...Topic: What are the advantages and disadvantages to the business face when they try to behave in an ethical way? With the development of the global economy, business companies are facing many business challenges in the age full of competition. And business challenges will produce some different values, such as child labor, human rights, hours and wages and environmental laws (Luminita and Constantin,2006). Therefore, business companies need to pay more attention to the business ethics. What is more, ethical business is study of business behavior which promote human welfare and the good( Wikipedia).And in business companies, there are some advantages and disadvantages when they behave in an ethical way .However, there are more advantages than disadvantages in such ethical business companies. First of all, let is talk about some advantages. In recent years, one of the most important problems ‘international managers facing today is the ecological impact of industrialization around the world’ (Caliskan, 2010, p49)Therefore, the environment problems were focused by many organizations. However, an ethical business company must follow the environment friendly policy. Here is an example below. Barclays Hire Cycle sharing scheme, which can save energy. In that way, if using cycles instead of cars, there are no worries about fuel and oil resources to damage the environment and caused pollution. What is more, the company plays the social responsibility...
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...Cheuk Sze Wong Assignment 2 10/20/2012 Ethical business relates to the behavior that a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world. Providing a clearly Ethics Policy statement protect consumers, employees and to build trust. It makes the entire business more successful, especially internally. Imagine a company without an ethical policy, there are nothing to control employees’ behaviors. When consumers are suffered a bad service, if things continues go on like this, the company will have a bad reputation. Assuming I have a company, here has three majorly policies should be included, honest and ethical conduct, protect customer privacy, and hold high security standards. Firstly, being a company employee should be honest and fair in dealings with co-workers, the company, suppliers, customers, or even competitors. Secondly, based on ethical behavior, employee should not sell customer information to marketing firms even though it is legal. Thirdly, employees have to heavily protect consumers’ credit card numbers, names and addresses from hackers. However, even if the company already formalized the policy and communicated it to the employees, it does not mean that employees can fully understand the policy. At that time, the company should provide training to the employees which could be many ways to test or evaluation the employees can truly understand the key points of the ethical policy. Employees also need to understand that there are consequences...
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...Resolving Ethical Business Challenge Cassandra Daniels Everest University What are the potential ethical issues faced by Acme corporation? The ethical issues faced by this corporation were “the medical supplies industry competitive nature. This caused a few mistakes to be tolerated.” (Ferrell, O.C., Fraedrich, J. & Ferrell, L. (2013) Business Ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. (9th edition) Mason OH: Cengage). Frank wanted the contract to increase, but he has to first figure out if the inventory is at high standard for the company. If the inventory is good then it is possible for Frank to get his increased contract. They did see that inventory did pick up a good bit. Now they are trying to figure out if Acme is a good fit for them. Frank letting Otis knows that their increase is because of Frank’s quality products. There are personal things given to Otis, which would cause problems for Frank and Acme Corporation in the future. What should Acme do if there is a desire to make ethics a part of its core organizational values? Acme should check and see if all the rules are put out and make sure the personnel get them and understand them. They need to provide a rule for giving gifts to customers. Getting into bribery offer that Otis had for Frank could have been prevented if Frank did not accept it. Being that Frank accepted the offer is going to cause problems in the future between the two. There should be an agreement for everyone to sign which is stating what...
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...1. Examine your ethical climate and put safeguards in place. Corporations are composed of cultures. Take a good close look at your culture. What are the norms of behavior? What is valued? Are employees rewarded for succeeding at any cost or are they urged to be shepherds of the corporation's reputation as well as its assets? What pressures do they face to commit misconduct? What systemic problems exist that could encourage good people to make bad decisions? Consider conducting a formal assessment of your corporate culture from the perspective of attitudes, perceptions, values, standards of conduct, pressures to commit misconduct, communications, risks and vulnerabilities. Pay particular attention to your corporate values and how well they have been internalized by your Board, senior leadership, employees at all levels and key stakeholders. 2. Don't just print, post and pray. If you have a Code of Conduct or an Ethics Code, printing copies, posting them on the wall and on bulletin boards is not enough. Codes of conduct are an outgrowth of company missions, visions, strategies and values. Thoughtful and effective corporate codes provide guidance for making ethical business decisions that balance conflicting interests. Codes of conduct need to be actual living documents encouraged and valued at the highest levels. Board members and senior executives have to set an example for the type conduct they expect from others. Ethical lapses at the upper echelons of management...
