Ethics and Management Decision Making Essay -- Business Ethics

â€Å"We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; We know now that it is also bad economics† (Franklin Delano Roosevelt as cited in Godwin, 2008; Good Money & Quotes, 2010) 1. Introduction Business Industry has witnessed the outcomes of bad moral decisions taken by business leaders. Enron’s story is only one example of corporate scandals and cases of bad moral decisions, which has not only shaken the public trust in corporations, but also affected the bank accounts of investors and employees. Before the bankruptcy of Enron; it was included in one of the fortune 500 companies after its fraudulent accounting case the share went down to $1 (Enron scandal, 2010; PBS, 2002; Godwin, 2006; Godwin, 2008). The â€Å"bad apples† which create fraudulent are now facing prison terms, they are not morally bad character people they just face this because of their limited conceptual schema and don’t consider moral values while making decisions. Mostly managers are known for moral values, and they are not greedy and egoists, the underlying issue is that they have narrow perspective on a particular situation so they don’t view the moral consequences of their decisions. They actually lack the ability to imagine a range of possible issues, consequences and solutions. So just because of their shorter insight they make wrong moral decisions which later give undesirable impacts to society and business as well (Godwin, 2006, Godwin, 2008; Werhane and Moriarty, 2009). Business Industry has also witnessed some business leaders who have taken such a good moral decisions that result in mutual benefit to the company and wider society. Literature shows different instances of companies like Seventh Generation, Fuji Xerox, or Green Mountain ... ...Werhane, P.H., Dunham, L. (2002) ‘Moral Imagination: A Bridge between ethics and entrepreneurship’ [Online]. Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=252654 (Accessed: 06 March 2010). [35] Werhane, P.H. (2006) ‘Access, Responsibility, and Funding: A Systems Thinking Approach to Universal Access to Oral Health’, Journal of Dental Education, vol. 70, no. 11, pp. 1184-1195. [36] Werhane, P.H., Moriarty, B. (2009) ‘Moral Imagination and Management Decision-making’ [Online]. Available at: http://www.corporateethics.org/pdf/moral_imagination.pdf (Accessed: 06 March 2010). [37] Yashiro, K., Yoshida, T., Suzuki, Y. (no date) ‘Training on Corporate Social Responsibility in Japanese Companies: Based on a Survey’ [38] Young, G. (2008) ‘Advisory Panel and Committees’, Encyclopedia of Business ethics and society, vol. 5, no. 1.