Business Chapter 4 Notes
Key Terms:
1. Ethics: Standards of moral behavior, that is, behavior accepted by society as right versus wrong.
2. Compliance-Based Ethics Codes: Ethical standards that emphasize preventing unlawful behavior by increasing control and by penalizing wrongdoers.
3. Integrity-Based Ethics Codes: Ethical standards that define the organization’s guiding values, create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior, and stress a shared accountability among employees.
4. Whistleblowers: Insiders who report illegal or unethical behavior.
5. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A business’s concern for the welfare of society.
6. Corporate Philanthropy: The dimension of social responsibility that includes charitable donations.
7. Corporate Social Initiatives: Enhanced forms of corporate philanthropy directly related to the company’s competencies.
8. Corporate Responsibility: The dimension of social responsibility that includes everything from hiring minority workers to making safe products.
9. Corporate Policy: The dimension of social responsibility that refers to the position a firm takes on social and political issues.
10. Insider Trading: An unethical activity in which insiders use private company information to further their own fortunes or those of their family and friends.
11. Social Audit: A systematic evaluation of an organization’s progress toward implementing socially responsible and responsive programs.
Key Topics:
a. Explain why obeying the law is only the first step in behaving ethically.
i. How is legality different from ethics?
1. Ethics goes beyond obeying laws to include abiding by the moral standards accepted by society. Ethics reflects people’s proper relationships with one another. Legality is more limiting; it refers only to laws written to protect people from fraud, theft, and violence.
b. Ask the three questions you need to answer when faced with a potentially unethical action.
i. How can we tell if our business decisions are
1. Ethics: Standards of moral behavior, that is, behavior accepted by society as right versus wrong.
2. Compliance-Based Ethics Codes: Ethical standards that emphasize preventing unlawful behavior by increasing control and by penalizing wrongdoers.
3. Integrity-Based Ethics Codes: Ethical standards that define the organization’s guiding values, create an environment that supports ethically sound behavior, and stress a shared accountability among employees.
4. Whistleblowers: Insiders who report illegal or unethical behavior.
5. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): A business’s concern for the welfare of society.
6. Corporate Philanthropy: The dimension of social responsibility that includes charitable donations.
7. Corporate Social Initiatives: Enhanced forms of corporate philanthropy directly related to the company’s competencies.
8. Corporate Responsibility: The dimension of social responsibility that includes everything from hiring minority workers to making safe products.
9. Corporate Policy: The dimension of social responsibility that refers to the position a firm takes on social and political issues.
10. Insider Trading: An unethical activity in which insiders use private company information to further their own fortunes or those of their family and friends.
11. Social Audit: A systematic evaluation of an organization’s progress toward implementing socially responsible and responsive programs.
Key Topics:
a. Explain why obeying the law is only the first step in behaving ethically.
i. How is legality different from ethics?
1. Ethics goes beyond obeying laws to include abiding by the moral standards accepted by society. Ethics reflects people’s proper relationships with one another. Legality is more limiting; it refers only to laws written to protect people from fraud, theft, and violence.
b. Ask the three questions you need to answer when faced with a potentially unethical action.
i. How can we tell if our business decisions are