Introduction In the past decade, concern with the ethical accountability of companies has continued to grow. Consumers increasingly look to support and buy from companies that make ethical decisions. The government has also created new legislation that requires a certain level of ethics and creates encouragement for companies to go as far as to create ethics programs. The idea of “business ethics” is not new, but there is more pressure now than ever before on companies to prove they are making an honest effort to be ethical. This additional pressure on companies can be largely attributed to a change in the neoclassical view of a company as only needing to take care of stockholder interests by creating profits (Wines & Hamilton III, 2009). Today, people view the organization as a complex unit made of up many different groups that must be considered. This new definition of an “ethical corporation” requires not only compliance with the law, but also consideration of the ethical implications of all actions (Epstein & Hanson, 2006; Thornton, 2009). “Ethics are a system of moral principles and behavioral norms intended to express and support an underlying set of values” (Post, Lee, & Sachs, 2002). Following the meanings given by several professional sources, business ethics is defined as the study of moral standards in the context of all business situations (Columbia University, 2008; Knapp, 2001; Crane & Matten, 2007). Because of this change in consumer and regulator concerns, a corporation cannot survive unless it takes care of and strives to respect the interests of all of its stakeholders by applying ethical standards to actions (Post, Lee, & Sachs, 2002). To do this, a corporation must be accountable beyond basic “guidelines a... ... middle of paper ... ...009). Optimizing Your Code of Conduct. Federal Ethics Report , 16 (6), 6. Stout, N. (2009). Staples' Secret Weapon. Chain Store Age , 85 (8), 21-22. The Botwinick Prize in Ethics. (n.d.). Retrieved March 23, 2010, from The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School: http://www4.gsb.columbia.edu/leadership/speakerseries/botwinick Thornton, L. F. (2009, September). Leadership Ethics Training: Why Is Why Is It So Hard to Get It Right? Trainging + Development , 60-61. Vallabhaneni, S. R. (2008). Corporate Management, Governance, and Ethics Best Practices . Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. Vogel, David. (2008), CSR Doesn’t Pay. Forbes Magazine Wines, W. A., & Hamilton III, J. B. (2009). On Changing Organizational Cultures by Injecting New Ideologies: The Power of Stories. Journal of Business Ethics , 89 (3), 433-435.
It's difficult not to be cynical about how “big business” treats the subject of ethics in today's world. In many corporations, where the only important value is the bottom line, most executives merely give lip service to living and operating their corporations ethically.
To apply this system of moral values effectively, one must understand the structural levels at which ethical dilemmas occur, who is involved in the dilemmas, and how a particular decision will affect them. In addition, one must consider how to formulate possible courses of action. Failing in any of these three areas may lead to an ineffective decision, resulting in more pain than cure.” Ken Blanchard states, “Many leaders don’t operate ethically because they don’t understand leadership; these executives may have MBA’s from Ivey League schools or have attended leadership training; they may routinely read the best-selling management books, however, they don’t understand what it means to be a leader.” They don’t model a way of ethical behaviors.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2011). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right. New York: John Wiley.
Trevino, L., & Nelson, K. (2011). Managing business ethics - straight talk about how to
Joseph, James A. "Leadership And The Changing Role Of Ethics In Public Life." Lecture. Models of Ethical Leadership for a Changing World. University of Texas. Jan. 2001. Web.
For a company to be successful ethically, it must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture. A corporate code of ethics can be a very valuable and integral part of a company’s culture but I believe that it is not strong enough to stand alone. Thought and care must go into constructing the code of ethics and the implementation of it. Companies need to infuse ethics and integrity throughout their corporate culture as well as into their definition of success. To be successfully ethical, companies must go beyond the notion of simple legal compliance and adopt a values-based organizational culture.
Business ethics simply can be defined as the application of business values in the business practice of a company (Seawell 2010, p. 2). For a multinational company, business ethics is one of the critical aspects need to be taken into account in business decision-making processes. Failure to give attention on ethics may bring consequences on company’s reputation (Meyer & Jebe 2010, p. 159). The company is expected not only to pursue its own profits but also contributing to the environmental and social welfare of the community where it operates (Svensson & Wood 2008, p. 308).
An organization needs to adhere to ethics in order to effectively implement its mission, vision, and objectives in a way in which offers a solid foundation to management and their subordinates to properly develop and implement its strategies. By doing so, the organization as a whole is essentially subscribing to one commonality that directs all of the actions of the employees of the organization. Additionally, it assists in preventing such employees from divergence in regard to the proposed strategic guideline. Ethics additionally ensures that a strategic plan is developed in accordance to the interests of the appropriate stakeholders of the organization, both internal and external (Jin & Drozdenko, 2010). Likewise, corporate governance that stems from various regulatory parties makes it necessary for organizations to maintain a high degree of ethical standards; this is done by incorporating ethics within the organization’s strategic plan so as to foster a positive corporate image for the stakeholders and general public (Min-Dong Paul, 2009).
Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., & Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases: 2011 custom edition (9th ed.). Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Ethics in business is a highly important concept, as it can affect a company’s profits, salaries paid to employees and CEOs, and public opinion, among many other aspects of a business. Ethics can be enforced by company policies and guidelines, set a precedent when a company is faced with an important decision, and are also evolving thanks to new technology and situations that arise due to technology usage. Businesses have a duty to maintain their ethical responsibilities and also to help their employees enforce these responsibilities in and out of the workplace. However, ethics and the foundation for them are not always black and white. There are many different ethical theories, however Utilitarianism, Kant’s Deontological ethics, and Virtue ethics are three of the most well known theories in existence. Each theory is distinct in that it has a different quality used to determine ethicality and allows for a person to choose which system of ethics works best with both the situation and his or her personal ethical preferences.
In today society you always hear about how company is conducting themselves ethically. This concept can sometimes help or hurt a company in the worst way possible at times. However, ethical conduct is not only the company’s responsibility but also the individuals. Granted the majority people do have that internal sense of what is right and wrong, that however doesn’t mean that they always listen to that still small voice.
Treviño, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right Fourth ed., Retrieved on July 30, 2010 from www.ecampus.phoenix.edu
In the business world there are many fundamental aspects and situations that can lead to several issues. In order to find an optimal and professional solution, business decision makers need to apply moral and ethical standards. And it is at that moment in which business ethics perform its role. Business ethics, which is in charge of examine how companies and individuals should act in business situations, is very essential in order to reach a common agreement and to work within the laws of business and solve an arisen dilemma. Working of the hand of ethical business companies, employees, investors, directors, and even individual officers can be beneficiated and obtain most favorable outcomes.
Tricker, b., & miller, c. (2012, September 6). Corporate Governance. Corporate Governance. Retrieved April 3, 2014, from http://corporategovernanceoup.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/business-ethics-is-the-bedrock-of-corporate-governance/
Business Ethics are much more than the buzz word stories on late night news. The Corporate Social Responsibility of a company goes well beyond that. “Business Ethics are moral guidelines for the conduct of business based on notions of what is right, wrong and fair.” (Bellow, 2012). Individual backgrounds play a huge role in person by person code of conduct can vary from employee to employer. To help solve some grey areas in what is ethically correct, companies now make a code of conduct that is over everyone in the company. This code of responsibility helps employees have better understanding of what is required of each and every one of them. “Corporate Social Responsibility is a business philosophy which stresses the need for