SAN JOSE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

ACCOUNTANCY, BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT
BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Chapter 2 - Foundations of the Principles of Business Ethics

Content
The classical philosophies specifically, virtue ethics (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, etc.)
The impact of belief systems (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.)
The Filipino Value System

Learning Competencies
2.1 Compare and contrast classical philosophies as they relate to the business setting
2.2 Give examples of how belief systems affect business practices
2.3 Analyze simple business situations as they are affected by the Filipino value system and recommend ways of
confronting ethical challenges in the business setting
2.4 Distinguish what is GOOD vs. what is morally unacceptable among the given Filipino values

2.1 The classical philosophies specifically, virtue ethics

SOCRATES: HAVE THE COURAGE TO DISAGREE

Born: City of Athens in 469 B.C.
Son of a poor parents, his father was a sculptor and his mother a midwife.
He became a solder as volunteer in the Peloponnesian War.
After he retired from the army, he spent his adult life in response to what he believed. To
study himself by questioning other men.
Socrates was place on trial and found guilty of “corrupting the youth” of Athens by asking them to question authority.
Socrates genuinely believes that people should inquire and ask questions, especially about those things that everyone
takes for granted.

Socrates Philosophy
He believed, to the contrary of many around him, that the most applicable questions that philosophy had to deal with are
related to how people should live their lives, what kind of actions were righteous and how people should live mutually in
communities and states.
He believed that the only life worth living was one that was carefully examined.
He believed that no person could willingly decide to do something damaging or harmful if they were completely aware of
the value of life.

Application to business
In the business world, managers should not sleepwalk. In order to live a virtuous life, morally unacceptable policies and
practices must be prevented even though “everyone else was doing it”. Managers should be responsible in their actions
and must be prepared to be fired or demoted rather than go against their conscience. An organization must encourage
independent thinkers and their employees to follow their conscience.

PLATO: THE POWER TO RULE

Born: City of Athens in 427 B.C.

He belonged to an aristocratic family.
As a boy, he was named Aristocles, but since he had broad shoulders and forehead he was called
Plato.
He was a pupil of Socrates for 8 years

Plato’s Philosophy
He believed that only those persons who possessed scholarly as well as ethical qualities should be trusted with the control
to rule above others.
Another prime belief was that a person must study themselves in order to find out their level of character.
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“More will be accomplished and better and with more ease, if every man does what he is best fitted to do and nothing
else.”

Application to business
In business, it is always important to know the strengths and weaknesses of everyone in the organization, whether a top
executive or ordinary employee. Companies must fit the exact natural talents of qualified applicants with the job
requirements and expectations. Each job has a set of behaviors that let the right person to stand out because that
person is so perfectly matched.

ARISTOTLE: LET PEOPLE SEEK FULFILLMENT

Aristotle’s Philosophy
Aristotle was the most practical and business-oriented of all philosophers.
Aristotle established that the role of the leader as someone who must construct the
environment in which all members of an organization have the chance to recognize their own
potential. He was a great biologist as well. He based his ethics on a psychological theory of human
nature.

Application to business
In business, the organization must provide an environment that is conducive to human growth and fulfillment. Employees
will be inspired to work if they know that their contributions to the company are significant and morally valuable.
Employees must be rewarded proportionate to their contributions.

CONFUCIUS: LIVE A CONTENTED, MORAL AND HAPPY LIFE

Confucius Philosophy
He is concerned with the teaching people about benevolence, generosity, love, compassion and
sincerity in a straightforward manner.
Loyalty to family and family ancestry are central to uphold honor.

Application to business
Confucian values can aid in the creation of business leaders who are true leaders of society and who hold a sense of
righteousness and moral power. Confucius believed that leaders were expected to rule in a just and moral manner.
If businesses are managed virtuously, they will succeed.
PLUTARCH: BE A GOOD ROLE MODEL
Plutarch’s Philosophy
He believed that humans are exceptionally social creatures. He believed that people can be guided
by providing them with better patterns to imitate.

Application to business
Employees will watch how he behaves, how he treat others. They will imitate him as a leader.

Epictetus

Epictetus (c. A.D. 55 - 135) was a Greek/Roman philosopher of the Hellenistic period. He
managed to overcome huge obstacles in developing from a crippled Roman slave to become one
of the most popular and sought after philosophers of his time.

