¶ … 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 reading and seeking direction from the Bible exemplifies the use of a religious text to influence the managerial thought process. Many passages from the various religious texts draw a comparison between a shepherd and the shepherd's responsibilities. If each person is considered a shepherd, then each person has responsibilities beyond what they do for themselves. In some cases a religion teaches that moral responsibility extents to the indirect results business activity, such as pollution. In spite of the pressures to remain open for business seven days a week, some Christian-oriented businesses refuse to open on Sundays even though this decision hurts them directly in terms of lost business, but also hurts them because of the loss of prime retail space to companies willing to open on Sundays. Many other examples of businesses respecting a sacred day of the week or a sacred time of day exist. However enormous competitive pressure continue to build in the retail business...
Ancient philosophers, particularly the ancient Greeks Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, set forth a doctrine revolving around the concept of a higher morality, an ideal society. Using the mind allowed one to achieve a sense of morality identified as absolute morality. The Greeks and the Romans saw true success in terms of leading a "good life" rather than achieving great financial wealth. Christian concepts of ethical behavior dominated 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 philosophers replaced as the most influential philosophers. Philosophers of the Enlightenment sought to explain ethics through analysis rather than a mandate of God. Another form of secular philosophy evolved from 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 became known as Utilitarianism. Although an…
