Business Ethics and Law

Hartman, E. (2006). Can We Teach Character? An Aristotelian Answer. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 5(1), 68-81

The current focus on corporate culture in managerial theory, on character development in business ethics, and on the work/family relationship in

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)”.

Behind every successful company there is a strong foundation of ethics. Their vision, mission, behavior as a company, beliefs, and convictions all stem from their ethics. Not all companies have this foundation. To some, it is not believed to be essential for success. Ethics is important in business because our day-to-day life involves these businesses. The places we go to buy clothes, food, cars, computers, and services are all different kinds of businesses that we support financially. How many of the businesses around us have a strong foundation of ethics? How do we know that these companies don’t have workers working excruciating hours behind the scenes to produce the things that are seen on the shelves? How do we know that they are treating their workers with kindness and respect, as well as customers? Business ethics are important for not only the workers of those companies, but for their consumers. There is a domino effect that is caused when a consumer from a company with good business ethics recognizes it. As a result, the consumer returns, bringing with them more consumers, resulting in more profit for the business and a healthy work environment for its workers.

Business ethics is where moral rules help guide business decision making. It is useful in a business as it helps them decide if a decision is right or wrong, honest and fair, even if the business is profitable or not. An ethical business decision may not always be the most profitable decision as the one that has the most benefit to the society could be at the top. (Connolly, 2011)

Business ethics examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment. Business ethics often encompasses many concerns such social responsibility, sustainability, labour practices and environmental development. Business ethics as a concept fundamentally applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the behavior of individuals and entire organizations. Desjardins (2011) suggests that business ethics is the study of business from an ethical viewpoint. It is about organisational conduct and the ethical consequences of business behaviour. Companies can define ethical business values by outlining clear examples of right or wrong, thus used as a way to guide the behavior of an organization. Carroll (1979) notes that the social responsibility of a business includes legal and ethical expectations that society has of organizations. Their legal responsibility is their obligations to fulfil their economic mission within the confines of the law. Their ethical responsibility is to act as a way to maintain the license to operate (Carroll 1999) which is why core values of business should be in line with core values of society. The World Business Council for Sustainable Business states that businesses have and should have a continuing commitment to behave ethically (Holme and Watts, 2000). Market economies once became stagnant which is an external pressure of business ethics, the concept was no longer the focus of a duty to society or

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.

Abandoned minors are no longer protected from liability on their contracts, merchants are still reluctant to deal with them on a credit basis, fearing that they may still attempt to disaffirm, or

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.

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?

In my chosen profession, it is my philosophy to “dance with the dog that brought you.” That’s a marketing term, meaning; keep what has made you successful, thus far. Since the establishment of my tax practice; I have provided efficient, quality tax services, within a reasonable time frame. Once more, this service occurs in a safe, clean and friendly home environment that promotes a very personal tax preparation experience for clients. This professional philosophy and home-based work environment has served the needs of myself and clients, for many years.

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.

This business featured on The Profit was in an awful situation. The Swanson Fish Market was rebuilt after their business burnt down in the past so they had to start over basically. However, they got a lot of insurance money to restart the business but they somehow weren’t doing very good. This business did a lot of unethical things to get into $900,000 worth of debt like employees buying the product with their own earned money just to keep the business alive and they aren’t willing to give up some things to keep the business running.

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.

This case study was a powerful example to illustrate the presence of ethics within the