Legal and Ethical Issues in Business
Business ethics and law are fundamental principles that guide the way businesses operate. Business ethics are decided and formed by each company and differ from one company to another. They are the core values that business owners, managers, and employees use to conduct their daily operations. Acting in an ethical way consists of distinguishing between right and wrong and choosing what is right. Business law is all rules and regulations that all businesses should be in compliance with. These laws and regulations indicate how to form and run a business in compliance to state, federal, or local laws. There are repercussions when businesses are found violating laws and regulations, which can include but not limited to fines, incarceration, or seizure of one’s business.
Business ethics and laws are used in the workplace daily. Both are very important in running a successful business, but one must identify the difference among them. For instance, businesses have to keep in mind that some things may be ethical, but it doesn’t make it legal and vice versa. Ethics comes from within a person’s moral values on how one should or should not act. Laws are created by governments to protect the citizens. James (2016) insists “both of them are important from maintaining peace and stability in a society” (para 1). Legal and ethical issues go hand in hand within a business. Laws are made to keep those ethical morals in place. Business owners need to
Business Ethics are defined as “moral principles that guide the way a business behaves” (Businesscasestudies, 2017). In order for any business or individual to act in an ethical
People that work with laws every day know that it isn’t an exact science. The reason is not that it has a lot of issues or that it is always affected by politics, instead the main reason is the human factor. People end up changing their minds and everyone one makes mistakes at some point. For example, in legal situations the information that is collected could be incorrect or made up. That is the main reason why law and ethics go side by side. Most people want to make the correct decision whenever it comes to something that deals with law and ethics. When people look at something that is illegal, they automatically see it as unethical. However, whenever something is legal people think that it is ethical. Law is a system of rules of human conduct created by society but enforced by public authority. Being able to understand what is right or what is wrong, plus the ability to recognize the difference between them is called ethics. To have a successful business, employers need to have intensive ethical values as well as an organizational culture run on a set of ethical principles. As a matter of fact, the ethical issue is very important because it could certainly affect stakeholders who are interested in the company. Furthermore, if an organization has high values in terms of ethics, the impression that the stakeholder obtains will be the key in building a trust relationship convincing them stay in the organization longer. Finally, to gain a good reputation in society it is
The author Robert Solomon argues that ethics has to an integral part with regard to business management. He does not believe that business management must include unethical or illegal methods to be able to succeed. Solomon preaches that business management is not as simple as obtaining revenue. “Businesses need to abide by fair policies and their owners have to be ethical in dealing with their customers” (Shaw p. 37). The author acknowledges that while illegal practices in business management could bring positive results at first, eventually the business is bound to fail. This is why Solomon recommended eight important policies that can help businesses in integrating ethics into their operations.
This paper is composed for the individual assignment for week 2 of the MBA 633 Legal Issues in the Workplace course. The topic for this assignment consists of the differences between ethical and legal business issues. This paper will provide answers to questions related to employee behavior away from the office, and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and bribes. Both topics have been presented in the form of video cases (video 93 and 98) found in the Cengage digital video library.
Hartman, E. (2006). Can We Teach Character? An Aristotelian Answer. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(1), 68-81
Luke, an ABC employee, is currently working on a land development project consisting of building an adult entertainment store in a neighborhood where Luke’s brother, Owen, lives. Luke knows that Owen has been considering selling his home but that he is putting it off expecting the real estate market to improve in a few years, yet Luke knows that the project will cause the opposite effect.
Peter Crist is almost always correct. The reality is that if someone lies or covers stuff up, most of the time they will be found out eventually be it in two days or in 20 years. However, the reality is that some people do lie and cover stuff up in professional and personal situations and are never exposed. Sometimes this is because they're in a situation where dishonesty is prized, other times it's because the people around them turn a blind eye to what they see because they don't want to know the truth. Other times, it's because the person engaging in the dishonesty is so crafty and so quick that the trickery and subterfuge is almost inscrutable. However, the fact remains that Crist is correct. Often people are found out because those who are engaging in the trickery have so much hubris and so much arrogance that they engage in bolder and bolder moves, believing that they will never be caught. One example of that from the recent past is of Bernie Madoff. His crime was a simple Ponzi scheme which grew larger and larger in size and scale to the point where he couldn't help but be found out. In this case, the fact that Ms. Jones was found out was somewhat expected: she advanced to such a position of power within the institution that she was almost one of their public figures, which meant that her credentials would be under greater scrutiny.
Business ethics is the principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in business organizations which is determined by customers, competitors, government regulators, interest groups, and the public, as well as each individual’s personal moral principles and values (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell, 2013). Every business should present with ethical performance and socially responsible for the public.
15. How should the company resolve a claim for assault, battery and false imprisonment arising out of an altercation with one of the company’s employees and how can the company protect itself against such claims in the future?
First and foremost, you may wonder what exactly is business ethics, well “Ethics is the study of proper business policy’s and practice” (Business Ethics, 2013). Ethics isn’t only for the owner of the company and their clients, but it’s also for their employees. Ethics is also
Business Ethics is a set of moral principles applied in the commercial world. Business ethics provide guidelines for acceptable behavior by organizations in both their strategy formulation and day-to-day operations. An ethical approach is becoming necessary both for corporate success and a positive corporate image. Following pressure from
Business ethics refers to the consideration of moral decisions and responsibilities in the process of operating a business. Business ethics, practiced throughout the deepest layers of a company, become the heart and soul of the company 's culture and can mean the difference between success and failure. Values drive behavior and therefore need to be consciously stated, but they also need to be affirmed by actions. Ethical business environments are created with foundations of integrity, accountability and commitment.
2. I feel like they might have had a contract but they didn’t actually agree to it. First off the contract was not defined right because both parties didn’t have an understanding of it. Plus he did not accept the offer confirming that he was accepting the price and when he did Hazelton’s amitted to the mistake. When he did that he took the offer off the table so in the end whatever contract they had was invalid.
Ethics meaning in simple way for average person is what is right from wrong. According to Chris MacDonald (2010)” Ethics” can be defined as the critical, structured examinations of how we should behave - in particular, how we should constrain the pursuit of self-interest when our actions affect others. “Business ethics is the applied ethics discipline that address the moral features of commercial activity (Business ethics, 2008).Working in ethical way in business has a lot of benefits which can attract customers, employees, investors and suppliers. “Now a days shareholders know that the company they are dealing has morals values and ethical and responsible behaviour and their money is being used in a proper way. When working for a company with strong Business Ethics, employees are comfortable in the knowledge that they are not by their own action or inaction allowing unethical practices to continue (Joseph, 2013)”.
In their personal and professional lives, people can and, unfortunately, sometimes do go against their moral and ethical standards. Ethical standards are what it means to be a good person, the social rules that govern our behavior. Ethics in business is essentially the study of what constitutes the right and wrong or the good or bad behavior in the workplace environment. A business is an organization whose objective is to provide goods or services for profit. The organization has a group of people that work together to achieve a common purpose. The moral challenges that these men and women face each day along with a whole range of problems that could occur, are why ethics plays such an important