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Ethics is the study of morality and moral behavior. Since morality has a social dimension, it certainly applies to institutions, institutional arrangements and policies, and the behavioral norms of various cultures and groups. Thus, the study of ethics encompasses moral norms applicable to business corporations, political bodies, medical organizations, colleges and universities, churches, sects, and so on, as well as individuals qua individuals. While moral theories and concepts are designed to deal primarily with individuals, moral categories can be sensibly applied to these various institutions and groups, although in a secondary sense.
Manufacturing firms have an obligation to produce safe products because individuals working within firms can and are obligated to produce safe products in the first place. Ethics, morals, beliefs, and values are formed in different societies. A society set its own rules for its own community. People within their community tend to think and act according to what they are taught by their own society leaders, family, and friends, etc. As people grow older to choose and make their own decision, they take responsibilities in which they apply their own ethics, beliefs, morals, and values. If they get to move to different parts of the world, they would find what they thought to be right might be wrong for different cultures.
What is taboo for one culture might be just a norm for another one. Business and working conditions are influenced by the culture and society either. Lets look first what is business ethics. The answer to this question may be as simple as a company that complies with all the relevant rules and regulations. Or it may be more complex detailing the ways in which the corporation interacts with the world at large. The answer may also depend on who is asked the question.
Many believe there is always a right thing to do based on moral principles and others believe the right thing to do depends on the situation and ultimately it is up to the individual. A customer may view a safe product as proof of an ethical business. An employee may see ethics evinced in fair wages and full benefits. A stockholder may consider protection from liability to be the corporation's major ethical obligation. In fact, all of these answers are accurate because the ethics of a business is demonstrated through its practices. Attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change, times such as now.
Values that were previously taken for granted are now strongly questioned. Many of these values are no longer even followed. As a result, there is no clear moral direction to guide leaders through dilemmas about what is right or wrong. They must rely on themselves. Therefore, attention to ethics in the workplace is indeed important because it helps ensure that when leaders are struggling in a time of crisis, they retain a strong moral compass. Nonetheless, this attention comes from differing motivations.
There are a number of motivations behind the ethics of a business. There could be social pressure to address these issues. Social awareness raises expectations of businesses that are now are being held accountable to use their financial and social influences to address social problems such as poverty, crime, environmental protection, public health, and the overall improvement of society. There are also organizational reasons to practice good business ethics. Society assesses the ethics of corporations by their performance.
Companies that are thought of as moral and responsible do more than stay out of trouble. A good reputation leads to community and moral support, and as a result, employee moral and productivity increases. Ultimately, the costs are higher for ignoring these issues because the goodwill of a business is the most important aspect of that business. Personal values also lead individuals to want to do the right thing. For instance, many people feel that business ethics is only the obvious -- be good, do not lie, cheat or steal.
And for these individuals, these principles can go right out the window during times of stress. Yet others only do the right thing because of personal gratification of being praised by others afterwards. Moreover, others, such as myself, want to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. We believe we should show grace and mercy to others as it has been shown to us. Indeed individuals at any level in the corporation must act upon their personal values to do the right thing. This must be relevant outside the workplace as well as inside.
Clearly, these issues are much more complicated than any simple answer. However, it helps to have an immeasurable amount of morals and faith to live life by. For a corporation to be successful and strong, ethics must be the vital stone for which the foundation is built upon. Ethical values have been changed immensely in the last century. Ethical and moral values provide a foundation to society on how to function, live, and work within the society. Determining the level in which a business has conformed to established standards has presented a real problem.
As seen through company frauds such as Enron, without an ethical foundation, organizations collapse. The purpose of ethics in business is to direct individuals to abide by a code of conduct that help increase and maintain public confidence in their products and services. The ethics of business in the United Kingdom has come a long way since the last century. Our standards and expectations have risen. Today, individuals in management accounting, and financial management constantly face ethical quandary's.
It is found that many managers and executives are unclear about their ethical standards. Practitioners of management accounting and financial management have an obligation to the public, their profession, the organization they serve, and themselves, to maintain the highest standards of ethical conduct. Good ethics does not always translate into good business, but over time people do understand how the organization does business. A good ethics program would enable them to distinguish between the ethical, and the merely legal. Asking whether something is legal is only the first step in determining whether it is ethical.
