Final answer:
A code of ethics in a business context sets forth the expected moral and ethical behavior of its members, reflecting legal and societal values. Normative ethics underpins these guidelines, providing principles for right conduct across various approaches like consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics.
Step-by-step explanation:
The set of behavioral guidelines that an organization expects its directors, managers, and employees to follow to ensure appropriate moral and ethical business standards is typically referred to as a code of ethics. This code of ethics is crafted to align with the legal requirements and reflect the values of the society in which the organization operates. It provides a framework for determining what actions are permissible within a business context and addresses concrete matters like bribery, discrimination, and environmental responsibility.
Normative ethics, as the foundation for these guidelines, devises principles and norms for right conduct, drawing from three main approaches: consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethics. Organizations and professional bodies, such as the American Sociological Association or the IEEE Computer Society, develop their own ethical codes to help guide members' behavior in alignment with professional responsibility and societal expectations.