Skimming is an unethical business practice involving

A N I N T R O D U C T I O N T O

B U S I N E S S E T H I C S

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A N I N T R O D U C T I O N T O

B U S I N E S S E T H I C S

F o u r t h E d i t i o n

J o s e p h D e s J a r d i n s C o l l e g e o f S t . B e n e d i c t / S t . J o h n ’ s U n i v e r s i t y

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AN INTRODUCTION TO BUSINESS ETHICS, FOURTH EDITION

Published by McGraw-Hill, a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Previous editions © 2009, 2006, and 2003. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, in any network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

Some ancillaries, including electronic and print components, may not be available to customers outside the United States.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

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ISBN: 978-0-07-353581-4 MHID: 0-07-353581-8

Vice President & Editor-in-Chief: Michael Ryan Vice President EDP/Central Publishing Services: Kimberly Meriwether David Editorial Director: Beth Mejia Sponsoring Editor: Mark Georgiev Executive Marketing Manager: Pamela S. Cooper Managing Editor: Meghan Campbell Project Manager: Erin Melloy Design Coordinator: Brenda A. Rolwes Cover Designer: Studio Montage, St. Louis, Missouri Visual Coordinator: Sonia Brown Cover Image: © Digital Vision/Getty Images Buyer: Kara Kudronowicz Media Project Manager: Sridevi Palini Compositor: MPS Limited, A Macmillan Company Typeface: 10/12 Palatino Printer: R. R. Donnelley

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

DesJardins, Joseph R. An introduction to business ethics / Joseph DesJardins.—4th ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-0-07-353581-4 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-07-353581-8 (pbk.) 1. Business ethics. I. Title. HF5387.D392 2011 174’.4—dc22

2010016092

www.mhhe.com

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v

About the Author

Joe DesJardins is Associate Provost and Academic Dean, as well as Professor in the Department of Philosophy, at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University in Minnesota. His other books include Business Ethics: Decision Mak- ing for Personal Integrity and Social Responsibility (with Laura Hartman); Environ- mental Ethics: An Introduction to Environmental Philosophy; Environmental Ethics: Concepts, Policy, and Theory; Contemporary Issues in Business Ethics (co-editor with John McCall); and Business, Ethics, and the Environment. He is the former Execu- tive Director of the Society for Business Ethics, and has published and lectured extensively in the areas of business ethics, environmental ethics, and sustain- ability. He received his B.A. from Southern Connecticut State University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. He previously taught at Villanova University.

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To Linda

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vii

Contents

Preface xii

Chapter One: Why Study Ethics? 1

Learning Objectives 1 Discussion Case: Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme 2 Discussion Questions 3 1.1 Why Study Business Ethics? 3 1.2 Values and Ethics: Doing Good and Doing Well 6 1.3 The Nature and Goals of Business Ethics 9 1.4 Business Ethics and the Law 11 1.5 Ethics and Ethos 13 1.6 Morality, Virtues, and Social Ethics 14 1.7 Ethical Perspectives: Managers and Other Stakeholders 15 1.8 A Model for Ethical Decision Making 16 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 17 Chapter Review Questions 18

Chapter Two: Ethical Theory and Business 20

Learning Objectives 20 Discussion Case: AIG Bonuses and Executive Salary Caps 21 Discussion Questions 22 2.1 Introduction 23 2.2 Ethical Relativism and Reasoning in Ethics 24 2.3 Modern Ethical Theory: Utilitarian Ethics 29 2.4 Challenges to Utilitarianism 33 2.5 Utilitarianism and Business Policy 35 2.6 Deontological Ethics 37 2.7 Virtue Ethics 41 2.8 Summary and Review 44 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 45 Chapter Review Questions 46

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viii Contents

Chapter Three: Corporate Social Responsibility 48

Learning Objectives 48 Discussion Case: Walmart: Socially Responsible and Green? 49 Discussion Questions 53 3.1 Introduction 54 3.2 The Economic Model of Corporate Social Responsibility 54 3.3 Critical Assessment of the Economic Model:

The Utilitarian Defense 56 3.4 Critical Assessment of the Economic Model:

The Private Property Defense 61 3.5 The Philanthropic Model of Corporate Social Responsibility 64 3.6 Modifi ed Version of the Economic Model: The Moral Minimum 66 3.7 The Stakeholder Model of Corporate Social Responsibility 68 3.8 Strategic Model of Corporate Social Responsibility:

Sustainability 72 3.9 Summary and Review 74 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 76 Chapter Review Questions 77

Chapter Four: Corporate Culture, Governance, and Ethical Leadership 80

Learning Objectives 80 Discussion Case: Is Steve Jobs Health a Private Matter? 81 Discussion Questions 82 4.1 Introduction 83 4.2 What is Corporate Culture? 83 4.3 Culture and Ethics 85 4.4 Ethical Leadership and Corporate Culture 87 4.5 Effective Leadership and Ethical Leadership 88 4.6 Building a Values-Based Corporate Culture 90 4.7 Mandating and Enforcing Ethical Culture:

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines 93 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 95 Chapter Review Questions 96

Chapter Five: The Meaning and Value of Work 99

Learning Objectives 99 Discussion Case: Social Enterprises and Social Entrepreneurs 100 Discussion Questions 102 5.1 Introduction 102 5.2 The Meanings of Work 104 5.3 The Value of Work 106 5.4 Conventional Views of Work 109 5.5 The Human Fulfi llment Model 111

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Contents ix

5.6 The Liberal Model of Work 114 5.7 Business’s Responsibility for Meaningful Work 116 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 118 Chapter Review Questions 118

Chapter Six: Moral Rights in the Workplace 121

Learning Objectives 121 Discussion Case: Electronic Privacy at Work 122 Discussion Questions 123 6.1 Introduction: Employee Rights 123 6.2 The Right to Work 125 6.3 Employment at Will 129 6.4 Due Process in the Workplace 130 6.5 Participation Rights 133 6.6 Employee Health and Safety 136 6.7 Privacy in the Workplace 141 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 144 Chapter Review Questions 145

Chapter Seven: Employee Responsibilities 147

Learning Objectives 147 Discussion Case: Confl icts of Interests in Subprime Mortgages

and at Enron 148 Discussion Questions 153 7.1 Introduction 154 7.2 The Narrow View of Employee Responsibilities:

Employees as Agents 155 7.3 Professional Ethics and the Gatekeeper Function 159 7.4 Managerial Responsibility and Confl icts of Interests 162 7.5 Trust and Loyalty in the Workplace 165 7.6 Responsibilities to Third Parties: Honesty, Whistle-blowing,

and Insider Trading 168 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 174 Chapter Review Questions 175

Chapter Eight: Marketing Ethics: Product Safety and Pricing 177

Learning Objectives 177 Discussion Case: Life Cycle Responsibility for Products 178 Discussion Questions 179 8.1 Introduction: Marketing and Ethics 180 8.2 Ethical Issues in Marketing: An Overview 181 8.3 Ethical Responsibility for Products: From

Caveat Emptor to Negligence 183

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x Contents

8.4 Strict Product Liability 188 8.5 Ethics and Pricing 191 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 195 Chapter Review Questions 196

Chapter Nine: Marketing Ethics: Advertising and Target Marketing 198

Learning Objectives 198 Discussion Case: Predatory Lending: Subprime Mortgages and Credit Cards 199 Discussion Questions 201 9.1 Introduction: Ethics of Sales, Advertising, and

Product Placement 201 9.2 Regulating Deceptive and Unfair Sales and Advertising 204 9.3 Marketing Ethics and Consumer Autonomy 207 9.4 Targeting the Vulnerable: Marketing and Sales 212 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 216 Chapter Review Questions 218

Chapter Ten: Business’s Environmental Responsibilities 220

Learning Objectives 220 Discussion Case: Sustainable Business 221 Discussion Questions 223 10.1 Corporate Social Responsibility and the Environment 223 10.2 Business’s Responsibility as Environmental Regulation 228 10.3 Business Ethics and Sustainable Economics 229 10.4 Business Ethics in the Age of Sustainable Development 233 10.5 The “Business Case” for Sustainability 237 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 238 Chapter Review Questions 239

Chapter Eleven: Diversity and Discrimination 241

Learning Objectives 241 Discussion Case: Reverse Discrimination? 242 Discussion Questions 243 11.1 Introduction: Diversity and Equality 243 11.2 Discrimination, Equal Opportunity, and Affi rmative Action 245 11.3 Preferential Treatment in Employment 251 11.4 Arguments Against Preferential Hiring 254 11.5 Arguments in Support of Preferential Hiring 258 11.6 Sexual Harassment in the Workplace 261 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 265 Chapter Review Questions 266

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Contents xi

Chapter Twelve: International Business and Globalization 268

Learning Objectives 268 Discussion Case: Google and Doing Business in China 269 Discussion Questions 271 12.1 Introduction 271 12.2 Ethical Relativism and Cross-Cultural Values 272 12.3 Cross-Cultural Values and International Rights 275 12.4 Globalization and International Business 277 12.5 Globalization and the Poor 279 12.6 “Race to the Bottom” 281 12.7 Democracy, Cultural Integrity, and Human Rights 283 Refl ections on the Chapter Discussion Case 286 Chapter Review Questions 287

Photo Credits 289 Index 291

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xii

Preface to the Fourth Edition

My overarching goal in the fourth edition of this text remains what it was for the fi rst edition: “to provide a clear, concise, and reasonably comprehensive introductory survey of the ethical choices available to us in business.” This book arose from the challenges encountered in my own teaching of business ethics. Over the years I have taught business ethics in many settings and with many formats. I sometimes relied on an anthology of readings, other times I emphasized case studies. I taught business ethics as a lecture course and in a small seminar. Most recently, I taught business ethics exclusively to under- graduates in a liberal arts setting. It is diffi cult to imagine another discipline that is as multidisciplinary, taught in as many formats and as many contexts, by faculty with as many different backgrounds and with as many different aims, as business ethics.

