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They say that relationship is what actually makes markets. Questions about moral behaviour in business are now prominent against a background of various scandals. But how do you get a handle on moral behaviour in business? Is it about corporate social responsibility? Better treatment of employees? Interestingly, it finds that ethics courses in business and law schools don't provide the complete answer.
It suggests that business leaders need to start relying on a more "intuitive" response. In other words, the key question to ask is not whether something is legal but whether it's right. Moreover, nowadays we are moving towards a period on the internet where only a small number of companies control the vast amount of revenue that is generated in any one area of service offerings. Because of the current situation that sees a handful of companies dominating most internet markets; many investors and buyers would see any new entrant or purchase as a high risk. The work cover the main principles that should be followed by the businessmen with the purpose to give security. Should business be moral There are a lot of economic systems in the world; but not all of them allows to make fair and prosperous businesses.
Capitalism is the most well-spread system. Most of all, it is the most productive and efficient economic system. We cannot speak about moral or immoral economic system. A business will not behave morally nor properly unless it has to. The purpose of a business is to make money.
That's not wrong. Morality based on the norms of behaviour of individuals; they are moral agents. (Younkins, November, 1997) But different economic systems provide different opportunities for the development of these norms. An economic system determines the possibility and likelihood of moral behaviour by individuals who act within it. If an individual has choice and bears responsibility his or her actions are based on the principles of morality. It is known that observance the rules morality in business requires free choice between alternatives without outside coercion.
Capitalism gives the best environment for morality and character development because it is based on the principles of freedom and choice. (Younkins, November, 1997) Most of all, capitalism demands human development and accumulation of material wealth. The system limits physical concerns but leaves individuals more time to engage in higher pursuits. It should be pointed that business success depends directly on the behaviour of participants in the market. Thats why businessmen who want their business to be prosperous should follow the rules of moral responsibility. (Younkins, November, 1997) Once Prime Minister John Howard said that there is no law to make companies do the right thing to their workers. John Bennett from the University of Rochester emphasized that a lot of business corporations understand the idea of being a moral corporation is good but unfortunately isnt always best for long-run profits. (Bennett, pp. 10 - 15) The idea of business is based on self-interest and the desire for profit.
But there is an indistinct border between what are appropriate and inappropriate ways to profit. Wealth enhancement is very important to peoples lives; but the process should be a fundamentally moral activity. Edward W. Younkins in the work The Reality and Morality of Business states that the nature of business is moral because it has been attained through non-opposing voluntary actions between individuals. Professor Younkins is sure that there is a sense of suspicion of, and bias against, business in our society; and people do not have a positive view of business enterprise and achievement. It is evident that there are a lot of articles and texts that are prejudiced against business.
It has led to the creation of many misconceptions and misstatements about the business world. (Younkins, 2006) Leon Gettler in the work Ethics Vs Morality is discussing Doc Searls system about business as morality. Doc Searls in Business as Morality has determined three moral systems: morality of self-interest, morality of accounting, and morality of generosity. According to the system, morality of self-interest is based on "owning" site. Leon Gettler argues that it is the only way of conducting business because as he pointed that, anything you do ends up being for self-interest. But some scientists object emphasizing that the system as a rule is directed just for killing other companies. (Grieder, pp. 3 - 5) The other system determined by Doc Searls is morality of accounting. It should be regarded as a system of justice; system of "paying debts", and "owing favours." The third one, morality of generosity, is open and generous without expectation of reward.
Patrick Maclagan calls the system management by goodness. He thinks it would be the main competitive advantage. But a lot of people are sure that nowadays morals are motivated by the mighty dollar. (Maclagan, pp 12 - 15) Justice Neville Owen once wrote: "From time to time as I listened to the evidence of specific transactions or decisions, I found myself asking rhetorically: did anyone stand back and ask themselves the simple question - is this right? ... Right and wrong are moral concepts and morality does not exist in a vacuum. I think all those who participate in the direction and management of public companies, as well as their professional advisers, need to identify and examine what they regard as the basic moral underpinning of their system of values. " (Maclagan, pp 34 - 37) But it is not so easy to do when we are talking about business. It is known that business is to generate a profit.
a businessman have to sell a product / service for more than it cost to make / provide it. But there are a lot of different ways to deceive people such as misleading people with inaccurate information; negligence in safety; financial mis-conduct; non-competitive practices like collusion; corruption and fraud; or environmental damage / pollution . Such behaviours are unethical in business as well as in life. Good is when someone is true to their word, when they act with generosity, respect and compassion, and when they treat others fairly. Bad is when someone exploits another for their personal gain or lies, steals and kills. (Tibor, 17 - 19) A good manager should remember that nowadays good behaviours may lead to success. There are a lot of good examples.
Companies on the 100 Best Places to Work list support local communities with charitable work, create jobs, retain and develop employees, and work hard to make the company a great place to work or learn. One of the best examples is Johnson & Johnson. It has responded quickly to tainted pain relief medication. so, the perfect way of conducting business is to follow legal, moral, and ethical norms. (Tibor, 28 - 30) Stefan Engeseth presents business as personal.
He proves that it directly affects our lives and our futures. It is also personal because it gives us an opportunity to create our personal world. The famous phrase business is just business should not become the motto for young businessmen. They should be awarded that there is a price to be paid for every dollar we make and spend.
One of the most famous companies Googles motto (dont be evil) has a clear moral stance. (Grieder, 2006) Erica Grieder is sure that it is possible. She said that Ive never seen a conflict between morality and business. She emphasizes that the relationships between managerial concern, employee satisfaction and success in business will provide good and friendly relationship. Real market, a place where people do business and make culture, works in the social context and is based on relationship. Grieder pointed that The art of business is getting people to be motivated. Well-treated employees are motivated to improve the business as well as provide better customer service.
