Ethical Businesses Have a Greater Probability of Being More Profitable Than Unethical Ones
Ethical businesses have a greater probability of being more profitable than unethical ones
(Defend)
Introduction
The way I see it is, if you are running a business, let’s say a fortune 500 company, you probably employ thousands of people. If your daily operations include unethical practices then you are most definitely getting some sort of negative feedback. What I mean is, someone, somewhere is feeling like they are not being treated properly. It may be with your employees, your suppliers, manufacturers, customers and even the local community. Undoubtedly some of your stakeholders are being negatively impacted by your dealings. If this is true then you will not receive the best possible performance from whoever is feeling the effects of the unethical behavior. This must affect your overall profits in some way, shape or form.
“Leading firms in a range of fields, including energy, banking, auditing and investment have been assessed huge fines for unethical dealings. Executives have been jailed.” (Houlahan, 2011)
Unethical is defined by Argosy University as; “not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior; "unethical business practices"” In a large corporation such as suggested above, when you do not adhere to ethical practices, someone will know. There will be tons of attention on your business simply due to its size and scope. When this happens it can be like a snowball effect and before you know it, sales, community support and stock prices can plummet. It is hard to run a profitable business when you have to deal with negative and potentially global scrutiny. Let’s take for instance Enron. This was a huge corporation that was highly respected around the world but after what is now known as “The ENRON Scandal is considered to be one of the most notorious within American history” (Finance Laws.com, 2002), they no longer exist. “Due to the actions of the ENRON executives, the ENRON Company went bankrupt. The loss
(Defend)
Introduction
The way I see it is, if you are running a business, let’s say a fortune 500 company, you probably employ thousands of people. If your daily operations include unethical practices then you are most definitely getting some sort of negative feedback. What I mean is, someone, somewhere is feeling like they are not being treated properly. It may be with your employees, your suppliers, manufacturers, customers and even the local community. Undoubtedly some of your stakeholders are being negatively impacted by your dealings. If this is true then you will not receive the best possible performance from whoever is feeling the effects of the unethical behavior. This must affect your overall profits in some way, shape or form.
“Leading firms in a range of fields, including energy, banking, auditing and investment have been assessed huge fines for unethical dealings. Executives have been jailed.” (Houlahan, 2011)
Unethical is defined by Argosy University as; “not conforming to approved standards of social or professional behavior; "unethical business practices"” In a large corporation such as suggested above, when you do not adhere to ethical practices, someone will know. There will be tons of attention on your business simply due to its size and scope. When this happens it can be like a snowball effect and before you know it, sales, community support and stock prices can plummet. It is hard to run a profitable business when you have to deal with negative and potentially global scrutiny. Let’s take for instance Enron. This was a huge corporation that was highly respected around the world but after what is now known as “The ENRON Scandal is considered to be one of the most notorious within American history” (Finance Laws.com, 2002), they no longer exist. “Due to the actions of the ENRON executives, the ENRON Company went bankrupt. The loss
Cited: Brown, L. K. (2004). Debunking five business ethics myths. Managing to be ethical: Debunking five business ethics myths . Academy of Management Executive, 2004, Vol. 18, No. 2. Finance Laws.com. (2002). Retrieved 2012, from http://finance.laws.com: http://finance.laws.com/enron-scandal-summary Fortune Magazine. (2011, May 23). http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune. Retrieved 2012, from http://money.cnn.com: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/snapshots/101.html Google.com. (2009). http://www.google.com/about/company. Retrieved 2012, from http://www.google.com: http://www.google.com/about/company/tenthings.html Houlahan, J. M. (2011, April). Ethical Leadership. Ethical Leadership Volume 1, Number 1 . Michael J. Booker, P. (1997). IS GOOD BUSINESS ALWAYS GOOD BUSINESS? Sargent, T. (2007, November 12). The Contribution of Humanistic Psychology. Business and Organization Ethics Network .