Chapter 1: Business dilemmas.

The article focuses on issues related to ethical decision-making in business. It is worth noting that the majority of business decisions do have an ethical content. It seems to the author that the first of the dilemmas occurs when managers find themselves under conflicting pressures arising from what they may perceive as the role of business in society. The manager may be involved in cutting costs in his particular business, and also being asked to ensure that the unit he is responsible for continues to play its part in the community. He may be having to get rid of staff and, at the same time, being told that he needs to take up a certain number of trainees who are just leaving school or college. The ethical standards of companies matter to them on three grounds. First, if unethical practices are condoned or ignored within a company, no one then knows where the line between acceptable and unacceptable conduct is to be drawn and there will almost inevitably be a downward slide in standards, which is cumulative and may lead to disaster.