Any businessmen should follow the Moral Responsibility. It is to respect the natural rights of individuals. He should honour a corporations contracts with its employees, customers, suppliers, and others; not to engage in deception, fraud, force, threats, theft, or coercion against others; and honour representations made to the local community. (Grieder, 2006) In a logical chain morality cannot be without responsibility; and responsibility is based on self-determination. Managers should protect life, and liberty of their employees.
Most of all, they have moral responsibility to fulfil the wishes of the shareholders. Thats why their responsibility includes rationality, honesty, self-control, productiveness, and perseverance. Freedom involves far more than simple democracy. It demands a protected private sphere within which an individual can pursue his freely chosen norms, actions, and ends without the arbitrary intervention of others. And this freedom is necessary for individual morality. (Tibor, 43 - 44) Businesses must be made to treat employees with a certain minimum dignity. That's the purpose of labour laws (and unions, whatever those are these days. ) With the development of new technologies and job market, the very structure and nature of the workplace have been changed.
Monitoring practices have become more invasive and sometimes even covert. They violate persons privacy and dignity within the workplace. Nowadays, with the development of legal protections of workers, violation of privacy is still one of the burning problems at workplace. In many countries, a great gap in protections has appeared because there are no certain laws for keeping up with the technology. (Younkins, November, 1997) The owners of businesses, managers, and other employees have moral obligations. Modern business conditions tell a manager what he ought to do.
The proper organization of his job enables him to do it; but principles of morality determine whether he will do it or not. Business needs to be restrained from doing harm. Business cannot be made moral; it cannot be made to do what's right. But it can and must be kept from doing harm. Or at least, too much harm. Fair business dealing, based on respect the natural rights of other individuals, reward its participants.
The natural rights include honouring contracts, not engaging in fraud, not using coercion against others, and honouring representations made to the local community. Most of all, government economic interventions, such as price supports, tariffs, and subsidies should not be supported by businessmen. And, of course, businesses must be made to pay a maximum of respect to the integrity of the resources that it is depleting or polluting. (Tibor, 76 - 77) Businesses must be made to treat investors or buyers with a maximum of respect, so that at the least an individual can educate oneself enough to beware the risks of buying poor-quality goods or of being involved in dishonest business. Nowadays, it is impossible to imagine any kind of work where computers do not use. Earlier, employees interacted one with other and with their employers.
Those contacts were an essential element of ones social life. At present, workers have to spend a lot of time in front of the computer. It limits personal contacts... It goes without saying that the rapid development of the Internet opens up new prospects for e-commerce. The number of suppliers and consumers in the new electronic markets are growing rapidly because of the universal nature of the Internet and because the Internet is easy to use and the costs so little. The opportunities are immense; and nowadays firms have to follow the new technologies and new ways of doing business because in the nearest future e-commerce will be a major factor of enterprise development.
The major advantage is that e-commerce offers the opportunity to overcome many of the trade, enterprise and employment challenges such as peripherally, small scale, and regional differences in enterprise distribution. The development of e-commerce has created new economic models and new rules of competition that should be taken into account. E-commerce provides good opportunities for the development of profitable business. But a great dependence on information technologies make humans helpless.
Their savings and even lives depend on it. Taking into account these facts, it should be pointed that efficiency and the intelligent use of information technology have become vital elements of company strategy. A company's survival and development will increasingly depend on polite, cooperative, tolerant, open, honest, realistic, trustworthy, discerning, creative, fair businessmen. Cheating other businesses, misleading consumers, and mistreating workers all have serious adverse consequences.
In the long run, profitable businesses tend to be operated in accordance with the basic ethical principles most people are satisfied with the work they do. Human development usually requires more than material wealth. However, prosperity enables individuals to cultivate their talents, abilities, and virtues. "Honesty is the best policy" suggests to be the only ethical norm. Confidence-strengthening measures taken by sellers to convince buyers of their integrity and defensive actions engaged in by buyers to protect themselves against less than fully scrupulous vendors normally entail expenses that would be superfluous in a more ethical society. Sellers know what they " re selling; buyers do not really know what they are buying. Many products and especially services are however, simply not testable, since each purchase is unique.
Moreover, most buyers are not only ill-informed, but can never be adequately informed except at prohibitive cost. How truly competent is a physician, an attorney, or a mechanic is something that only peers can judge. Unfortunately, such information is rarely publicly available. Indeed, in the U.
S. , professionals may violate standards of ethics by offering unfavourable opinions - even when justified - against fellow practitioners. Bibliography: Bennett, J. (2004). Why should business corporations be moral? Montana State University, March 16, 2004. Engeseth, S. (2005). A Consumer Revolution for Business.
Cyan Communications, November 1, 2005. Gettler, L. (2006). Ethics Vs Morality. Sox First, 03 March, 2006. Retrieved 26 March, 2007 from web Grieder, E. (2006). Kinko's Founder Sees No Conflict Between Morality and Business.
The University of Texas at Austin, April 10, 2006. Maclagan, P. (1998). Management and Morality: a developmental perspective. Sage Publications. 1998. Tibor, R. (2007). The Morality of Business Machine.
Lexington Books, 2007, 138 p. , Younkins, E. (2006). The Reality and Morality of Business. Rebirth of Reason, 2006. Retrieved 26 March, 2007 from web Younkins, E. (1997). Features: Business and Morality in a Free Society. The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty, Vol. 47 No. 11, November, 1997.
Retrieved 26 March, 2007 from web
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