Business Ethics

Business Ethics

Introduction

Since ethics are the moral guidelines that administer good behavior, business ethics defines the moral guidelines that businesses must follow in order to promote good behavior among all its workers. In a business environment, it is considered to be a good practice to promote good ethical behavior among employees. Apart from being legal, it is also imperative for a business to keep in mind that an ethical decision is one that considers the shared ethical standards defined by the community or environment in which the business operates while also being legal.

Discussion

There exist many different models of business ethics and each of these is designed while keeping in view four core values or interests that commonly conflict at the time when business planners are making important decisions during the formulation of business strategies. These core interests are:

Basic individual rights

Individual self-interest

Organizational interests

Betterment of the public

Type of Models of Business Ethics

Among the types of business ethics models that businesses follow, the first and foremost consideration for most organizations is their basic individual rights. For example, in the decision making process, it is normally related how a person would behave simply because of being human and without considering the position that they are in or the authority they have in the business environment. Therefore, the decision-making process of the business is governed by moral values and ethical standards and all the employees working within the business environment are encouraged to follow it.

The second type of business ethics model followed by organizations is focused on individual self-interest. It emphasizes upon the good things that people want in life as as described by them. In this particular business ethics model, the major emphasis of the organization is on taking decisions that are related to what the people see as good and what they deem to be bad or unacceptable. Therefore, if the people of a given community hold an opinion that duping toxic waste into the local sea is unethical because of the harm that it causes to marine life, then the business is more likely to respect their opinion and formulate its strategies based on them.

Another business ethics model exists which is mainly based on the primary interests of the organization. In such a business model, the focus of the decision-making process is on what the organization wants and this is mainly what concerns the leaders of the business as they set out to ...