Yet, although the students, format, pedagogy, and teaching goals change, the basic philosophical and conceptual structure for the fi eld remains relatively stable. There are a range of stakeholders with whom business interacts: em- ployees, customers, suppliers, governments, society. Each of these relationships creates ethical responsibilities and every adult unavoidably will interact with business in several of these roles. A course in business ethics, therefore, should ask students to examine this range of responsibilities from the perspective of employee, customer, and citizen as well as from the perspective of business manager or executive. Students should consider such issues in terms of both the type of lives they themselves wish to lead and the type of public policy for governing business they are willing to support.

My hope was that this book could provide a basic framework for examin- ing the range of ethical issues that arise in a business context. With this basic framework provided, individual instructors would then be free to develop their courses in various ways. I have been grateful to learn that this book is being used in a wide variety of settings. Many people have chosen to use it as a sup- plement to the instructor’s own lectures, an anthologized collection of readings, a series of case studies, or some combination of all three. Others have chosen to use this text to cover the ethics component of another course in such business- related disciplines as management, marketing, accounting, human resources. The book also has been used to provide coverage of business-related topics in

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Preface to the Fourth Edition xiii

more general courses in applied or professional ethics. I take this variety of uses as evidence that the fi rst edition was reasonably successful in achieving its goals.

NEW TO THE FOURTH EDITION

In response to the advice of many friends and colleagues who have been using this book in their own classes, this fourth edition has made the following changes:

• Every chapter begins with a new, or significantly revised and updated, discussion case. All of these changes involve cases that have developed in the years since the previous edition, including cases on Bernard Madoff, AIG, subprime lending, predatory lending, Steve Jobs, and Google in China.

• Sustainability topics have been more widely integrated throughout the text, including a new sustainability section in chapter 5 on corporate social responsibility and a sustainability-focused discussion case on marketing in chapter 8.

• Many new cases include material and topics arising from the recent finan- cial meltdown, making this edition more timely and relevant.

• New sections include a model for ethical decision making, philanthropic CSR, and a business case for sustainability.

Another bit of advice that I received, as consistent as it was challenging, was to add this new material without making the book longer or more cumbersome. It has been gratifying to learn that readers have found the book clearly written and accessible to students unfamiliar with the fi eld. To achieve these goals, I have deleted some outdated cases and worked to improve the clarity of the more philosophical sections, especially within chapter 2’s discussion of ethical theory.

Readers of previous editions will fi nd a familiar format. Each chapter be- gins with a discussion case developed from actual events. The intent of these cases is to raise questions and get students thinking and talking about the ethi- cal issues that will be introduced in the chapter. The text of each chapter then tries to do three things:

• Identify and explain the ethical issues involved; • Direct students to an examination of these issues from the points of view

of various stakeholders; and • Lead students through some initial steps of a philosophical analysis of

these issues.

The emphasis remains on encouraging student thinking, reasoning, and decision making rather than on providing answers or promoting a specifi c set of conclusions. To this end, a new section on ethical decision making at the end of chapter 1 provides one model for decision making that might prove useful throughout the remainder of the text.

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xiv Preface to the Fourth Edition

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As with previous editions, my greatest debt in writing this book is to those scholars engaged in the academic research of business ethics. I tried to acknowl- edge their work whenever I relied on it in this text, but in case I have missed anyone I hope this general acknowledgment can serve to repay my debt to the business ethics community. I also acknowledge three members of that commu- nity who deserve special mention and thanks. My own work in business eth- ics has, for over 20 years, benefi ted from the friendships of John McCall, Ron Duska, and Laura Hartman. They will no doubt fi nd much in this book that sounds familiar. Twenty years of friendship and collaboration tends to blur the lines of authorship, but it is fair to say that I have learned much more from John, Ron, and Laura than they from me.

Previous editions have also benefi ted from the advice of a number of peo- ple who read and commented on various chapters. In particular, I would like to thank Norman Bowie, Ernie Diedrich, Al Gini, Patrick Murphy, Denis Arnold, and Christopher Pynes.

I owe sincere thanks to the following teachers and scholars who were gracious enough to review previous editions of this book for McGraw-Hill: Dr. Edwin A. Coolbaugh—Johnson & Wales University; Jill Dieterlie—Eastern Michigan University; Glenn Moots—Northwood University; Jane Hammang- Buhl—Marygrove College; Ilona Motsif—Trinity College; Bonnie Fremgen— University of Notre Dame; Sheila Bradford—Tulsa Community College; Donald Skubik—California Baptist University; Sandra Powell—Weber State University; Gerald Williams—Seton Hall University; Leslie Connell—University of Cen- tral Florida; Brad K. Wilburn—Santa Clara University; Carlo Filice—SUNY, Genesco; Brian Barnes—University of Louisville; Marvin Brown—University of San Francisco; Patrice DiQuinzio—Muhlenberg College; Julian Friedland— Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder; Derek S. Jeffreys— The University of Wisconsin, Green Bay; Albert B. Maggio Jr.—bicoastal-law. com; Andy Wible—Muskegon Community College.

The fourth edition benefi ted from the thorough and thoughtful reviews by:

• Christina L. Stamper, Western Michigan University • Charles R. Fenner, Jr., State University of New York at Canton • Sandra Obilade, Brescia University • Lisa Marie Plantamura, Centenary College • James E. Welch, Kentucky Wesleyan College • Adis M. Vila, Dickinson College • Chester Holloman, Shorter College • Jan Jordan, Paris Junior College • Jon Adam Matthews, Central Carolina Community College • Bruce Alan Kibler, University of Wisconsin-Superior

Joseph DesJardins

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1

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

• Identify reasons why the study of ethics is important; • Explain the nature and meaning of business ethics; • Explain the difference between ethical values and other values; • Clarify the difference between ethics and the law; • Describe the distinction between ethics and ethos; • Distinguish between personal morality, virtues, and social ethics; • Identify ethical issues within a case description.

1 C H A P T E R Why Study Ethics?

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2 Chapter 1

DISCUSSION CASE: Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme

One of the largest fi nancial frauds in history came to an end late in 2008 when Bernard Madoff was arrested and charged with operating a major Ponzi scheme through his wealth management company. Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 counts of fi nancial fraud and theft in March 2009 and three months later was sentenced to 150 years in prison. Madoff’s fraud was thought to have cost clients more than $10 billion.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraud that attracts investors with a promise of high returns, which are initially paid out from the investments made by subsequent clients rather than from legitimate profi ts made from the initial investment. The success of these initial investments entices future investors, and in many cases reinvestment from the original investors. Because the returns are based on the ability to attract future investors into the scheme rather than on legitimate earn- ings, the scheme can last only as long as the perpetrator is able to attract an increasing number of investors, all of whom expect higher-than-normal returns. A Ponzi scheme is likened to a house of cards that is destined to collapse when- ever the fl ow of money into the scheme declines. The perpetrator benefi ts either by disappearing with the money before the system collapses or, as in the case of Madoff, living a wealthy lifestyle by skimming money from the signifi cant cash fl ow generated by the fraud.

The size of Madoff’s fraud was only one reason why this case attracted signifi cant media attention. Madoff and his family were also prominent public fi gures—Madoff was former chairman of the NASDAQ stock exchange—and well-known as very generous philanthropists. The fraud also involved his fam- ily; Madoff’s wife, two sons, and brother were all implicated in the case. Many of his victims were also prominent people, many were personal friends, and several charitable organizations lost signifi cant money in the fraud.

Another aspect of this case involved the role, many would say the complete failure, of government regulators. Starting as early as 1992, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had received complaints and tips about Madoff’s investments. In most cases, the SEC either didn’t investigate or failed to follow through on a cursory investigation. A report issued by the SEC’s own inspector general in September 2009 concluded, “Despite numerous credible and detailed complaints, the SEC never properly examined or investigated Madoff’s trading and never took the necessary, but basic, steps to determine if Madoff was oper- ating a Ponzi scheme.” Coming as it did in the midst of the fi nancial meltdown and recession of 2008–2009, this failure of government regulators was another reminder of the limitations of legal regulations in providing suffi cient oversight to unethical business practices.

Madoff apologized at his sentencing, telling the judge: “I am responsible for a great deal of suffering and pain. I understand that. I live in a tormented state now knowing of all the pain and suffering that I have created. I have left a legacy of shame, as some of my victims have pointed out, to my family and my grandchildren. That’s something I will live with for the rest of my life. . . . That is a horrible guilt to live with. There is nothing I can do that will make anyone

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Why Study Ethics? 3

feel better for the pain and suffering I caused them, but I will live with this pain, with this torment for the rest of my life. I apologize to my victims. I will turn and face you. I am sorry. I know that doesn’t help you. Your Honor, thank you for listening to me.”

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Identify what ethical issues and questions are involved in the Madoff case. 2. Identify all the people you think may have been harmed, and how they

were harmed, by the Madoff fraud. 3. Do you think that a scandal such as this is the result mostly of unethical

individuals, or are there organizational issues that allowed, encouraged, or were responsible for the harms? To what degree was this case mostly a failure of individuals, or organizational structure, or of government?

