Exercise 1: Building Better Business Ethics

Learning Objectives and Outcomes

• Identify ethical issues related to business and industry.
• Describe good ethical values in the business setting.
• Apply concepts of conflict of interest whistle blowers and breach of fiduciary obligations in business, criminal justice, and health care.
• Explain the development of ethics codes in the workplace.
• Explore cultural differences that can complicate business ethics.
• Describe the concept of corporate social responsibility.

Assignment Requirements

Review and answer the questions set forth below regarding issues in the business sector:

Question 1: Today, nearly every employer in the business, health care, and criminal justice fields requires background checks, investigations, drug testing, and psychological testing of the employee before employment can commence. Does this process already create animosity and distrust between the employer and the employee at the very beginning of the relationship? How does that affect the business's ability to implement and enforce ethics codes with such employees?

Question 2: How can a business make sure that an employee is familiar with the provisions of its ethics code and policies? How often should a business entity conduct ethics training? Do you think business ethics would be as popular of a topic and emphasized as much by schools and businesses today if it weren't for all the business ethical scandals which have taken place in the past 15-20 years? Explain.

Remember to:

• Answer each question fully and explain and justify your answers.
• Organize your thoughts on these issues concisely and integrate the ideas discussed in class.

You will be graded on the following criteria:

• The organization of your thoughts in response to the issues proposed in the exercise scenario.
• Your ability to integrate the concepts of business ethics into analysis of your response to the issues proposed in the exercise scenario.
• Your ability to draw upon examples and integrate them into your response. Your ability to ultimately address the questions raised by the exercise scenario.