In fact, making an activity illegal may often be society's way of endorsing its much earlier decision about what is unethical. At some point in life, ethics must be taught. People are not born with innate desires to be ethical or to be concerned with the welfare of others. A formal ethics program is probably the most promising way to go about that. Employees of companies with strong ethics programs are much more likely to think highly of their companys ethical performance, with the most dramatic difference seen in the more positive opinions about higher levels of management. Companies who train their employees concerning ethical issues that may surround the business will be most likely to report any misconduct within the company to the proper authorities.
In most of the cases people find it difficult to make decisions about ethical issues. Ethical principles and standards vary widely among individuals, organizations and cultures. But what is business ethics inside the organization and what are they based on? Business ethics are based on individual and collective moral decision making at every lever in the corporation. Standards for moral behavior are sometimes informal, but more often they explicit and embodied in a written document. Managers must decide which issues are important to them and how to identify and manage them.
Here are some questions I think are important to ask one-self. Have I Defined the Problem Accurately? Make sure you have an understanding of the problem. 2. How Would I Define the Problem From the Other Side?
You must look at the issue from the perspective of those questioning your ethics. 3. How Did This Situation Occur? Look into the history of the situation. Make sure there is a real problem and not symptoms. 4. How Does My Intention Compare with the Likely Results? Despite the goodness of your intentions, the results may be harmful.
Think about the probable outcome. 5. Whom Could My Decision or Action Injure? This issue is particularly difficult. Even a product for good use could fall into the wrong hands. These questions could help managers sort out their own perceptions of ethical problems. The asking of questions could create discussions about subjects left to one individual.
If management do not implement clear policies to instill ethical behavior through the firm, managers are likely to come cynical. And it really affect the company the same as culture and societal rules and regulations. Ethics is an accumulation of life experiences, personal background, and individual thought processes. Shaped by a combination of human characteristics, ethics is undeniably a virtue that is often unwillingly negotiated to melt into a mixed society.
Personal ethics incorporates into communal ethics, which then becomes a determinant for measuring the ethical standards for a particular entity. Since personal decisions transform into collective standpoint, ethical beliefs should not be thrown aside for gains of non-ethical value or return. The business network is often an area where individual principles fall into a pit of limitless and inescapable compromises. Investors stand at the focal point of preventing debauchery and promoting respectable productivity within the trade industry. Investor concerns should not only encompass evaluating which venture will yield the highest returns, but which financial units have an agreeable method of producing such returns.
The type of industry receiving the endeavor renders the initial possibility for an ethical conflict. A prosperous business may generate a flourishing profit, but the product the business is manufacturing could have a countermovement to individual concerns. One such industry is the tobacco industry. Many people oppose the youth-oriented advertisements and the unwillingness of the company workers to admit to the dangers of smoking.
An advocate against cigarettes, for example, might find it an ethical dilemma to continue or initiate investment within a company that is linked to helping make the Marsh 2 good. Examining this issue further, means determining the level of ethics and the input of ethics that should be implemented. Ethics should not be confined to a box that is only opened when the settings make it easier to stand by certain beliefs. Many people in society choose to ignore codes of ethics when the business world is involved. The supported theory of leaving ethics out of business endeavors is a hypocritical notion. Ethical values should be standpoints that either change with newfound information, build with personal growth, or remain firm in the interim.
In placing ethics in the business world, many binding grounds and interpretations exist with financial activities. Investors should take the time to research what firms have their hands in dirty money scandals. Sometimes the unethical principles are not as obvious as the final product. Some companies might produce a healthy product yet damage the environment while doing so. Also, many companies, like the tobacco industry, support good causes, and even produce goods that are in no relation to the obviously opposed product. The investors generate a considerable amount of profits for such industries to form high ranks within the market, making it more difficult for the industry to fall.
Efforts to aid the investor in choosing the right, or agreeable frameworks are on the rise. People who abide by ethical guidelines should only consider investing in an entity which is ethically friendly. Concerns with money being used illegally or unethically can be reduced with programs implemented to provide investors with business which choose to Marsh 3 move towards an increase in ethical standards. The practices that the industries choose to move away from influence and manipulate the society as a whole. Issues of damage to the environment and slave labor are two main issues of debate which companies face today.