4. Can you imagine anything that would have prevented the Madoff fraud?

1.1 WHY STUDY BUSINESS ETHICS?

Why should anyone study business ethics? The short answer is that a class in business ethics should not aim simply to help you learn about ethics, but it should also aim to help you do ethics. That is, the goal of business ethics is more than just teaching and learning about what happens in business. The goal is also to help each of us become more ethical and to help us all create and promote ethical institutions. We can achieve these goals by developing three intellec- tual capacities: a better understanding of ethical issues, a more fi nely tuned set of analytical skills with which to evaluate ethical issues, and a refi ned sensitivity to appreciate the signifi cance of leading an ethical life.

But as recently as the mid-1990s, articles in such major publications as the Wall Street Journal, the Harvard Business Review, and U.S. News and World Report questioned the value of teaching classes in business ethics. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, this skeptical attitude was as common among business practitioners as it was among students. Few disciplines faced the amount of skepticism that commonly confronted courses in business ethics. Many stu- dents believed that, like “jumbo shrimp,” business ethics was an oxymoron. Many also viewed ethics as a mixture of sentimentality and personal opinion that would interfere with the effi cient functioning of business. After all, who’s to say what’s right or wrong?

Yet a great deal has changed since then. Beginning in 2001 with the col- lapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen hardly a month has gone by without a major corporate ethical scandal making headlines. In just the fi rst fi ve years of the twenty-fi rst century, a wave of ethical scandals swept though the corpo- rate world as fraudulent and dishonest practices were uncovered at such fi rms as WorldCom, Tyco, Aldelphia, Global Crossing, Health South, Qwest, Merrill

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4 Chapter 1

Lynch, Citigroup Salomon Smith Barney, Parmalat, Marsh and McClennen, Credit Suisse First Boston, and even the New York Stock Exchange itself. Since the last edition of this text was written in 2007, that list has grown to include such cases as AIG, Bernard Madoff, the fi nancial industry’s subprime lending practices, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Risky investment and lending practices that bordered on incompetence if not malfeasance led to the collapse of such fi rms as Lehman Brothers, Countrywide Financial, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, Washington Mutual, and Wachovia.

At the start of the second decade of the twenty-fi rst century, today’s ques- tions are less about why or should ethics be a part of business, than about which ethics should guide business decisions and how ethics can be integrated within business.1 Students unfamiliar with ethical issues will fi nd themselves as un- prepared for careers in business as students who are unfamiliar with account- ing and fi nance. Indeed, it is fair to say that students will not be fully prepared even within fi elds such as accounting, fi nance, human resource management, marketing, and management unless they are familiar with the ethical issues that arise specifi cally within those fi elds. You simply will not be prepared for a career in accounting, fi nance, or any area of business if you are unfamiliar with the ethical issues of these fi elds.

Why has this change come about? To answer this question, consider the phrase used to describe the potential collapse of AIG and other large fi nan- cial institutions: “too big to fail.” This phrase was used to justify the need for trillions of dollars of U.S. government guarantees and bailouts that were used to avoid a more signifi cant economic collapse in 2008–2009. It is not an exag- geration to say that ethical failures have been responsible for some of the most dramatic business failures in the last decade, and that these business failures in turn can jeopardize the economic well-being of the entire country.

On a smaller scale, consider the people who were harmed by the Madoff Ponzi scheme. Investors lost tens of billions of dollars. Hundreds of innocent employees lost their jobs, their retirement funds, and their health care benefi ts. Innocent charities suffered when they lost their endowments or were asked to return donations made by the Madoffs in a legal process to recover funds for his victims. The wider New York community was also hurt by the loss of a major community benefactor. Families of employees and investors were also hurt. Many of the individuals directly involved will themselves suffer criminal and civil punishment, including jail sentences for some. Indeed, it is hard to imagine anyone who was even loosely affi liated with Madoff who did not suffer harm as a result of his ethical failings. Multiply these harms by the dozens of other companies implicated in similar scandals and one gets an idea of why ethics is no longer dismissed as irrelevant. The consequences of unethical behavior and unethical business institutions are too serious to be ignored.

Today, business managers have many reasons to be concerned with the ethical standards of their organizations. Perhaps the most straightforward rea- son is that the law requires it. In 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes- Oxley Act to address the wave of corporate and accounting scandals. Section 406 of that law, “Code of Ethics for Senior Financial Offi cers,” requires that

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Why Study Ethics? 5

corporations have a code of ethics “applicable to its principal fi nancial offi cer and comptroller or principal accounting offi cer, or persons performing similar functions.” The code must include standards that promote:

1. honest and ethical conduct, including the ethical handling of actual or apparent confl icts of interest between personal and professional relationships;

2. full, fair, accurate, timely, and understandable disclosure in the periodic reports required to be fi led by the issuer; and

3. compliance with applicable governmental rules and regulations.

Beyond these specifi c legal requirements, contemporary business managers have many other reasons to be concerned with ethical issues. Unethical behavior not only creates legal risks for a business, it creates fi nancial and marketing risks as well. Managing these risks requires managers and executives to remain vigilant about their company’s ethics. It is now more clear than ever that a company can lose in the marketplace, it can go out of business, and its employees can go to jail if no one is paying attention to the ethical standards of the fi rm. Ethical behavior and an ethical reputation can provide a competitive advantage, or disadvantage, in the marketplace and with customers, suppliers, and employees. Consumer boycotts based on allegations of unethical conduct have targeted such well- known fi rms as Nike, McDonald’s, Home Depot, Gap, Shell Oil, Levi-Strauss, Donna Karen, K-Mart, and Walmart. Managing ethically can also pay signifi cant dividends in organizational structure and effi ciency. Trust, loyalty, commitment, creativity, and initiative are just some of the organizational benefi ts that are more likely to fl ourish within ethically stable and credible organizations.

In 2003, Deloitte polled 5,000 directors of the top 4,000 publicly traded companies and reported that 98 percent believed that an ethics and compliance program was an essential part of corporate governance. Over 80 percent had developed formal codes of ethics beyond those required by Sarbanes-Oxley, and over 90 percent included statements concerning the company’s obliga- tions to employees, shareholders, suppliers, customers, and the community at large in their corporate code of ethics.2 In practice, if not yet in theory, corporate America has adopted the stakeholder model of corporate social responsibility. Contemporary business now takes seriously its ethical responsibilities to a variety of stakeholders other than its shareholders.

For business students, the need to study ethics should now be as clear as the need to study the other subfi elds of business education. Without this back- ground, students will be unprepared for a career in contemporary business. But even for students not anticipating a career in business management or busi- ness administration, familiarity with business ethics is just as crucial. It was not, after all, only Bernard Madoff himself who suffered because of his unethi- cal behavior. Our lives as employees, as consumers, as citizens are effected by decisions made within business institutions, and therefore everyone has good reasons for being concerned with the ethics of those decision makers.

The case for ethics is by now clear and persuasive. Business must take ethics into account and integrate ethics into its organizational structure. Students

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6 Chapter 1

need to study business ethics. But what does this mean? What is “ethics” and what is “business ethics”? To begin our investigation let us turn to a more gen- eral question: Is ethics good for business?

1.2 VALUES AND ETHICS: DOING GOOD AND DOING WELL

It is clear, from cases ranging from Enron through Bernard Madoff, that unethi- cal behavior can lead directly to business failure. But is the opposite true? Does good ethics mean business success?

As described in their best-selling book, Built to Last: Successful Habits of Vi- sionary Companies, authors James Collins and Jerry Porras researched dozens of very successful companies looking for common practices that might explain their success. These companies not only outperformed their competitors in fi nancial terms, they also have outperformed their competition over the long term. On average, the companies they studied were founded in 1897. Among their key fi ndings was the fact that the truly exceptional and enduring com- panies all placed great emphasis on a set of core values. These core values are described as the “essential and enduring tenets” that help defi ne the company and are “not to be compromised for fi nancial gain or short-term expediency.” 3

Collins and Porras cite numerous examples of core values being articulated and promoted by the founders and CEOs of such companies as IBM, Johnson & Johnson, Hewlett Packard, Procter and Gamble, Walmart, Merck, Motorola, Sony, Walt Disney, General Electric, and Philip Morris. Some companies made a commitment to customers as their core value; others focused on employees, their products, innovation, or even risk-taking. The common theme was that core values and a clear corporate purpose, what together are described as the organization’s core ideology, were essential elements of enduring and fi nan- cially successful companies.

These examples suggest that there are many different type of values. In general, we can think of values as those beliefs or standards that incline us to act or to choose in one way rather than another. Thus, the value that I place on an education leads me to study rather than play video games. I choose to spend my money on groceries rather than on a vacation because I value food more than relaxation. A company’s core values, then, are those beliefs and principles that provide the ultimate guide in its decision making. Understood in this way, we can recognize that there can be many different types of values. There are fi nan- cial, religious, historical, nutritional, political, scientifi c, and aesthetic values. Individuals can have their own personal values and, importantly, institutions also have values. Talk of a corporation’s “culture” is a way of saying that a cor- poration has a set of identifi able values. All the companies described by Collins and Porras, have been described as having strong corporate cultures and clear sets of values.

