An ethical corporation is not an oxymoron. History is littered with tales of deceit and corruption. Human conduct towards ethics in today’s workplace is an important issue; recent headlines show consequences of unethical behavior on both companies and employees. Contained within the basic code of ethics in the workplace are words like, trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, (Chatov, 1980).
Consider questions like, is it ethical to take office supplies from work for home use, or is it ethical to use company time for personal business? What is ethical behavior? The meaning of a code ethics in the workplace for most; is to conform to accepted basic standards ethical conduct and especially professional conduct when dealing with data, e. g. scientific research, accurate statistics. In other words, ethics is putting principles into actions and consistency between what we say we value and our actions, as a matter of integrity.
An action is not proper just because you can get away with it like, an executive having an affair with another co-worker, or watching videos of funny cats, when you should be doing monthly reports on sales. Stealing and lying are unacceptable conduct in the workplace, as they are anywhere else. There is a world of difference between what you have the right to do and what is right to do. A basic workplace ethical code comes from the desire to benefit society and professions as a whole (Calderon, 2012).
This paper proceeds as follows.
Ethics, in business, refers to moral principles and standards that define acceptable behavior in the world of business. Ethical decisions foster trust among individuals and in business relationships. Recognizing ethical issues is important in the workplace. An ethical issue is an identifiable problem requiring a person or organization to choose from among several actions that may be evaluated as ethical or unethical. When you’re determining is a situation is ethical or not, there are three factors to take into consideration. Individual factors, organizational factors, and opportunity. Individual factors are sets of principles that describe what a person believes are the right way to behave. Organizational factors include the influence of managers, coworkers, and the work group. Opportunity is a set of conditions that punish unfavorable behavior or reward favorable behavior. “Target thrives on competing to win in the marketplace. We compete and negotiate actively, but always with integrity. Taking advantage of anyone by manipulating or concealing
The survey was performed in 2010 involving members of the Ethics and Compliance Officer Association (ECOA). They focused on the evolution of business ethics by analyzing six other studies over a span of two-and-a-half decades. Members of the survey were ethics manager, but members on the previous studies were regular employees and management. The results of the analysis of the previous studies showed that ethics programs in companies during a time span of the 1980’s through the 1990’s was used to show social responsibilities and not necessarily to enforce it throughout the company. It showed that ethics programs now that companies follow ethical laws and they are motivated to be ethical. Another result of the study showed that ethics training at companies has increased since the 1990’s due to the passing of Sarbanes-Oxley and other laws directed at ethics. The passing of the laws in the early 2000’s has led to ethics being a major component of everyday
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.
The corporate world has an unfavorable view of itself by being selfish, evil, and against the average American. Companies market themselves and their products in certain ways that makes them and their products appealing to everyone and if not everyone then a certain group of people. Every company has a mission to follow and values to go by, but some companies lack ethics and morals. In this paper I am going to talk about one company that engages in ethical behavior and another that doesn’t.
Ethics is a term that many people does not understand because there is no set code of ethics that everyone must follow. There is not a “one size fits all” (Pasztor, 2015) when it comes to ethics. A code of ethics determines how employees should act while working for the company. Each company has their own code of ethics that they expect ALL their employees to follow. The employee is supposed to show action that is for the best interest of the employer and clients above their own interests.
In the workplace as well as one’s personal life is essential for ethics to be maintained; often taking the right action is not always the most popular choice. It is important for maintaining an upstanding ethical code of conduct to be a productive individual as well as function as an employee in the workplace.
Ethics in life is knowing the difference between right and wrong. Within the workplace it is related to bullying, discrimination and sexism also ageism. It is also certainly to the benefit of the workplace and capable of ones improving character. Those who follow a code of conduct in theory would be selected for better positions. One of the issues is cheating a customer and stealing from the employer this issue was chosen because I witnessed during my work, on the checkout. I saw a colleague putting in a higher price while working on the til, the colleague then pocketed the extra money.
The business world of ethics will never fully be free from flaws and ways of getting around them. Greed is very powerful, and so is having power. These two factors, along with dishonesty, are the reasons for codes of ethics. Though codes are different for every company, the bases for them are the same. In businesses HR department or displayed externally somewhere within the physical business, the code is
Ethics are the principles and values an individual uses to govern his activities and decisions. In an organization, a code of Ethics is a set of principles that guides the organization in its programs, policies and decisions for the business. The ethical philosophy that is used by an organization to conduct business can affect the reputation, productivity and bottom line of the business (1).
(Panza & Potthast, n.d.) Ethics is very important to a company’s success. Ethical behavior can bring benefits to a business. They can attract customers, which can lead to a boost in sales and profits. It can attract the right employees and increase productivity. It can also attract investors and keep the company’s share price high. Unethical behavior on the other hand can damage a company’s reputation and make it less appealing to stakeholders. It could also result in lower profits.
The study of Ethics is an important branch of study. It is as important as the study of the sciences, math and business. At its core the study of ethics provides a framework to make decisions on how we conduct our lives. Almost every action we take has ethical implications that affect our own lives and the lives around us. This is important to consider in the business world, since the decisions made by business organizations can affect the lives of millions of people world wide, as well as the ecological health of the planet. The first four chapters of the text provide readers with several interesting ethical concepts that have implications for business professionals. The two topics that stood out as having the greatest potential for wide ranging effects are the historical perspective on business ethics and hiring ethical people. Studying and understanding history provides a strong foundation for making decisions in the present. Hiring decisions have as large effect on an organization’s success as purchasing or marketing decisions.
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.
When working in an organization, it is usually important to establish professional ethics while following consistent ethical principles. Professional ethics are personal and corporate standards of behavior that are set by businesses, associations, and organization. It creates an institution that reflects our own values and make us feel more confident about what is an acceptable behavior and what is not. This type of ethic could vary depending on the various types of situations, professions, and personal values. Many professionals that are trusted by the public like doctors, accountants, engineers and even an information technologist all have a Code of Ethics, which sets out expectations of the member’s behavior and how they operate internally and externally.
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
In addition this research investigates endeavors to propose diverse ways in which companies can treat their employees ethically, while in the meantime stay financially profitable and maintain their competitiveness by being good corporate global citizens.