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Print Price: $59.99

Format:
Paperback
224 pp.
5 1/2" x 8 1/4"

ISBN-13:
9780195369106

Copyright Year:
2009

Imprint: OUP US


Business Ethics and Ethical Business

Robert Audi

Business Ethics and Ethical Business is a comprehensive yet brief analytical introduction to the field of business ethics. In three parts, it covers the major problems associated with the place of business in society, the ethics of internal management, and the challenges of international business in view of common ethical standards (justice and veracity, beneficence and loyalty, and freedom and respect for persons, among others) and classic ethical theories (Aristotle's virtue ethics, Immanuel Kant's rule-based ethics, J. S. Mill's utilitarianism, and W. D. Ross's intuitionism, etc.).

Integrated into the discussion are a number of distinctive elements. Robert Audi takes into account both large companies and small, family owned business; clarifies the nature and importance of rights; and explores the relation between law and ethics in several parts of the book. For a clearer understanding of democracy, he considers two main competing views of business in society - the free market view and the corporate social responsibility approach. He also offers brief concept definitions throughout, which later appear in a glossary at the back of the book, to further clarify key ideas. Accompanying the chapters is an Appendix featuring sixteen Case Scenarios modeled on ethical problems common in the business world. The result is a thorough presentation of business ethics that helps readers to acquire the basic conceptual and ethical tools needed to address the moral problems facing businesses today.

Readership : Suitable for Undergraduate and MBA Business Ethics courses.

Reviews

  • "Business Ethics and Ethical Business is philosophically sophisticated and yet written in admirably clear prose. This is a virtuoso performance by one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of business ethics."--Edwin M. Hartman, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University
  • "As we have come to expect of Audi's work, the reasoning and style contained in Business Ethics and Ethical Business has the 'triple-barrels' of richness, insightfulness, and clarity."--Mitchell R. Haney, University of North Florida
  • "This elegant and concise introduction to business ethics examines business as a practice that sits at the nexus of democratic values, free market values, and individual and community conceptions of the good life."--Joanne B. Ciulla, University of Richmond
  • "Audi cuts away the fluff and gives his reader the essentials without unnecessary embellishment."--Peter Madsen, Carnegie Mellon University

Preface
Part I: The Role of Business in a Free Democracy
1. Two Democratic Traditions
Foundations of Capitalism
Two Conceptions of Democracy
2. The Rights and Social Responsibilities of Business
The Moral Rights of Businesses
A Proposal for Justifying Inequalities in Free Democracies
Determining Ethical Obligations: Some Major Approaches
Ethical Obligation and Legal Requirements
3. The Constituencies of Ethical Business
The Scope of Ownership Rights
The Interests of Stockholders
The Multiple-Constituency View of the Corporation
Constituents as "Stakeholders"
4. A Framework for Making Ethical Decisions
Common-sense Ethical Principles
A Five-step Model for Making Difficult Ethical Decisions
5. Ethical Business, Environmental Responsibility, and Sustainability
The Value of the Environment
The Ethical Importance of Future Generations
The Ideal of Sustainability
6. Marketing: Product, Target, and Image
Some Major Dimensions of Marketing Ethics
Five Types of Ethical Problems in Marketing
Insincerity, Deception, and Manipulation in Marketing
Advertising and the Limits of Persuasive Representation
The Ethics of Creating Desire
The Interdependence of Marketing and Manufacturing Decisions
Advertising and the Human Image
7. The Ethics of Financial Representation
The Centrality of Accounting in Capitalist Democracies
The Public Representation of Financial Positions
Judgment, Clarity, and Conflicts of Interest in Accounting
Part II. The Ethics of Internal Management
8. Hiring Policies and Compensation Standards
Preferential Hiring and Affirmative Action
Rationales for Affirmative Action
Promotion and Remuneration
Qualifications and Merit
Executive Compensation
An Approach to Fairness in CEO Compensation
9. Conditions of Employment and Codes of Ethics
Safety, Risk, and Informed Consent
Whistleblowing
Healthcare Obligations and Responsibilities
Privacy in Employment
Private Lives and the Movable Workplace
Company Codes and Mission Statements
10. Religion in the Workplace
Church-state Separation as a Starting Point in Employment
Some Applications to Managerial Policy Questions
Religion in Large Public Companies
Demonstrative Affiliation in Employment
11. Managerial Leadership and Corporate Culture
Corporate Culture, Ethos, and Ethics
Managerial Hierarchy and its Limitations
Leadership Versus Power
Ethical Leadership and Leadership in Ethics
Meaningful Work and the Creation of Value
Part III. Ethical Problems of Global Business
12. International Trade and Cross-Cultural Standards
Intercultural Understanding
Child Labor
Gift-giving in Business
Gift-giving Versus Bribery
13. Nationality, International Business Ethics, and Cosmopolitanism
Outsourcing
Cultural Adaptation, Relativity, and Standards of Negotiation
The Relation between Ethics and Law
Ethics and Law in International Business
Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer, and Porous Borders
Cosmopolitanism and International Cooperation
14. Conclusion
Sixteen Brief Case Scenarios
Glossary
Notes
Index

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Robert Audi is David E. Gallo Chair in Ethics and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. He is an internationally distinguished contributor to ethics, theory of knowledge, philosophy of action, and philosophy of religion. He has published numerous books and papers in these fields and lectures widely in these areas and, more recently, in business ethics. He is a past president of the American Philosophical Association.

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Special Features

  • A comprehensive yet brief analytical introduction to the major problems in business ethics.
  • Explores a range of problems - the place of business in society, the ethics of management, and the challenges of international business - in the context of concrete business examples.
  • Features an Appendix of sixteen Case Scenarios modeled on ethical problems common in the business world to stimulate discussion and provide material for essay assignment.
  • Integrates major ethical theories, including Aristotle's virtue ethics, Immanuel Kant's rule-based ethics, J. S. Mill's utilitarianism, and the common-sense ethics associated with W. D. Ross's intuitionism.
  • Considers two main competing views of business in society: the free market view and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach.
  • Takes into account small, family-owned businesses as well as large companies.
  • Can be used as a stand-alone text, or alongside collected readings or selected case studies.