BUSINESS ETHICS

RAYMOND BAUMHART’S
STUDY
What does ethical mean to you ?

50% - “What my feelings tell me is right”.

25% - What is “according to my religious

beliefs”.
18% - What “conforms to the Golden Rule”
ACCORDING TO DICTIONARY
Ethics means
 Moral Philosophy, Moral Principles
 The Principles of conduct governing an
individual or a group
 The study of morality

Etymologically
Ethics, in Latin Ethicus and
in Greek Ethikos has come from the
word Ethos meaning Character, Home
place, Accustomed place.
WHAT IS CHARACTER ?
Character – is expressed in terms of conduct
Conduct is a series of actions taken together
When these actions are expressed as good-bad, right-
wrong, moral-immoral – we are making moral
judgments

Moral judgment requires moral standards.

We can define morality, as the standard that an

individual or a group has about what is right or
wrong, good or evil.
WHERE DO THESE STANDARDS
COME FROM ?
From
- Family, friends, various societal influences
- Experiences, learning and intellectual development leads
to
Internalize
Revise
Discard
Adopt
- Maturing process may lead to develop standards that are
intellectually adequate and more suitable for dealing with
moral dilemmas of adult life.
Whatever we say for an individual is true also for society in
time cross-fertilization and rejection or absorption of
values.
3 LEVELS OF MORAL
DEVELOPMENT
Lawrence Kohlberg’s
LEVEL-I
Pre-Conventional
Stage I - Punishment and Obedience Orientation
Stage II - Instrumental and Relative Orientation

LEVEL- II
Conventional
Stage III - Interpersonal Concordance Orientation
Stage IV - Law and Order Orientation

LEVEL- III
Post Convention, Autonomous or Principled Stages
Stage V - Social Contract Orientation
Stage VI - Universal Ethical Principles Orientation
 NATURE, CHARACTERISTICS OF
MORAL STANDARDS
1. Moral standards deal with matters that we think
can seriously injure or seriously benefit human
beings.
2. Not established or changed by decision of
particular authority but adequacy of reason
that is taken to support and justify them.
3. They take precedence over other non-moral
values, even self-interest.
4. Based on impartial consideration-universal.
5. Associated with special emotions and
vocabulary
WHAT, THEN, IS ETHICS ?
A Discipline that examines one’s moral
standards or the moral standards of a society
how they apply to our lives.
NATURE OF ETHICS

- For Human Beings

- It is a Science
- It is normative Science, not descriptive,
not as it is but as it ought to be.
- Ought to be does not force but is
voluntary.
Carol Gilligan’s Female Approach
“Web” of Relationships
I – Caring only for herself
II – Caring for others, neglecting herself
III – Balance between caring for others and
caring for oneself
PURPOSE OF ETHICS
1. Studies, judges Human Behaviour of self,
others, society
2. Establishes Moral Standards, Norms
3. Judges Human Behaviours based on these
norms
4. Prescribes Moral Behaviour, what ought to
be
5. Expresses opinion about Human Behaviour
like Human Rights
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE
OF ETHICS
FOR US ?