| Ethical dilemma | The quandry people find themselves in when they have to decide if they should act in a way that might help another person or group even though doing so might go against their own self-interest.
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| Ethics | The inner-guiding moral principles, values, and beliefs that people use to analyze or interpret a situation and then decide what is the right or appropriate way to behave.
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| Stakeholders | The people and groups that supply a company with its productive resources and so have a claim on and stake in the company.
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| Utilitarian rule | An ethical decision is a decision that produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
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| Moral rights rule | An ethical decision is one that best maintains and protects the fundamental or inalienable rights and privileges of the people affected by it.
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| Justice rule | An ethical decision is a decision that distributes benefits and harms among people and groups in a fair, equitable, or impartial way.
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| Practical rule | An ethical decision is one that a manager has no reluctance about communicating to people outside the company because the typical person in a society would think it is acceptable.
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| Trust | A person's confidence and faith in another person's goodwill.
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| Reputation | The esteem or high repute that individuals or organizations gain when they behave ethically.
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| Societal ethics | Standards that govern how members of a society should deal with one another in matters involving issues such as fairness, justice, poverty, and the rights of the individual.
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| Occupational ethics | Standards that govern how members of a profession, trade, or craft should conduct themselves when performing work-related tasks.
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| Individual ethics | Personal standards and values that determine how people view their responsibilities to others and how they should act in situations when their own self-interest is at stake.
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| Organizational ethics | The guiding practices and beliefs through which a particular company and its managers view their responsibility toward their stakeholders.
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| Social responsibility | The way a company's managers and employees view their duty or obligation to make decisions that protect, enhance, and promote the welfare and well-being of stakeholders and society as a whole.
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| Obstructionist approach | Companies and their managers choose not to behave in a socially responsible way and behave unethically and illegally.
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| Defensive approach | Companies and their managers behave ethically to the degree that they stay within the law and abide strictly with legal requirements.
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| Accommodative approach | Companies and their managers behave legally and ethically and try to balance the interests of different stakeholders as the need arises.
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| Proactive approach | Companies and their managers actively embrace socially responsible behaviors going out of their way to learn about the needs of different stakeholder groups and utilizing organizational resources to promote the interests of all stakeholders.
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| Ethics ombudsman | A manager responsible for teaching ethical standards to all employees and monitoring their conformity to those standards.
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