Why is prostitution considered immoral, as long as it is a service that is provided, just like the service of a driver or a cleaning person? Why is a prostitute seen like a person of low value and why do we think it's immoral that she sells herself for money, because, if we think about it, any person who works and gets paid is also selling himself for money. Thank you!

Kinda depends on what you think is OK to buy, sell or rent, doesn't it? We don't accept slavery, because we don't think people should be for sale or should ever be owned--though we accept that it is OK to pay for the labor that people can perform in some cases. So I agree with the premise of your question: in general, we seem to be OK with paying for services. Is sex something that we should (or could permissibly) think of as a kind of service? Notice that such a view of sex is different from the view we take in romantic circumstances. There, we take sex to be a kind of intimacy between two people--a way of relating lovingly to one another. Prostitution, I think it is safe to say, isn't like that. It is more, as you say, like a service. But surely one could reasonably wonder whether thinking of sexual acts as services is the right way to conceive of them. Now, as with so many ethical questions, we might find that we are led to different sorts of answers if we apply different kinds...

Is it wrong not to inform a friend's organization of a potentially bad hire--because I work with this person and want them to leave our organization? And yes, it's a bad hire, by the work ethic standards of everyone else I work with, it's not a personal issue!

I guess there are different angles to this one. Is it wrong in a business ethics sense not to tell your friend's organization about the person they may hire? Not unlesss you are one of the people contacted for a referencce, I suppose. You are not obligated to inform other businesses about the errors they may be about to make! But what has more traction for me in your question is where you identify the other organization as your friend's . As a friend, yes, I think you owe it to your friend to let him or her know about the problem--just because you would like to be rid of the bad colleague, you will sit back and allow your friend to inherit your problem? Not nice!

Should business/corporations give to charity? Or should they return the profits to shareholders, and let them decide what to do with it?

In principle, the decisions made by corporate managers are, as a matter of contract and law, supposed to reflect and be answerable to the will of the shareholders. I can't think of any compelling reason to think that corporations should give to charity. But let's be clear what's at issue here. Is it nice when they do so? Of course it is. Those who benefit from that charity (or those charities) to which a corporation might donate are certainly benefited. Do corporations have responsibilities, as a result of the benefits they gain from society? Sure they do--that's why they either pay taxes or else make other agreements with cities, states, and nations that are supposed to exact a fair exchange of the goods that are enjoyed by the corporation and the goods returned back to the community. But I can't see how or why in addition to paying their fair share (in jobs, or taxes, or whatever) in exchange for receiving the goods they receive from society, they also have some responsibility to...

I work in a fairly large organization where each year staff are given the opportunity to nominate a colleague for a "staff achievement award". A member of staff in my office is a good candidate for nomination but no-one wants to nominate her (or anyone else) because another member of staff, who doesn't deserve nomination, desperately wants to be nominated - so to avoid an unpleasant situation the staff are not nominating anyone. I don't agree with awards such as this - not just because they cause pain to those who will not be nominated and are unfair anyway because people who do not deserve nomination will be nominated - but because I do not think that anyone deserves an award for a job well done or for being a considerate co-worker or for being exceptional in anyway. Entering competitions in order to win an award is a different matter. What is your opinion?

This sort of case is the best example of a reason why organizations should be very leery of any system of recognition or reward that has the consequence of making its members feel they are subject to invidious comparisons. Even so, I do think that special effort and special merit also deserves special recognition. A system of nominations is supposed to bring attention to the most deserving cases, and if this system operates properly, then credit goes where credit is due. But, to be perhaps a bit too blunt, it sounds to me as if your co-workers are actually doing your best to make sure this system will not work effectively or fairly, by refusing to take part in it. By refusing to nominate your colleague, you do what is in your power to deny them the recognition they deserve. How can that be right? Instead you and your other co-workers are going to sit idly by and watch someone undeserving get that recognition, because you are unwilling to allow the system to work as it should! Now I...