Epictetus Philosophy: build a resilient mind-set

He was one of the most influential teachers of the later years of the school of Stoicism, and
considered by some to be the greatest of the Stoics. Because so littleof the original early works
of Stoicism has survived, his transcribed teachings are also a major source of our knowledge of
the movement. Epictetus focused more on Ethics (and less on Logic and physics) than the early Stoics had, and he
brought to a logical conclusion Stoicism's tendency to reduce philosophy to Ethics. He saw the role of the Stoic teacher as
encouraging his students to discover the invariable and inviolable true nature of things.

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Application to Business

We can control our thoughts, beliefs and attitudes, but everything else is to some extent out of our control – other
people's perceptions and behavior, the economy, the weather, the future and the past. If you focus on what is beyond
your control, and obsess over it, you will end up feeling helpless. Focus on what you can control, and you will feel a
measure of autonomy even in chaotic situations.

John Locke - men are by nature free and equal and have rights. (Natural law and natural rights)

John Locke was an English philosopher and he was among the most famous philosophers and
political theorists of the 17th century. He is often regarded as the founder of a school of
thought known as British Empiricism, and he made foundational contributions to modern
theories of limited, liberal government.

Locke’s insight was that before we can analyze the world and our access to it we have to know
something about ourselves. We need to know how we acquire knowledge. We also need to
know which areas of inquiry we are well suited to and which are epistemically closed to us, that
is, which areas are such that we could not know them even in principle.

Application to Business
Systematic issues in business are ethical questions about economic, political, legal, and other institutions within which
businesses operate. Corporate issues are ethical questions dealing in a particular organization, such as, questions about the
morality of their activities, policies, practices, or organizational structure of a company taken as a whole. The last of the
sub-categories is individual, individual issues are ethical questions about a particular individual or individuals within the
company and their behaviors and/or decisions, this can include the morality of their decisions, actions, or the character of
that individual (Velasquez, 2014).

Descartes, Rene – father of modern philosophy

Descartes was a French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist, René Descartes is often credited
with being the “Father of Modern Philosophy.” This title is justified due both to his break with the
traditional Scholastic-Aristotelian philosophy prevalent at his time and to his development and
promotion of the new, mechanistic sciences. His fundamental break with Scholastic philosophy was
twofold.
Application to business
Descartes’s ideas, of course, became absolutely key, if not determining, for the methodology of
economic science. Economics started to develop at the time when his legacy received widespread
recognition. The first economists widely discussed theories of knowledge, and all have proven to be successors to
Descartes. His ideas were brought to England by John Locke and David Hume. Through them, Descartes’s teachings
penetrated economics as well—and they have remained firmly built into it to this day. In no other social science were the
Cartesian ideas accepted with as much enthusiasm as in economics.

2.2 The impact of belief systems (Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, etc.)

Belief System
Humans have always expressed a need to understand natural phenomenon and to answer questions regarding
their way of life and what happens once they die.
A belief system is an ideology or set of principles that helps interpret everyday reality. This could be in the form
of religion, political affiliation, philosophy or spirituality. These beliefs are formed and influenced by many different
factors. The knowledge on a certain topic, the way people were raised and even peer pressure from others.
Religious Belief System
Religious Belief System is usually controlled around a moral code, the belief of one or more divine being and the
ability for supernatural occurrences to affect inhabitants and the universe that they exist in.
Spiritual Belief System
Spiritual Belief System is not structured. Some prefer to belief in an eternal life and pursue a moral code of
conduct but do not join with a particular church or denomination.

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Religious and Spiritual Belief Systems
Religion can be defined as “belief in God or gods to be worshipped, usually expressed in conduct and ritual” or “any
specific system of belief, worship, etc., often involving a code of ethics.”
Spirituality can be defined as “the quality or fact of being spiritual, non-physical” or “predominantly spiritual character as
shown in thought, life, etc.; spiritual tendency or tone.”

Religion and Spirituality

To put it briefly, religion is a set of beliefs and rituals that claim to get a person in a right relationship with God, and
spirituality is a focus on spiritual things and the spiritual world instead of physical/earthly things.

