GEB-4455 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, Organizational Ethics
Document Summary
Although following the law is an important first step, behaving ethically requires more than that. It refers to laws we have written to protect ourselves from fraud, theft, and violence. Many immoral and unethical acts fall well within our laws. For example, gossiping about your neighbor or sharing something told to you in confidence is unethical, but not illegal. We define ethics as society"s accepted standards of moral behavior, that is, behaviors accepted by society as right rather than wrong. Many decide situationally whether it"s ok to steal, lie, or text and drive. They seem to think that what is right is whatever works best for the individual that each person has to work out for himself or herself the difference between right and wrong. Such thinking may be part of the behavior that has led to scandals in government and business.
