that the business world today is global, or that a technological revolution is largely responsible for this fact. Not surprisingly, that technological revolution has brought with it as many challenges as opportunities. Many of these challenges raise ethical questions, particularly as this technology impacts employee and consumer privacy.

4/15/2018 - 11

During this module we learned that some believe that the very purpose of business is found within the marketing function. The description of business’s purpose offered b marketing scholar Theodore Levitt is a case in point.

Similarly, the American Marketing Association defines marketing in a way that echoes the stakeholder model. According to the AMA, marketing is “an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.”

Some of the objectives for this module was to learn how to apply an ethical framework to marketing issues. Describe the three key concerns of ethical analysis of marketing issues. Describe two interpretations of “responsibility” and apply them to the topic of product safety. Explain contractual standards for establishing business’s responsibilities for safe products. Articulate the tort standards for establishing business’s responsibilities for safe products. Analyze the ethical arguments for and against strict product liability. Discuss how to evaluate both ethical and unethical means by which to influence people through advertising. Explain the ethical justification for advertising. Trace debates about advertising’s influence on consumer autonomy. Distinguish ethical from unethical target marketing, using marketing to vulnerable populations as an example. Discuss business’s responsibilities for the activities of its supply chain.

4/22/2018 - 12

During this module we learned that there is a tendency to believe that environmental challenges always create a burden on business and that environmental and business interests are always in conflict. While environmental regulations can add costs to business operations and restrict business choice, environmental considerations can also provide opportunities for business. Where one automobile manufacturer sees government-mandated fuel efficiency standards as a burden on its ability to sell large sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), another company sees it as an opportunity to market fuel-efficient hybrids. While one agricultural business sees restrictions on pesticide use as a burden, another sees the opportunity to market organic products.

Many observers believe we have entered the sustainability revolution, an age in which the race to create environmentally and economically sustainable products and services is creating unlimited business opportunities. As happened in the Industrial Revolution, there will be winners and losers in this sustainability revolution and, according to supporters, the economic winners will be the firms and industries that do the most environmental good.

Some of the objectives for this module was Explain how environmental challenges can create business opportunities. Describe a range of values that play a role in environmental decision making. Explain the difference between market-based and regulatory-based environmental policies. Describe business’s environmental responsibilities that flow from each approach. Identify the inadequacies of sole reliance on a market-based approach. Identify the inadequacies of regulatory-based environmental policies. Define and describe sustainable development and sustainable business. Highlight the business opportunities associated with a move toward sustainability. Describe the sustainable principles of eco-efficiency, biomimicry, and service. Explain how marketing can be used both to support and detract from the goals of sustainable business.

4/25/2018 - 13

During this module we learned that at the heart of many of the biggest ethical and business failures of the past decade were aspects of financial and accounting misconduct, ranging from manipulating special purpose entities to defraud lenders, to cooking the books, to instituting questionable tax dodges, to allowing investment decisions to warp the objectivity of investment research and advice, to Ponzi schemes, to insider trading, to excessive pay for executives, to dicey investments in sub-prime mortgages and hedge funds, to risky credit default swaps, to fraudulent reporting of loan rates. Ethics in the governance and financial arenas has been perhaps the most visible issue in business ethics during the first decades of the new millennium. Accounting and investment firms that were once looked upon as the guardians of integrity in financial dealings have now been exposed as corrupt violators of the fiduciary responsibilities entrusted to them by their stakeholders.

Many analysts contend that this corruption is evidence of a complete failure in corporate governance structures. As we reflect on the ethical corruption and financial failures of the past decade, some fundamental questions should be asked. What happened to the internal governance structures within these firms that should have prevented these disasters? In particular, why did the boards, auditors, accountants, lawyers, and other professionals fail to fulfill their professional, legal, and ethical duties? Could better governance and oversight have prevented these ethical disgraces? Going forward, can we rely on internal governance controls to provide effective oversight, or are more effective external controls and government regulation needed?

Some of the objectives for this module was to Explain the role of accountants and other professionals as “gatekeepers.” Describe how conflicts of interest can arise for business professionals. Outline the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Describe the COSO framework. Define the “control environment” and the means by which ethics and culture can impact that environment. Discuss the legal obligations of a member of a board of directors. Explain the ethical obligations of a member of a board of directors. Highlight conflicts of interest in financial markets and discuss the ways in which they may be alleviated. Describe conflicts of interest in governance created by excessive executive compensation. Define insider trading and evaluate its potential for unethical behavior.