Applied Business Ethics: Foundations for Study and Daily Practice

What has ethics got to do with my job? How can I take on ethical responsibility and help to make my company more successful at the same time? Although 'ethical responsibility' has become something of a catchphrase these days, most people only have a vague idea what it means and how it can be demonstrated in actual practice.

Disasters like the Volkswagen's emission scandal, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the nuclear meltdown of Fukushima, the global financial crisis, and countless lesser-known cases of damage to human beings and the environment are the result of unethically irresponsible business practices. Efforts to maximize profits frequently lead to reckless behavior, as those in charge focus on short-term benefits and ignore social and environmental risks. Their actions have negative consequences, not only for the victims but, in many cases, for the perpetrators themselves too. Aggrieved interest groups or disadvantaged stakeholders may react with strikes, public protests, or boycotts, jeopardizing their reputation and profitability.

This textbook, Applied Business Ethics, is the result of many years of research work and lecturing, and is an attempt to present the most important principles and the latest approaches in business ethics to students, teachers, and business practitioners alike, and help them to make business decisions that everyone concerned will benefit from, rather than just a few fortunate stakeholders.

The author illustrates his theoretical subject matter with practical examples of real-life situations and provides numerous exercises to help the reader grasp complex issues, moral dilemmas, and business risks better. In clear, accessible, and easily understandable terms, he demonstrates how ways of finding satisfactory solutions can be found in a systematic way thanks to interdisciplinary research and philosophical reflection.

Readership: Students, academics and practitioners in business ethics.

MATHIAS SCHÜZ is Professor of Responsible Leadership and Business Ethics at the School of Management and Law, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW). He teaches and conducts research at the Centre for Human Capital Management in Winterthur. Before joining ZHAW, he worked in top positions at large companies for two decades. It was in his PhD thesis on the philosophical consequences of quantum physics that he first expanded on the subject of responsibility and ethics.