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Chapter 4 Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

Chapter 4 Business Ethics & Social Responsibility. Learning Objectives. Explain business ethics. Give reasons why ethical behavior is good for business. Define social responsibility. Describ e the social responsibilities of businesses. Why Is This Important?.

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Chapter 4 Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

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  1. Chapter 4 Business Ethics & Social Responsibility

  2. Learning Objectives • Explain business ethics. • Give reasons why ethical behavior is good for business. • Define social responsibility. • Describe the social responsibilities of businesses.

  3. Why Is This Important? Understanding business ethics and social responsibility informs you of your rights as a consumer, employee, and citizen.

  4. What Is Ethics? Ethics is the set of moral principles by which people conduct themselves personally, socially, or professionally. Business Ethics is a set of laws about how a business should conduct itself.

  5. Legal Responsibility • In order for any business to be successful, it must operate legally and humanely. • The US government has independent agencies to protect society. • OSHA – a department of Labor sets and enforces work-related health and safety rules. • Independent agencies protect consumers, monitor broadcast communications, and address discrimination in the workplace. • Businesses that fail to follow laws are subject to fines, lawsuits, and new regulations.

  6. Code Of Ethics • A set of strict guidelines for maintaining ethics in the workplace. • Professional groups have their own code of ethics. Examples: doctors & lawyers • Can cover everything from employee behavior to environmental safety.

  7. Ethics as Good Business • Unethical business practices affect your business. • Violation of government regulations may incur fines or jail time. • Violation of a companies code of ethics might get you fired or you may lose your license. • Cheating customers or poor customer service impacts business by losing repeat customers. • Treating employees poorly results in lose of workers and time wasted training new employees.

  8. Important Ethical Questions • Ethics involves an endless series of relationships – between buyer and seller, employer and employee, business and government, and business and society. • 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? • 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?

  9. Making Decisions on Ethical Issues • Making ethical decisions is not a quick task but requires some hard thinking. • Sort of like the decision making process. • Steps for making ethical decisions: • Identify the ethical dilemma. • Discover a alternative actions. • Decide who might be affected. • List the probable effects of the alternatives. • Select the best alternative.

  10. Social Responsibility • Social responsibility is the duty to do what is best for the good of society. • The social responsibility of business takes into consideration all that businesses do or does not do to solve problems of society. • Businesses have a ethical obligation to provide safe products, create jobs, protect the environment, and contribute to the overall standard of living in society. • An ethical question in business occurs whenever there’s a conflict of interest.

  11. Responsibility To Customers • Customers are a business’s FIRST responsibility. • Businesses should offer a good, safe product or service at a reasonable price. • The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) protects consumers from dangerous or falsely advertised products.

  12. Responsibility To Employees • Businesses have a social responsibility to create jobs. • Businesses encourage volunteerism to tackle societal problems. • Businesses provide work experience for people who haven’t been successful in the workplace. (job placement programs) • The government has also passed laws to protect workers in the workplace. Example: Equal Pay Act & Disabilities Act

  13. Responsibility To Society • Businesses have environmental responsibility. • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces rules that protect the environment and control pollution. • More businesses today consider their social responsibility to be more important than ever.

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