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Positive Impact of Business Ethics

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Submitted By Phillipt1
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Positive Impact of Business Ethics &
Corporate Social Responsibility
On an Organization

Abstract
Corporate social responsibility and business ethics have become the focus of an increasing amount of attention from the business sector and academicians following the scandal-ridden era of Enron and others during the 1990s. Although the findings from the research to date are mixed, there is a growing body of research in this area that has lent support to the notion that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility initiatives have a positive impact on companies in terms of profitability as well as other less quantifiable areas. This review of literature examines these issues systematically to identify current trends and to describe the positive impacts that ethical business practices and corporate social responsibility programs can have for companies of all sizes and types.

The Positive Impact of Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility on an Organization
To act in a socially responsible way requires organizational leaders to consider the effect of their decisions on the well-being of society; thus, managers must ask themselves what their actions do to society and what their actions do for society. – Ronald Sims, Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility: Why Giants Fall 2003, p. 66 Chapter Two: Review of Literature The epigraph above makes it clear that today, there is a growing recognition among the business community that they have a fundamental responsibility to “give back” to the communities in which they compete, but this concern is certainly not new. The informal concern for social responsibility dates to antiquity, but formal concerns emerged during the late 1930s and the early 1940s following Chester Barnard's published book. Specifically, Chester Barnard’s book titled, “Functions of the Executive, along

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