Business Ethics

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the fact that ethical standards in business have been on a sharp decline over the past couple of decades. It links this disturbing trend to the decline in societal moral standards in American society and looks at how others argue that degrading ethics in business is simply capitalism taking over what is normally considered as morally just. The paper contends that, whether it is simply greed gone awry or a general decline of ethics in society, the fact remains the same, ethical standards in business are declining and are reflected in the declining social responsibilities of businesses, the legal ramifications, and the government's responses to the lack of business ethics.

From the Paper:

"No matter what the root cause of the decline in business ethics, the simple fact remains that over the last ten to twenty years, there has been a serious decline. Small business professionals surveyed in 2000 noted several indicators of these declining ethical standards. It was discovered that many of the respondents to the survey had the most ethical conflicts when it came to dealing with contracts and agreements between themselves and their customers or their employees (Vitell et al., 2000). These same survey respondents were in agreement that the ethical standards of business were lower than two decades ago. A majority felt that these lower ethical standards were related to lower moral standards in society, in general. And they noted that it was top management that had the most influence on how ethical dilemmas were handled (Vitell et al., 2000). From this, one can conclude that it is management that has the social responsibility to conduct themselves and their business in the most ethical ways possible, for their actions are reflexive on society."

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