Legal Rules and Ethical Responsibilities

Questions, Projects, and Exercises 1/30/15

2.) Why might legal rules be insufficient for fulfilling one's ethical responsibilities? Can you think of cases in which a business person has done something legally right, but ethically wrong? What about the opposite--are there situations in which a business person might have acted in a way that was legally wrong but ethically right?

Because the law is the set of rules that guide our conduct in society and enforceable through public agencies. For business environment, the law provides an important guide to ethical decision making. But legal norms and ethical norms are not identical nor do they always agree. I have seen a lot of situations where people are legally right but ethically wrong in the work place. I've seen people sell different products to customers, the terms specified in the contract that they will not be responsible for maintenance such as natural disasters, fires or lighting. Unfortunately, there are quite a lot of products damaged by lighting just after 2 or 3 days of use. Legally by contract, the companies were not obligated to repair the failed devices.

3.) What might be some benefits and costs of acting unethically in business? Distinguish between benefits and harms to the individual and benefits and harms to the firm.

Behaving unethically may have some short term benefits for a company, however in the long term it will harm stakeholder support. The short time benefits make companies look more financially profitable than they actually are. As a result the stockholder value of the company increases, and anyone with stock profits directly. A company might get a lucrative contract. For example, because some money was paid to the management team of the contacting organization not because quality of proposal. Companies sometimes behave in ways that show a lack of respect of respect for customers or a lack of concern with public safety.

6.) Do an Internet search for recent news stories about oil spills. Do any of those stories report behaviors that seem especially wise or unwise on the part of the oil companies involved? Do you think that controversies over big pipeline projects like the Keystone Pipeline alter how people evaluate the ethics of oil-spill cleanups?