Closely related to legal compliance are moral and ethical standards. Legal behavior includes ethical behavior, however ethical conduct goes beyond legality and is more comprehensive.
Jerry Anderson gave a quick dictionary definition of the following words: "ethics," "moral," "ethical,":
Ethics: The system or code of human conduct, with the emphasis on the determination of what is right and wrong.
Moral: Relating to, dealing with, or capable of making the distinction between right and wrong in conduct, good or right in conduct or character.
Ethical: Conforming to right principles of conduct as generally accepted by a specific profession or group, a given system of ethics, and so on.
An ethical company doesn't exist in a vacuum. To make ethical decisions, companies must consider the impact on the larger society of which their are part.
However, ethical corporate conduct is not easy and can be costly. Consideration must be given to existing and proposed laws, Jude-Christian values, family norms, society and industry as a whole, the firm, and the background and desires of owners, managers, and other employees.
There are many honest, moral, highly ethical businesses and businessmen; however, when stories come about illegal payments by Lockheed to Japan for business contracts, Audi blaming its car problems on the public, and the graft and corruption in the federal government and the financial world, it is no wonder that the public perceives business and those who run it as amoral at best.
Therefore, government action and intervention, public concern and outcry, and stakeholder pressure are forcing business to take another look at its honest and ethical policies and attitudes. However, surveys show that ethics is good business. The study found that successful companies in the long term tend to be ethical companies.
Loyalty and trust of employees, shareholders,