Business Ethics
An Informative Report for Owners, Managers and Leaders of Organisations in Emerging Markets
Table of Contents
1. Executive Summary 3 2. Introduction 4 3. Approach and Methodology 5 4. What is Business Ethics? 5 5. Why is Business Ethics Important? 6 6. The Approach to Business Ethics 7 7. Conclusion 8 8. References 9
1. Executive Summary
There are many factors to consider when a company does business with another. Many global businesses give very little regard to one of the most important aspects. There emphasis is making money and profit.
There is nothing wrong with making money and profit, but the manner in which you make it raises the questions of “Business Ethics.”
Business
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Together this report provides guidelines to support owners, managers and leaders of organisations to establish moral values, principles and standards, which will address the diversity amongst individuals within the organisation to function as a team.
My focus is primarily directed to the importance of maintaining a business ethical environment and the approach organisations need to carry out in the 21st century when dealing with its partners, society, communities and customers.
The approach and methodology is to summarise the content of my findings and identify the tools you will need to establish a business ethical environment for your organisation.
4. What is Business Ethics?
Business ethics, not only in South Africa, but all over the world has become an important part in the global market. Foreign countries no longer look at rational organisational structures only, but instead concentrate on emotional values such as staff motivation, behaviour and attitudes.
Many businesses over the years have received a bad reputation just for being operational. This is why so many organisations place emphasis on business ethical codes of conduct.
Business ethics can therefore be defined as the morals, values, principles and standards of the organisation or the behaviour of the business in its daily conduct with the outside world. For
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
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.
Ethics in business addresses the ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ behaviours of business practises, and how these practices impact the employees, shareholders, the general public and the environment.
Every business develops a set of ethical principles that they abide by. The business ethical principles intentions: it construct the business certainty in the community , maintain the employees liveried in what the business attempt to have as structural conducts and aid the employees consume principles to make ethical choices that guards the business. In a culture with a diverse assessment structure and augmented judgment visibly by companies with changeable ethics and interests, there appears to be further difficulties on business individuals to make tougher ethical assessments. In our day-to-day performances, we depend on on our ethical principles to monitor us in the correct path and do the correct things. The substance of any efficacious and perpetual business is they segment a mutual ethical matter concentrating on presenting and generating value along with allocating their business values with the citizens they network with on a day-to-day basis.
Ethics must be global, not local. In order to build a truly great global business the leaders need to bring forward a global standard of ethical practices.
Effects of products/services and in relationships with stakeholders. That attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change -- times much like those faced now by businesses, both nonprofit and for-profit. In times of fundamental change, values that were previously taken for granted are now strongly questioned. Many of these values are no longer followed. Consequently, there is no clear moral compass to guide leaders through complex dilemmas about what is right or wrong. Attention to ethics in the workplace sensitizes leaders and staff to how they should act. Perhaps most important, attention to ethics in the workplaces helps ensure that
While each business has a unique culture, environment, and business structure leading to the success of the company, there is always an ethical way of conducting business. We live in a domain where change is the only constant; new businesses are being created, businesses are expanding, growing in monetary value and stakeholder integration, and currently lead the success of a thriving economy. The businesses that stand apart from competitors
The concept of business ethics has tried to change the way businesses operate over the years. Business ethics is a form of ethics that governs the actions of businesses to circumvent the affects business has on every day society. But some question its effectiveness in the application of capitalism. Several case studies have shown that this is the case; many companies place the pursuit of money in front of the pursuit of virtue. Although, the majority of companies are not in the spotlight of acting unethically, can we conclude that they follow the ethical norms? It is natural for normal human beings to act ethical but businesses are on a completely different playing field. But could business ethics be clearly possible in capitalism?
Every year in the United States there are many business’s that shut down due to unethical practice. There are many people who run a small business or even a multimillion business that don’t know exactly what ethics are. Ethics are rules which I will go into detail later. There are many reasons why we should follow those rules, how it effects the reputation of the company, what are the outcomes of ethical actions, and what are the outcomes of unethical actions.
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
Today’s business world presents numerous ethical issues. In today’s world above board/moral ethics in organizations do not often materialize intuitively. Organization must strive to provide employees with a clear understanding of the overall company vision. This will aid employees in practicing the code of ethics, policies and procedures in the workplace. Companies must be unwavering in continuously delivering the uppermost ethics of provision in which customers, applicants and employees are entitled to under fair business practices. One major core value is to uphold responsible and fair business practices.
There are major ethical concerns in business people go through such as abusive behaviour, lying, Bribery, Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, dual relationships and fraud. “According to the ASAE Centre for Association Leadership, more and more organizations are finding that ethical training is an integral component of their business. In fact, between 1994 and 2000, the National Business Ethics Survey found that the number of organizations with formal ethics training had greatly increased. Now a days a lot of organizations are making their workplace ethical
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
Business ethics, social, and environmental guidelines frame the expectations of an organization's stakeholders including customers, employees, and regulatory bodies. An organization's ethical guidelines encompass how the organization and its employees embody ethical principles in their dealings, with each other, and other stakeholders. Therefore, Ferrell, Fraedrich, and Farrell (2008) have defined Business ethics as "The principles and standards that guide behavior in the world of business" (p.6). In many situations, individuals must incorporate their personal ethics to match those of the organization's ethical culture. For this reason, business ethics theory indicates that an organization's ethics are evident in its organizational mission and vision (Hummels & Timmer, 2004). This is because the mission and vision determine organizational structure and culture, and thereby organizational and individual behavior.
Business values can be defined as beliefs of an organisation, they are “the context in which an organisation’s norms are established and justified” (Nieuwenhuizen & Oosthuizen, 2014, p.95) therefore compel one to think about issues such as honesty, loyalty, morality etc.