resources personal ethical views essay scoring guide B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

eadings

Use your Business Ethics e-book to complete the following:

• Read Chapter 1, “Business Ethics, the Changing Environment, and Stakeholder Management”. This chapter examines what business ethics is, the myths about business ethics, and how business ethics affect the changing environment.
• Read Chapter 2, “Ethical Principles, Quick Tests, and Decision-Making Guidelines”. As you read this chapter, focus on the ethical dilemmas, decision criteria, moral creativity, and ethical reasoning.

Smarthinking

The Smarthinking writing evaluation service is available to help you with the assignments in this course.

[u01a1] Unit 1 Assignment 1

Personal Ethical Views Essay

In this assignment, you will explore where you currently stand on ethics and write a paper based on a self-assessment.

Assignment Preparation

To prepare for your paper, complete the following:

• Review pages 47-48 in Chapter 1 of your Business Ethics text, which offers a quick test of your ethical beliefs. Complete the 10 questions and score yourself according to the instructions in the text.
• Review Section 1.4, “Five Myths About Business Ethics” on page 48 of your text. Take a minute to consider how, if at all, any of these myths are reflected in your current belief system.
• Reflect on this self-assessment and, if possible, discuss it with a professional associate or someone who knows you in your work environment, current or past. Consider in this discussion whether your ethical beliefs are well known to others you work with. If they are known, how do they manifest themselves?

Assignment Instructions

Using best practices for academic writing, prepare a personal statement of your current thinking about and understanding of business ethics. In this essay, please be sure to:

• Summarize the quick-test results (from Chapter 1, pages 47-48) and your own analysis of the validity of these results. Describe what seems valuable about the quick test, and what (if anything) you think might not be accurate.
• Apply one or more of the five business ethics myths described in your text to your own ethical perspective. The author of the text believes many people are victims of these myths. How might one or more of these myths affect you—or how might they not be accurate? Include a rationale for your answer.
• Describe some of the biggest internal and external influences on your decision making in moments when you need to act ethically.
• Discuss the parameters of business ethics as described in your text. In other words, according to your Business Ethics text, why is it absolutely necessary that all employees use careful ethical reasoning? Hint: Be sure to look at the section that presents the three reasons why we need ethical reasoning in the workplace.
• Evaluate the need for ethical behavior in our workplaces. What do you think should count as ethical workplace behavior, and what should be called unethical?
• Conclude your essay with a paragraph that summarizes your view of studying business ethics and its potential value for all business professionals. What are some of the biggest ethical challenges? Also, looking into your own professional career, explain what your challenges are and how solid your belief is related to what is considered ethical or not ethical, based on what you know thus far. Include three objectives for what you want to get out of this course.

Review the Personal Ethical Views Essay Scoring Guide to understand the grading criteria for this assignment.
Support your choices with cited concepts from reliable professional sources.

Submission Requirements

Your paper should meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Written communication is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• APA formatting: References and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines.
• Length of paper: 750–1,250 words, or 3–5 typed, double-spaced pages.
• Font and Font Size: Arial, 10 point.

Once complete, submit your paper in the assignment area.

Resources

• Personal Ethical Views Essay Scoring Guide.
• Business Ethics.
• Capella Online Writing Center.
• APA Style and Format.
• Smarthinking.