Chapter 1 Why Study Ethics?
Chapter One – Why Study Ethics?
Review Questions
1. Describe several reasons why ethics is relevant to business? Can a “good business” be an
unethical business?
2. What are values? What is the difference between ethical values and other types of
values? What is the difference between “value” when used as a verb, and “value” when
used as a noun?
3. What is the difference between “ethics” and “ethos”?
4. How is descriptive business ethics different from normative business ethics?
5. This chapter introduced a distinction between morality, virtues, and social ethics. How
would you describe each?
6. How would you answer someone who asked: “Why should I study ethics if I want to be
an accountant?”
7. Other than business managers and owners, which other constituencies might have a stake
in business decisions?
Chapter One – Why Study Ethics?
Discussion Questions: Madoff
1. Identify what ethical issues and questions are involved in the Madoff case.
2. Identify all the people you think may have been harmed, and how they were harmed, by
the Madoff fraud.
3. Do you think that a scandal such as this is the result mostly of unethical individuals, or are
there organizational issues that allowed, encouraged, or were responsible for the harm? To
what degree was this case mostly a failure of individuals, or organizational structure, or of
government?
4. Can you imagine anything that would have prevented the Madoff fraud?
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