At fi rst glance, Built to Last seems to reach an extremely attractive conclu- sion. The most successful companies all share in common a commitment to core values. This would seem to provide very persuasive reasons for any business to

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Why Study Ethics? 7

make a strong commitment to ethics. Good ethics seem to be connected to good business. Unfortunately, things are not as they appear. Collins and Porras are explicit in pointing out that while having a set of core values was essential in long-term success, they discovered no right set of core values. Their conclusion was that it was important only that companies have values, not that they have any particular values. In fact, executives at one of their “visionary” companies, Philip Morris, were described as defi ant and self-righteous in their prosmoking ideology. The authors quote a Fortune magazine description of Philip Morris CEO Michael Miles as “ruthless, focused . . . cold-blooded.” Miles is also quoted as saying “I see nothing morally wrong with the [tobacco] business. . . . I see nothing wrong with selling people products they don’t need.” 4

Collins and Porras make a strong case for the conclusion that having a set of strong core values is important for the long-term fi nancial success of a business. But, if these values can include ruthless and cold-blooded promo- tion of smoking, much more needs to be said about ethical values. One way to distinguish these various types of values is in terms of the ends that they serve. Financial values serve monetary ends, religious values serve spiritual ends, aesthetic values serve the end of beauty, and so forth. So, how are ethical values to be distinguished from these other types of values? What ends are served by ethics?

Values, in general, were earlier described as those beliefs or standards that incline us to act or choose in one way rather than another. Different types of values were distinguished by the various ends served by those acts and choices. Consider again the harm attributed to the ethical failures of Bernard Madoff. Thousands of innocent people were hurt by the decisions made by some indi- viduals seeking their own fi nancial and egotistical aggrandizement. This exam- ple reveals two important elements of ethical values. First, ethical values serve the ends of human well-being. Acts and choices that aim to promote human well-being are acts and choices based on ethical values. Controversy may arise when we try to specify more precisely what is involved in human well-being, but we can start with some general observations. Happiness certainly is a part of it, as is respect, integrity, and meaning. Freedom and autonomy surely seem a part of human well-being, as do companionship and health.

Second, the well-being promoted by ethical values is not a personal and selfi sh well-being. After all, the Madoff scandal resulted from many individuals seeking to promote their own well-being. Ethics requires that the promotion of human well-being be done impartially. From the perspective of ethics, no one person’s well-being counts as more worthy than any other’s. Ethical acts and choices should be acceptable and reasonable from all relevant points of view. Thus, we can offer an initial characterization of ethics and ethical values. Ethical values are those beliefs and principles that seek to promote human well-being in an impartial way.

Chapter 2 will examine the nature of philosophical ethics in more detail. But we should acknowledge that there are disagreements about what ethics commits us to and what ends are served by ethical values. There are also cases in which ethical values confl ict, and such ethical dilemmas are a signifi cant

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8 Chapter 1

part of business ethics. The prosmoking values of Philip Morris, for example, allegedly promoted the values of personal freedom and autonomy. Critics charge that these same values result in serious illness and death to many people. How do we decide if Philip Morris is an ethical company?

Simply, there are few if any unambiguous and absolute rules that can guide ethical decisions making. To evaluate the Philip Morris case we would begin by exploring the meaning and value of the freedom to choose relative to the value of health. We might also examine the motivation of Philip Morris executives to discover if they truly valued the personal freedom of their customers, or if their motivation was less impartial and more self-serving. Ethical controversy is only the starting point of philosophical ethics. Accordingly, one major goal of this text will be to emphasize reasoning and analytical skills as much as infor- mational content.

Let us now return to the question with which this section began. Is ethics good for business? Consider Malden Mills, a well-known business case that made headlines some years ago.

During the early evening hours of December 11, 1995, a fi re broke out in a textile mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts. By morning, the fi re had destroyed most of Malden Mills, the manufacturer of Polartec fabric. The fi re seemed a disaster to the company, its employees, its customers, and the surrounding communities. Malden Mills was a family-owned business, founded in 1906 and run by the founder’s grandson Aaron Feuerstein. Polartec is a high-quality fabric well known for the outdoor apparel featured by such popular companies as L.L. Bean, Land’s End, REI, J. Crew, and Eddie Bauer. As the major supplier of Polartec, the company had sales of $400 million in the year leading up to the fi re. The disaster promised many headaches for Malden Mills, for its employees, for the numerous businesses that depend on its products, and for an entire community.

The towns surrounding the Malden Mills plant have long been home to tex- tile manufacturing. The textile industry was born in the nineteenth century and thrived for one hundred years along the rivers in these New England towns. The textile industry effectively died during the middle decades of the twentieth century when outdated factories and increasing labor costs led many companies to abandon the area and relocate, fi rst to the nonunionized south, and later to foreign countries such as Mexico and Taiwan. As happened in many northern manufacturing towns, the loss of major industries, along with their jobs and tax base, began a long period of economic decline from which many have never recovered. Malden Mills was the last major textile manufacturer in town and with 2,400 employees it supplied the economic lifeblood for the surrounding communities. Considering both its payroll and taxes, Malden Mills contributed approximately $100 million a year to the local economy. The fi re was a disaster for many people and many businesses beyond those directly involved with Malden Mills.

As CEO and President, Aaron Feuerstein faced some major decisions, deci- sions that would be guided by his core values. He could have used the fi re as an opportunity to follow his competitors and relocate to a more economically

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Why Study Ethics? 9

attractive area. He certainly could have found a location with lower taxes and cheaper labor and thus have maximized his earning potential. He could have simply taken the insurance money and decided not to reopen at all. Instead, as the fi re was still smoldering, Feuerstein pledged to rebuild his plant at the same location and keep the jobs in the local community. But even more surprising, he promised to continue paying his employees and extend their medical cover- age until they could be brought back to work. For this, Feuerstein became fa- mous. Featured on television and in such magazines as Fortune, Newsweek, and Time, Mr. Feuerstein was honored by President Clinton and invited to attend the State of the Union address as the president’s guest. He was praised by many as a model of ethical business behavior.

Initially, all went well. Malden Mills was able to rebuild its factory and re- open sections within a year. Employees came back to work and the community seemed to recover. Unfortunately, Malden Mills couldn’t recover fully. Insur- ance covered only three-fourths of the $400 millions cost of rebuilding and by 2001 Malden Mills fi led for bankruptcy protection. During the summer of 2004, Malden Mills emerged from bankruptcy but its board of directors was now controlled by its creditors, led by GE Commercial Finance Division. The new board replaced Aaron Feuerstein as CEO and Board Chairman, although he retained the right to buy back the controlling interest if he could raise suffi cient fi nancing. In October of 2004, the board rejected Feuerstein’s offer to buy back the company. In response to the company’s contract offer that included cuts in health care benefi ts, the union representing the remaining 1,000 workers at Malden Mills voted to authorize a strike in December 2004, the fi rst in company history.

Are strong ethical values good for business? The only reasonable answer is that sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. Many of the companies examined by Collins and Porras seem to attain the ideal, high ethical standards and long-term fi nancial success. Others, like Philip Morris, attained long-term success with values that would not indisputably be considered ethical. Some un- ethical companies, Enron perhaps most famously, failed as a business because of their ethical failures. Others, like Malden Mills, seem to suffer fi nancially because of their high ethical standards. The record is mixed. The choice is yours.

1.3 THE NATURE AND GOALS OF BUSINESS ETHICS

How, then, might we defi ne business ethics? In a descriptive sense, “business ethics” refers to those values, standards, and principles that operate within business. But “business ethics” also refers to an academic discipline that not only studies those standards, values, and principles, but also seeks to articu- late and defend the ones that ought or should operate in business. In this way, business ethics includes normative as well as descriptive elements. This text is a contribution to that academic fi eld of business ethics. Its aim is to describe, examine, and evaluate ethical issues that arise within business settings.

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10 Chapter 1

Unlike some business disciplines, there is no single set of answers in ethics, no single body of information, nor is there even a single framework for think- ing about ethics. Business ethics is a truly multidisciplinary fi eld, incorporating information from a variety of disciplines including philosophy, management, economics, law, marketing, and public policy.

Given this diversity, there is no single way—let alone single right way— to teach and learn business ethics. But this does not mean that there are not common goals, concepts, principles, and frameworks of business ethics. There is a growing body of scholarly literature in business ethics, and, in an aca- demic setting at least, an important element of a course in business ethics is to become familiar with that scholarly literature. Just as there are Generally Accepted Ac counting Principles (GAAP) for accountants, there are a set of principles, standards, concepts, and values common to business ethics. Chap- ter 2 will introduce some of the most common ethical theories and principles. But beyond this academic side, business ethics has a practical side in the sense that it aims at judgment, behavior, and actions. We all hope that books and classes in business ethics translate into more ethical behavior among business practitioners.

Unfortunately, things are not always that simple. First, there is the daunt- ing gap between ethical judgment and ethical behavior. From at least the time of Plato and Aristotle, Western philosophy has acknowledged a real disconti- nuity between judging some act as right and following through and doing it. It is diffi cult enough knowing the difference between good and bad, right and wrong. But knowing is different from doing, and not everyone has the fortitude, strength of character, or motivation to act in ways that we know are best. While many observers expect an ethics class to teach ethical behavior, most ethicists have the more modest goal for their courses. It is not at all clear, for example, that an ethics course would have made any difference to Bernard Madoff.

