tailieunhanh - Why Business Ethics?

While 23% said social media did give them some ability to monitor what was being said, only 9% said that the ability to measure the frequency of discussion about the organization was a current benefit and only 18% said they were able to identify positive and negative comments. In short, many organizations’ activities seem more focused on “making noise” about their company and products, and less on understanding and participating in the conversations already going on about them on the Web. Among all companies, social networking sites were the most popular form of social media, with the majority (87%) using. | Why Business Ethics John Hooker Carnegie Mellon University April 2003 Everyone agrees that business managers must understand finance and marketing. But is it necessary for them to study ethics Managers who answer in the negative generally base their thinking on one of three rationales. They may simply say that they have no reason to be ethical. They see why they should make a profit and most agree they should do so legally. But why should they be concerned about ethics as long as they are making money and staying out of jail Other managers recognize that they should be ethical but identify their ethical duty with making a legal profit for the firm. They see no need to be ethical in any further sense and therefore no need for any background beyond business and law. A third group of managers grant that ethical duty goes further than what is required by law. But they still insist that there is no point in studying ethics. Character is formed in childhood not while reading a college text or sitting in class. These arguments are confused and mistaken on several levels. To see why it is best to start with the question raised by the first one why should business people be ethical Why Should One Be Ethical There is already something odd about this question. It is like asking Why are bachelors unmarried They are unmarried by definition. If they were married they would not be bachelors. It is the same with ethics. To say that one should do something is another way of saying it is ethical. If it is not ethical then one should not do it. Perhaps when business people ask why they should be ethical they have a different question in mind what is the motivation for being good Is their something in it for them It is perfectly all right to ask if there is a reward for being good but this has nothing to do with whether one should be good. It makes no sense to try convince people that they should be good by pointing to the rewards that may follow. One should be good because good is by