D072- Fundamentals for Success in Business 2025 OA STUDY
GUIDE Western Governors University
Fundamentals for Success in Business Unit
2: Common Ethical Issues
Module 1: The importance and impact of Ethics
Identify common ethical issues that individuals face within organizations.
• Working conditions of workers is an ethical concern, and a business concern for a
company’s management.
Lesson 1: Personal vs Organizational Ethics
What is Ethics: Branch of philosophy concerned with the meaning of all aspects of human behavior.
Personal Ethics
• Principle that guide person’s behavior
• Reflect beliefs about what is right, wrong, just, unjust, good or bad in terms of human behavior
• Direct how can they fulfill their obligations to society and live life.
• Ethics are central concern for businesses, organizations and individuals alike.
• Personal values and morals are based on individual experiences and the environment.
Personal Code of Ethics: Codes, principles and values that shape human experience. Guides
interactions with others, personally and professionally.
Organizational Ethics
Rules, principles, and standards for deciding what is morally right or wrong when doing business.
• Individuals are the ones who determine organizational ethics.
Levels of ethical issues within organizations
o Societal issues = based on the ethics companies create out of care and concern
for individuals.
, o Stakeholder issues = anyone affected by a company’s actions including suppliers.
o Internal policy issues = Internal relationships between a company and its employees.
Fair management, pay, and employee participation.
o Personal issues = how people treat others within their organization. E.g. gossiping
at work or taking credit for anther’s work.
Legal vs Ethical
Legal:
• Act that is permissible or in conformity with the law of the land.
• Law protects one party from another.
• Sometimes legal frameworks do not uphold to the ethical standards.
Illegal: Act that is in defiance of the established laws or jurisdiction.
Issues
• Legal – Ethical: Law, personal or organizational ethics are in accordance with each other.
• Legal – Unethical: Established laws are not in accordance with ethical choices.
• Illegal – Ethical: Ethical choices are in violation of established laws.
, Legal liability is a test of smarts Ethical
liability is a test of characters
Leadership 101: do not delegate
ethics
Factors influencing our ethics
Ethical choices involve judgment, weighing the potential consequences of one’s actions for other people.
• Persons values, environment, beliefs and culture
• Values: are influence by early life experiences and tend to remain stable but are still influenced
by the accumulation of further experiences.
• Morals: rules developed based on cultural norms and beliefs. They are individual characteristics
that can affect an individual’s ethics. They are often passed down through generations.
Influenced by cultural norms meaning that what is ethical for ones might not be consider so by
others.
• Analyze ethical issues by asking:
o What could happen?
o How likely is to happen?
o What harm might come?
o Who might be hurt?
• Conflicts of interest can exist, which is why organizational ethics require transparency.
Lesson 2: The impact of ethics on organizations
How personal ethics affect organizational ethics:
• Ethical tone in a company should be set by the organizational leadership.
• Employees want leaders that are ethically liable (treat lower-level employees with dignity,
share credit, remain steady in crisis and hold themselves accountable)
• Executives should establish specific, measurable and realistic objectives for the company in order
to determine where people will focus their time and effort.
• Not setting realistic business objectives can lead to employee pressure or failure a factor that
can lead them to compromise their ethical standards.
Cultural variations of ethics
What is culture: is the sum of values, attitudes, goals and practices shared by individuals in a group,
organization or society.
• Culture dictates which behaviors are right and acceptable, and which are wrong and unacceptable.
• An organization culture may be its strongest asset, or its biggest liability
• International business culture = Culture variations (variations in attitude, values, goals, between
countries and geo region, and among groups and organizations) strongly impact organizational
ethics.
GUIDE Western Governors University
Fundamentals for Success in Business Unit
2: Common Ethical Issues
Module 1: The importance and impact of Ethics
Identify common ethical issues that individuals face within organizations.
• Working conditions of workers is an ethical concern, and a business concern for a
company’s management.
Lesson 1: Personal vs Organizational Ethics
What is Ethics: Branch of philosophy concerned with the meaning of all aspects of human behavior.
Personal Ethics
• Principle that guide person’s behavior
• Reflect beliefs about what is right, wrong, just, unjust, good or bad in terms of human behavior
• Direct how can they fulfill their obligations to society and live life.
• Ethics are central concern for businesses, organizations and individuals alike.
• Personal values and morals are based on individual experiences and the environment.
Personal Code of Ethics: Codes, principles and values that shape human experience. Guides
interactions with others, personally and professionally.
Organizational Ethics
Rules, principles, and standards for deciding what is morally right or wrong when doing business.
• Individuals are the ones who determine organizational ethics.
Levels of ethical issues within organizations
o Societal issues = based on the ethics companies create out of care and concern
for individuals.
, o Stakeholder issues = anyone affected by a company’s actions including suppliers.
o Internal policy issues = Internal relationships between a company and its employees.
Fair management, pay, and employee participation.
o Personal issues = how people treat others within their organization. E.g. gossiping
at work or taking credit for anther’s work.
Legal vs Ethical
Legal:
• Act that is permissible or in conformity with the law of the land.
• Law protects one party from another.
• Sometimes legal frameworks do not uphold to the ethical standards.
Illegal: Act that is in defiance of the established laws or jurisdiction.
Issues
• Legal – Ethical: Law, personal or organizational ethics are in accordance with each other.
• Legal – Unethical: Established laws are not in accordance with ethical choices.
• Illegal – Ethical: Ethical choices are in violation of established laws.
, Legal liability is a test of smarts Ethical
liability is a test of characters
Leadership 101: do not delegate
ethics
Factors influencing our ethics
Ethical choices involve judgment, weighing the potential consequences of one’s actions for other people.
• Persons values, environment, beliefs and culture
• Values: are influence by early life experiences and tend to remain stable but are still influenced
by the accumulation of further experiences.
• Morals: rules developed based on cultural norms and beliefs. They are individual characteristics
that can affect an individual’s ethics. They are often passed down through generations.
Influenced by cultural norms meaning that what is ethical for ones might not be consider so by
others.
• Analyze ethical issues by asking:
o What could happen?
o How likely is to happen?
o What harm might come?
o Who might be hurt?
• Conflicts of interest can exist, which is why organizational ethics require transparency.
Lesson 2: The impact of ethics on organizations
How personal ethics affect organizational ethics:
• Ethical tone in a company should be set by the organizational leadership.
• Employees want leaders that are ethically liable (treat lower-level employees with dignity,
share credit, remain steady in crisis and hold themselves accountable)
• Executives should establish specific, measurable and realistic objectives for the company in order
to determine where people will focus their time and effort.
• Not setting realistic business objectives can lead to employee pressure or failure a factor that
can lead them to compromise their ethical standards.
Cultural variations of ethics
What is culture: is the sum of values, attitudes, goals and practices shared by individuals in a group,
organization or society.
• Culture dictates which behaviors are right and acceptable, and which are wrong and unacceptable.
• An organization culture may be its strongest asset, or its biggest liability
• International business culture = Culture variations (variations in attitude, values, goals, between
countries and geo region, and among groups and organizations) strongly impact organizational
ethics.
