Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
There is something curiously bleak about the word ‘ethics’: it suggests a brake on natural exuberance, the substitution of what we ought for what we want and, above all, seems to threaten a largely academic discussion of moral philosophies. When used in relation to business it is particularly confusing as what ethical analysis can offer to business practice is not immediately apparent. Philosophers may be fascinated by the competing claims of deontological (i.e. rule-governed) theories and utilitarian (i.e. happiness-maximising) ones: this book is not for them. It is for the student of business rather than the student of philosophy, and for those who are trying to decide what to do for the best in the real world. It sets out to present a practical ethical framework which is clearly relevant to the moral dilemmas of business.
This scenario, however, assumes that business people will accept the general principle that an ethical framework of some kind has relevance for business. This is not necessarily the case, for there is often a feeling, among managers and others, that business is about making profits and ethics is about being good and, realistically, never the twain shall meet. Being a toughminded manager implies that there's no time for the ethical niceties. There is sometimes also a deeper suspicion among managers that calls for value statements in business or the demand for more ethical business practices are really just a thinly disguised anti-capitalism or a generalised complaint against business and its aims and aspirations by those who disapprove of the profit motive or of market mechanisms.
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- Business Ethics at Work , pp. 3 - 10Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995