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...Boston Scandal Exposes Backlog Kirsten Williams RES/351 Business Research April 28, 2014 Saba Tahmassebi Ethical business research practises are an integral part of the research process. Conducting research can often seem like an overwhelming task and the temptation to cut corners or to manipulate findings can often lead to criminal behaviour by individuals or companies. Occasionally therefore, ethics may fall between the cracks. When ethics are not considered important a variety of consequences will have a negative impact on the organization as well as individuals. Organizations that employ people to conduct such research must make sure that they adhere to the most paramount level of ethics in every aspect of their business. This essay sets out to discuss an article in which an individual engaged in unethical business research. Boston Scandal Exposes Backlog In an article I found in the University of Phoenix library entitled, “Boston Scandal Exposes Backlog”, forensic chemist Annie Dookhan was, “ charged with obstructing justice by falsifying data in two criminal cases, and of lying under oath about her qualifications.” (Reich, 2012) It was also reported that she, “falsified results and that she had guessed the nature of samples she had been asked to test but a few times she had recorded the results of negative drug tests as being positive.” (Reich, 2012) Behaviour like this not only affects an individual but also the organization they work for, which makes internal...
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...ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN BUSINESS 3.1 Ethics Ethics has been defined as concerned with the development of moral standards by which actions, situations and behaviour can be judged. (Boyd et al) Oelgeschlager. et al gave the simplest definition of ethics as standards conduct. Ethics is the discipline that examines one’s moral standards or the moral standards of a society. It asks how these standards apply to our lives and whether these standards are reasonable or unreasonable, that is, whether they are supported by good reasons or poor ones. Therefore, a person starts to do ethics when he or she takes the moral standards absorbed from the family, church and friends and asks: “What do these standards imply for the situations in which I find myself? Do these standards really make sense? What are the reasons for or against these standards? Why should I continue to believe in them? What can be said in their favour and what can be said against them? Are they really reasonable for me to hold? Are their implications in this or that particular situation reasonable?” Ethics is the study of moral standards, the process of examining the moral standards of a person or society to determine whether these standards are reasonable or unreasonable in order to apply them to concrete situations and issues. The ultimate aim of ethics is to develop a body of moral standards that we feel are reasonable to hold standards that we have thought about carefully and have decided are justified standards for us...
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...Ethical Situations in business STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES A company needs to have a strong ethics plan in order to providing services to other businesses. A company’s that will be successful has defined goals and employees' individual responsibilities. An ethics program helps in the identification and management individual and company’s shortfalls to long-term goals. The main goal is to create a successful company that focuses on client satisfaction and ethical business practices. Employees are expected to adhere to the following standards: • Having a positive attitude every day you come into work and making it a comfortable environment. If a conflict occurs, address it with the appropriate individuals. • Make sure the customer’s requests are taken care of and if at the moment it wasn’t resolved schedule an appointment to do so. • You should always maintain the attitude that the customer is always right regardless of us knowing this is not always the case, but making the customer feel this way is the secret. If and when a customer treats you in a hostile and abusive way, ask them to stop and if they do not comprehend then escalate the situation to management. This kind of situation is not to be tolerated. • Working well with others, sharing ideas, and being open-minded to ensure the success of the company. • The values, integrity, honest and discipline should be upheld within and without the organization so as to improve the company’s image and reputation. • Encouragement...
