Business Ethics for Society and Environment- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theBusiness Ethics for Society and Environment. Answer: Business Ethics Ethics is an ideal form of behaviour with concrete values and principles that guides an individual in his/her daily behaviour. In business ethics, the individual behaviour along with the values, principles, personal goals and interests align with the mission of business, without affecting the society and environment, rather contributing towards its development (Neider and Schriesheim, 2014). Differences Between Descriptive Ethics and Normative Ethics Descriptive and normative ethics are the branches of ethics. They usually create debates and disagreements over ethics because people have different views and approaches to ethics. Both these parts of ethics help in identifying whether the actions taken or need to be taken are right or wrong (Gray, 2010). Some of the major differences are outlined here. Descriptive Ethics In descriptive ethics, the way how people behave or the moral standards they claim to be following are described. To understand the process of descriptive ethics, the fields of psychology, sociology, history and anthropology are researched. This helps in bringing out the beliefs and practices of people with respect to moral norms (Cline, 2017). Descriptive ethics relate actions to different societies which represent different moral standards. Here, people take decisions which avoids pain and bring pleasure. It focuses on what people think is right. Normative Ethics Normative ethics is basically about the creation and evolution of moral standards. Through normative ethics, it is clearly put through whether the present moral behaviour of person is reasonable or not. If not, what people should do to make it reasonable. In short, it can be described as the argumentative discipline that is aimed at finding out the best way people should behave (Cline, 2017). In normative ethics, it is seen that an action is considered wrong in one society but right in another. Here, after analysing the situation, moral decision is taken that limits the suffering and enhances the happiness or wellbeing of a person. It brings out what people should do, i.e. whether the action will be justified or not (Icheku, 2011). Three Major Approaches to Thinking About Business Ethics The three major approaches to thinking about business ethics are conventional approach, principles approach and ethical tests approach. Conventional Approach In conventional type of business ethics approach, a decision or practice is compared with already existing acceptable norms and principles. It is called conventional approach because it is believed that this is the way general society thinks about business ethics and is based upon ordinary, common sense (Corporate/Organizational Governance Principles, 2017). This approach gives rise to ethical egoism which is an ethical principle where an individual maximizes his or her own interests by taking decisions. The sources of ethical norms can be fellow workers, local community, various geographies, profession, friends, family, employer, etc. A major concern of using conventional approach to business ethics is developing ethical relativism. In case of ethical relativism, one takes the decision and chooses which sources of norms should be used to maximize freedom or justify current actions. Principles Approach This approach includes the golden rules, utilitarian ethics and virtue ethics. This approach argues the methods of analysing conventional approach to business ethics. Here, utilitarian ethics focuses on serving the best principles to large number of people and the golden rule implies not doing any harm to anyone knowingly (Corporate/Organizational Governance Principles, 2017). According to principles approach to business ethics, a set of five principles can be developed from the purpose and nature of the markets. These five principles are: To achieve the objectives of the business, business people should maintain a distance from physical coercion. To attain the business objectives, people involved in business should refrain themselves from improper deceptive practices or fraud. The people doing business gets into a contract with stakeholders. This principle instructs that the people involved in business should honour all the terms of ones contract. All the parties involved in business dealings should be treated with equal respect. This principle instructs that the persons involved in business should take the responsibility of their actions. They cannot depend upon external justifications of right and wrong. These five principles do not capture complete set of ethical obligations but they are minimum obligations that a person doing a business in market should follow (Hasnas, 2013). Ethical Tests Approach The principle approach discussed above was based on philosophy, ethical test approach is based upon practice. This approach guides ethical decision making, behaviour and practices based on test or short, practical questions (Carrol and Buchholtz, 2011). Some common examples of ethical test approach include making something public, common sense and presenting ones best self (Corporate/Organizational Governance Principles, 2017). Ethical tests approach provides answers to questions about identifying the problem correctly, analysing it from different perspectives, intentions to decision making, effects of the decision, and many others. Some of the tests included in this approach are common sense test, test of ones best self, test of ventilation, test of purified area, etc. References Carrol, A. and Buchholtz, A. (2011).Business and Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. 8th ed. Cengage Learning, pp.188-258. Cline, A. (2017).Ethics: Descriptive, Normative, and Analytic. [online] ThoughtCo. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/ethics-descriptive-normative-and-analytic-4037543 [Accessed 20 Aug. 2017]. Corporate/Organizational Governance Principles. (2017). [ebook] pp.23-24. Available at: https://www.pbookshop.com/media/filetype/s/p/1406273792.pdf [Accessed 20 Aug. 2017]. Gray, J. (2010).Moral Theories (Normative Theories of Ethics). [online] Ethical Realism. Available at: https://ethicalrealism.wordpress.com/2010/08/20/ethical-theories/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2017]. Hasnas, J. (2013). Teaching Business Ethics: The Principles Approach.Journal of Business Ethics Education, 10, pp.275-304. Icheku, V. (2011).Understanding Ethics and Ethical Decision-Making. Xlibris Corporation. Neider, L. and Schriesheim, C. (2014).Advances in authentic and ethical leadership. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing Inc.