As Greg paces the floor, waiting for his 17-year-old daughter Sandy to return from a school event, he feels two conflicting emotions: fear and anger. Fear that something terrible has happened to her. Anger because he thinks his fear is probably unfounded and Sandy is not hurt, simply irresponsible. Finally, Sandy calls. She’s all right. [...]
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COMMENTARY 828.4: There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics
by Josephson Institute on May 22, 2013
in Commentaries, Leadership, Workplace, Management
Some years ago, a senior executive at a Fortune 100 company objected when I asserted that corporations have an ethical, as well as a legal obligation to keep promises and honor their contracts. He said that the decision to live up to or ignore contractual commitments is a business decision, not an ethical one. The other party has legal remedies, he said, and therefore responsible managers have a duty to evaluate whether it’s in the company’s best interest to honor or breach contracts. The decision should be based on a simple cost/benefit analysis. Ethics has nothing to do with it.
Disturbingly common, this claim of moral immunity is based on the erroneous idea that in business the only thing to consider is self-interest. The theory that expediency, not ethics, should control decision making flourishes because many people compartmentalize their lives into personal and business domains, assuming each is governed by different standards of ethics. [click to continue…]
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