A general semantics approach to teaching business ethics

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the problems inherent in teaching business ethics. The problems concern what, where, and when ethics should be included in the business curriculum It is suggested that business ethies should be a topic of discussion in all business classes but that the best qualified instructors to teach a process-oriented analysis of ethical problems and their solutions are business communication educatois General semantics approaches are proposed as the ideal means of teac hing a process-oriented analysis of ethical standards and related human behavior A number of general semanties principles are discussed to demonstrate the applicability of those principles to the analysis and teaching of business ethies. I1 ’ IS NO’I’LIN US UAL’1&dquo;0 I 1 1£All that many people consider tlTe term &dquo;business ethics&dquo; to be a contradiction in terms. They apparently believe that the business community has no interest in establishing ethical standards and even less interest in practicing them. IIowevel; not all agree that business and ethics are mutually exclusive. There appear to 1)c at least three attitudina) positions toward business ethics: (1) the general publics position tha