Changing Perspectives of Business Ethics

In looking at the past fifty years in society, there seem to be two conflicting tendencies. Many people believe that society has become less moral, with people less inclined to behave in ethical ways. At the same time, there has been a much greater focus on ethical behavior in business, especially during the past two decades. Does this mean that ethics in business is a new concept?

Business ethics has simply changed over the past fifty years. There are a whole range of issues that have come under scrutiny, including whistleblowing, pollution, community responsibility, and sustainability. The approach to business decision-making has also sometimes changed. The intent in this analysis is to look at how business ethics has changed the concept of social responsibility in business during the past fifty years.

There are three basic approaches to ethical decision-making in moral philosophy. The first is utilitarianism, which is the approach which was probably the most common in business during the early part of the 20th century. Utilitarianism emerged from the thinking of Jeremy Bentham which emphasized that decisions should be made on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number of people. He believed that individuals were primarily motivated by their desire to attain pleasure, while avoiding pain. As a consequence, he thought that any truly scientific approach to morality required looking at what people va

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hical dilemmas and make higher quality decisions (Weber, 1990). Social Responsibility The focus on ethics has led to new management and leadership approaches. There has been increasing emphasis on the vision of the corporation or organization. As Badaracco and Ellsworth (1989) note, there has been a trend toward viewing leadership as moral leadership, as well as financial leadership, with the leader holding the vision for the organization and seeking to maintain both the leader's and the organization's integrity while also seeking profit and continuation. This has led to the development of new kinds of strategic thinking, including a modern concept of the socially responsible corporation. According to Feeman and Gilbert (1988), there is an ongoing effort within business to develop strategies that are compatible with ethics. The attempt is to link the old requirements for profit and continuation to the new demands for equity, justice, sustainability, and community responsibility. There are still the three basic approaches to moral decision-making that were discussed earlier, however. Each of these approaches leads to a different definition of social responsibility. In the past, and still today for the most part, business

Category: Business - C