ethics-lesson-123

[Audio] Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Prepared by: Mrs Cindy M Borja.

[Audio] Learning Objectives: At the end of the module, students will be able: 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature of business; 2. Demonstrate an understanding of the nature and forms of various business organizations; and 3. Distinguish between the subjective reasons for putting up a business and the objective purpose of the business enterprise..

[Audio] The Role of Business in Social and Economic Development Lesson 1.

[Audio] What is a Business? Believe it or not, but you are surrounded by various artifacts of an activity that we call business. Upon waking up in the morning, you get up from your bed and fix your beddings. Then, you brush your teeth, take a shower, eat breakfast, and go to school. Beds, beddings, toothpaste, soap, water, food, and clothes are items or goods you acquire through business transactions..

[Audio] In a very short span of time, you are already surrounded by the fruits of a business activity. This book in your hand, the paper and ink, and even its author, editors, illustrators, and designers, in one way or the other, have entered into an activity which we call “business.”.

[Audio] Naturally, however, the meaning and usage of business has already evolved. It is said that the first evidences of the use of the term in relation to its reference to “trade and commercial engagements” came about in 1727. In modern times and during the contemporary era, the term, business, is usually associated with an enterprise, a trade or for profit organization..

[Audio] Some Subjective Reasons for Putting Up a Business 01 “Why do you put up a business?” or “Why are you into business?” Since subjective reasons vary from person to person, it would be difficult to exhaust all possible reasons why one establishes a business. There may perhaps be as m a n y s u b j e c t i v e r e a s o n s a s t h e r e a r e a s m a n y businesspersons. Nonetheless, let us try to discuss some of them..

[Audio] One common reason for putting up a business is the desire to make more income for oneself and his or her family. If you consider this as a reason for you to put up a business, perhaps you have observed that the business enterprise is usually more financially rewarding than other careers or professions. In the Philippines, it has become very difficult to provide for life’s basic necessities, more so to become financially well off if you are just an ordinary employee. As such, you may look to business as the answer to your financial problems..

[Audio] The Objective Purpose of Business 02 In order to clarify our understanding of the objective purpose of the business, we will explore the ideas of three scholars:.

[Audio] Milton Friedman Friedman claim that if you are an executive or a manager of a firm, you must remember that you are not the owner and that you are hired for a purpose. Your responsibility, is to make the firm more profitable since it is supposed to be the main intention of the firm’s owners and shareholders. From Friedman’s insights, we can probably deduce that the objective purpose of business is to increase profit. American Economist.

[Audio] Paul F Camenisch Camenish claimed that the intention to provide goods and services for human flourishing is more fundamental and primary than the profit making intention..

[Audio] Ronald F Duska One of the main contributions of Duska in the debate regarding the purpose of business is his argument on the distinction between purpose and motive. According to Duska, the purpose is not necessarily the motive and vice versa. American Economist.

[Audio] To give some illustration, the purpose of the teaching profession is to assist young minds in gaining the necessary knowledge and skills for societal roles and for personal development. However, this may not be the motive of a person enters the teaching profession. The purpose of the medical profession is to attend to the health concerns of people, but the motive of an individual doctor may not even include taking care of people..

[Audio] Forms of Business Organizations Single or Sole Proprietorship Partnership Corporation Cooperative.

[Audio] Single or Sole Proprietorship -A business unit where the manager is also the owner. -Simplest form of business organization in the Philippines recognized by the law. Usually it has minimal cost The easiest to set up.

[Audio] Partnership -Two or more persons bind themselves to contribute money, property, or industry to a common fund, with the intention of dividing the profits among themselves. -Must have a lawful object or purpose, and must be established for the common benefit or interest of the partners. -The law on business partnership in the Philippines can be found in Republic Act No. 386, also known as the Civil Code of 1949..

[Audio] Corporation An artificial being created by operation of law, having the right of succession and the powers, attributes, and properties expressly authorized by law or incident to its existence. -The law on corporation can be found in Batas Pambansa Blg. 68, otherwise known as The Corporation Code of the Philippines -This type of business can either be a stock corporation or nonstock corporation. -The owners of stock corporation are ordinarily called stockholders or shareholders; while those of nonstock are simply called members..

