Applied Business Ethics: An Exploration of the Use and Impact of Ethical Practices in the Workplace

Business organizations, and those persons who lead them, invest in them, work for them, and who are affected by them, have long struggled to find a reliable framework to identify and resolve dilemmas to which there is no clear "right" or "wrong" decision - where a specific moral standard or belief system does not, or cannot, provide a readily apparent answer. Particularly over the past three decades, theorists and business managers alike have attempted to address this problem by experimenting with a variety of decision-making models. Two of the most popular - and most widely taught - models are stakeholder theory and corporate social responsibility. They are described as "ethical," which, in turn, is understood as being identical to "moral." However, in the practical to-and-fro of everyday business operations, these two models - as well as the viewpoint that ethics are equal to morals - fall short of what business organizations need.Applied Business Ethics: An Exploration of the Use and Impact of Ethical Practices in the Workplace explores a more real-world methodology, which acknowledges every legitimate business' underlying purpose - its reason for existence: to advance constructive, sustainable prosperity. Author Steven L. Lovett takes a "tool-kit" approach to the topic of ethical decision-making in the workplace, drawing from an assortment of ethical paradigms to help readers construct an adaptable, valid framework for tackling almost any dilemma in an organizational setting. Packed with thought experiments, examples, and real-world applications, this fully updated, new edition is designed to increase students' ethical competence and critical thinking skills.