SPECIALIZED SUBJECT-ABM

BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL

RESPONSIBILITY
_____ Semester, SY _____________
QUARTER 1, MODULE 4
PHILOSOPHIES INFLUENCING
BUSINESS PRACTICES

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Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Self-Learning Module
____ Semester – Quarter 1, Module 4: Philosophies Influencing Business Practices
First Edition, 2021

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 PHILOSOPHIES
LESSON INFLUENCING BUSINESS
PRACTICES

Business owners think of the best practices to achieve business

objectives. This module discusses the different philosophies influencing business
practices. It is important to understand how these classical philosophies influence
business decisions that is essential to business to succeed.

Their implications to
Classical Philosophies
Business
Confucius “Life is really simple, but we Leaders were expected to
insist on making it rule in a way that is just and
complicated” moral. This view of practice
could have the potential to
Confucius (551 BC–479 create entrepreneurs who
BC) was a Chinese perform ethical business
philosopher and politician of practice.
the Spring and Autumn
period.

The philosophy of
Confucius, also known as
Confucianism, emphasized
personal and governmental
morality, correctness of
social relationships, justice,
kindness, and sincerity.

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Socrates “The unexamined life is not worth The Socratic Method is
living” a way of thinking that
allows individuals to
Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.) is one define their own
of the few individuals whom one purpose for learning
could say has shaped the cultural and explore this
and intellectual development of purpose through open-
the world that, without him, minded questioning of
history would be profoundly what they hold to be
different. He was more true.
empirically-minded than Plato or Socrates insisted on
Socrates and is famous for our right to think for
rejecting Plato’s theory of forms. ourselves.
Plato “Good people do not need laws to Highlighted the
tell them to act responsibly, while importance of always
bad people will find a way around putting your best effort
the laws” into everything you do.

Plato (427-347 B.C.E.) is one of

the world’s best-known and most
widely read and studied
philosophers. He was the student
of Socrates and the teacher of
Aristotle, and he wrote in the
middle of the fourth century
B.C.E. in ancient Greece.

Attempted to cultivate our

capacity for abstract thought in its
Theory of Forms that
differentiates the abstract world of
thought from the world of the
senses, where art and mythology
operate.
Aristotle “Happiness is the meaning and Concluded that the role
the purpose of life, the whole aim of the leader is to
and end of human existence” create the environment
in which all members of
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.E.) is a an organization can
towering figure in ancient Greek realize their own
philosophy, making contributions potential.
to logic, metaphysics, According to him, the
mathematics, physics, biology, ethical role of the leader
botany, ethics, politics, is not to enhance his or
agriculture, medicine, dance, and her own power but to
theater. He was a student of Plato create the conditions
who in turn studied under under which followers
Socrates can achieve their
potential. He did raise a
set of ethical questions
that are directly relevant
to corporate leaders
who wish to behave in
ethical ways.

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Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant is one of believes in always telling the
the most influential truth because if we cannot
philosophers in the history believe what others will tell
of Western philosophy. us, then agreements and
even conversations with
He was a German people are not possible. The
philosopher who advances attitude of being truthful is
the theory of deontology or much important in business.
deontological ethics the
theory of duty and
obligation

Act only according to that

maxim by which you can at
the same time will that it
should become a universal
law.
Jeremy Bentham ‘The said truth is that it is Concluded that the relevant
the greatest happiness of consequences, in particular,
the greatest number that is are the overall happiness
the measure and wrong” created for everyone affected
by the action. He famously
Jeremy Bentham (1748- held a hedonistic account of
1832) was an English both motivation and value
philosopher and political according to which what is
radical. He is primarily fundamentally valuable and
known today for his moral what ultimately motivates us
philosophy, especially his is pleasure and pain.
principle of utilitarianism, According to him Happiness,
which evaluates actions is thus a matter of
based upon their experiencing pleasure and
consequences lack of pain.

John Stuart Mill “A person may cause evil to

others not only by his 1. Rule utilitarianism – is
actions but by his inaction, put in place to benefit
and in either case; he is the most people by
justly accountable to them using the fairest
for the injury.” methods possible.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
profoundly influenced the 2. Act utilitarianism –
shape of nineteenth-century makes the most
British thought and political ethical actions
discourse. possible for the benefit
of the people.

