Business ethics is highly likely to come up this year – so what sort of questions might they ask?  By the way, here are the Jan 2012 A2 questions.

1. “All ethical language is prescriptive”.  Discuss

2. Critically assess the view that free will and determinism are compatible.

3. To what extent do modern versions of Virtue Ethics address the weaknesses of Aristotle’s teaching on virtue?

4. “For moral issues surrounding sex the demands of conscience override other ethical considerations.”  Discuss 

Back to business ethics: here’s one they asked before, “The environment suffers because business has no ethics”. Discuss. Because business ethics shares a section of the syllabus with the environment it could easily be linked up again.

Or how about a general question linking business ethics and globalization? “How do ethical theories consider issues raised by business and globalization”. Or “Business has no ethics because it treats people as a means to an end” – a variant of the first question.

The examiner could link business ethics to a specific moral theory. “How might a follower of Kant address the issues surrounding business ethics?” (or a Natural Law theorist, Virtue ethicist, Utilitarian, follower of a religion you have studied).

Now, you may be reading this and saying: this just confirms I can’t answer this sort of question. Rest assured that you can answer them very well: here’s how.

1. Sort out now what exactly are the issues surrounding business ethics. Michael Sandel in his new book Morality and Markets suggest two ethical issues: the issue of justice and the issue of character.

Businesses that simply argue they do what the market demands face accusations that they do not consider justice. If Tesco locates in Wells, there is a risk that the High Street will die and the rights of local shopkeepers to be treated properly may be ignored.

If business seeks a least cost solution it may employ people in third world countries at a very low wage, with lax health and safety standards.These are issues of justice.

Secondly there is the effect the market has on character. Michael Sandel argues convincingly that markets change human behaviour. If I trade carbon emission rights (carbon trading), I turn a moral obligation (not to pollute) into a commercial exchange (I can pollute when I can afford to pollute). If I impose fines for immoral conduct (think for the Bhopal case in India in 1984 when 8,000 died after a toxic gas cloud engulfed a village)then a company may decide it’s worth facing a fine than being moral in its health and safety standards.  Michael Sandel argues that once behaviour starts to change, the change remains permanent even when the financial incentive or disincentive is taken away.  Money shifts the perspective away from human rights.

Behind these and other questions of business practice is a fundamental issue, which actually you could spend a whole essay discussing, and in the process, you could bring in Kant, the Utilitarians and whoever else you like.

Are people just a means to an end (profit) or an end in themselves? Ask your parents or anyone else in employment whether they feel their company (or school) treats them as an individual with rights, interests, dignity, or as a means to maximising something (profit, exam results).

This fundamental ethical issue, raised by Kant against the utilitarian view that we simply add up some number – ethics as mathematics, adding up numbers of preferences, hedons, happy people – underpins not just business ethics, but how you and I live our lives.

2. Have a look at the case studies in the business ethics section of the site. Have some clear facts and arguments about Bhopal (1984), Enron (2002), the BP oil spill, Trafigura (2008) and if you don’t know about any of these….get googling now!!  What did these companies do, and exactly what is wrong with this behaviour?  Wrong from the perspective of which ethical theory you have studied?

Think: issues – facts – theories (principles) and you’ll be fine.