Business Ethics v. 1.0 This is the book Business Ethics (v. 1.0). This book is licensed under a Creative Commons by-nc-sa 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/ 3.0/) license. See the license for more details, but that basically means you can share this book as long as you credit the author (but see below), don't make money from it, and do make it available to everyone else under the same terms. This book was accessible as of December 29, 2012, and it was downloaded then by Andy Schmitz (http://lardbucket.org) in an effort to preserve the availability of this book. Normally, the author and publisher would be credited here. However, the publisher has asked for the customary Creative Commons attribution to the original publisher, authors, title, and book URI to be removed. Additionally, per the publisher's request, their name has been removed in some passages. More information is available on this project's attribution page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/attribution.html?utm_source=header). For more information on the source of this book, or why it is available for free, please see the project's home page (http://2012books.lardbucket.org/). You can browse or download additional books there. ii Table of Contents About the Author .................................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements............................................................................................................... 2 Dedication............................................................................................................................... 3 Preface..................................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 1: What Is Business Ethics? ................................................................................. 6 What Is Business Ethics? ............................................................................................................................... 7 The Place of Business Ethics ....................................................................................................................... 14 Is Business Ethics Necessary? ..................................................................................................................... 24 Facebook and the Unavoidability of Business Ethics ............................................................................... 29 Overview of The Business Ethics Workshop ............................................................................................. 33 Case Studies .................................................................................................................................................. 35 Chapter 2: Theories of Duties and Rights: Traditional Tools for Making Decisions in Business When the Means Justify the Ends .............................................................. 50 The Means Justify the Ends versus the Ends Justify the Means ..............................................................51 Perennial Duties........................................................................................................................................... 53 Immanuel Kant: The Duties of the Categorical Imperative .....................................................................64 Rights............................................................................................................................................................. 70 Case Studies .................................................................................................................................................. 83 Chapter 3: Theories of Consequence Ethics: Traditional Tools for Making Decisions in Business when the Ends Justify the Means .......................................... 102 What Is Consequentialism?....................................................................................................................... 103 Utilitarianism: The Greater Good............................................................................................................. 105 Altruism: Everyone Else ............................................................................................................................ 120 Egoism: Just Me .......................................................................................................................................... 127 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 137 iii Chapter 4: Theories Responding to the Challenge of Cultural Relativism ........... 153 What Is Cultural Relativism? .................................................................................................................... 154 Nietzsche’s Eternal Return of the Same .................................................................................................. 157 Cultural Ethics............................................................................................................................................ 163 Virtue Theory............................................................................................................................................. 170 Discourse Ethics ......................................................................................................................................... 176 Ethics of Care.............................................................................................................................................. 180 The Cheat Sheet: Rules of Thumb in Applied Ethics .............................................................................. 185 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 189 Chapter 5: Employee’s Ethics: What’s the Right Job for Me?................................... 207 Finding Jobs to Want.................................................................................................................................. 208 Working for Ethically Complicated Organizations................................................................................. 228 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 236 Chapter 6: Employee’s Ethics: Getting a Job, Getting a Promotion, Leaving........ 254 The Résumé Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 255 What Am I Worth? ..................................................................................................................................... 263 Plotting a Promotion ................................................................................................................................. 269 Looking for a Better Job Outside the Company....................................................................................... 273 Take This Job and… .................................................................................................................................... 287 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 290 Chapter 7: Employee’s Ethics: Making the Best of the Job You Have as You Get from 9 to 5 .......................................................................................................................... 311 Taking Advantage of the Advantages: Gifts, Bribes, and Kickbacks .....................................................312 Third-Party Obligations: Tattling, Reporting, and Whistle-Blowing ...................................................324 Company Loyalty........................................................................................................................................ 335 Stress, Sex, Status, and Slacking: What Are the Ethics of Making It through the Typical Workday? .................................................................................................................................................... 340 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 346 Chapter 8: Manager’s Ethics: Getting, Promoting, and Firing Workers ............... 368 Hiring .......................................................................................................................................................... 369 Wages .......................................................................................................................................................... 389 Promoting Employees................................................................................................................................ 392 Firing ........................................................................................................................................................... 398 Case Studies ................................................................................................................................................ 406 iv Chapter 9: Manager’s Ethics: Deciding on a Corporate Culture and Making It Work....................................................................................................................................