[Audio] Cooperative -An autonomous and duly registered association of persons, with a common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve their social, economic, and cultural needs and aspirations by making equitable contributions to the capital required, patronizing their products and services and accepting a fair share of the risks and benefits of the undertaking in accordance with universally accepted principles. -R A 9520 otherwise known as The Philippine Cooperative Code of 2008 governs the provision on the nature, principles, operation, and other rules on cooperative..

[Audio] The Nature of Ethics and Business Ethics Lesson 2.

[Audio] Learning Objectives: At the end of the module, students will be able: 1. Explain ethics as a branch of philosophy and a distinct discipline; 2. Differentiate ethics from the concepts of etiquette, law, and professional codes; and 3. Discuss the importance of studying business ethics..

[Audio] Rather than define outright Ethics as a discipline, let us begin with concrete and contentious examples. This way, you will gain a better understanding of what this discipline is. In her book Virtues and Vices, philosopher Philippa Foot presented the following ethical dilemma:.

[Audio] Imagineyourselfasthebridgemasteryouhavethechoiceofkillingonetosavemany.Whatwillyoudo? Youwillpulltheleverornot?oWhyisthatso?oDoyouthinkotherpeoplewilldecidesimilarly?oWhatisthatso?.

[Audio] What is Ethics?. What is Ethics?.

[Audio] Ethics is the study of what is good and evil, right and wrong, and just and unjust. Ethics talks about how we behave and how we should behave as human beings different from animals, plants and other known creatures. It is a subject that reiterates and validates our authentic human ness and humanity. It makes us realize again that man is a free creature endowed with intellect and rationality. And it is from these unique human features that our capacity to think, reason out, choose, and decide flows abundantly..

[Audio] Ethics as an academic subject and an intellectual endeavor spells out many of our day to day confusions about our actions and our thoughts. Ethics is an interesting subject because it talks about life. Ethics talks about our life with all complications, difficulties, problems and brokenness. Similarly, it also talks about our capacity to resolve these complications, overcome these difficulties, face these problems, and come to grips with lifes brokenness..

[Audio] What is Morality?. What is Morality?.

[Audio] Related to ethics is the term Morality. “Morality from the Latin term mos and its plural form mores which was used to refer to one’s disposition, character, temperament, manners, customs, or the proper behavior of a person in society. At present, morality is used to signify “the set of beliefs of an individual and/or the system of principles and judgments shared by a society, culture or community.”.

[Audio] In our day to day conversation, we may interchange our usage of the term “ethical” and “moral”. For example, one may say that keeping the promises that you made with your supplier is the “ethical” thing to do; or it is the “moral” thing to do. Or one may say that keeping more than one book of accounts is “unethical” or “immoral.” As far as our study is concerned, it is all right for us to interchange our usage of the terms “ethical” and “moral”. In fact, Ciero originally coined the term moralis in searching for a Latin translation of the greek word ethicos. However, in the stricter treatment of these terms, morality pertains to the rightness or wrongness of an act while ethics is the discipline that studies morality. Hence, morality is the object of study while ethics is the field where this object is being studied..

[Audio] Ethics as a Prescriptive Subject. Ethics as a Prescriptive Subject.

[Audio] The primordial question that students of ethics ask is: “Given a particular situation, what should a person do?” That is why many authors would say that ethics is not just a descriptive subject; rather, it is a prescriptive one. It means that this subject is not only concerned about describing the facts, the circumstances of the human agent, and the conflicting principles that arise from the situation. Instead, ethics is concerned about prescribing what should be done after knowing all the facts, the circumstances and the principles involved. It is what some business ethics scholars would call as “normative discourse,” that which “outlines not how the world is but rather how it ought ideally to be..”.

[Audio] To further clarify this difference between descriptive and prescriptive, think of the patient doctor relationship. When a person is sick, he or she goes to the doctor. The patient tells the doctor what he feels. After knowing the facts, the doctor describes the illness; but he does not stop here. After describing, the doctor prescribes what the patient should do for him to get well. According to these authors, the aim of ethics is not only describing but also prescribing the ethically correct course of action that the human agent should take..

