The Ethics of Business A Concise Introduction [Hardcover]

This concise introduction to applied business ethics is refreshingly unlike most business ethics textbooks. While others focus primarily on negative examples of moral failure at the C-level (Enron) or blockbuster financial disasters (Bernie Madoff), Gini and Marcoux (both, Loyola Univ. Chicago) speak to the common activities of ordinary businesspeople. Their work addresses the question of what it means to be a person of character and integrity while engaged in entrepreneurial activity: buying, selling, and interacting with others. Traditional ethical philosophies (Mills's utilitarianism, Kant's duty-based and Aristotle's virtue-based ethics) are presented in a practical, nontechnical manner. The essential components of business activities are evaluated in discussions on the ethics of trust, truth, competition, loyalty, leadership, and the global marketplace. The excellent chapter titled Work-Life Balance raises the philosophical question of what our work is doing to us. Even though work gives us our identity, and even if we love our jobs ... we also need an antidote to work in order to work well, it suggests. Extensive quotes and examples add clarity. Useful as primary or supplemental reading for business ethics courses. Summing Up: Recommended.The Ethics of Business, by Al Gini and Alexei Marcoux (hereafter, Gini/Marcoux), is . . . spirited and insightful.For business majors planning to enter the real world, this is the most useful business ethics textbook available.Gini and Marcoux have written a great short introduction to the ethics of business. By focusing on the elements of business ethics, such as rationality, exchange, trust, competition, impartiality, loyalty, and leadership to name a few, they have given us a book that can be useful from solo practitioners all the way up to CEOs of large corporations. They use plenty of example and quotes to make their case. This book can serve as a foundation for a business ethics course when supplemented by cases andl39