2: Ethics and Social Responsibility

By the end of the chapter, you should be able to:

1. Define business ethics and explain what it means to act ethically in business.
2. Explain why we study business ethics.
3. Identify ethical issues that you might face in business, such as insider trading, conflicts of interest, and bribery, and explain rationalizations for unethical behaviour.
4. Identify steps you can take to maintain your honesty and integrity in a business environment.
5. Define corporate social responsibility and explain how organizations are responsible to their stakeholders, including owners, employees, customers, and the community.
6. Discuss how you can identify an ethical organization, and how organizations can prevent behaviour like sexual harassment.
7. Recognize how to avoid an ethical lapse, and why you should not rationalize when making decisions.