Business Ethics This page intentionally left blank SEVENTH EDITION Business Ethics William H Shaw San Jose State University Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States Business Ethics, Seventh Edition William H Shaw Sr Sponsoring Editor, Philosophy and Religion: Joann Kozyrev Development Editor: Ian Lague Assistant Editor: Nathan Gamache Editorial Assistant: Michaela Henry © 2011, 2008, 2005 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribution, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher Media Editor: Diane Akerman Marketing Manager: Mark T Haynes Marketing Communications Manager: Laura Localio Content Project Management: PrePressPMG Art Director: Faith Brosnan For product information and technology assistance, contact us at Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706 For permission to use material from this text or product, submit all requests online at www.cengage.com/permissions Further permissions questions can be emailed to permissionrequest@cengage.com Production Technology Analyst: Jeff Joubert Print Buyer: Linda Hsu Rights Acquisition Account Manager, Text: Roberta Broyer Permissions Account Manager, Images/Media: Mandy Groszko Production Service: PrePressPMG Cover Designer: Althea Chen Cover Image: © Sven Hagolani/Getty Images Compositor: PrePressPMG Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939799 Student Edition: ISBN-13: 978-0-495-80876-3 ISBN-10: 0-495-80876-8 Wadsworth 20 Channel Center Street Boston, MA 02210 USA Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions with office locations around the globe, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil and Japan Locate your local office at international.cengage.com/region Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by Nelson Education, Ltd For your course and learning solutions, visit www.cengage.com Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our preferred online store www.CengageBrain.com Printed in the United States of America 14 13 12 11 10 CONTENTS P REF AC E PART ix Moral Philosophy and Business 1 The Nature of Morality Ethics Moral Versus Nonmoral Standards Religion and Morality 15 Ethical Relativism 17 Having Moral Principles 20 Morality and Personal Values 24 Individual Integrity and Responsibility 25 Moral Reasoning 29 Study Corner 36 CASE 1.1 Made in the U.S.A.—Dumped in Brazil, Africa, Iraq… 37 CASE 1.2 The A7D Affair 40 Normative Theories of Ethics 45 Consequentialist and Nonconsequentialist Theories Egoism 49 Utilitarianism 53 Kant’s Ethics 60 Other Nonconsequentialist Perspectives 67 Utilitarianism Once More 73 49 v vi Contents Moral Decision Making: Toward a Synthesis Study Corner 79 CASE 2.1 Hacking into Harvard 79 CASE 2.2 CASE 2.3 The Ford Pinto 82 Blood for Sale 86 76 Justice and Economic Distribution 89 The Nature of Justice 95 The Utilitarian View 98 The Libertarian Approach 102 Rawls’s Theory of Justice 109 Study Corner 118 PART 119 CASE 3.1 Eminent Domain CASE 3.2 Battling over Bottled Water 121 CASE 3.3 Poverty in America 123 American Business and Its Basis 127 The Nature of Capitalism 129 Capitalism 132 Key Features of Capitalism 135 Moral Justifications of Capitalism 138 Criticisms of Capitalism 141 Today’s Economic Challenges 150 Study Corner 156 CASE 4.1 Licensing and Laissez Faire CASE 4.2 An Internet Parasite 160 CASE 4.3 CASE 4.4 One Nation Under Wal-Mart A New Work Ethic? 164 157 162 Corporations 167 The Limited-Liability Company 170 Corporate Moral Agency 172 Rival Views of Corporate Responsibility 177 Debating Corporate Responsibility 184 Institutionalizing Ethics Within Corporations 189 Study Corner 195 Contents PART CASE 5.1 CASE 5.2 Yahoo in China 196 Levi Strauss at Home and Abroad 198 CASE 5.3 CASE 5.4 Free Speech or False Advertising? Charity to Scouts? 204 Business and Society 203 207 Consumers 209 Product Safety 213 Other Areas of Business Responsibility 225 Deception and Unfairness in Advertising 234 The Debate Over Advertising 245 Study Corner 249 CASE 6.1 CASE 6.2 Breast Implants 250 Hot Coffee at McDonald’s CASE 6.3 CASE 6.4 Sniffing Glue Could Snuff Profits Drug Dilemmas 255 252 254 The Environment 259 Business and Ecology 264 The Ethics of Environmental Protection 268 Achieving Our Environmental Goals 274 Delving Deeper Into Environmental Ethics 279 Study Corner 287 PART CASE 7.1 CASE 7.2 Hazardous Homes in Herculaneum Poverty and Pollution 290 CASE 7.3 CASE 7.4 The Fordasaurus 292 The Fight over the Redwoods 288 294 The Organization and the People in It The Workplace (1): Basic Issues 301 Civil Liberties in the Workplace Hiring 309 Promotions 316 Discipline and Discharge 318 Wages 321 304 299 vii viii Contents Labor Unions 325 Study Corner 333 334 CASE 8.1 AIDS in the Workplace CASE 8.2 CASE 8.3 Web Porn at Work 336 Speaking Out about Malt 337 CASE 8.4 CASE 8.5 Old Smoke 339 Have Gun, Will Travel… to Work 340 The Workplace (2): Today’s Challenges 343 Organizational Influence in Private Lives Obtaining Information 351 Working Conditions 358 Redesigning Work 367 Study Corner 371 10 CASE 9.1 CASE 9.2 Unprofessional Conduct? 372 Testing for Honesty 373 CASE 9.3 CASE 9.4 She Snoops to Conquer 376 Protecting the Unborn at Work CASE 9.5 The Mommy Track 377 380 Moral Choices Facing Employees 383 Obligations to the Firm 386 Abuse of Official Position 390 Bribes and Kickbacks 395 Gifts and Entertainment 399 Conflicting Obligations 402 Whistle-Blowing 404 Self-Interest and Moral Obligation Study Corner 413 11 346 409 CASE 10.1 Changing Jobs and Changing Loyalties CASE 10.2 CASE 10.3 Two Who Made Waves for the Navy The Housing Allowance 417 CASE 10.4 Ethically Dubious Conduct 419 413 414 Job Discrimination 421 The Meaning Of Job Discrimination 425 Evidence Of Discrimination 427 Affirmative Action: The Legal Context 432 Affirmative Action: The Moral Issues 437 Contents Comparable Worth 440 Sexual Harassment 442 Study Corner 447 CASE 11.1 CASE 11.2 Minority Set-Asides 447 Hoop Dreams 450 CASE 11.3 CASE 11.4 Consenting to Sexual Harassment Facial Discrimination 453 451 SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING 455 NOTES 460 INDEX 483 ix ... ethics, declaring that the term is a contradiction or that business has no ethics Such people take themselves to be worldly and realistic They think they have a down-to-earth idea of how things... where there is a food shortage On his way there, he has seen other traders setting sail for Rhodes with substantial cargos of grain Should he tell the people of Rhodes that more wheat is on the... negatives violates the basic conventions of proper language usage Photographing the finish of a horse race with low-speed film is poor photographic technique In each case a standard is violated—fashion,