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...Ethical Objectives The way the business responds to such issues is depend on their ethics Definition of ethics – individual’s moral beliefs and values about what is right and what is wrong, good or bad that guide his behavior. It is code of behavior that is acceptable to a person/organization to follow in a given society. It is a value judgment that may differ in importance and meaning between different individual. Ethics are based on individual beliefs and social standards; vary from person to person, from situation to situation and from culture to culture. Social standards of individual influence by; - The behavior af parents and other adults - Influenced by peers - Experience shapes our lives and contributed to aur ethical beliefs and our behavior How employees (managers) make a decisions is depends on their moral and belief. Business ethics is a term used to refer to ethical and unethical behaviors by employee of commercial organizations. Ethical behavior – behavior which is conforming to generally accepted social norms concerning beneficial and harmful actions. Ethical objectives – are targets based on a moral code(ethical code) for the business, for example ‘doing the right thing’. The growing acceptance of corporate social responsibility has led to businesses adopting an ‘ethical code’ to influence the way in which decisions are taken. Ethical code – a document detailing a company’s rules and guidelines on staff behavior that must be followed by all employees...
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...Ethical Issues In Business In defining the meaning of business ethics both words need to be examined. Understanding ethics can be regarded as the morals and values a person was taught or experienced in growing up. Ethics can be thought of as a code of conduct that is used in relationships and interactions with others. It is abiding by laws and principles that has set a standard by our society. It seems to be a personal decision that is very much depended on an individual’s thoughts for what they feel is right or just. Even with knowing what the right thing to do is, it may not be the best thing for the situation or a person may not feel that it is the best. It may very well be the hardest thing to do, but still the right thing to do and quite often people decide to do what’s easiest. The norms of our society can also be a deciding factor to ethical decisions especially when clear boundaries are not established. Business ethics are what define a company to its customers, its employees, to the vendors doing business with them, to the community agencies and in all business relationships. Even though basic laws, guidelines, and rules are established to operate a business with those confines, the ethical code that is enforced is what makes the business successful. If the company values are viewed as fair and just with a willingness to provide its services and products in a manner that is considerate of all its business associates, then trust and confidence is quickly strengthen...
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...This paper will discuss Ethical Issues in Business and the behavior of the business world. Rigorously, the question of Ethical behavior is raised in the private and federal sectors (more in the private sector when dealing with organizations, businesses, and corporations) and to the extent of the contain that involves this kind of behavior. Ethics is a strong topic that can be discussed in some great length without reaching any kind of consensus stateside or abroad. However I will give some insight on the issues of corporate ethic’s and federal behavior. The responsibilities and objectives of the businesses will be observed, as well as the ethical obligations of the federal sector. One of the major issues that corporations have in the private sector is over reporting and under reporting of net income. Management in the corporate world seeks to show that every quarter the net income of business has grown. The way this is done is by adopting unethical means and illegal means in the operations of financial reporting. One such way this is done in the private sector is in the use of stock options for employees that enable private sector companies to take employment cost off balance sheet and inflate earning. Corporation’s when making decisions must be held to ethical standard as well as a technical or commercial standard. Corporation’s board members must govern the Ethical behavior of its C-level, upper, middle, lower management, and especially its accountant’s...
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...Natasha Rodas Ethical Situations in Business April 20, 2015 Company Q’s Path to Social Responsibility The relationship between employees, managers, customers, suppliers, and investors that assess the strategies to attain success, are why a business exists. Social Responsibility is an organization’s obligation to maximize its positive impact on a community and stakeholders and to minimize its negative impact (Ferrell, 2009). The approach that Company Q took towards the given issues did not meet social responsibility and are utterly regrettable. This company has major problems that need to be irradiated in order to be called socially responsible. The company, suggesting profit loss, shut down the stores located in high crime rate areas throughout the city, therefore presenting itself as a cover up to them cutting their losses. Obviously, Company Q did not fully research the given areas of town before establishing plans to place a business there. Now, an empty building sits where the company could have effectively improved the lives of nearby residents, by providing a workforce option locally. Not only, does this affect the employees, but it also affects many residents who are unable to travel further to shop. This is a drastic interference with employees losing their jobs, and setting them up for financial hardships. It is not guaranteed that the employees will have access to means to work further away. Instead of getting rid of an income source in the community, Company...
