Business Ethics - A Philosophical and Behavioral Approach
by Christian A. Conrad (Author), Danica Webb (Translator)

About the author
Prof. Dr. Christian A. Conrad teaches economics and business ethics at Saarland University of Applied Science HTW. He published several books and papers about ethics, business, economics and financial markets. He was previously Senior Key Account Manager in the national and international corporate department of a major German bank.

About this book
This textbook examines the extent to which moral values play a role as productive forces for the economy, and explores the effect of ethical and unethical Behavior on the economy. It shows how ethics improves productivity in the economy, and provides specific ethics tools for practical application for students and managers. Stemming from an overall interdisciplinary approach, and combining recent research results from sciences such as economics, business administration, Behavioral economics, philosophy, psychology and sociology, this textbook fills a gap in the literature on ethics in business.
The book begins with the foundations of business ethics by defining business ethics, delineating its objectives, and discussing the importance of business ethics for business, the economy and society.  Next, it presents the ethical evaluation approaches to enable the reader to evaluate economic Behavior ethically. It then explores ‘man in business’, and deals with such issues as Behavior, motivation, ethical orientation, and the presence or absence of a sense of justice. Following this is a discussion of the rules of the market and of questions such as: Does the market economy promote ethical Behavior or is there a conflict of goals between ethics and market economy? Do companies have a social responsibility? The book concludes with an analysis of the importance of ethics for productivity in the enterprise and in the economy, and presents ethics tools as the instruments with which management can promote ethical Behavior of their employees.
Following a textbook structure, the book first derives knowledge from scientific studies that is relevant for students, and then summarizes the results. It explains ethical assessment approaches, and then gives an ethical assessment of economic Behavior using case studies. It uses roleplaying and games to explain the Behavior of people in relation to ethics.

Table of contents
1 Basic of Ethics
    1. 1 Basic Terms
    1. 2 What Is Business Ethics?  
    1. 3 Objective of Business Ethics
    Literature
2 Ethical Valuation Approaches
    2. 1 Classical Ethics
        2. 1. 1 Ethics of Conviction
        2. 1. 2 Kant’s Rules for Ethical Reasoning
        2. 1. 3 Ethics of Duties (Deontological Ethics)
        2. 1. 4 Ethics of Responsibility or Ultimate End (Teleological Ethics)
        2. 1. 5 The Utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham
        2. 1. 6 Millian Utilitarianism
        2. 1. 7 Individual Ethics or Discourse Ethics?  
    2. 2 Modern Ethics
        2. 2. 1 Moral Economics: Morality Must Be Worthwhile
        2. 2. 2 Specific Ethical Assessment Principles
        2. 2. 3 Justice as an Assessment and Behavioral Approach
    2. 3 Conclusion on Ethical Evaluation Procedures
    2. 4 Application Examples
    2. 5 Summary
    Literature
3 The Image of Humans
    3. 1 The Classical View of Man: Homo Economicus
    3. 2 Falsely Understood Egoism
    3. 3 Individualism Versus Collectivism
        3. 3. 1 Rolegame Individualism Versus Collectivism
    3. 4 Fairness As Motivation
    3. 5 Human Intelligence
    3. 6 The Cultural Impact
    3. 7 Conclusion and Summary
    Literature
4 Ethical Problems of the Economy: Enron, Subprime & Co. – From Crisis to Crisis
    4. 1 Enron, Worldcom and Co.  
        4. 1. 1 The Consequences of Enron, Worldcom & Co.  
    4. 2 The Subprime Crisis, the Biggest Financial Crisis After 1929
    4. 3 Some Causes of the Financial Crisis
        4. 3. 1 Technical Mistakes
        4. 3. 2 Exaggerated Belief in Figures
        4. 3. 3 Missing Moral Values
    4. 4 Summary
    Literature
5 Market and Morality
    5. 1 Economy and Freedom – A Historical Overview
    5. 2 A Free-Market Without Social Rules?  
    5. 3 The Russian Transformation to an Unethical Market Economy
    5. 4 How Does the Market Economy System Work?  
        5. 4. 1 The Picture of the Perfect Market in the Welfare Economy
        5. 4. 2 Functions of Competition
        5. 4. 3 Moral Goals and Market Economy
        5. 4. 4 Social Market Economy
    5. 5 Market Failure
        5. 5. 1 Market Failure Due to Non-exclusion
        5. 5. 2 Market Failures Due to Asymmetrical Information
        5. 5. 3 Market Failure Due to Transaction Costs
        5. 5. 4 Market Failure Due to External Effects
        5. 5. 5 Market Failure Due to Corruption
    5. 6 Morality Within the Economic Division of Labor
    5. 7 The Company in the Market System
        5. 7. 1 The Company’s Objective of Maximizing Profits
        5. 7. 2 Weaknesses in Controlling
        5. 7. 3 Corporate Social Responsibility
    Literature
6 Institutional Ethics: The State Regulatory Framework
    6. 1 The Ethical Prisoner Dilemma
    6. 2 Ethical Institutions and Organizations
    6. 3 Is the State of Law Sufficient?  
    6. 4 International Business Ethics
        6. 4. 1 Non-Governmental Organizations or Civil Society Groups
        6. 4. 2 International Quality Seals
        6. 4. 3 Incentives to Overcome the International Prisoner’s Dilemma
        6. 4. 4 International Ethical Codes
    Literature
7 Tools of Ethics for Management
    7. 1 Institutional Ethics on Company Level
        7. 1. 1 Corporate Principles and Vision
        7. 1. 2 Operative and Strategic Targets
        7. 1. 3 Code of Conduct
        7. 1. 4 Ethical Control Systems
        7. 1. 5 The Ethical Aspects of the Shareholder Value Concept
        7. 1. 6 Ethical Stakeholder Approach
    7. 2 Organizational Ethics
        7. 2. 1 Organizational Structure
        7. 2. 2 Ombudspersons
        7. 2. 3 Ethics Officers
        7. 2. 4 Ethics Commission
        7. 2. 5 Whistleblowing
    7. 3 Leadership Ethics
        7. 3. 1 Case Study of Enron
        7. 3. 2 Weaknesses of Corporate Governance
        7. 3. 3 Incentives, Risk and Compensation Schemes
        7. 3. 4 Ethical Corporate Culture
        7. 3. 5 Ethical Leadership
        7. 3. 6 The Ethical Model of Company Management
    7. 4 Summary
        7. 4. 1 Ethical Staff Selection
        7. 4. 2 Ethical Personnel Development
    Literature
8 Ethics in Business Education
    8. 1 Cultural Factors in Economics
    8. 2 Economics as a Natural Science?  
    8. 3 Ethics in Business Administration
    Literature

Length: 343 pages
Publisher: Springer; 1st ed. 2018 edition (July 27, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 3319915746
ISBN-13: 978-3319915746

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