Essay - Four Repositories of Ethical Values, Religion, Philosophy, Cultural Experience, and...

Four repositories of ethical values, religion, philosophy, cultural experience, and law influence managers. Although different doctrine controls different religions, all of the major religions preach some form of responsibility to society in general. Christian managers read*****g and seeking direction from ***** Bible exemplifies the use ***** a religious text ***** ***** ***** managerial thought process. Many passages from the various religious texts draw a comp*****rison between a shepherd and the shepherd's responsibilities. If each person is considered a shepherd, then ***** person h*****s responsibilities beyond what they do for themselves. In ***** cases a religion te*****ches that moral responsibility extents to the indirect results business activity, such as pollution. In spite of ***** pressures to remain open for business seven days a week, some Chr*****ti*****n-oriented businesses refuse to open on Sundays even though this decisi***** hurts them directly in terms ***** lost business, but also ***** them because of the loss of prime retail space ***** companies willing to open on Sundays. Many other examples ***** businesses respecting a sacred day of the week or a sacred time ***** day exist. However enormous competitive pressure continue to build in the retail business sector to stay open nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a *****, so-c*****lled "24/7," and 365 days a year.

The reposi*****ry of philosophy ranges over a wide degree of ethical values. Ancient philosophers, particularly ***** ancient Greeks Socrates, Plato, ***** Aristotle, set *****th a ***** revolving around the concept of a higher *****ity, *****n ideal society. Using the mind allowed one to achieve a sense of morality identified as absolute *****. The ***** and the Romans saw true success in ***** of leading a "good life" ra*****r than achieving great financial wealth. Christian *****s of ethical behavior *****minated for a number of centuries. The Christian concepts focused on the need for ethical behavior on Earth to gain life after death. At the end of the Middle Ages marked by the beginning of the Enlightenment, non-religious ***** replaced ***** the most influential philosophers. Philosophers of ***** Enlightenment sought to explain ethics through analysis rather than a mandate of God. An***** *****m of secular ***** evolved ***** the work of Bentham and the philosophy that any action should be measured based on whether it caused pleasure or pain to society in general. The philosophy ********** known as Utilitarianism. Although an ********** use of Utilitarianism, the philosophy justified industrialization and economic growth benefiting ***** many even if the few had to sacrifice everything. A completely ***** approach called "realism" assumed ***** man possessed ***** ***** evil characteristics. ********** of the realistic philosophy eliminated ***** possibility of an ***** ethical society. Different versions of realism included a philosophy of the ********** justify the means, a survival ***** ***** fittest, and individuals who had supernatural m*****al qualities. In fact ***** things that were considered Christian virtues became weaknesses in the thinking of realistic philosophers. *****re is at least ***** philosophy ***** fits ***** desired actions of any manager, so a manager can