Discussion on Ethical Responsibility

Ethical Responsibility

Objective

Define a business or industry code of ethics

Discussion Overview

This discussion forum examines ethical responsibilities of a business.

Deliverables

Your participation in the discussion forum, including the following:

• Responses to the initial questions
• Responses to at least two other students' posts

Step 1 Read the following scenario.

A perpetual debate revolves around the roles and activities of business owners in contributing to the greater social good. Promoting the so-called proactive stance, some people argue that businesses should be socially responsible by seeking opportunities to benefit the society in which they are permitted to conduct their affairs. Others maintain that because businesses exist to make profits for owners, they have no further obligation to society than that (the defensive stance).

Step 2 Identify a specific business that has been in the news lately.

Step 3 Post a response to the following on the discussion board.

Post your response to the following on the discussion board. If appropriate, include personal experience in your response.

• For the business identified in Step 2, post one example of how this business might choose to contribute to the greater social good.

• Post one example of how this business might choose to ignore contributing to the greater social good over making a profit.

• In general, which side of this ongoing debate is easier to defend? Why?

• Does this change for non-business organizations such as universities, government units, health care organizations, etc.?

• How might either side of this debate affect different stakeholders?

• Does this situation represent social responsibility or ethics or both? Should a code of ethics address social responsibility? Explain briefly.