🏷️ LIMITED TIME OFFER: GET 20% OFF GRADE+ YEARLY SUBSCRIPTION →
Log in
HomeStudy Guides420,000CA160,000

CRM 322 Study Guide - Final Guide: Moral Relativism, Virtue Ethics, Categorical Imperative

103 views5 pages
tanchimpanzee826
14 Dec 2017
School
Ryerson University
Department
Criminology
Course
CRM 322
Professor
Idil Atak

For unlimited access to Study Guides, a Grade+ subscription is required.

Document Summary

Ethics is the study of moral conducts figuring out right from wrong. It includes the value of our goals and the standards of estimating our actions. Law is just a template, there are other values. Ethics and law is not the same thing although there are overlaps. Law is men-made and it expresses underlying themes of ethical thinking but it is not set in stone, things vary. We must use ethical thinking to fill in the gaps. Also, law is slower than technological and social changes, for example cyberbullying. Loopholes in laws or procedures vagueness in what"s permitted in regards to solitary confinement in. Sometimes we have unjust laws like segregations laws for families. Ethics objects moral relativism the idea that the right thing to do varies across cultures, times and places (which is not the same as moral nihilism that there is simply no right or wrong).

Get access

Grade+20% off
$8 USD/m$10 USD/m
Billed $96 USD annually
Grade+
Homework Help
Study Guides
Textbook Solutions
Class Notes
Textbook Notes
Booster Class
40 Verified Answers

Related Documents

CRM 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Fundamental Justice, Critical Thinking, Abortion Clinic
bluebear333
CRM 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Moral Relativism, Virtue Ethics, Fundamental Justice
tanchimpanzee826
CRM 322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Virtue Ethics, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant
bluebear333

Related Questions

After you have read the article the "Top Ten Principles" from below, identify any five business ethics principles that you feel are the most important and why? How do these principles relate to either your either internship, place of employment, or at your College - please provide examples?

1. Business Ethics are built on Personal Ethics. There is no real separation between doing what is right in business, and playing fair, telling the truth and being ethical in your personal life.

2. Business Ethics are based on Fairness. Would a dis-interested observer agree that both sides are being treated fairly? Are both sides negotiating in good faith? Does each transaction take place on a "level playing field"? If so, the basic principles of ethics are being met.

3. Business Ethics require Integrity. Integrity refers to whole-ness, reliability and consistency. Ethical businesses treat people with respect, honesty and integrity. They back up their promises, and they keep their commitments.

4. Business Ethics require Truth-telling. The days when a business could sell a defective product and hide behind the "buyer beware" defense are long gone. You can sell products or services that have limitations, defects or are out-dated, but not as first-class, new merchandise. Truth in advertising is not only the law, business ethics require it.

5. Business Ethics require Dependability. If your company is new, unstable, about to be sold, or going out of business, ethics requires that you let clients and customers know this. Ethical businesses can be relied upon to be available to solve problems, answer questions and provide support.

6. Business Ethics require a Business Plan. A company's ethics are built on its image of itself and its vision of the future and its role in the community. Business ethics do not happen in a vacuum. The clearer the company's plan for growth, stability, profits and service, the stronger its commitment to ethical business practices.

7. Business Ethics apply Internally and Externally. Ethical businesses treat both customers and employees with respect and fairness. Ethics is about respect in the conference room, negotiating in good faith, keeping promises and meeting obligations to staff, employers, vendors and customers. The scope is universal.

8. Business Ethics require a Profit. Ethical businesses are well-run, well-managed, have effective internal controls, and clear expectations of growth. Ethics is about how we live in the present to prepare for the future, and a business without profits (or a plan to create them) is not meeting its ethical obligations to prepare for the future well-being of the company, its employees and customers.

9. Business Ethics are values-based. The law, and professional organizations, must produce written standards that are inflexible and universal. While they may talk about "ethics", these documents are usually prescriptive and refer to minimal standards. Ethics are about values, ideals and aspirations. Ethical businesses may not always live up to their ideals, but they are clear about their intent.

10. Business Ethics come from the Boss. Leadership sets the tone, in every area of a business. Ethics are either central to the way a company functions, or they are not. The executives and managers either lead the way, or they communicate that cutting corners, deception and dis-respect are acceptable. Line staff will always rise, or sink, to the level of performance they see modeled above them. Business ethics starts at the top.

Ethics is about the quality of our lives, the quality of our service, and ultimately, about the bottom line. An unhappy customer complains to an average of 16 people. Treating employees, customers, vendors and the public in an ethical, fair and open way is not only the right thing, in the long run, it's the only way to stay in business.

Ethics Case: Theft Reimbursement, Twice

I am the assistant controller at a medium-sized, not-for-profit organization. I hired a new accounts payable clerk three months ago—let’s call her Mary, which is not her real name—and then I fired her last week because she stole $16,583 from us by altering six checks. Mary’s primary duties were to key in all the accounts payable information, and then, after the checks were printed, to match all the supporting documentation to each check. She then took the checks to the signing officers. After they were signed, she mailed the checks and filed the yellow copy with all the supporting documentation in the paid invoices filing cabinet.

