Business and the Notion of Ethics

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the notion of ethics has been around for generations, it has been seen in religion and philosophy. Although it has only been in the last few decades that the business world has adopted this principle of doing the right thing, not just doing what will lead to most profits. The concept of ethics encompasses a ‘systematic’ process of considering the ‘moral consequences’ of ones actions, as stated by (text book). However there isn’t a succinct agreement about what business ethics is. Lewis P (1985) believes this is mainly due to the fact that the ethics of a business will only be as ethical as those who are a part of it. Research done prior to 1985 also found that profit is not the sole motive for business. Today it organisations don’t only strive to be profitable, but do so in and ethical manner, but also socially responsible. Corporate social responsibility is where organisations are head accountable for their own actions; in the community, and to the environment, and ensure ethical practices whilst doing so. More than this though, social responsibility, is meeting present needs whilst also considering the ability of future generations to meet their own needs too. (Brundtland Commission) social responsibility can comprise of creating new roads and infrastructure, the backing of local communities, or the financing of local schools and even small sporting clubs. This is a way of helping the needs of the present generations while also looking forward to the needs of the future generations.

in the business world today, organisations are not only concerned with profit but also ethical behaviour. Many organisations will have a clearly stated document outlining its ethics and corporate social responsibility, ie, presenting the ‘right’ ...

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...s the power and economic stability to be very socially responsible. And they are. Since 2003 ANZ has been supporting many community organisations in regional Australia through their Seeds of Renewal program which as identified by ANZ was created to promote education and help to provide many employment opportunities to help communities thrive. On the ANZ website it was acknowledged that since the implementation of the program in 2003, “Seeds of Renewal has provided more than $3 million in grants to over 635 community projects.” however for the year ended September 30, 2013 ANZ, as indicated in their income statement in the bank disclosure statement, recorded a profit of $1,371 million. Therefor $3 million across more than 10 years isn’t actually that much at all; ANZ can more than afford to be supporting more programs in an effort to be more socially responsible.

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