7-3a Rules, Policies, and Guidelines

“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”5

While Scrooge may have been a successful businessman, he failed in his responsibilities to his community. Among his failures were lack of concern for the working conditions of his employees and refusal to provide help to the poor. A Christmas Carol portrays the religious holiday of Christmas, with ethical responsibility at the center of the story. The Judeo-Christian religious ethic offers moral imperatives such as: be honest, respect other people’s lives, respect other people’s property, be kind to others, and so forth. The major world religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism, all offer guidance on many key ethical values. Religion is arguably the broadest basis that society has for ethics and provides the internal justification for many ethical acts, such as providing safe working conditions, treating employees fairly, and protecting the environment.6 A widely reported study by researchers at the Mays Business School of Texas A&M University found that higher levels of religiosity lead to less likelihood of financial fraud.7

Whether ethical values are derived from a study of history and literature, religious principles, or personal experience and observation, there are some basic values upon which everyone must agree. Corporate social responsibility mandates that a company strive to:

• provide a quality product or service to its customers; • provide an appropriate return on investment to the company’s stockholders; • treat its employees with dignity and respect; • take care of the environment; • meet its legal obligations; and • fairly deal with suppliers, lenders, and other business parties.

Following legal rules is a starting point for making an ethical choice. For example, if in the course of business you wish to use a software product for a specific application, you can apply existing copyright protection laws to decide whether permission or payment is required.

A second way to resolve an ethical question is to apply the formal policies of your company or of an appropriate professional organization. For example, the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct of the Association for Computing Machinery includes provisions for respecting the privacy of others and honoring confidentiality. While members of the association could legally ignore this code, they might use the provisions to help determine ethical courses of action.

A third way to make an ethical choice is to follow an informal guideline such as moral intuition. A person might consider the following personal questions:

• What would your mother or father say if you acted in that way? • How would you feel if you saw your situation described in the newspaper? • Does the situation “smell” bad? • Would you use your behavior as a marketing tool?

Two principles that can help when making an ethical decision are the principle of consistency and the principle of respect. To apply the principle of consistency, which is derived from the generalization argument presented earlier, ask: “What if everyone did it?” and examine what the consequences would be if everyone who faced a similar decision made the