Seminar 1.

Introduction

I. Ethics
1. The subject-matter of ethics a. moral principles and values. b. ethics deals with questions concerning what is right and wrong, what a person ought to do 2. Moral conflicts a. definition: a situation in which two or more actions impossible to perform together are required from a moral point of view. b. Example: X has borrowed a gun from Y. Y wants his gun back in order to kill an innocent person. Should X give the gun back to Y? c. Example from the business field: A company signs a contract to start a business, but after that his CEO finds out a piece of information and realizes that the business would strongly affect the environment. Should he give up the business? II. Descriptive/normative and moral/legal 1. Descriptive/normative a. descriptive problems problems that refer to real world, to how the things are. b. normative problems problems that refer to how the things ought to be c. is/ought gap normative statements can not be deduced from descriptive statements. 2. Moral/legal propositions a. moral propositions propositions about moral values and principles. b. legal propositions propositions about the regulations of a country. 3. (from 2) Why are some immoral acts not sanctioned by law? a. bad laws (for instance, low environmental standards). b. practices that are difficult to ban (for instance multinationals profit shifting). c. practices that do not violate the right of the others (for instance spending money on gambling activities). d. facts difficult to prove in court. 4. Four types of problems a. moral normative problems what a person should do (the main field of ethics). b. moral descriptive problems ethical values and principles accepted in a certain community. c. legal normative problems how the laws should be. d. legal descriptive problems what the laws are. III. Why study business ethics? 1. Replies to some counterarguments a. The business world is devoid of moral principles. Reply: In the business world, as everywhere, moral principles have a place. The people who are willing to act ethically do the same in business situations. b. Ethics is a subjective field Reply: Learning ethics, you can learn how to frame a situation, how to understand it, how to argue for or against, even if can not give the final answer. 2. Positive arguments a. People want to act ethically and business ethics can help to this. b. The positive relation between ethical behavior and economic performance. IV. (From III2b) Ethical behavior can improve economic performance. 1. Ethical behavior will bring better employees, interested in ethical standards of their employer.

2. Employees treated correctly tend to avoid acts that could affect the company (thefts,
sabotages, etc.) and tend to be more motivated.

3. Companies that treat correctly business partners (vendors, suppliers) are treated more
correctly by them. 4. Many consumers are interested in the ethical or unethical conduct of companies. a. consumer boycotts. b. consumers are willing to pay more for the products of ethical companies. V. Some debated topics of business ethics 1. Ethical theories a. utilitarianism (act utilitarianism, rule utilitarianism) b. deontologism (kantianism) c. virtue ethics 2. Normative economics (ethics of economic systems) a. ethical issues concerning general economic categories (profit, income) b. the problems of unfair profit, unfair distribution of wealth. 3. Corporate social responsibility a. the general arguments against it, from a liberal point of view. b. the environmental responsibility of companies. c. the responsibility to consumers (harmful products, ethics of advertising) d. the responsibility to community 4. The managerial ethics a. The ethics in hiring, promotion and firing processes, ethical issues of remuneration. b. The employees rights (right to non-discrimination, right to privacy). 5. The international business ethics a. problems related to practices of multinationals in less developed countries (bribery, employee exploitation, practices affecting the environment) b. the responsibility of multinationals for practices of subcontractors. c. the responsibility of multinationals in countries which abuse human rights. d. ethics in economic relations between countries. e. ethics of globalization.