A more modest and judicious goal for business ethics is to focus on the cog- nitive and intellectual (as opposed to behavioral) side of ethics. Business ethics as an academic discipline is more a matter of ethical reasoning and thinking than ethical behavior. But even here there is a major dilemma confronting ethics courses. On one hand, few would teach ethics in a way that aims to indoctrinate students. Few teachers would think that it is the role of an ethics course to tell students the right answers or proclaim what they ought to think and how they ought to live. The role of an ethics course should not be to convey informa- tion to a passive audience, but to treat students as active learners and engage them in an active process of thinking and questioning. Taking Socrates as the model, philosophical ethics rejects the view that blind obedience to authority or the simple acceptance of customary norms is an adequate ethical perspective. Teaching ethics must, on this view, involve students thinking for themselves. The unexamined life, Socrates claimed, is not worth living.

The problem, of course, is that when people think for themselves they don’t always agree with each other, and they certainly don’t always act in a way that others would judge as ethical. The other side of this dilemma is the specter of

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Why Study Ethics? 11

relativism and emotivism. If the ethics classroom does not teach students the right answers, many students will conclude that there are no right answers. If there are few teachers who use the classroom to preach ethical dogma, there are probably fewer still who believe that there are no right answers and that any- thing goes from an ethical point of view.

Thus a major challenge for business ethics is to fi nd a middle ground be- tween preaching the truth to passive listeners on one hand, and encouraging the relativistic conclusion that all opinions are equal to the other. A common goal for most courses in business ethics navigates this diffi culty by emphasizing the process of ethical reasoning. Business ethics is concerned more with reason- ing than answers. Responsible reasoning must begin with an accurate and fair account of the facts; one must listen to all sides with an open mind, one must become familiar with all the relevant issues at stake, and one must pursue the logical analysis of each issue fully and with intellectual rigor. Business ethics essentially involves this process of ethical analysis. Without it, one risks turning ethics into dogmatism; with it, one has gone as far as possible to defl ate relativ- ism. With this process, we are best prepared to avoid the dilemma of dogma- tism and relativism.

This dilemma not only confronts business ethics in an academic setting, it is also true for ethics within business settings as well. Even if they could be successful in doing so, few business managers would want to approach ethical issues by making pronouncements of ethical dogma. Like good teachers, good business managers and leaders seek to empower their employees to make their own decisions. But responsible businesses also do not suggest that anything goes or that all values are equal. Value relativism in the workplace will likely lead only to power struggles and confl ict.

1.4 BUSINESS ETHICS AND THE LAW

Some believe that the way out of this dilemma is to concentrate on legal com- pliance. For many business people, ethics is identifi ed with the law. Business behaves ethically when it obeys the law. An ethical business, therefore, should have an ethics offi cer or an ethics department that monitors compliance with the legal and professional standards of conduct.

Unfortunately, compliance with the law alone will prove insuffi cient for ethically responsible business. It is common to think of the law as a set of rules that one can obey or violate in an unambiguous way. Traffi c laws, for example, require stopping at a red light and prohibit speeds over a certain limit. But this is a very incomplete understanding of the law. Even when there are specifi c regulations requiring or prohibiting certain action, ambiguity is always possible in the application of those regulations.

For example, consider the following case. At a management training pro- gram I recently attended, two corporate attorneys outlined some of the legal responsibilities for managers under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This

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12 Chapter 1

law requires business to make “reasonable accommodations” for workers with disabilities. This law goes on to specify some, but not all, of the conditions that would count as a disability. During the question period, one manager explained that she had an employee who suffered from asthma and she won- dered if asthma was a disability. The two attorneys conferred for a moment and answered simply: “It depends.” The law’s defi nition of a disability involves, in part, how serious the impairment is, how much it limits the worker’s life activities, and whether or not it is easily corrected by medication. Given this ambiguity, the manager must make a judgment about how to treat this worker. Imagine this manager is committed to doing the ethically correct thing, but believes that one’s ethical responsibility is to obey the law. What should this manager do? In such a case, the decision is unavoidable, the law doesn’t help, and the manager therefore is forced to make a judgment about what ought to be done.

More generally, much of the civil law governing business is based on the legal precedents of case law rather than specifi c statutes or regulations. Case law is fundamentally ambiguous in a way that statutory law is not. In a very real sense, many acts are not illegal until a court rules that they are. For ex- ample, both the attorneys and the auditors in the Enron case were expected to “push the envelope” of legality by Enron’s aggressive management practices. Given that many of Enron’s fi nancial practices were quite literally unprece- dented, their attorneys and accountants offered advice that they believed could be defended in court. Until and unless these acts were challenged in court there was a real sense in which they were perfectly legal. While admittedly “pushing the envelope” on accounting and tax regulations, what they did was not obvi- ously illegal.

These facts demonstrate that one cannot always rely on the law to decide what is right or wrong. The manager whose employee suffers from asthma will need to make a decision and the law won’t decide this for her. Sometimes, the law itself requires ethical analysis for many of its decisions. Legal decisions in the Enron case will not be based solely on legal precedent (since, by defi nition, “pushing the envelope” is to go into the gray area beyond what is obviously prohibited by precedent) but upon a judge and jury’s determination that the acts were unfair and unethical. Because most business decisions never get to the point where a judge and jury are asked to make a determination, business managers will be faced with the unavoidable responsibility of looking beyond the law for guidance in making ethical decisions.

Expressed in these terms, perhaps the major reason to study ethics is because whether we examine ethical questions explicitly or not, they are answered by each and every one of us every day in the course of living our lives. Presumably, the executives at Enron did not wake up one morning and choose to defraud their stockholders and employees. The actions we take and the lives we lead give practical answers to these fundamental ethical questions. Our only real choice is whether we answer them deliberately or unconsciously. Thus, the philosophical answer to why you should study ethics was given by Socrates over 2,000 years ago. “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

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Why Study Ethics? 13

1.5 ETHICS AND ETHOS

Ethics is a vast fi eld of study that really addresses only one question: How should we live our lives? The question of human well-being ultimately focuses on how we should live. But while this may seem a simple question, it is perhaps the most fundamental question any human can ask. We can begin to answer it by refl ecting on the nature of philosophical ethics. Within the Western tradition philosophical ethics is often traced to the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. There is perhaps no better characterization of ethics than Socrates’ statement that it “deals with no small thing, but with how we ought to live.” Like all cul- tures, the Greeks had a set of beliefs, attitudes, and values that guided their lives. The word ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, meaning “customary” or “conventional.” Most Greeks would have answered Socrates by claiming that we ought to live an ethical life. Like most people in other cultures, an ethical life for the Greeks would have been a life lived according to the beliefs, attitudes, and values that were customary in their own culture. Often, these customary values are connected to a culture’s religious worldview. To be ethical, in the sense of ethos, is to conform to what is typically done, to obey the conventions and rules of one’s society and religion. In this sense, ethics would be identical to ethos.

Taking its lead from Socrates, philosophical ethics is not content to accept this as an answer to the question of how we should live. We said earlier that each one of us answers ethical questions every day by how we choose to live our lives. For many people, this choice is made implicitly by conforming to the ethos and customs of their culture. Philosophical ethics denies that simple conformity and obedience are the best guides to how we should live. From the very beginning, philosophy rejects authority as the source of ethics and has, instead, defended the use of reason as the foundation of ethics. Philosophical ethics seeks a reasoned analysis of custom and a reasoned defense of how we ought to live.

Philosophical ethics distinguishes what people do value from what people should value. What people do in fact value is the domain of such social sciences as sociology, psychology, and anthropology. As a branch of philosophy, however, ethics asks us to step back and rationally evaluate the customary beliefs and values that people do hold. Philosophical ethics requires us to abstract our- selves from what is normally or typically done, and refl ect upon whether or not what is done, should be done, and whether what is valued, should be valued. The difference between what is valued and what ought to be valued is the difference between ethos and ethics.

Perhaps this observation helps to explain some of the skepticism surround- ing business ethics. Any philosophical focus on business ethics seems to suggest some dissatisfaction with, or misgivings about, what is normally or customarily done in business. Why step back from what is normally done unless you have reason to doubt that what is being done should be done? But while philosophi- cal ethics is critical in the sense of demanding reasons for each decision, it need not be critical in the sense of rejecting or disagreeing with the customary norms and standards.

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14 Chapter 1

As a branch of philosophical ethics, business ethics asks us to step back from our daily decisions, step back from the ethos of business, to refl ect upon how business decisions affect our lives. In what ways do the practices and deci- sions made within business promote or undermine human well-being? Raising these questions does not imply that what is normally being done is unethical. After examining ethical issues in business, we may end up defending the same values and making the same decisions that we would have originally. But what philosophical ethics does require is a conscious refl ection and analysis of those beliefs and values upon which we act. Again, to rely on Socratic wisdom, philo- sophical ethics assumes that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” As we proceed through an examination of business ethics, we are really doing little more than refl ecting upon daily events and echoing Socrates’ question: How ought we to live?

1.6 MORALITY, VIRTUES, AND SOCIAL ETHICS

How ought we to live? Each of us might ask this fundamental question of eth- ics individually, or we ask it about ourselves collectively. In this fi rst individual sense, this is a question about how I should live my life, how I should act, what I should do, what kind of person I should be. In the collective sense, this is a question about how a society ought to be structured, about how we ought to live together in community.

This fi rst sense of ethics, the concern with how each of us should live our lives, is sometimes referred to as morality. One part of morality involves examin- ing principles and rules that might help us decide what we should do. Another important part of morality involves an examination of those character traits, or virtues, that would constitute a life worth living. This distinction is sometimes made in terms of deciding how we should act, and deciding the type of person we should be. The second, more collective, area of ethics is sometimes referred to as social ethics and it raises questions of public policy, law, civic virtue, and political philosophy.

