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Business Ethics
For undergraduate business ethics courses.
The ethical training business students need to be successful in today’s challenging business world.
Recent scandals have created a mistrust that has spread through the entire business sector, jeopardising public confidence in the stock market and economy. Now more than ever, it’s important for students to understand the moral foundations, rules, and implications that are vital to the core of business. Business Ethics presents an in-depth introduction of business ethics that emphasises the role of ethics as a critical part to management success.
The ethical training business students need to be successful in today’s challenging business world.
Recent scandals have created a mistrust that has spread through the entire business sector, jeopardising public confidence in the stock market and economy. Now more than ever, it’s important for students to understand the moral foundations, rules, and implications that are vital to the core of business. Business Ethics presents an in-depth introduction of business ethics that emphasises the role of ethics as a critical part to management success.
456 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 27, 2020
A slightly dry, but all-encompassing look at ethics within business management.
June 4, 2016
I've often wondered how one might teach ethics without doing so from a particular moral point of view. This book gives a partial answer. Wicks and his co-authors approach ethics strategically and logically; they attempt to make the case that ethical components are present in nearly every decision a business manager must make. Further, they believe that making good ethical choices is to the strategic advantage of a firm and is not just good PR.
At the start of the book, they bring to light some of the sources of ethical dilemmas in business, and encourage business managers to have various "decision guides" at their disposal so that they are not caught unawares when moral issues surface in their work. But when push comes to shove, the authors tip their hands and it is clear that they encourage a stakeholder approach to business, grounded in a Golden Rule philosophy. (I have no problem with this point of view; but it is not morally neutral.)
All of the above discussion comes in the first several chapters. The rest of the book deals with the application of ethics to various functional areas of business, including leadership, marketing and finance. There are case studies in each chapter, many of them quite stimulating. I found the most interesting ones those that dealt with cross-cultural issues. In a global marketplace, the diverse values of different stakeholders create really interesting points of friction. From the use of ultrasound machines in India to determine the sex of an unborn child to the development of oil resources in indigenous lands in Africa, there are some great real-life examples here. Whatever your moral compass, I imagine that at least a few of them will push you to think long and hard about the age old question, "What would I do in that situation?"
At the start of the book, they bring to light some of the sources of ethical dilemmas in business, and encourage business managers to have various "decision guides" at their disposal so that they are not caught unawares when moral issues surface in their work. But when push comes to shove, the authors tip their hands and it is clear that they encourage a stakeholder approach to business, grounded in a Golden Rule philosophy. (I have no problem with this point of view; but it is not morally neutral.)
All of the above discussion comes in the first several chapters. The rest of the book deals with the application of ethics to various functional areas of business, including leadership, marketing and finance. There are case studies in each chapter, many of them quite stimulating. I found the most interesting ones those that dealt with cross-cultural issues. In a global marketplace, the diverse values of different stakeholders create really interesting points of friction. From the use of ultrasound machines in India to determine the sex of an unborn child to the development of oil resources in indigenous lands in Africa, there are some great real-life examples here. Whatever your moral compass, I imagine that at least a few of them will push you to think long and hard about the age old question, "What would I do in that situation?"
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews