Ethics in Business

Ethics in Business

Ethics in Business

Business ethics is generally referred to as the set of rules and regulations that participants in a certain field in business should live up to. These rules are usually directed towards ensuring that the employees are morally upright and socially responsible especially when dealing with their clients. In an organizational setting, bureaucracy is inevitable, there are those who formulate and ensure the rules are followed. On the other hand, there is a group – employees – who are expected to comply with the rules for efficiency. We realize that with the extreme competition in business today, chances that they may involve in unscrupulous behaviours are very high. This may negatively influence the field and affect the clients negatively. Health competition on the other hand ensures that businesses prosper and have room for improvement. Thus, the ethics are necessary to ensure there is orderly operation according to the objectives. It has however been established that for the ethics to be appropriately adhered to, they must be instilled in the employees at a very early stage. Similarly, the management needs to exercise ethical behaviour which the employees can emulate, rather than dictate. A well disciplined organization with morals and applied ethical behaviour undoubtedly realizes its goals with time.

Legal and Ethical Issues Facing Organizations and Management

Almost all organizations come up with strategies and rules that they deem fit for their operations. These are those that they feel will be more supportive towards the realization of their objectives. According to Craven, and Mills, (2004), “the Board of Directors has approved a Code of Business Ethics to provide a framework within which all business practices involving Lonmin must be conducted, managed and regulated.” These are entirely under the control of the company’s management, which although challenging, they must instil and uphold. However, there are some legal frameworks that describe business ethics and their application under different circumstances. These clarify on some necessary ethics that must be practised in an organization despite the variation in policies or way of operations. Some of these describe the employer employee relationships. For instance, it is legally unethical for an employer to fire a worker for whichever reason without prior notice especially on contract, thus, may be quite difficult to coexist with an incompetent employee for the purposes of respecting the contract.

Bribes as an Inducement to Buy in Business

As previously discussed, chances that a business, especially the management may engage in deceitful behaviours to compete in the global world is very high. Thus, where there are great opportunities, they may be tempted to give or accept bribes in return for the special favours. This is definitely not a fair and ethical behaviour according to any business. We realize that the role of ethics is to ensure moral standards are upheld in an organization and that they benefit both external and internal participants. In this case, bribes end up compromising the chances of other organizations to fairly participate in the market. Though the bribing party may be fully qualified, the unfair means used to reach the top of the specific business is unethical. Thus, bribery in any kind of business is unethical. This however, should not apply to management only. The junior staff should also be keen on accepting and giving bribes for favours such as quick promotion. Similarly, they should not accept the same from clients who demand special treatment in return from the junior staff. To ensure this happens, the managers should lead by example so as to instil the same values among their staff. Remuneration should also reciprocate the kind of work done so that the workers will not feel insufficiently compensated.

Importance of Ethics and Social Responsibility

According to (Koontz, and Weihrich, 2007), organizations have an obligation to the society in terms of monetary giving back and exercising ethical behaviours. Thus, it is very important that they have social responsibility and work ethics when dealing with each other and the society at large. As discussed above, the major importance of ethics is that it ensures fair and healthy competition among organizations. There will be minimal or no instances where the outcome is unfair with inability to compete on the same level with others. Besides the fairness, ethics are important because it gives the organizations a positive image where they can have good public relation skills. With a good image based on ethics, the firm is in a better position to brand itself to their advantage. Social responsibility is important because of the support that firms give to the community which in essence, is the reason behind their success. (Koontz, and Weihrich, 2007), mentioned the types of social responsibility which were ecological, technological, and economic environment. With appropriate response to the society, it is possible for organizations to rely on the support of the same group. Thus, a good relationship is developed.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it is quite clear that the relationship between the workers and management should have a good but very professional relationship. This happens where the two parties are able to maintain morals and good company ethics when relating. Business ethics have been clearly defined as a result to ensure it is a fair market and healthy competition. With the legal frameworks put in place, the ethical standards have been observed over time and their results proven to be quite positive. It also makes perfect sense since in the absence of the regulations, it will be impossible to centrally coordinate the staff. Coordination, respect for authority and proper performance has proved to be directly proportional with proper ethics.

References:

Craven, J. & Mills, B. (2004). Code of Business Ethics. Lonmic Plc. Retrieved from http://www.lonmin.com/assets/pdf/code_of_business_ethics.pdf

Koontz, H., & Weihrich, H. (2007). Essentials of management: An international perspective. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.