Case Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

Module 4 - Case Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility

Introduction

In simple terminology, Ethics refers to as rules that assist one in elaborating the difference between the conducts of right and wrong and can also be known as criteria for doing the right things. These are principles that help individuals in deciding the best course of behaviors in unpredictable situations. In society, ethics are comprised on both standards and individual beliefs and these standards and beliefs change from culture to culture, situation to situation, and person to person, the ethics of society are generally least standards for respect and decency of others (Fombrun & Shanley, 1990). Individual beliefs are based on the assumptions that what is good to do and bad to do, but the Business Ethics are compactly linked to both the individual as well as societal ethics either it is concerned for employees of the organization or for the business customers. For instance, if a person as a worker of a gas manufacturing company must know that making cyanide gas in a residential location is an unethical practice, as this gas is hazardous for people.

In this paper, there will be performed a critical analysis of two different business organizations along with their application and practices of business ethics in the organization. For this purpose, the two organizations which have been selected to be critically examined for ethics in their business practices are Anglo-American and Primark. By critically analyzing these two organizations, there will be a discussion about the benefits and costs to organizations in acting ethically.

What is meant by Ethical Business Behaviors?

Different businesses experience ethical concerns almost each day regarding the products and services they offer for sale and the manner they deal with their stakeholders (the people inside or outside the organizations). Most of the business organizations choose operating their business procedures as per required code of ethics, which is a document explaining the guidelines for employees to respond in various situations in an organization. In business organizations, it is comparatively unproblematic to figure out the business practices that are unethical. For instance, using child labor by companies; using unlawfully the copyrighted processes and materials; and engaging in bribery etc.

Thus, there is no any hard-and-fast rule that could definite the exact definition of good ethical practices. A business organization is required to treat its each employee on fair basis and to generate a competitive return for its investors. Also, a company has some wide-ranging social responsibilities as, it must curtail any environmental harm and should work in a manner that do not harm the communities in which they operate by any way. This concept of business ethics is known as “Corporate Social Responsibility”.

Thus, for fulfilling the Corporate Social Responsibility, it is required to follow some specific code of ethics, and majority of the businesses across the globe set out their own Business Principles that are based on their work standards and core values (Carroll, ...