1. Animism
Animism includes the beliefs that there is no disconnection between the spiritual and physical (or material) world. It
has the idea that the souls or spirits exist, not only in humans but also in some other animals, plants, rocks,
geographic features such as mountains or rivers or other entities of the natural environment including thunder, wind
and shadows.
Animism is the oldest recognized type of belief system in the world. Animists also supposed that ancestors
watch above the living from the spirit world.
In the Philippines, among the Kankanai Igorots, the dogs was nearly worshipped, in a way comparable to other tribes
throughout the Malay Archipelago. Some of them even gave their dogs amulets to put on against sickness and
danger. However, among some neighboring Igorot tribes, the dog, while believed sacred, is killed and eaten during
sacrifices.
Business Practices Of Animism
Seeing a Thai house owner offering incense and food and drink to the spirit at least once a day is ordinary. For
many it appears strange but in Thailand the placing of incense sticks and food and drinks either on a small table, a
chair or even the pavement is not weird.
Another evidence of animism in the world of business is Feng Shui. Feng Shui, an animist and an old page
practice based upon cosmic and geographic dimensions is widely practiced.
Many Feng Shui tools are used to assess business including but not limited to:
1. Space allocation – proper use of space
2. Layout – best arrangement of furniture
3. Orientation – direction and location of a person within a space
4. Decor – best color schemes and elements to implement
5. Remedies – proper use and placemen t to balance the space harmoniously.
2. Shinto
Shinto, which means “way of the gods” is the customary religion of Japan that centers on natural world. Shinto
teaches that there is a holiness of the whole universe and that humans can be in tune with this holiness. Every
Mountain, river, plant, animal have spirits which dwell in them.
Unlike many religions, one does not need to publicly profess belief in Shinto to be a believer. Whenever a child is born
in Japan, a local Shinto shrine adds the child’s name to a list kept at the shrine and declares him or her a “family
child” (ujiko). After death an ujiko becomes a “family spirit” (ujigami).
Business Practices of Shinto
Shinto is the largest religion in Japan. This is the reason why most of the practices of Japanese people are influenced
by Shinto including business. New buildings made in Japan are normally blessed by a Shinto priest called kannushi.
Gift-giving is an important both in and out of the workplace and is a good way to make sure business deals stay
friendly. However, according to Shinto, the number four is unlucky and symbolizes death. Gifts featuring this number
are improper.
3. Hinduism is the major religion of India, practiced by more than 80% of the population. This is the basis behind
most of Hinduism practices including business in India.

Business practices of Hinduism

1. Doing business meeting requires a handshake called Namaste as part of etiquette. Using the Namaste is a sign of
understanding their etiquette.

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 2. Always use the appropriate formal title when addressing a person if the person is personally known like Professor,
Doctor, Mr, Mrs. If the person is not quite familiar use their names then Sir or Madam will be enough.
3. Meetings should be arranged well in advance. This should be done in writing and confirmed by phone. Meetings
must not be scheduled near or on national holidays. They usually schedule between Oct. and Mar.
4. When entering a meeting room a person must always approach and greet the most elder figure first. Meetings
should always start with some conversation. Talking about personal matter is avoided. Commenting on matters
such as the poverty or beggars must be prevented.
5. Once terms have been agreed there will be a celebration dinner for a successful negotiation and the continuous
process of relationship building process.
4. Judaism – Jews believe that God appointed the Jews to be his chosen people to set an example of holiness and
ethical behavior to the world.

Business practices of Judaism

Any organization must practice loving, kindness, justice and righteousness demanded by God.
“Were you honest in your business dealings?’
False or deceptive packaging and labeling is likewise prohibited.
Good relation between employees and employers are observed.

