Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Business Ethics and Virtue Ethics - Case Study Example The core of virtue ethics is perfecting attributes such as integrity that makes the individual truly ethical (Crisp 87). Virtue ethics requires the existence of a society that supports and nurtures these virtues. Virtue ethics also requires identification of role models in the society or the moral exemplars that disseminate morality or act of benchmarks of moral character in the society. A virtuous individual will try to emulate the moral exemplars in the community (Mizzoni 105). Virtues develop through continuous learning and practice in ethical decision making. According to Aristotle, a person will improve his integrity and character through repeated self-discipline (Crisp 92). Business ethics entails the principles and standards that shape behavior in the business world. Management roles and especially leadership requires an individual to exercise high ethical standards in making decisions ((Hursthouse 36). For instance, the human resource manager should not disclose employee priv ate information like disease history (Hursthouse 29). Managers face many instances of conflict of interest in day to day running of the business. The management is supposed to make ethical decisions that cater for the welfare of all employees. Most business transactions involve elements of trust, fairness and self-control (Hursthouse 63). Virtue ethics can be applied in business ethics to reduce the instances of corruption and fraud. For instance, a virtuous employee who value trustworthy will consider it wrong to receive kickbacks from a supplier of the organization. Other employees will such employee ethical, but they will also consider the society expectations on such behavior. Unethical behavior results to lost business revenues and high costs of operation thus adversely affecting the profitability and return to the stakeholders. Virtuous salespersons will advise the customer on the health risks associated with the product before closing the sale (Darwall 82). Virtues like trust will eliminate the agency costs associated with monitoring contracts and agreements with stakeholders. Empathy will help the business in identifying and meeting customer needs since economic success depends on courteous treatment of the customers (Statman 45). Honesty is a human characteristic that defines a virtuous person. Honest agents will tell the truth and make true promises (Dobson 1). An honest person can easily be trusted by others since he never lie, steal or cheat. Virtue ethics assert that if children are directed to be honest, they must also be taught the prize of truth. Fairness is another ethical virtue that guides ethical decision making. Fairness entails compliance with the accepted standards of conduct and making decisions without discrimination (Darwall 37). According to Fairness approach by Aristotle, favoritism will benefit a section of the society without any justifiable reason (Dobson 3). Another ethical virtue that individuals try to nurture is justice. Aqui nas has defined justice as the consistent will to render everyone his due. Justice entails doing what is right; therefore, the moral agent has an obligation to render justice and respect the other people in the society. Commutative justice serves equality in the society by restitution (Hursthouse 66). For instance, employees should be compensated according to the efforts and time invested in their work. Deceiving customers on quality of goods and demanding a higher price