Ethics & Accounting Assignment 1

I am troubled by the author's clear bias against any serious discussion of ethical behavior. In the section, "The Social Responsibility of Business", he casually refers to the idea of social responsibility as "politically correct" behavior. He puts Milton Friedman forward as a competing point of view. Friedman seems to want businesses to have all the rights of a free society without any of the responsibilities. Clearly, the failures of many of the businesses noted in the opening chapters found comfort in Friedman's "letter of the law" approach to business.

Clearly, with the worldwide possibilities of cultural and societal norms, an analytical approach serves the manager well. Taking each case on its merits allows the manager to evaluate the situation based on his and his company's ethical stance. The starting point is to decide that ethics are worth discussing, and from there the conversation can develop to encompass the various individuals and philosophies at play.

The Stakeholder Framework (p. 67) provides a straightforward approach to laying out the issues.

Takeaways: 1. Include ethics as an element in any decision to embark on a new/different policy or project; 2. Adopt a standard approach to including stakeholders in the discussion; 3. Recognize the validity of differing points of view, and allow for the possibility that you may be wrong.

Avoid harm and look for "the middle path".
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