Abstract
This report is going to highlight an ethical case. I decided to choose the French strikes that happen every year as an example of business ethic dilemmas. Before explaining the case, I would like to summarize what is ethics and how it applies to business.
Let's see an "academic" definition of business ethics.
"Business ethics is applied philosophy to analyze economic institutions at various levels:
• Macro (the market)
• Meso (the corporation/organization)
• Micro (Individual decisions, behavior)
In order to assess the moral justification of economic institutions, organizational strategies and individual behavior". We can see now a "practical" definition which applies maybe better to the real life. According to Hoffman, "ethics is the thought process that comes into play when we are deciding between right and wrong, or more typically, about weighting two rights". We can say that ethics lead our behavior and make our behavior good or bad. This is something that allows the individual to be part or the group. If the individual does not respect the ethics and the values shared by the main part of the group, it won't be able to play its own role.
Ethics is a mix of values that people have in mind. We can also say that different groups can have different ways of ethics. Some groups will think that what they are doing is right and some others will think the contrary. It can applies to business, to everyday life.
When it deals with ethical business dilemma, there are two different categories that can help us to understand the main issues:
• The Right versus wrong
• The Right versus Right
These two categories contain several paradigms such as Truth versus Loyalty; Individual versus Community; Short-term versus Long-term; Justice versus Mercy. In fact, ethic contains many factors that rule our daily life. We are constantly facing decisions that can be good or not for us or for the people around us. Here is a short overview of ethics. Let's be more focused on "business".
Ethics can also be applied to business environment. Managers and employees have to be careful about their action if they don't want to be misunderstood. Nowadays, consumers and also companies are more and more focused on ethics.
