Business Ethics
Posted by andreasw on Oct 27, 2010 at 12:18 am
I subscribe to the LinkedIn group “Business Ethics” and someone recently posted a list of “10 Myths about Business Ethics.” According to Carter McNamara, they are:
1. Myth: Business ethics is more a matter of religion than management.
2. Myth: Our employees are ethical so we don’t need attention to business ethics.
3. Myth: Business ethics is a discipline best led by philosophers, academics and theologians.
4. Myth: Business ethics is superfluous — it only asserts the obvious: “do good!”
5. Myth: Business ethics is a matter of the good guys preaching to the bad guys.
6. Myth: Business ethics in the new policeperson on the block.
7. Myth: Ethics can’t be managed.
8. Myth: Business ethics and social responsibility are the same thing.
9. Myth: Our organization is not in trouble with the law, so we’re ethical.
10. Myth: Managing ethics in the workplace has little practical relevance.
Do you agree with these? What myth do you find is out there with regards to business ethics?
Steven Mintz
The myth I would add is that “Ethics can’t be learned.” This implies a person’s ethics are formed early in life and can’t be changed by following positive examples and role models and being influenced by ethics education.