Business ethics addresses both kinds of questions. Questions of individual morality will be a major theme throughout this text. One of the most fundamen- tal goals of business ethics is to provide opportunities for students to step back from the immediate concerns of day-to-day life and ask: “What kind of person should I be?” “What should I do?” “What kind of life will I live?” “What would I have done if I worked for Bernard Madoff?” Is the kind of greed and opulent lifestyle exhibited by Madoff a model for my life?

No doubt most of us at most times of our lives are too concerned with more immediate issues such as completing an assigned task, paying our bills, and having fun, to consciously step back and ask about the meaning and value of what we do. But this is what philosophical ethics demands. Morality takes the larger perspective. Imagine late in your life looking back to refl ect on the kind of life you have led and asking: “Has this life been worth living? Am I proud of my life? Am I proud or ashamed of the person I have been? Has this

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Why Study Ethics? 15

been a full and meaningful life?” These are among the fundamental questions of morality.

Business ethics also addresses issues of social ethics and public policy. Understanding this viewpoint can start with the recognition that business in- stitutions are human creations and this fact means that humans cannot avoid responsibility for them. As the Madoff case indicates, business institutions have a tremendous infl uence on many lives. We depend on business for our jobs, our food, our health care, our homes, our livelihoods. The public policy perspec- tive invites us to step back from the actual practice of business to ask: “How should business be structured?” If we had it all to do over again, how would we arrange business institutions in our society? In this sense, public policy questions ask us to take the point of view of the citizen who is deciding how society—and business institutions are a part of society—ought to be organized and conducted. Determining the proper role for the SEC in regulating business is both a political and ethical question.

When we ask these questions we can see that important ethical questions remain even when the particular decision facing an individual appears clear- cut. As an executive at a mortgage banking fi rm you may choose to pursue a strategy of high-risk, subprime mortgages, but citizens get to decide whether or not to regulate such banking practices, and whether or not to bailout banks that fail as a result. Should such important social goods as mortgages be left in the hands of private corporations and individual traders?

1.7 ETHICAL PERSPECTIVES: MANAGERS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS

This focus on questions of morality and public policy also calls attention to the fact that one can take a variety of perspectives when examining issues in busi- ness ethics. A major part of business ethics deals with questions of management. “Business” ethics often is interpreted to mean the ethics of those charged with acting on behalf of a business. What should a business manager do in various situations? In this sense, business ethics can be interpreted as managerial ethics.

But, a decision faced from the point of view of business management raises different issues than those faced from the point of view of employees or owners. Decisions made within the mortgage banking industry were of monumental importance to consumers, employees, and the housing industry, as well as to the citizens of every state and, as it turned out, to the entire global economy. This is not to suggest that right or wrong depends on who is asking the question. But it does suggest that the types of questions asked and issues faced will vary from perspective to perspective. Because a reasoned evaluation of any ethical issue demands that all relevant concerns be addressed, this text will regularly ask you to shift perspectives and ask the moral questions from the point of view of management, employees, owners, consumers, suppliers, and citizens. Whether our future interaction with business occurs in the role of CEO or just plain con- sumer, we must examine business decisions from a variety of perspectives.

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These observations suggest that all decisions faced by business managers, from fi nance and marketing to ethics and human resources, exist in a social and legal context. This context not only helped create the situation but also deter- mines what alternatives are available. Whatever social arrangements exist, we need to recognize that each of us, in our roles as citizens, is responsible for them. A mature, responsible life requires us to step back and refl ect upon the kind of society we choose to live in, as well as the particular decisions we choose to make.

We can summarize this introduction by saying that business ethics asks us to step back from what is usually and customarily done in the business world to ask the essential normative question of ethics: “How should we live? How should I live as an individual, and how should we live in community?” Throughout this text, indeed throughout your life, you should regularly step back to ask: “What kind of person am I choosing to be?” and “What kind of society ought we to create?” To return to our opening question, the study of ethics is relevant to business because it is essential to living a responsible and meaningful life.

1.8 A MODEL FOR ETHICAL DECISION MAKING

The opening pages of this chapter spoke of the goal of business ethics as involv- ing three components: understanding ethical issues, analyzing them, and be- coming sensitive to the importance of ethics. This chapter has presented a view of ethics not as offering strict rules and moralizing sermons, but as a process of responsible decision making. Deciding how to act, how to live, who to be, are the fundamental challenges of living an ethical life. The following decision making model can help this process.5

Making a responsible decision requires that we begin with a fair and accu- rate understanding of the situation. We need to know the facts. Because ethical issues often involve complicated and emotionally charged situations, uncover- ing the facts and attaining an unbiased and complete understanding can be more diffi cult that it sounds.

A second step in responsible decision making is to identify the ethical issues at stake. It is not uncommon for people to disagree over whether or not a particu- lar case is an ethical case at all. Oftentimes what one person sees simply as an eco- nomic or legal issue, will be viewed by others as a major ethical issue. Explaining what makes an issue an ethical issue is a vital step in ethical decision making.

Once the ethical issues have been identifi ed, the next steps are to identify the people who are affected by the situation and understand how they might be affected. Who are the stakeholders in a decision? How will they be harmed or benefi ted? What will the likely consequences be? What is owed to the various stakeholders?

A next step is to consider alternative courses of action. What choices are available? A useful stimulus to this step is to put yourself in another person’s position and imagine how the situation would appear, how it would feel, from his or her perspective. Use what has been called “moral imagination” to explore

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Why Study Ethics? 17

a wide range of alternative choices and values. Consider how your decision will be interpreted from another perspective.

As you approach a decision, step back and employ what we might call the “New York Times test.” What would the public reaction be if your decision was presented in full detail on the front page of the New York Times? This is a way to ask oneself how a decision will stand up to public scrutiny. Is your decision one that you would be willing to explain and defend openly, or is it a decision that you would just as soon have kept quiet. Transparency is often a good test for responsible decision making.

Ultimately, one must make a decision. After understanding the facts, con- sidering all stakeholders, and thinking about alternatives, choose a course of action. But even after the decision has been made, responsible decision making requires us to monitor the results and learn from them. Responsible decision making is an iterative process: think-choose-act-think.

To review, a responsible ethical decision involves:

• Understanding the facts; • Identifying the ethical issues involved; • Identifying all stakeholders; • Understanding how those stakeholders will be affected; • Employing moral imagination to understand alternatives; • Considering how others will judge your decision; • Making a decision and monitoring and learning from the results.

REFLECTIONS ON THE CHAPTER DISCUSSION CASE

Refl ecting on the discussion case that opened this chapter can be useful to re- inforce each point. What are the facts of Madoff’s actions? This chapter pro- vided only a very brief case description. Are there any facts that you would need to know before making a judgment about this case? Are you missing any information?

Next, consider the range of ethical issues involved in the Madoff affair. In the description that follows, each of the words in boldface identifies an impor- tant ethical concept.

Madoff cheated thousands of people out of their money, he stole from them, lied to them, and broke many promises. He betrayed the trust and loyalty of friendships, and jeopardized the well-being of his own family. He hurt many innocent people, including charities devoted to social causes. Both Madoff and investors who sought much higher-than-normal returns, could fairly be described as greedy.

Government regulators failed in their duties to promote honesty and fairness in financial markets and to protect consumers from fraud. Madoff’s apology at his trial did not induce any sympathy among his victims, whether that was warranted or not. Most observers thought that Madoff deserved his punishment.

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18 Chapter 1

Philosophical ethics of the type introduced in the next chapter, would exam- ine each of these highlighted concepts in turn. What do we mean by “loyalty”? Why is it important to trust others? What’s wrong with breaking promises? Why is greed thought to be wrong? Should victims have sympathy? When is punish- ment deserved, and what justifies punishment? What duties does government have toward its citizens? Is charity something that everyone should support? Did investors seeking higher-than-normal returns get what they deserved?

We should also reflect on the wide range of people who were adversely affected by Madoff: clients, employees, family, friends, the financial markets themselves. Are there any parties that benefited from his actions? More gen- erally, we should understand that the decisions made within business affects the lives and well-being of millions of people every day who depend on the decisions made in business as diverse as small family-run firms to the world’s largest corporations.

The collapse of Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and the widespread harms caused by that collapse surely can be traced to the ethical corruption of specific indi- viduals. Arrogant and greedy individuals willing to violate legal and ethical standards can be faulted for many problems in business ethics. Unfortunately, such people are all too common. But we should also recognize the failure of the many “gatekeepers,” those people and institutions whose role it is to provide checks on such behavior. Auditors, accountants, attorneys, financial analysts, board members, and government regulators have roles to play within the eco- nomic system to ensure the integrity of that system and to prevent fraud and abuse. Another lesson from Madoff is that there was a systematic breakdown in this gatekeeping function.

Preventing future cases like this will require steps to be taken at each level: individual employees with higher ethical standards, internal structures within corporations to establish and enforce higher standards, legal requirements and other regulatory reforms to act as external checks upon corporate behavior.

CHAPTER REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Describe several reasons why ethics is relevant to business? Can a “good business” be an unethical business?

2. What are values? What is the difference between ethical values and other types of values? What is the difference between “value” when used as a verb, and “value” when used as a noun?

3. What is the difference between “ethics” and “ethos”? 4. How is descriptive business ethics different from normative business ethics? 5. This chapter introduced a distinction between morality, virtues, and social

ethics. How would you describe each? 6. How would you answer someone who asked: “Why should I study ethics

if I want to be an accountant?” 7. Other than business managers and owners, which other constituencies

might have a stake in business decisions?

