Business Ethics
Graduate certificate of Business (Management)
MBM 507
Organizational Functions and Dynamics
Prepared For: Jo Jensen
Subject Code: MBM 507
By: Dennis Kovacevic
Student Number: 7465548
Due Date: 1st May 2011
Word Count: 960
What is Business Ethics?
According to Robbins (Pg.174) Ethics are interpreted as the “rules and principals that define right and wrong conduct.” While this sounds straightforward on the surface, if we ask ourselves what right and wrong conduct is, it would be different depending who you ask. Things like race, gender, nationality, age, religion and industry all affect what we interpret to be right and wrong and this is where business ethics ...view middle of the document...
From a community perspective it is important to support businesses that are run ethically due to the social impact unethical businesses can have. Things like poor working conditions or inferior quality products can reflect poorly on the community as a whole and not just on a specific company. In Australia there is an expectation of a minimum hourly wage, a safe working environment, superannuation, work cover etc... These beliefs are so fundamental to our way of life that the government has legislated to ensure that organizations must meet the minimum expectations of the community. Now if we took the minimum expectation for working conditions from a country like China this would in no way be tolerated as it doesn’t correspond with our values. Nobody likes the idea of being part of an unethical organization wether this affects them directly through poor working conditions or by being forced to conduct business in a way that doesn’t agree with their personal values it still has the same effect. A good example of this is the growing support of rainforest alliance certification on coffee which is “intended to protect the environment and the rights of workers.” (http://www.ethicalcoffee.net/rainforest.html)
In his research 7 principals of admirable business, Robert Moment claims that companies with a commitment to ethical practices “consistently outperform companies that do not display ethical conduct.” (http://sbinformation.about.com/od/bestpractices/a/businessethics.htm) he goes on to say that operating ethically is an important “insight for companies striving for long-term success and growth.” Businesses openly operating in an unethical way will struggle to be as successful as those operating in a way that is socially accepted and it is becoming harder for those that are doing the wrong thing to get away with it. With the growth of modern technology, communication locally and globally has become increasingly affordable and widespread. The Libyan government was toppled by a protest organised through Face book, top secret military information was leaked from the US government and made public to the world through the WIKI leaks scandal. Information, good or bad can be shared across the globe at the click of a button and this is why it is so important for a business to be seen doing the right thing by members of the community.
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What role can/does business play in relation to corporate social responsibility?
Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR acts as a mechanism for self regulation where business ensures active compliance with a set of standards be that ethical, international or legal. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_social_responsibility)
Society often criticizes governments for over regulating what we can and can’t do, however often this seems to be the only way to force people to adhere to the values that are deemed important at the time. One way to take this responsibility away from the legislators and have more control...
