Ethics

Key Term and why you are interested in it

Ethics is defined as “the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation”. “Business ethics is defined as “the study of ethical dilemmas, values, and decision making in the world of business”, which is not considered as a “separate disciple from ethics, and international business ethics, “examines many practical issues that result from international context of business” (Satterlee, 2009).

Ethics is an interesting term because it is a large concept and it has many variables to consider. There are issues that constantly test our ethics, and we make choices that will sometimes fall into gray areas. Ethics is also interesting because different cultures may or may not have different opinions as to what ethics is, or what is considered ethical conduct. Researching this term can give some insights into the ethical differences of different cultures.

Explanation of the Key Term

Satterlee tells us that Ethics is the “study of morality and standards of conduct”. He also states that U.S. firms developed, and implemented standards of conduct for employees, this way it would serve as a guideline, a way of showing them how they should “comport” themselves when they are representing a company. There are firms that hire consultants and ethic experts that will teach corporate ethics, so that they can ensure that employees will behave in an ethical manner. We will see that what one culture may consider moral may not be accepted by another country as being moral (Satterlee, 2009).

Between cultures, ethical differences can be complex and vast. The author Satterlee gives us the following example in “Cross Border Commerce”; he states that ethical differences can be seen in the...

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... expand globally and ethical conduct of the professionals and employees is important because the cultural diversity that is associated with their expansion(s) can undermine shared cultural and ethical values. Understanding of other cultures and recognizing the differences help, however, it may not be sufficient in providing sustainable guidelines of proper ethical behavior.

Each article that was researched had the key concept/term in common and each article contained information on the issues and problems as well as solutions related to ethics, might it be international, global, etc. These articles gave insight into business ethics, the definition of ethics, the differences in ethics across cultures and each one examined different countries on a global scale and the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation” (Satterlee, 2009).