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...Assignment 3 – Illustration Essay: The Importance of Ethical Practices in Business Submission Date: December 16, 2013 In today's business world, favorable ethical practices are paramount. Companies and their employees are required to comply with national, international, and local laws governing their operation. Failure to comply with these standards can be costly in terms of time, resources, brand image, and employee and customer loyalty. Companies with strong ethics programs have found that these efforts can provide access to capitol that increases and stabilizes the company's financial performance, positively influence the company's employee commitment, enhance customer loyalty, and improve the company's reputation. Development of strong ethics initiatives can greatly reduce the chance of fines resulting from wrongful, fraudulent, discriminatory or illegal activities. As early as 1988, a study by the Business Roundtable, "Corporate Ethics: A Prime Business Asset," reported that "a strong corporate culture and ethics are a vital strategic key to survival profitability in a highly competitive era" and that "sound values, purposes, and practices are the basis for long-range achievement." More recently, some academic studies have shown a positive link between the existence of corporate ethics programs and financial performance. A 1997 DePaul University study found that companies with a defined corporate commitment to ethical principles do better financially (based on annual...
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...Written Assignment #2 Week 2 MNGT-5990 Is bluffing in business ethical? Summarize Carr’s argument. Do you agree with him? Does bluffing pass Hooker’s generalization test in poker? Does it pass the generalization test in business? "Is Business Bluffing Ethical?” written by Albert Carr, was a rather provocative read for its time, and I will venture to say remains so today. The majority of what Carr speaks of in his writings can be seen among businesses and business persons alike today. It seems to express the general attitude that everything you do in business that is not against the law is morally permissible. He suggests that executives can do anything they want if it is part of a business game in which people play by the rules. What cannot be forgotten is that not all games are good to play, and not everyone is savvy with regards to the rules. Carr's belief is that poker and business have many similarities. He refers to them both as games having a “large element of chance," both in which each player (businessman) “is offered a choice between certain loss or bluffing within the legal rules of the game” (Carr pg. 153). If a person is resigned to winning then he must have skill, a profound awareness of the rules, and acumen into the psychology of the other “players”. To Carr, bluffing is permissible according to the rules of both poker and business. So when Carr wrote, "in their office lives [business people] cease to be private citizens; they become game players...
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...Ethical Issues in Business: I and two business associates have decided to start a small consulting business. We will be providing management consulting expertise and service nonprofit organizations. Many of our clients will be paying for this management consultation using federal funds. We intend to have between fifteen and twenty employees in addition to ourselves. We bring with us the highest ethical credentials but we feel that it is imperative that we implement a code of ethics/conduct and require our future employees to use it as a guideline for performing their duties to our clients. The emphasis will weigh heavily on social responsibility and a high standard of ethical thinking. Sometimes the ethical decision is not the most popular decision or the most profitable, but doing the right thing is always the best thing and if we follow this course of action we will be successful as a company and the profits will follow. In this day and age we feel it is vital to have an ethics program in place so that everyone in the company is on the same page morally. Code of Conduct The purpose of a code of conduct is to strengthen the company’s ethical environment and provide an employee format for adherence to certain principles, responsibilities and standards determined by the management. Some of the areas we will incorporate into our Code of Conduct are as follows: (A) Obey laws and regulations: All employees must comply and obey laws that impact...
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...Corporate Social Responsibility As corporations and businesses are challenged with the task of being competitive and profitable, sometimes business ethics are placed on a lower priority. The idea of “working the system” and pushing the envelope over ethical situations have plagued such corporations as Enron and WorldCom. Corporate social responsibility is no different: “it encompasses not only what companies do with their profits, but also how they make them. It goes beyond philanthropy and compliance and addresses how companies manage their economic, social, and environmental impacts, as well as their relationships in all key spheres of influence.” (Harvard Kennedy School, 2008. Corporate social responsibility initiative. Retrieved from: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/m-rcbg/CSRI/init_define.html) Company Q is a small grocery store chain. They conduct business in a major metropolitan area, with some stores being located in high-crime areas. The company decided to close a few of their stores in the high-crime areas after experiencing a financial loss. Due to customer feedback, the store now offers products of a healthy and organic nature. These items produce a high return on investment. The local food bank has asked Company Q, along with other local businesses, for donations of day-old inventory. However, Company Q’s management team has declined to provide such donations and destroy old products instead. Their reasoning is that they are concerned about losing revenues because...
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