Question

kindly give a one-page paper insights on introducing straight talk about managing business ethics: where we're going and why

Answer 1

Ethics in business has been one of the most important factors in today’s corporate world. In the last two decades we have seen a lot of scams and outright abuse of power to build a long lasting and huge business empire that on the way we have lost the ethical values in conducting the business. This has shaken the confidence of the investors, employees and the consumers as a whole. For e.g. The internet boon in 2000, or the enron debacle, the Nike warehouse incident at Philippines where even the basic facilities were not provided for the workers, the economic slowdown led by the Lehman brothers or the recent scam conducted by diamond business man Nirav Modi. All of these examples have made us think only one statement where has the ethics gone and where are we leading??

Of late we have read many articles on ethics like the Friedman Doctrine or the Utilitarianism theory etc but at the end of the day it all comes to the point how the companies practice and inculcate ethics into day to day life of their employees. Companies should promote and encourage people who are ethical. Ethical issues arise when people work together and there might arise conflict of interest, people issues, customer service issues and the goal to achieve the targets, use of corporate resources etc. We should be wise enough to select that option which is ethically correct and is just to the situation. If we encounter something unethical we may approach your immediate manager first, may also discuss the issue with your family to have their opinion and have confidence built in because family will support to what is right, Take it to the next level of management if your manager does not support you, Contact your company’s ethics officer or ombudsman, If you do not get support from the company, we may also consider going outside your chain of command and approach the legal court outside, or leave the company if you find the unethical way of business still continues.    

Companies should also practice the ethical standards and guide the employees joining the institute by training them about the importance of ethics in the corporation. We also need to address that in recent time because of globalization lot of unethical ways of making money have also been increased. In that case the companies should take care that the ethical standards are maintained in those countries where they are carrying out the business. For example: Nike had an issue where the workers in the Philippines factory of Nike were not even given basic facilities and the factory had lot of work life issues. When the human rights people inspected the factory they saw that Nike is exploiting the cheap labour and giving low standard of work facilities.

Likewise the corporations should also promote gender equality and equality among race, caste and creed. The companies also should respect the nation’s cultural, economic and social development. They should also respect the market’s integrity because it’s the retails consumer’s investments that hurt the most if the markets fail. They should also protect the human rights and fundamental freedom of the employee of that country.

In short companies following ethical standards are more prone to success than the companies who fail to follow and respect ethical standards.