Two broad areas of business ethics?

Two Broad Areas of Business Ethics1. Managerial mischief. Madsen and Shafritz, in their book "Essentials of Business Ethics" (Penguin Books, 1990) further explain that "managerial mischief" includes "illegal, unethical, or questionable practices of individual managers or organizations, as well as the causes of such behaviors and remedies to eradicate them."

There has been a great deal written about managerial mischief, leading many to believe that business ethics is merely a matter of preaching the basics of what is right and wrong. More often, though, business ethics is a matter of dealing with dilemmas that have no clear indication of what is right or wrong.

2. Moral mazes. The other broad area of business ethics is "moral mazes of management" and includes the numerous ethical problems that managers must deal with on a daily basis, such as potential conflicts of interest, wrongful use of resources, mismanagement of contracts and agreements, etc.

Adapted from Complete Guide to Ethics Management: An Ethics Toolkit for Managers by Carter McNamara