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Why Study Ethics? 19

ENDNOTES

1A persuasive case for why this shift has occurred can be found in Value Shift by Lynn Sharp Paine (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003).

2“Business Ethics and Compliance in the Sarbanes-Oxley Era,” A Survey by Deloitte and Corporate Board Member Magazine, July 2003 (www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/ content/ethicsCompliance_f.pdf).

3Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, James Collins and Jerry Porras (New York: HarperCollins, 1994), p. 73.

4Ibid., p. 67. The Fortune article quoted is “How Philip Morris Diversifi ed Right,” Fortune, October 23, 1989.

5This decision-making model is adapted from a more detailed version offered in Business Ethics: Decision Making for Personal Integrity and Social Justice, by Laura Hartman and Joseph DesJardins (McGraw-Hill, 2nd ed., 2010).

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20

L E A R N I N G O B J E C T I V E S

After reading this chapter, you will be able to:

• Understand the basic categories and concepts of ethical theory; • Identify the errors of ethical relativism; • Explain the ethical theory of utilitarianism; • Explain how utilitarian ethics provides support for market economics and

business policy;

• Clarify several major challenges to utilitarian ethics; • Explain the rights- and duty-based ethics of deontology; • Explain the basic concepts of virtue ethics.

2 C H A P T E R Ethical Theory and Business

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Ethical Theory and Business 21

DISCUSSION CASE: AIG Bonuses and Executive Salary Caps

Perhaps no part of the fi nancial market collapse in late 2008, and the gov-ernment bailout that followed, caused as much public outcry as did the fi nancial bonuses and compensation paid to senior executives of failed com- panies. American International Group (AIG) became the target of much of this criticism. Persuaded that AIG was “too big to fail,” the U.S. federal government had committed $180 billion dollars as of March 2009 to rescue AIG from bank- ruptcy. In early March of 2009, AIG announced that it was paying $165 million in bonuses to 400 top executives in its fi nancial division, the very unit that was at the heart of the company’s collapse.

AIG cited two major factors in the defense of these bonuses: they were owed as a result of contracts that had been negotiated and signed before the col- lapse, and they were needed to provide an incentive to retain the most talented employees at a time when these people were most needed.

Critics claimed that the bonuses were an example of corporate greed run amok. They argued that contractual obligations should have been overridden and renegotiated at the point of bankruptcy. They also dismissed the effective- ness of the incentive argument since this supposed “talent” was responsible for the failed business strategy that led to AIG’s troubles in the fi rst place.

As part of the government bailout of AIG, Edward M. Liddy, an associ- ate of Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson, was named CEO of AIG in September of 2008. Former CEO Martin Sullivan resigned earlier that summer when AIG’s fi nancial troubles intensifi ed, but he did not retire without fi rst securing a $47 million severance package. In comparison, Liddy himself ac- cepted a salary of $1, although his contract held out the possibility of future bonuses.

In testimony before the U.S. Congress soon after being named CEO, Liddy was asked to explain the expense of a recent AIG-sponsored retreat for AIG salespeople. The retreat cost AIG over $400,000 and was, in Liddy’s words, a “standard practice within the industry.” Six months later, when news broke about the $165 million bonus payments, Liddy suggested that the executives consider doing “the right thing” and return the bonuses, describing them as “distasteful.”

Within months of taking offi ce, the Obama administration took steps to limit executive compensation at fi rms that accepted signifi cant govern- ment bailout money, including the retirement packages of the former CEOs of Citigroup, General Motors, and Bank of America. Announcing this action, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner observed that “this fi nancial crisis had many signifi cant causes, but executive compensation practices were a con- tributing factor.”

Excessive compensation for corporate executives has been a regular news story over the past decade. Fortune magazine’s cover story of the June 15, 2001 was titled “Inside the Great CEO Pay Heist.” This well-respected business mag- azine detailed how many top corporate executives now receive “gargantuan

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22 Chapter 2

pay packages unlike any seen before.” In the words of Fortune’s headline, “Executive compensation has become highway robbery—we all know that.”1 This story documented a phenomenon that had been growing signifi cantly in the 1990s.

In 1960 the after-tax average pay for corporate chief executive offi cers (CEOs) was 12 times the average pay earned by factory workers. By 1974 that factor had risen to 35 times the average. In 1995, the factor had risen to 100 as estimated by BusinessWeek, 35 times the average pay received by fac- tory workers. A 1998 Fortune magazine article estimated the factor had risen to 182.

Speaking out at the time of the AIG bonus controversy, Vice President Joseph Biden cited a report of the Economic Policy Institute that claimed CEO pay had risen to 275 times the average worker pay by 2007. Biden pointed out that with 260 working days in the year, this fi gure meant that CEO’s made more money each day than the average worker earned all year.

At the time that the AIG bonuses were made public, the Obama adminis- tration announced a new policy that would cap pay at $500,000 for CEOs of companies receiving federal bailout money. In announcing the policy, President Obama said, “We all need to take responsibility. And this includes executives at major fi nancial fi rms who turned to the American people, hat in hand, when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves their customary lavish bo- nuses . . . that’s the height of irresponsibility. That’s shameful. And that’s ex- actly the kind of disregard for the costs and consequences of their actions that brought about this crisis: a culture of narrow self-interest and short-term gain at the expense of everything else.”

By the end of 2009, more than 10 of the largest fi nancial institutions that had received federal bailout money, including such fi rms as Goldman Sachs, Citi- group, and Bank of America, had repaid their federal loans and thus avoided the federally mandated salary caps.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. The United States has established a minimum wage law. Should there be a maximum wage law?

2. What standards should be used to establish a fair wage? Are the standards for executives different from those for hourly workers? What factors determine what someone deserves for pay?

3. Should salary be tied to results such that an executive whose company loses money should earn less than an executive whose company makes a profit?

4. Are large salaries more justified as incentives to produce beneficial con- sequences, or as rewards for past accomplishments? Are there available alternatives to money that might serve as incentives and rewards?

5. Can anyone ever make too much money for their own good?

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Ethical Theory and Business 23

2.1 INTRODUCTION

In the previous chapter I suggested that the language and concepts of ethics are as unavoidable in business as are the language and concepts of other areas within business education. The issue of executive compensation demonstrates how business activities raise fundamental questions of fairness, justice, desert, virtue, and rights. If it is true that the language of ethics is inextricably a part of business, then it is advisable to begin our examination of business ethics with a short introduction to some of the basics of philosophical ethics. Just as you need to have a familiarity with the language and concepts of economics and manage- ment to make responsible business decisions so, too, you need a basic familiar- ity with ethics. This chapter will introduce some of the key concepts of ethics and show how these are both relevant and necessary for any study of business.

Chapter 1 introduced ethics as a process of reasoning about what is perhaps the most signifi cant question any human being can ask: How should I live my life? But, of course, this question is not new; every major philosophical, cultural, political, and religious tradition in human history has grappled with it. In light of this, it would be a mistake to ignore these traditions as we begin to examine ethical issues in business. Nevertheless, many students think that discussions of ethical theories and philosophical ethics are too abstract to be of much help in business. Discussion of ethical “theories” often seems to be too theoretical to be of much relevance to business. Throughout this chapter, I hope to suggest a more accessible understanding of ethical theories, one that will shed some light on the practical and pragmatic application of these theories to actual problems faced by businesspeople.

An ethical theory is nothing more than an attempt to provide a systematic answer to the fundamental ethical question: How should human beings live their lives? Ethical theories attempt to answer the question of how we should live, but they also give reasons to support their answer. Ethics seeks to provide a rational justifi cation for why we should act and decide in a particular prescribed way. Anyone can offer advice for what you should do and how you should act, but a philosophical and reasoned ethics must answer the “Why?” question as well.

As a fi rst step, let us refl ect upon the reasoning that was offered to support and criticize the bonuses paid to AIG executives. These reasons fall into three general categories. Some reasons appeal to the consequences of paying the bo- nuses: they either will, or will not, provide incentives for producing good work and benefi cial future consequences. Other reasons appeal to certain principles: one should not break a contractual promise, even if it has unpopular results; one should never benefi t from serious harms that have been caused by one’s own actions. Other reasons cite matters of personal character: accepting bonuses is greedy, or distasteful. Or, paying the bonuses that were due in the face of public criticism was courageous and had to be done as a matter of integrity.

As it turns out, the three major traditions of ethical theory that we shall rely on in this text are represented by these three categories. This should be no surprise since ethical traditions in philosophy refl ect common ways to think and reason about how we should live and what we should do. Ethics of

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24 Chapter 2

consequences, ethics of principles, and ethics of personal character are the tradi- tions that will be introduced in this chapter.

This chapter will introduce three ethical traditions that have proven in- fl uential in the development of business ethics and that have a very practical relevance in evaluating ethical issues in contemporary business. Utilitarianism is an ethical tradition that directs us to make decisions based on the overall con- sequences of our acts. Deciding that executive compensation is justifi ed because it provides incentives for future work is a consequentialist approach. Great rewards provide a strong incentive for executives to work hard on behalf of shareholders. Stock options especially are thought to operate in this way by connecting certain future consequences with performance.2

Deontological ethical traditions direct us to decide on the basis of moral prin- ciples such as keeping your promises or giving people what they deserve. Some defenders of high CEO pay cite the agreement made between the executive and the company, acting through the board of directors. In effect, the company made a promise and therefore has an obligation to make good on it. Another defense suggests that such pay is something that is deserved for work accomplished or for the risks taken by the CEO. Thus, high salary is something that has been earned. Reasoning that justifi es executive compensation as a contractual duty is a principle-based, deontological argument. Principles, promises, obligations, deserved recompense, and duty are concepts that are at the heart of deontological ethics.