We pay each member of our board of directors a $2,000 honorarium. I prepare the list of the directors and how much to pay each director, which I give to Mary for inputting into the computer. Each honorarium check simply has the name of the director and no address or other information. We normally hand them to the directors during the meeting. Similarly, our expense report reimbursement checks only have the names of the individuals and no address or other information on the checks. We send those to our employees through the interoffice mail.

Well, after they were signed, Mary took four honorarium checks and two expense report checks, and changed the names on the checks to her name. All of our checks are printed on light green paper. Well, Mary used White-Out to alter the names, but she wasn’t very smart. It was obvious that the names had been changed from the White-Out used and her name wasn’t even the same font as the typing on the rest of the check. She took the checks across the street to an ATM machine and deposited them into her bank account. She then transferred the money to her family who live in another country.

I discovered the false checks last week when I was doing the bank reconciliation. She admitted what she did and we’ve had the police charge her with theft. Our bank was very apologetic and immediately reimbursed us the full $16,583. Our bankers admitted that the checks were so obviously falsified that they never should have cleared the bank in the first place.

Well, my problem is that, after I discovered the theft and before the bank reimbursed us, I decided to claim on our insurance policies. One of those policies is a check-protector service. Well, today we received a check for $16,583 from them. So, I took the check to my boss, the controller, and I was laughing saying that we’ve been reimbursed twice and that I was going to send the check back to the insurance company. Well, he said “No.” He told me to deposit the check into a high-interest savings account. “We’ll return the $16,583 to the insurance company after the court case is settled. In the meantime we’ll earn interest on the money and since we’re a nonprofit organization we won’t even have to pay tax on the interest.”

He said the interest represents the aggravation we’re going through. Well, there has been a lot of aggravation. The other accounting clerks felt terrible about Mary. They felt violated and abused because they had trusted her. We will also have to spend a lot of time with the lawyers and time in court at Mary’s trial. My boss’ attitude is that the interest on the extra $16,583 will cover all of these additional costs associated with the Mary fiasco. He also said that the bank deserves to pay the interest to us since they should never have cashed those doctored checks in the first place.

Well, I don’t think that this is right. But I don’t want to challenge him since I was the one who hired Mary. So, like, what do you think I should do?

Questions

1. What advice would you give to the controller?

2. What preventive and detective controls can be put in place to prevent this from happening again?

Week 1 Discussion -- Ethical Dilemma

What They Don’t Know Won’t Hurt Them!

Revolutionary Electronic Technologies (RET) recently released anew advanced electronic micro system to be used by financialinstitutions, large corporations, and governments to process andstore financial data, such as taxes and automatic payroll payments.Even though RET developed the technology used in the creation ofthe product, RET’s competitors are expected to possess similartechnology soon. To beat the competition to the market, RETintroduced its new micro system a little earlier than originallyplanned. In fact, laboratory testing had not been fully completedbefore the product reached the market. The tests are complete now,and the final results suggest the micro system might be flawed withrespect to how some data are retrieved and processed. The tests arenot conclusive, though, and even if additional testing proves thata flaw does exist, according to RET, it is of minuscule importancebecause the problem seems to occur for only one out of 100 millionretrieval and processing attempts. The financial ramificationsassociated with the flaw are unknown at this time.

Assume that you are one of RET’s senior executives whose annualsalary is based on the performance of the firm’s common stock. Yourealize that if RET recalls the affected micro system, the stockprice will suffer; thus, your salary for the year will be less thanyou expected. To complicate matters, you just purchased anexpensive house based on your salary expectations for the next fewyears—expectations that will not be realized unless the newmicrosystem is a success for RET.

As one of the senior executives, you will help determinewhat course of action RET will follow with respect to the microsystem. What should you do? Should you encourage RET to recall themicro system until further testing is completed? What other coursesof action do you suggest?

Below is the answer to one of my classmate. I need toresponses something.

Quality of responses to at least two classmates. Saysomething deep & intuitive, don't just rephrase something youread or another student's posting.

Ethics is expressed through a set of rules that have become moreor less explicit following a set of values displayed by thecompany. And then there is the behavioral ethics, specific to theindividual, which is governed by his values, his beliefs, hisconvictions, and who must conform to the professional practicesexpected in his professional environment. Every day, we questionourselves consciously or not about our behaviors but we are alsoconfronted with situations that do not seem to us necessarilyethical ... The human slips so easily under the pressure and theunconscious fears.

As an executive at RET, the ethical thing to do would be toenforce the recall because it will not only keep our integrity tothe eye of the public but also add to our credibility. Money isalways tempting but being a professional requires to make the rightdecision at the right moment. A mistake was made at the beginningbut we need to save the face of the company. It may seem like aloss now but in the long run it will benefit us. As an executive ialways have to prioritize the customer, therefor not selling them afaulty product. In conclusion, personal gratification does notsurpass the company's long term objectives.