Business Ethics



Business Ethics

Introduction

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that defines the set of moral values and rules. It defines the set of value and norms that an individual, an organization or a corporation has to follow in order to survive and contribute for the betterment of the environment in which that entity exists (www.businessdictionary.com). Ethics can be described by two things. Firstly, ethics refers to the understanding of the difference between right and wrong in terms of obligations, fairness, integrity, equality, rights, virtues and ideology. For example, it refers to standards like refraining from stealing, rape, murder, fraud, slander and assault. It also includes having extensive understanding of the rights to privacy, rights to freedom and rights to life. The second perspective that defines ethics is the development of the ethical standards. Sometimes the moral standards of a person or an organization conflict with the moral standards of the society. The sheer understanding of the morality and ethics resolves this issue. Having a clear understanding not only helps deciding where one is going wrong, but also helps in the re-formation of the moral standards (www.scu.edu).

Business Ethics

Business Ethics is a form of applied or professional ethics. It refers to the set of moral values that define the behavioral conduct that should be adopted by a business. The set of rules are the ones that a business adopts as the acceptable standards that are expected to be followed by the stakeholders and all the entities. It defines all the forms of ethics that should be sdopted in the business by the individuals as well as the organizations.

It has both normative and descriptive dimensions. In terms of normative dimension, it includes all the corporate practices and the career specialization. Whereas the descriptive dimension refers to the academics that attempt to understand the business behavior.

Today, almost all the corporations have their set of rules, known as the 'code of ethics', that is meant to be followed by all the employees of that corporation without any discrimination. The Governments also enforce rules and regulations to control the business behavior in accordance to what they perceive to be beneficial for the corporation as well as the society. Ethics also controls the behavior of corporations in areas that lie out of the control of the government. (Berle, Means, 1932).

Importance

Business ethics is an important component in the business world. Keeping the integrity of the corporations high is also very important for the organizations as it helps in the smooth sailing of a corporation. Following the business ethics, all the individuals as well the organizations that are associated with the corporation will be satisfied and would contribute whole heartedly for the betterment of the corporation. If the employees of an organization as well as the management are alive to their ethical roles, the customers and investors both will be satisfied by the organization and will be retained for a longer period of time (www.articleclick.com). It will also help in building a positive image of ...