[Audio] Ethics and Etiquette. Ethics and Etiquette.

[Audio] We must not confuse ethics with etiquette. One may violate etiquette without necessarily violating an ethical standard. You may not use the words “po” and “opo” in talking with elder people but it does not make you immoral. You may not observe some table manners but it does not make you morally bad. Similarly, you may not shake the hand of a person you are introduced to by a business colleague, but it would not be immoral.

[Audio] However, society might judge you as disrespectful, rude, and even uncivilized because of your disregard for etiquette; it does not follow that this outright disregard renders you unethical. But notice that when your act involves dumping of toxic materials in the river, people will not only call you as rude or uncivilized; they see that your act involves the concept of being “unethical” and “immoral.”.

[Audio] Ethics and Law. Ethics and Law.

[Audio] We may hear some businessmen say that as long as you follow the law, then you have got no problem. While abiding with the law is an important component of any business activity, it does not guarantee the fulfillment of the requirements of ethics by the businessperson. In fact, the point of law making is to express and incarnate ethical principles. Thus, stealing is both an illegal act and an unethical act. Honoring a contract is a legal act and at the same time, an ethical act. It is, therefore, a common tendency for some people to simply equate the law with ethics. These people may say: “ As long as I am following the law, then I am doing what is right.” It is because the law commonly mirrors the society’s set of ethical codes and moral beliefs..

[Audio] However, the law does not encompass all of ethics. There are things that are legal but are not ethical. In other words, there are actions that are perfectly accepted and allowed by existing laws; but deeper analysis of these actions makes one feel certain unease, a kind of “gut feel” that something is wrong even though a law is not violated..

[Audio] What is Business Ethics?. What is Business Ethics?.

[Audio] Business Ethics is “ the study of good and evil, right and wrong, an applied ethics. and just and unjust actions in business.”.

[Audio] Ethics generally subdivided into three sub fields: , , and . Applied ethics Metaethics Normative ethics.

[Audio] Metaethics focuses mainly on the investigation of the source of our ethical principles. Normative ethics attempts to come up with those ethical principles that we can use to judge whether our actions are right or wrong. Applied ethics investigates morally debatable issues such as death penalty, the use of artificial contraceptives, euthanasia, and others. Business ethics is an applied ethics because it generally talks about the morally debatable issues in the field of business and commerce..

[Audio] Importance of Studying Business Ethics. Importance of Studying Business Ethics.

[Audio] ■ According to an adage: “ Values are caught and not taught.” If this is true then why should we turn business ethics into an academic discipline? Why should we teach business ethics? Why should we study it? Some may even argue that even before you engage in a business ethics course, your values are already so deeply ingrained that no amount of lecturing, preaching, educating, and convincing could shake and shock those values. As Marlene Caroselli stated: “To be sure, no course, no book, no training activity can convert an unethical person into ethical one. You cannot teach ethics.”.

[Audio] This may be true only up to a certain extent. Even if the decision to do what is right or wrong ultimately depends on each mature individual and even if the choice of values is a very personal decision, the teaching of ethics as a rigorous academic discipline should still be considered. According to Thomas Donaldson: “Ethics may not be teachable in the same way as astronomy or psychology, but it can be taught..

[Audio] Belief System and the Conduct of Business Lesson 3.

[Audio] Learning Objectives: At the end of the module, students will be able: 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of the major religions on the conduct of business; 2. Describe various belief system, and their similarities and differences in relation to the business setting; and 3. Give examples of how belief systems affect business practices..

[Audio] A survey conducted in 2010 revealed that majority of the world’s people are affiliated with different religions. According to the survey, 84% of the people of the world practice particular religions, while the remaining 16% have no religious affiliation..

[Audio] The aim of this discussion is not to compare which religion is better or worse. Neither do we promote one religion nor belittle another. On the contrary, amid the apparent differences among these religions, we will attempt to find their possible commonalities that would be helpful in the conduct of ethics in business, an institution that may no be so particular about religious affiliations and orientations..