What is Business Ethics?

Literature provides a clear understanding of business ethics as a system that encompasses moral principles that are practical in the commercial world. It also helps us understand the fact that business ethics as a scientific area that is wholly new since it conglomerates politics and law of theory as well as historical and philosophical documents. Ethics is a term that is quite flexible and partakes numerous aspects. The main role of business ethics in an organization is to make available guidelines necessary for behaviors that are acceptable to organizations within their formulation of strategies as well as their daily operations.

For an effective and efficient corporate image that is positive and also corporate success, an ethical approach is a necessity.

Particularly currently where ethics in an organization are deemed obligated for the reason that the interest of most business persons is only after making money. This is regardless of the costs that might be accrued ethically or even the damage that might result from their actions which is most likely to cause harm to the nature or even the people living in it such as causing environmental pollution, exploitation of natural resources, or even exploiting the minority groups in the society.

Corporate social responsibility outlines all the ethical cases that are should be followed effectively by business persons. Many companies have decided to make public commitments to formulate ethically operating principles and codes of conduct. As a result, they obliged to translating into action the concepts of corporate governance, corporate giving, personal accountability, and corporate accountability.

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This text outlines that, business ethics is the behavior in which a business observes while it carries out its day-to-day tasks as well as interacting with the outside world. Business ethics for different business varies in that some are diverse while some are not. Business ethics apply to the interaction of the business with the whole world and also to the personal level association with their clients. Some people think that businesses are only after making money, and that is all thus resulting to many businesses have gaining bad reputation.

However, a business that strive to make money are not bad at all, rather it is the way they conduct their business operations that bring in the issue with ethical behavior. Thus, business ethics involves avoiding several things that include: avoiding acts that might result in ruining the reputation of the company and also that action that might result in breaking of the law. Also, a business should avoid breaking the criminal law within one’s work-related activity.

Therefore, when a business ensure that they avoid all the things mentioned above, they save themselves a huge cost that might have resulted from going against the above things that should be avoided. There are philosophers who teach people how to be ethical, but they can teach employees only the basics of morality to guide them stay out of trouble. The actual responsibility for teaching people morality mainly is in the handles of parents who should guide on towards ethical and moral behavior in their early social environment. A morally responsible company ensures that they do not mislead the public regarding their goods and services via truthful advertisements and avoid scrupulous marketing. 

The second article is the one by Velasquez, “Business ethics: Concepts and cases,” (2002) which focuses on the ethics and employees. Under the rational model of a business organization, the firm’s fundamental realities are the formal hierarchies that are identified within an organizational chart. This is where organizations strive for coordinate the tasks carried out by its members to achieve their set objectives with the maximum efficiency. The flow information within an organization starts from the bottom to the top where the employees are obliged to pursue steadfastly the goals of an organization.

On the other hand, employers are responsible for making sure that the working conditions are just, and the remunerations rates are also just. To prevent conflicts from arising, it is ethical for both parties in an organization should strive towards avoiding tasks that result in the rising of the conflict of interest. Also, employees should strive to avoid conflict of interest by eliminating the interest that creates it. Under business ethics, it is ethical for employees to exclude the obligation to serve his or her employer’s interest and have the freedom to serve other interests as well as serving his or her employer. An organization should also embrace the ethics of accepting gifts that usually depend on the policies of the company regarding gifts, the value of the gift, and prohibitions that are legally stipulated regarding gifts.

Under business ethics, theft of information within organizations is considered unethical which include theft of e-books, digitized programs, plans of a company, secrets of trade, formulas for proprietary, etc. Ethically, information theft is usually theft even though the original information were not stolen or altered rather used without consulting the owner, or copied. On the contrary, skills and experiences that an employee acquires during his or her service to a company is ethically not regarded as information thus leaving the company with such skills is not theft.

Business Ethics stipulates that it is not justified when organizations do not gather information on risks and also fails to enlighten the employees about the risks. Also, there is no justification when there is the unavailability of less-risky jobs or rather when employees lack adequate knowledge regarding the available job alternatives that are less risky. It is better for organizations to work with other firms in gathering information about risks related to jobs and offer adequate disability and medical benefits accordingly.

Also, workers should be compensated for any risks related occurrences where these risk premiums should be same as those paid to workers in other jobs. The moral responsibility of an employer to his or her employees is the moral responsibility to provide conducive working conditions as well as paying them fair wages to improve their living conditions. It is ethically right for employees to have rights that will protect them from exploitations from management’s power as management in an organization have power over employees just like the government has power over its citizens.

Thus, it is ethically advised that every employee must be a member of a union to get protected from the managers’ power and get to see their rights and necessities met. Business ethics also stipulates that employees are entitled to the right of privacy where employees should collect information concerning them under their consent. Ethics also offer employers the chance to exercise their power to employ and fire employees to run the business smoothly and achieve the set objectives. 

The third article the article by Michael, “Business ethics: The law of rules” (2006). Regardless of the contemporary rash of scandals that are corporate and the haste that has resulted from it in an attempt to address this problem through the addition of extra regulations and laws. Apparently, there is little attention towards how the nature of these rules may or may not bring any impact on ethical decision making. Basing on the work in ethics, law, psychology, management and other social science, the article focuses on exploring the way a number of characteristics of rules might hamper the process of making ethical decisions as well as implementing them.

Such a correlation would have practical regulatory policy implications and organizational managers. In an organization, there should be a move to facilitate ethics training initiative without waiting for regulations to require it provided it is the right thing to do. This training should provide employees with knowledge and skills regarding substantive rule and support to be in a better position to make resolutions and decisions about ethical issues more effectively. For instance, the training program should train employees on the methods of recognizing and avoiding conflicts in an organization on their own. Employees should be equipped with ethical judgment abilities such as allowing employees to think beyond the restrictions of rules. To do this, a dilemma should be raised where the resolution does not constraint within readily ascertainable rules that is not between a wrong or right conduct.

However, possing a situation where the resolutions are between several available alternatives where all of them may be right, but there is one that might me more acceptable than the other alternatives. In addition, the dilemma should be a balance in that it should not be too subtle or too obvious. Another alternative for stimulating employees to think passed the given rules and regulation is by exposing them to experiments in human nature. This training will enable employees deal with the current dynamics in a corporate environment that make it difficult to do the acceptable or the right thing. Training will also help employees recognize thing easily thus making them sensitive to possible dangers within their work environment.

Debate on ethics and rules normally deal with issues of substance such as why rules should be obeyed, legitimacy of rules and scope, and the motives to why certain principles should or should not be utilized in coming up with resolutions to ethical dilemmas. It is evident that the physiological, psychological, nature of the rule and another aspect of the ethical process of making decisions have not been adequately addressed.

There is also a rare consideration of the conceivable connection that might exist between the ethical decision-making process and the nature of rules. Ethical recognition is rigid since the nature of rules does not encourage individuals from making their own choices. That is, there is impeded moral reasoning as rules are unsuccessful in stimulating people to higher and post-conventional reasoning levels. Thus, moral decisiveness is debilitated as external rules turn out to be and are viewed as a better motivator of conduct than core values.

Also, acting in an ethical manner is considered more difficult since observing rules of a lot simply less complex than allowing for and utilizing ethical principles. Therefore, we should always cautious regarding the rules that we disseminate as well as reducing the intrinsic tension between ethical decision-making and rules. Hence, we should always strive to utilize our considerable practical and theoretical knowledge to improve the confidence and skills creatively. These are utilized by employees and others to deal with their ethical dilemmas that empower them to go beyond the boundaries of legal to the realm of ethical.