Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Introduction | Ethics | Code of Ethics | Social Responsibility | Social Audit | | Introduction | |
The world of business is a melting pot of diverse cultures. With the present technology, the distance between business locations has become virtually borderless. Different backgrounds produce different understandings of very basic concepts, like what is right and what is wrong. Simply stated, right versus wrong is the definition of ethics. The challenge for businesses, however, is finding an agreement among a diverse group of employees regarding what really defines right versus wrong. Once a good definition is achieved, an even greater task is to enforce ethical behavior in the workplace. After building a culture grounded in strong ethical behavior, good businesses give back to the societies within which they operate. Businesses first fulfill their responsibility to make a profit and then their responsibility to serve their stakeholders. Finally, businesses answer the needs of society by acting with a commitment to fairness, integrity, and respect. This goes beyond being ethical. Following this week’s discussion of ethics and social responsibility, next week we will examine entrepreneurship and business ownership. | | Ethics | |
The early 2000s produced a number of corporate scandals among corporations considered to be the most innovative and admired companies. Companies like Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and Tyco were dissolved or forced into bankruptcy as a result of illegal and unethical actions taken by corporate chief executive officers or chief operating officers. These illegal and unethical actions included improperly allocating accounting transactions, destroying official documents, or stealing money from the company. While it was argued that these acts attempted to improve the performance of the companies, by billions of dollars in some cases, in most cases they afforded chief executives millions
Introduction | Ethics | Code of Ethics | Social Responsibility | Social Audit | | Introduction | |
The world of business is a melting pot of diverse cultures. With the present technology, the distance between business locations has become virtually borderless. Different backgrounds produce different understandings of very basic concepts, like what is right and what is wrong. Simply stated, right versus wrong is the definition of ethics. The challenge for businesses, however, is finding an agreement among a diverse group of employees regarding what really defines right versus wrong. Once a good definition is achieved, an even greater task is to enforce ethical behavior in the workplace. After building a culture grounded in strong ethical behavior, good businesses give back to the societies within which they operate. Businesses first fulfill their responsibility to make a profit and then their responsibility to serve their stakeholders. Finally, businesses answer the needs of society by acting with a commitment to fairness, integrity, and respect. This goes beyond being ethical. Following this week’s discussion of ethics and social responsibility, next week we will examine entrepreneurship and business ownership. | | Ethics | |
The early 2000s produced a number of corporate scandals among corporations considered to be the most innovative and admired companies. Companies like Enron, WorldCom, Arthur Andersen, and Tyco were dissolved or forced into bankruptcy as a result of illegal and unethical actions taken by corporate chief executive officers or chief operating officers. These illegal and unethical actions included improperly allocating accounting transactions, destroying official documents, or stealing money from the company. While it was argued that these acts attempted to improve the performance of the companies, by billions of dollars in some cases, in most cases they afforded chief executives millions