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PRACTICE EXERCISE 1:

DIRECTION: Read the Paragraph below. Give a brief answer to the following question.
Write your answer on your activity notebook.

Falsifying Attendance

(Case prepared by Gov. Jose B. Fernandez Jr. Ethics Center,

Ateneo de Manila, Philippines)

Mr. A, an employee, timed in 4 minutes and 27 seconds late for work this morning.
While he won’t get fired for it, being late this once means that he will not receive the perfect
attendance incentive which he needs to make ends meet, given his daughter’s recent series
of hospitalizations. He actually arrived in the office five minutes early but was unable to clock
in immediately because his direct superior, Mr. B, asked him for an informal project progress
report as soon as he walked in the door. As a Junior System Administrator, Mr. A has
access and the capability to edit the company’s attendance records. He figures that since he
was unable to punch in only because of his boss, it wouldn’t hurt to edit the timestamp on his
attendance for today.

Has Mr. A done anything wrong? Discuss your answer.

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2:

Imagine yourself having your own business. Demonstrate how you would apply any of
the philosophies in your business practice. You may select only 1 philosophy that you think
would best fit your business. Make sure to describe the business that you are going to put up.

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INSTRUCTIONS: Please write your learning from the above discussion. Write your learning
in your answer sheet.

Upon reading the lesson above, I learned that…

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________ and realized that…
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Rumors

(Case prepared by Gov. Jose B. Fernandez Jr. Ethics Center,

Ateneo de Manila, Philippines)

A few months ago. Ms. A, Head of the Sales and Marketing Department of B Company,
formally announced to her staff that she will be leaving the company in order to be able to
concentrate on her family. Since she will be leaving, there is a room for a promotion and that
she would nominate their two top performers, Ms. C and Ms. D to the HRMD.
In an effort to give herself an upper hand, Ms. C closes deals with three big clients two
days right after Ms. A’s announcements. Two weeks after Ms. A’s announcement, stories
about Ms. C begin to make their rounds and quickly become the mainstay headlines of office
gossip. The most scandalous rumor is that Ms. C offers sexual services to her clients – both
male and female – in order to close her sales. In the face of all these rumors, Ms. C continues
to deliver excellent work. The time has come to promote the candidates. Based on
performance, Ms. C is the better candidate, but both could do the job.
If you are the manager, should you consider the rumors? What should you do? Discuss
your answer.

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 Choose from the philosophies you’ve read and learned. After which, come up showing
how that philosophy you’ve chosen reflects business practices so as it reflects your real life
experience. Be guided of the rubrics below.

Rubrics in Poster Making

CATEGORY 5 4 3 2

Required The poster includes All required All but 1 of the Several required
Elements all required elements elements are required elements elements were
Real -life as well as additionalincluded on the are included on the missing.
experiences information. poster. poster.
Labels All items of Almost all items Many items of Labels are too
importance on the of importance on importance on the small to view OR
poster are clearly the poster are poster are clearly no important items
labeled with labels clearly labeled labeled with labels were labeled.
that can be read from with labels that that can be read
at least 3 feet away.
can be read from from at least 3 feet
at least 3 feet away.
away.
Graphics - All graphics are All graphics are All graphics relate Graphics do not
Relevance related to the topic related to the to the topic. One or relate to the topic
and make it easier topic and most two borrowed OR several
to understand. All make it easier to graphics have a borrowed graphics
borrowed graphics understand. source citation. do not have a
have a source Some borrowed source citation.
citation. graphics have a
source citation.
Attractiveness The poster is The poster is The poster is The poster is
exceptionally attractive in acceptably distractingly messy
attractive in terms of terms of design, attractive though it or very poorly
design, layout, and layout, and may be a bit designed. It is not
neatness. neatness. messy. attractive.

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 REFERENCES

Racelis, 2017. Business Ethics and Social Responsibility, Manila: Rex Printing Company, Inc.,
2017

Bondoc, L. n.d., Foundations of the Principles of Business Ethic, Last Accessed July 30, 2020
(PDF) from https://www.academia.edu

KEY TO PRACTICE EXERCISES

PRACTICE EXERCISE 1 : Answers may vary

PRACTICE EXERCISE 2 : Answers may vary