Ethics

Ethics Knowing what ought to be done, and having the will to do it.

Ethics Con’t Ethics as the theoretical perspective provided by a larger theory of social justice A set of well grounded general principles that allow us to determine what fundamental rights and responsibilities all individual in society have. A conception of the sorts of basic political, social, and economic intuitions that ensure individuals’ fundamental rights are realized and fundamental responsibilities are upheld.

Business Ethics The general concept of business ethics embraces a large scope, ranging from broad topics such as meaning of ethics and the role of business activity to such narrow issues as individual ethical dilemmas confronted by managers in the specific industries.

Hospitality Business Ethics In a 1988 survey of 1000 American Hotel & Motel Association (AH&MA) member hotels of 300 rooms or more, hoteliers were asked to define ethics. The participants provided a variety of responses, but had one central thread, treating others in a fair and equitable manner, the Golden Rule (Hall, 1992). The Golden Rule is doing as you would have others do to you.

Five Principals Five principles for hospitality managers to test themselves before making a decision. is the decision made based on legal practice? Is the decision fair for anyone? Does the decision hurt anyone? Have I been Honest with those affected? Can I live with my decision?

….Continued A harmonious and healthy society is heavily dependent upon people’s ethical philosophy and ethical practices.

Significance of Ethics Ethics is a growing concern for American society, particularly in the hospitality industry. It is a topic that is difficult to define and hard to grasp. Educators and practitioners alike are struggling with this issue.

….Continued Dopson and Nelson (2003) revealed that hotel executives, hotel human resource specialist, and alumni of the sponsored school ranked ethics the highest among 37 content areas in terms of required and important programs content areas for graduates of the U.S. hospitality programs. The same groups of professionals ranked human resources, accounting, laboratory experiences, and total quality management (TQM) as other most important content areas.

Ethics for Career Development A student’s business ethics education at school could contribute to the student’s long term career development and elevate the hospitality industry’s quality and prosperity. Jaszay (2002) found that business ethics could be taught and ethics courses or seminars were of benefit to hospitality students.

Teaching Ethics Furthermore, the hospitality industry and hospitality programs should consider incorporating ethics across the curriculum and using scenarios and case studies to teach ethics, which is considered the best method.

The Goal The ultimate goal of business ethics was simply to raise business practitioners’ awareness of moral issues. Managers in contemporary society must deal with many legal-ethical dilemmas.

Dilemmas Although an individual always follows corporate rules and policies, it does not mean that this individual is always ethical. The manager decides to accept her own pay raise while the company decides not to increase the hourly employees’ average pay due to the company’s financial problems.

Profit Oriented Decision Making If a corporation’s business practices are to only emphasize maximizing profits, this corporation will have different methods of evaluating it’s business strategy compared to a moral-oriented company. In the past, companies tended to asses the business performance according to the profit results. In some cases, ethical issues might be neglected and sacrificed.

Inclusive Business Ethics McDonald’s can be used as an example to illustrate “inclusive” business ethics. McDonald’s implemented diversity programs in 1979 as a part of it’s strategic plan. Diversity is always part of the culture and is included in company orientations. They also have both internal and external training programs. Diversity counseling is also available for their employees.

Multinational Companies Due to global business growing rapidly, the study of business ethics in multinational companies (MNCs) is definitely worthwhile for scholars and organization managers in all countries. There are three themes identified regarding the business ethics of MNCs

Business Ethics of MNCs What is the potential harm that can result when a multinational company (MNC) does business in a less developed country? How does one act when faced with norms that differ from one’s own? What is the role that individual companies and business associations play in ensuring ethical conduct of business?