问答题 Ethics are moral standards, not governed by law, that focus on the human consequences of actions. (46) Ethics often require behavior that meets higher standards than that established by law, including selfless behavior rather than calculated action intended to produce a tangible benefit. Ethics are a product of a society's culture, which includes its traditions, customs, values, and norms. Within a society, ethical behavior is usually taken for granted. (47) Members implicitly understand how relationships, duties, and obligations among people and groups ought to be conducted and distinguish between their self-interests and the interests of others. Different cultures and political regimes have different interpretations of legality and ethics. Countries also control and punish unethical and illegal behavior in a variety of ways.
Who determines what is right or wrong.9 Ethical relativism and universalism are different views on whether a person or group should set ethical standards and to whom the standards apply. Individual ethical relativism is the view that there is no absolute principle of right and wrong, good or bad, in any social situation. The individual persons in a particular situation determine what is right and wrong. In its extreme form, ethics are a personal judgment independent of societal norms and values. Cultural ethical relativism is the doctrine that what is right or wrong, good or bad, depends on one's culture. If the values of a society support certain acts as ethical and morally correct, then they are acceptable behavior for that society. (48) The counter argument, ethical universalism, maintains that there are universal and objective ethical rules located deep within a culture that also apply across societies.
Moral philosophers usually reject ethical relativism because "despite differing practices and beliefs, people often do not disagree about ultimate moral standards. " (49) For example, anthropological research demonstrates that behaviors in a wide variety of societies that appear to be unethical or immoral from a particular cultural perspective—usually Western culture—reflect similar ultimate values upon closer inspection.
For corporations, however, moral relativism has considerable appeal. It is an attractive position when the business ethics of other cultures are difficult to understand and interpret. It avoids these problems because it permits a business to use its own ethical standards. (50) More compelling reason for accepting relativism is reluctance to give competitive advantage to cultures that conduct business using different, often less stringent, moral and ethical standards. What should be an organization's approach to ethics?
Two fundamental perspectives of corporate ethical and social responsibility are the efficiency perspective and social responsibility theory. Neither can be demonstrated to be preferable by scientific analysis. The positions are grounded in different assumptions about the relationships among human action, economic principles, and desirable social outcomes.