Ethics on Smoking Industry
INTRODUCTION:
Ethics occupy an important place in today’s modern business world. Every organization makes use of ethics to make day-today decisions and fulfill societal expectations. This essay brings to light ethical and social responsibility that every individual and company should follow in order to become better citizens for society. Essay presents analysis based on real case of Philip Morris, a tobacco company in U.S.A versus Mayola – a widow, who took legal action against company for her husband’s death due to smoking. Essay draws balanced argument based on evidences about unethical behavior of tobacco company and smokers personal responsibilities for their actions. We have used Ethical decision-making model of Lagenderfer and Rockness to frame our analysis.
ETHICS & BUSINESS
Ethics in simple terms means set of moral principles or list of rules, which can determine whether particular action undertaken is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. All the activities undertaken by society are based on ethics. Ethics can be personal as well as professional. Personal ethics are based on individual’s values, beliefs, attitudes and actions while business ethics are based on certain principles or code of conduct to guide individual or a group in accordance with societal expectations. Business ethics can be defined as “study of business situations, activities and decisions where issues of right or wrong are addressed”(Crane, A& Matten ,D, 2007,P.5). Thus, ethics helps in making decision and is a key for solving problems. Today, society is facing considerable increase in number of ethical issues such as fraud, exploitation, misleading advertisement and increasing pollution.(Birt, Chalmers, Beal, Brooks, Byrne, Oliver, 2008, P.65).
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY It is essential for every organization to undertake corporate social responsibility along with its goals and objectives. According to (Birt et al., 2008, p.70) Corporate social responsibility can be referred to
Ethics occupy an important place in today’s modern business world. Every organization makes use of ethics to make day-today decisions and fulfill societal expectations. This essay brings to light ethical and social responsibility that every individual and company should follow in order to become better citizens for society. Essay presents analysis based on real case of Philip Morris, a tobacco company in U.S.A versus Mayola – a widow, who took legal action against company for her husband’s death due to smoking. Essay draws balanced argument based on evidences about unethical behavior of tobacco company and smokers personal responsibilities for their actions. We have used Ethical decision-making model of Lagenderfer and Rockness to frame our analysis.
ETHICS & BUSINESS
Ethics in simple terms means set of moral principles or list of rules, which can determine whether particular action undertaken is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. All the activities undertaken by society are based on ethics. Ethics can be personal as well as professional. Personal ethics are based on individual’s values, beliefs, attitudes and actions while business ethics are based on certain principles or code of conduct to guide individual or a group in accordance with societal expectations. Business ethics can be defined as “study of business situations, activities and decisions where issues of right or wrong are addressed”(Crane, A& Matten ,D, 2007,P.5). Thus, ethics helps in making decision and is a key for solving problems. Today, society is facing considerable increase in number of ethical issues such as fraud, exploitation, misleading advertisement and increasing pollution.(Birt, Chalmers, Beal, Brooks, Byrne, Oliver, 2008, P.65).
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY It is essential for every organization to undertake corporate social responsibility along with its goals and objectives. According to (Birt et al., 2008, p.70) Corporate social responsibility can be referred to