Business Environment, 1st Edition by Pearson

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Part IV: Business and Society

(vi) Ethics is not a collection of values: Values are almost always

over-simplifi cations, which rarely can be applied uniformly.

Values tend to be under-defi ned, situational by nature and sub-

ject to fl awed human reasoning such that by themselves they

cannot assure true ethical conduct. Consider the much-dis-

cussed value of employee loyalty. Should employees be loyal

to coworkers, supervisors, customers, or investors? Since it

is impossible to be absolutely loyal to all the four simultane-

ously, in what order should these loyalties occur? Employers

who demand employee loyalty rarely can answer this question

completely or satisfactorily.

Alvin Tofl er said, “A corporation is no longer responsible simply ...