Question 1. To remain neutral while teaching an ethics course, I would first create a comprehensive handout identifying the most prominent ethical systems and their approaches, providing students with this as a background to the course. I would, during the course, refrain from taking ethical positions on controversial issues related to business practices. Third, when students engage in discussions about ethical business controversies advance right or wrong positions, I would direct discussions to be inclusive of both postures. The primary approach that I would take is removing myself from such discussions as anything more than a moderator. I would, for example, frame my responses to such situations in terms of different ethical strategies or theories rather than my own ideas or positions.
Question 2. I regard ethics as those moral principles and values applied to social behavior. In the context of business, ethics refers to a consensus of what constitutes right or wrong business behaviors as well as the application of moral principles to business situations and decisions. My objectives linked to this course are: 1) identifying the key ethical theories that are most appropriate for application in business situations; 2) learning how to apply ethical decisionmaking in business situations where choices directly impact upon work roles and company objectives; and 3) identifying the relationship between ethical and standards driven business activities and legal requirements for doing business. In other words, I hope that this course will help me to understand such ethical approaches as duty based ethics and outcome or consequence based ethics while also learning to apply ethical standards. A related goal is determining when and how business managers should engage in socially responsible behaviors even at some cost to the corporate bottom line.
Question 3. Utilitarian ethics are derived from a philosophical theory deve...