Support of such activities should not be tolerated. When companies ignore the rights of humans to have safe environments, or work under safe conditions, it has crossed a boundary that is not only unacceptable but also impractical. Increasing profits at the risk of losing what is priceless has a detrimental backfire. As stated earlier, the investor acts as a catalyst to the industrial process. Changes requested by the investor stimulate a movement by the industry towards the investor demand. The source of such ethical responsibility often stems from people who belong to group which shares a majority of ethical beliefs.
The church has often been excluded from the business world just as it has been separated from the field of education. One could wonder if such exclusion of religion in education serves as reasoning for the missing link between business practices and the ideology of ethical policies. Factors of religion serve as ethical backbones to a large number of people. As one of the largest forms of job resources, the business field consists of many who attend church or some other equal form of worship. The two worlds seem to clash quite frequently, especially when the business worker chooses to orient his or her skills towards maximization of profits in a faster, not necessarily more efficient and ethical manner. Focusing on Christian ethics, we can take a look at the importance of ethical practices and even the value the business world has within the church.
The value a business has to a church depends on where the focus lies. If the spectrum involves the need for the business market, it could easily be argued that businesses do not carry any religious value and are seemingly unimportant issues to God and establishing a faith with Him. At the same time, wages earned from jobs that businesses provide can contribute to religious practices. Wages earned from investments in the business environment can be delegated to programs which promote the good of the church. Funds contributed to organizations devoted to Christian concepts and ethical relations help the goals of the church. The latter side of the business world is ethical, however, the means to reach such goals still remains a problem.
It is an obligation to determine the most ethical way to direct monetary funds. Just as the businesses that issue and try to enforce ethical guidelines receive higher profits in the long run, so do investors who invest their money ethically. Just as the deeds and choices we make on earth will have an affect on our lives and after-life in the long run, so does the choice to make ethical or unethical decisions. Not only does investing ethically have moral value, it also contributes to causes as well. The cause might be a personal affiliation, or simply a shared desire. Investments also aid in reducing the support of violence and weapon use in country relations, a serious problem facing countries today.
Leading businesses to immoral practices, leads to moral doom. Eventually, ethical investments will drive companies which avoid executing ethical standards to employ such standards to compete with other companies and to retain and attract investors. Small changes in the investment world, will lead to a large domino effect on other social responsibilities. A change in the way people view certain activities, and determining what is intolerable should be made alongside of business-oriented behaviors. Changing investment performances creates a gateway to changing the world.
The power of re-directing investments into a positive line of action can have a tremendous weight on shifting motivations of the general population. Workers who must incorporate the new standards have the chance to view the correlation ethics has with everyday processes. The possibilities of moral investments have tremendous potential not only with values, but also with building the economy to a more stable and reliable state. Ethical movements also stimulate intensify trust, which causes more people to embark in investing, and builds a stronger nation. Movements such as ethical investing become part of the process in determining individual ethical guidelines. Investing in what is beneficial can expand the places where ethics can operate.
It also facilitates the means for a higher communal standard of ethical values. As investors realize the power of the dollar, companies will be forced to move towards the goals of the investor. In doing so, the separation of business and ethics will be exterminated, and the two ideas will merge towards a prosperous combination. Today, almost anything goes in the business world; we need to find concrete ethical systems to enforce.
We need to investigate our sense of right and wrong in the business world. We find that we measure our actions against some standard such as right or wrong. Society has placed laws upon us to make sure we abide by the right standards. Bibliography Centre for Accounting Ethics. web Jones, Nora A. , Esq. , Editor. Metrics Of Change: Ethics, Enron, Accounting And Accountability. 22 July 2002.
Velazquez, Manuel. Business Ethics: Concepts and Cases. New Jersey Prentice Hall Publishing. 1992 Sawyer, George. Business and Society: Managing Corporate Social Impact. Boston Houghton Mifflin Publishing. 1979 Pava, Moses. Ethical views on corporate responsibility.
London Quorum Books. 1995 George D. Chryssides and John H. Kate. An Introduction to Business Ethics. Thomson Learning. 2002 Rawls, John.
A Theory of Ethics. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971 Barry, V. Moral Issues in Business. Belmont, Cal. : Wadsworth, 1979. Englehardt, Elaine E. & Schmeltekopf, Donald D. Ethics & Life.
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Free research essays on topics related to: business ethics, rules and regulations, moral behavior, ethical values, ethical standards
Research essay sample on Rules And Regulations Ethical Standards
