Deffination of Ethics

Ethics deals with individual character and moral rules that govern and limit our conduct. It investigates questions of right and wrong, duty and obligation, and moral responsibility

Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong human conduct in a business context.

Example:

Is it right for a store manager to break a promise to a customer and sell the product to someone else?

Is it wrong to give private information about your company to a competito?

Morality and Etiquette : Etiquette refers to the norms of correct conduct in polite society, or, more generally, to any special code of social behaviour or courtesy.

Etiquette deals with manners and not with ethics.

Morality and Law : People sometimes confuse legality and morality. On one hand, breaking the law is not always immoral. On the other hand, the legality of an action does not guarantee that it is morally right.

An action can be illegal but morally right.

An action that is legal can be morally wrong

PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMIC DISRIBUTION

To each an equal share

To each according to individual need

To each according to personal effort

To each according to social contribution

To each according to merit

We employ different principles of distributive justice in different circumstances

THE UTILITARIAN VIEW

For the utilitarian happiness is only the overarching value.

Utilitarianism holds that the maximization of happiness ultimately determines what is just and unjust.

Mill contended, more specifically, that the concept of justice identifies certain rules or rights, the upholding of which is crucial for promoting well-being and that injustice always involves violating the rights of some identifiable individual.

Capitalism is an economic system in which the major proportion of production and distribution is in private hands.

TODAY'S ECONOMIC CHALLENGES

As the 20th Century begins, our capitalist socioeconomic system faces a number of challenges. These include:

The decline of American manufacturing and the related problems of job outsourcing.

Growing trade deficit: America continues to run an enormous trade deficit.

American