Business Ethics Midterm Vocab Review Chapter 1,2,3,4,5
Autonomy - The capacity to make free and deliberate choices; "Self-rule".
Bounded Ethicality - One's tendency to consider one's own actions ethics even though they might
condemn those same actions in others, or even in themselves if they were to engage in further
reflection or awareness.
Categorical Imperatives - An overriding principle of ethics.
Change Blindness - A decision-making omission that occurs when decision makers fail to notice gradual
changes over time.
Character - The sum of relatively set traits, dispositions, and habits of an individual.
Code of Conduct - A set of behavioral guidelines and expectations that govern all members of a business
firm.
Compliance-Based Cultures - A corporate culture in which obedience to laws and regulations is the
prevailing model for ethical behavior.
Consequentialist - Ethical theories, such as Utilitarianism, that determines right and wrong by calculating
the consequences of actions.
Corporate Social Responsibility - The responsibilities that a business has to the society in which it
operates.
Corporate Sustainability Report - Provides all stakeholders with financial and other information
regarding a firm's economic, environmental, and social performance.
Descriptive Ethics - Provides a descriptive and empirical account of those standards that actually guide
behavior, as opposed to those standards that should guide behavior; "How people DO act.".
Duties - Those obligations that one is bound to perform, regardless of consequences. Might be derived
from basic ethical principles, from the law, or from one's institutional or professional role.
Economic Model of CSR - Limits a firm's social responsibility to the minimal economic responsibility of
producing goods and service and maximizing profits within the law.
Egoism - As a psychological theory: all people act out of self-interest.
Ethical Decision-Making Process - Requires a persuasive and rational justification for a decision. Rational
justifications are developed through a logical process of decision making that gives proper attention to
such things as facts, alternative perspectives, consequences of all stakeholders, and ethical principles.
Ethical Relativism - Holds that ethical values are relative to particular people, cultures, or times.
