Ethics Principles and Codes of Conduct

Introduction

In today’s distinctly knowledgeable world, it is essential, as stated by Paine, Deshpande, Margolis & Bettcher (2005), for corporate companies to maintain certain codes of conduct. Paine et al (2005), continues to mention that organizations such as the European Commission have endeavored to endorse codes of conduct as the main drivers for corporate social responsibility. The principle aim of having codes is to assist companies effectively operate in diverse and varying cultural and geographic locations. This is especially important for exploration companies such as those involved in the mining industry. Although the Global Business Standard codex, as highlighted by Pain et al (2005), discusses eight underlying ethical principles, in this paper, our focus will be on only three of these which are listed as follows; reliability, dignity, and fairness principles. By analyzing each of these three principles, this paper will effectively evaluate business conduct in the mining industry.

The Dignity Principle

This principle is based on the philosophy that each person should respect and protect the dignity of every human being. This usually involves the protection of inherent rights such as health, safety, privacy, etc. (Paine et al, 2005). Therefore, this principle inevitable encourages the development of good human relations. Another aspect of the dignity principle as it pertains to companies is the fact that affirmative action is often required when addressing the personal issues of employees. The protection of employee privacy is also listed under this principle. Companies are not required to discharge confidential information between them and their employees. It is also important to note that the employment of child lab...

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