Back to Table of Contents pp. 48-61 Chapter 4 Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Transcript
1. pp. 48-61 Chapter 4 Business Ethics and Social
Responsibility
2. Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, youll be
able to:
Explain business ethics.
Give reasons why ethical behavior is good for business.
continued
3. Learning Objectives After completing this chapter, youll be
able to:
Define social responsibility.
Describe the social responsibilities of businesses.
4. Why Its Important Understanding business ethics and social
responsibility informs you of your rights as a consumer, an
employee, and a citizen.
5. Key Words ethics business ethics sweatshops Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) code of ethics social
responsibility continued
6. Key Words conflict of interest Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) Equal Pay Act Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
7. What Is Ethics? Ethics is the set of moral principles by
which people conduct themselves personally, socially, or
professionally.
8. What Is Ethics? Business ethics is a set of guidelines about
how a business should conduct itself. In general, for any business
to be successful, it must operate legally, ethically, and
humanely.
9. Ethics is the set of principles by which you conduct
yourself in society. How often do you help the environment? What do
you do? Source: The NPD Group Figure 4.1 ENVIRONMENTALLY
FRIENDLY
10. Legal Responsibility Sweatshops are factories that pay
workers poorly, are unsafe, and treat workers badly.
11. Legal Responsibility The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) is a division of the Department of Labor that
sets and enforces work-related health and safety rules.
12. Legal Responsibility Other independent agencies protect
consumers, monitor broadcast communications, and address
discrimination in the workplace.
13. Legal Responsibility Most businesses police themselves by
distributing codes of ethics. A code of ethics is a set of
guidelines for maintaining ethics in the workplace.
14. Legal Responsibility Businesses that regulate themselves
are able to operate more freely.
15. Ethics as Good Business Unethical business practices can
affect your business indirectly. The amount you make in profits
from one unhappy customer can translate into a lot more lost
because of missed repeat business.
16. Ethics as Good Business Treating employees unethically can
also backfire. Mistreating employees leads to a high turnover rate.
This increases the cost of hiring and training new employees.
17. Important Ethical Questions When considering a questionable
course of action, you have to ask yourself these important
questions:
Is it against the law? Does it violate company or professional
policies?
continued
18. Important Ethical Questions
What if everyone did this? How would I feel if someone did this
to me?
Am I sacrificing long-term benefits for short-term gains?
19. Making Decisions on Ethical Issues Here are some steps if
you find yourself in an ethical dilemma:
Identify the ethical dilemma.
Discover alternative actions.
continued
20. Making Decisions on Ethical Issues
Decide who might be affected.
List the probable effects of the alternatives.
Select the best alternative.
21.
22. Graphic Organizer Important Ethical Questions Graphic
Organizer Does it violate the law or policies? ETHICAL DECISION
Would this sacrifice long-term benefits for short-term gain? What
if everyone did this, but its bad? UNETHICAL NO NO NO YES YES YES
MAY BE UNETHICAL UNETHICAL
23. Fast Review
How do companies benefit by enforcing their own codes of
ethics?
Why does it pay to treat customers ethically?
continued
24. Fast Review
What are some important ethical questions to ask?
25. Social Responsibility Social responsibility is the duty to
do what is best for the good of society.
26. Social Responsibility The ethical obligations of a business
are to:
Provide safe products
Create jobs
Protect the environment
Contribute to the standard of living in society
27. Social Responsibility A conflict of interest is when a
business is tempted to put profits before social welfare.
28. Responsibility to Customers The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) , a government agency, protects consumers from
dangerous or falsely advertised products.
29. Figure 4.2 OVER-THE-COUNTER MEDICINE LABEL The FDA governs
advertising and labeling of over-the-counter medicines. Analyze why
the FDA officials might feel that regulation of advertising and
packaging labels is necessary.
30. Responsibility to Customers Fair competition between
businesses is healthy for the marketplace, but some companies dont
always play reasonably.
31. Responsibility to Customers Some companies use unethical
means to eliminate competition. One of the most common means is to
conspire with other companies to control the market for a
product.
32. Responsibility to Employees Businesses have a social
responsibility to create jobs. They are expected to provide
employees with safe working conditions, equal treatment, and fair
pay.
33. Responsibility to Employees The Equal Pay Act (passed in
1964) requires that men and women be paid the same wages for doing
equal work.
34. Responsibility to Employees The Americans with Disabilities
Act bans discrimination against persons with physical or mental
disability.
35. Responsibility to Employees Its in a companys best interest
to treat its workers fairly otherwise low morale, poor
productivity, and a high turnover rate are its troubles.
36. Responsibility to Society Businesses have responsibilities
not only to customers and to employees but also to society as a
whole.
37. Responsibility to Society In 1970, the U.S. government
created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) , a federal
agency that enforces rules that protect the environment and control
pollution.
38. Responsibility to Society Many businesses plan for their
social responsibilities just like planning for production and sale
of their products.
39. Fast Review
Define social responsibility.
What is a conflict of interest?
continued
40. Fast Review
What do companies adopt in the workplace to treat their workers
fairly?
41. Why should a company make a vested interest in nature over
its products? continued
42. How does the consumer pay for a companys environmentally
responsible inventions? continued
43. What are social issues youre interested in pursuing? How
are businesses involved? continued
44. What government agency has a responsibility to protect
society from genetically modified organisms?
45. pp. 48-61 End of Chapter 4 Business Ethics and Social
Responsibility