Finally, virtue ethics directs us to consider the moral character of individu- als and how various character traits can contribute to, or obstruct, a happy and meaningful human life. Reasoning that faults executive compensation as greedy, distasteful, and as motivated by narrow self-interest adopts a virtue-based per- spective on ethics. The implication is that a greedy person who does distasteful and selfi sh things will not lead a fulfi lling human life.

We will examine these arguments in more depth later in this chapter. For now, the crucial thing to recognize is the inescapability of the language of ethics. Debates surrounding CEO pay are fundamentally debates about ethics: What do people deserve? What produces benefi cial overall consequences? What is one’s duty? What is fair or unfair, just or unjust? What is wrong with being greedy?

Before turning to these theories, let us consider a philosophical perspec- tive that raises a signifi cant challenge to the very legitimacy of reasoning about ethics. Ethical relativism is a view that believes that all ethical judgments are relative to the person or culture that makes them. It is also not uncommon to fi nd this perspective widely held both in and out of the business community. Thinking through an analysis of ethical relativism in a careful manner will help demonstrate how one can, in fact, reason in and about ethical issues.

2.2 ETHICAL RELATIVISM AND REASONING IN ETHICS

The day on which I wrote this began with a morning class in business ethics. After class, a student remained to ask some questions about a paper assignment that I had returned during the previous class meeting. This student wanted to

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Ethical Theory and Business 25

know how I had graded her paper, particularly why she had received an un- expectedly low grade. When I pointed out that much of the paper offered little more than her opinions, she asked a question that is familiar to many ethics teachers. “How can you say that my opinions are wrong? Isn’t everyone en- titled to their own opinions?” I answered that while people may be entitled to hold any opinion they wished, not all opinions are equal. Some are right, some are wrong, some are reasonable and some are unreasonable, some are thought- ful and others are less thoughtful. “But this is ethics,” she responded. “Who’s to say what’s right or wrong?”

I suggested that anyone who had reasons could say what was right or wrong and asked if she herself didn’t have some reasons to support her opinions. Why did she believe what she had written? She responded that she didn’t know, but that it was “just the way I feel.”

I suspect that this skeptical reaction is familiar to many students. Ethics is not like math, science, or accounting. One cannot look up the right answer or calculate the answer with mathematical precision. One cannot prove the truth of an ethical judgment in the way that one can offer a proof in geometry. One cannot run an experiment that supports, or refutes, an ethical opinion. Unlike these other disciplines, ethics appears to rest on mere opinion. People differ about ethical judgments, and there seems no rational way to decide between competing conclusions. Ethical issues seem based in personal feelings and emo- tions. It is very likely that the example of executives earning hundreds of mil- lions of dollars a year causes strong emotional reactions for many people. But is that all there is to this case? Is it just a matter of envy or jealousy? Is the criticism simply a claim that they are greedy? Or, are there reasons for thinking that there is something wrong here? Is there any way to prove your conclusion?

There is an important perspective within the philosophical study of ethics, called ethical relativism, which holds that ethical values and judgments are ulti- mately dependent upon, or relative to, one’s culture, society, or personal feel- ings. In this sense, ethics truly is simply a matter of opinion, be it the opinion of one’s self, culture, society, or religion. Ethical relativism presents a serious challenge to any consideration of ethics. Relativism denies that we can make rational or objective ethical judgments. There is no right or wrong, moral or im- moral, except in terms of a particular culture or society.

The student who remained after class was implicitly assuming a version of ethical relativism. In her view, ethical judgments were a matter of opinion and if two people differed in their opinions, there was no legitimate way to decide between them. Each person is entitled to their own opinion, and no one opinion is more legitimate or more correct than another.

Relativism represents a serious challenge to ethics, including business eth- ics, because if it is correct there is no reason to continue our study of ethics. If all opinions are equally valid, then it makes little sense for us to attempt to evalu- ate ethical judgments in business. If it were ethically right for Aaron Feuerstein to rebuild his plant and pay his workers, it could be just as right for a different person from a different background to move operations to Taiwan or Mexico. If relativism is correct, then at best business ethics can help explicate the cultural

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26 Chapter 2

or social values that underlie our ethical judgments, but it can do little to evalu- ate them. Philosophical ethics, from the relativist perspective, becomes little more than a process of values clarifi cation in which we can clarify and elucidate our values but not justify them.

Relativism is especially important as we think about ethical issues involving international business. Consider the issues raised by child labor. Some Western businesses have been criticized for using suppliers who rely on child laborers working under harsh conditions for long hours and very low wages to produce expensive consumer goods like sneakers and designer clothing. A common re- sponse to such criticism points out that such working conditions are accepted in the host country and, therefore, Western critics have no justifi cation for imposing their own cultural norms on others. This, in a nutshell, is ethical relativism.

Let us use another example from business ethics, a case of sexual harass- ment, and consider how my relativist student might scrutinize it. One form of sexual harassment occurs when submission to sexual favors is made a condition of employment. (This is called quid pro quo harassment.) Imagine a male manager telling a female job applicant that she would be hired only if she submitted to his sexual advances. Now imagine that our relativist concludes that the criticism of harassment is simply a matter of opinion, that all opinions are equally valid, and that while the women may feel that harassment is wrong, the manager may feel that it is right. (He might answer criticism as did my student, “it’s just the way I feel.”) From the relativist perspective, each opinion or feeling is equally valid. Is there any way to defend the claim that such harassment is unethical?

One might argue, among other things, that sexual harassment would sub- ject a woman to unfair workplace discrimination. The inequality of power in this situation places the woman in the unacceptable position of having to choose between her livelihood and her own sexual integrity. Such a choice is fundamentally coercive and threatening. One might point out that the male manager would unlikely accept as a general rule the principle that employ- ers are justifi ed in using threats to coerce employees into submitting to such degrading acts. In developing such arguments, we seem to have moved the discussion from mere opinion to a more reasoned conclusion.

Of course, the relativist could argue that such values as equality, fairness, integrity, self-respect, and freedom from coercion and threats are all themselves a matter of personal or social opinion. From the relativist perspective, all that we have shown is that harassment is wrong as long as you assume that people de- serve a workplace that is free from discrimination and threats. But who is to say that people do deserve such things? While we may have advanced the debate somewhat, we still haven’t proven to the relativist that harassment is wrong.

Let us consider how the debate has been advanced. If, like my student, we start with mere opinions and feelings, then this discussion has moved beyond mere opinion by appealing to certain values and principles that justify and legitimize that opinion. This is no longer mere opinion, but opinion based on principle. In developing this argument we would point to certain facts, such as the disproportionate power relationship that exists between job applicant and employer. We would point out the crucial importance that jobs play in our

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Ethical Theory and Business 27

lives and the harms that can occur from the loss of a job. We could explain the psychological good of self-respect, offer a conceptual analysis of integrity and its value to the self, and discuss the importance of personal autonomy. We could take a social perspective and consider the present status of women in the work- place, and the social harms that can result from discrimination. And very im- portantly, we would employ the careful and rigorous rules of logic throughout our reasoning. Conclusions reached after this process surely are more reason- able and justifi ed than mere opinion.

In the face of such reasoning, the relativist could continue to insist on proof and this demand could go on indefi nitely. (Although, as I would point out to my student, a paper that argues against harassment by reasoning along the lines suggested above would be more reasonable, and therefore receive a higher grade, than one which simply asserts the opinion that harassment is wrong be- cause “that’s just the way I feel.”) But note that at this point the relativist would have to reject not only the original conclusion (sexual harassment is wrong) but also a wide variety of other beliefs and values (everyone should be treated with equal respect, people should be free from coercion and threats, self-respect is good, loss of dignity is harmful, and so forth). The costs of relativism—what you would need to give up to maintain it—just got much higher. If the relativ- ist is determined enough, and if her standards of proof are high enough, then perhaps we could never satisfy the demand for proof.

We’ll set more modest goals for this text. Throughout this book, I will assume that we can reason about ethical matters and that it is possible to rationally de- fend some views against others. I will assume that a conclusion defended by appeal to such values as equality, fairness, freedom from coercion, integrity, freedom from harm, and honesty (among others) is a conclusion that is more reasonable than one that is simply asserted as a matter of personal feelings or opinion. A conclusion that is reached through careful logical analysis and rea- soning is rationally better than one that is simply asserted. An argument that goes on to elucidate such values as equality, fairness, and freedom from coer- cion is more rational still.

We may discover that the most interesting and challenging ethical contro- versies involve a clash between two or more of such values. I will also assume that it is exactly at such points that more, rather than less, rigorous and care- ful reasoning is required. For example, some might argue that as long as the woman was not physically prevented from walking away, her freedom was not violated by the threat of job loss. Others might argue that freedom is violated when such central human needs as a job are threatened as the means for getting someone to conform to the desires of a more powerful person. Disputes about the meaning and scope of such fundamental values provide a greater justifi ca- tion for the need of ethics.

Perhaps, then, we can learn from ethical relativism, and take it as a chal- lenge to our own complacency and laziness. Whenever we are ready to give up and simply assume that our own opinions are adequate, let us call to mind the relativist question as a challenge: “Who is to say what’s right?” It will be a chal- lenge worth answering.