5. Buddhism
Buddhism was developed in India. Buddhists believe in an endless cycle of reincarnation which is comparable to
beliefs of Hinduism.
Business practices of Buddhism
1. None can live without toil, and an ability that provides ones needs is a blessing really. But if people work hard
without rest, fatigue and weariness will overtake them and they will be denied the joy that comes from labor’s
end. Get sufficient rest.
2. Develop the mind of equilibrium. People will always be getting praise and blame, but do not let either affect the
composure of the mind. Just follow the calmness and the absence of pride.
3. Every individual has a responsibility to help guide the global family in the right direction. Good wishes are not
enough. People must become actively busy. This means that every person shoulders the weight of responsibility to
do good. It is the good actions, not the good intentions, which accomplish the most on and off the job,
4. One can only lose what he clings to. E veryone should embrace change. Change is everywhere. Nothing is
permanent.
5. A jug fills drop by drop. Things happen step by step. When people focus on the small things, the big things make
sense. Small efforts can amount to great success.
6. Christianity
Christianity is currently the most popular religion in the world. This religion developed from Judaism, there are
several key differences in its teachings.
Christians are expected to attend church services regularly, usually on Sundays and holy days such as Christmas and
Easter.
Business practices of Christianity
1. Integrity - Christ-centered living. It is about doing what is right. Based on the standards and principles of God
which are righteousness, truth and honesty.
2. Commitment to excellence - If an organization is to be recognized as exemplary one, one whose goal is to glorify
God through its commitment to excellence in its service and product. It must always honor God.

2.3 The Filipino Value System

Filipino value system or Filipino values
This refers to the set of values or the value system
 system includes their own unique assemblage of consistent ideologies, moral codes, ethical practices, etiquette,
and cultural and personal values
 the values that an individual holds sacred can differ on the basis of religion, upbringing and other factors.

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Examples of Filipino Values

Utang na Loob
 Considered an important "accommodative surface value", along with hiya and pakikisama.
 accommodate the demands of the world around them as opposed
Utang na loob or gratritude is a very fashionable Filipino characteristics. This debt of gratitude is at times abused by those
who have done well to others. They may request favors or things that may either be difficult to deal with.
Filial Goodness
 means to be good to one's parents
 to take care of one's parents
 to support parents as well as carry out sacrifices to the ancestors
 not be rebellious, show love, respect and support
 display sorrow for their sickness and death; and carry out sacrifices after their death.
Padrino
The value system where one gains favor, promotion, or political appointment through family affiliation (nepotism) or
friendship (cronyism), as opposed to one's merit
Using the padrino system can get a businessman easily started if the padrino would stand as go-between for
introducing and vouching his character in order to get the business deal. Surely using the padrino system can
guarantee a good business deal. However, the padrino would anticipate that there would a thing of value in exchange
for the favor.
Bahala na
It can mean” living it all up to God”, “come what may”, “whatever will be will be”, and the list goes on
Example: When an employee gets his salary, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment, spend on things especially when
they come with tempting 70% off tag. He may end up spending most of his budget in one go, without saving any
amount. When a family member gets sick he does not have an emergency fund for surprise expenses like
hospitalization.
Maña na Habit
 something that we have learned from the Spaniards
It means 'tomorrow' or 'specified future time' also known as “procrastination” in plain English, “mamaya na” in
Filipino.
In business setting, people work as a team in any corporate set-up. No one works alone. Each one is part of a team or a
group and the success or failure of each team is based on the other teams in the organization. So if one team
member delays a task and falls behind schedule, there is a domino effect of postponements that go through the
whole organization.
Amor Propio
Spanish word which means self –love
 a sense of self-esteem or self respect that prevents a person from swallowing his pride
Failing to present appropriate hospitality, passionlessly admitting criticism or accepting wrong are all considered violations
of amor propio which are violations of self.
Delicadeza
Spanish term which means daintiness when translated in English.
It is defined as an act of being refined or delicate in tastes or manners. But in simple terms, it’s a sense of good
manners or how to behave rightly in all situations.
 Walang delicadeza or makapal ang mukha or thick-faced.In Philippine politics, for instance elected officials must
not engage themselves in any businesses operating in their localities.
Ningas Cogon
Ningas is a noun that means flame, blaze, while cogon is a grass which can be easily burned with its representation.
Ningas Cogon means the fast burning of cogon, which signifies Filipinos’ way of eagerness only at the beginning but
the quickly losing enthusiasm soon.
The phrase refers to a rather regrettable tendency to start projects and never finish them.
Other Filipino Value Systems:
 Pakikisama/Pakikipagkapwa-tao
 Family Orientation
 Hospitality
 Joy and Humor
 Faith and Religiousity
 Ability to Survive
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 Hardwork and Industry
 Filipino Time