Management Ethics

Ethics Paper

Eloy J. Barraza

MGT/498

February 18, 2013

University of Phoenix

Dulcelina Stahl

Ethics Paper

When forming a strategic plan, an organization must always take ethics and social responsibility into consideration along with stakeholder needs. While meeting the needs of stakeholders is important, an organization should always follow the moral norms that our society holds us to. Organizations have a social responsibility to follow ethics even beyond the scope of making a profit, even though sometimes some companies do not follow the moral code established by society.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

In order to understand what ethics are organization expected to follow they must first understand what ethics are. Ethics are not religiously based, ethics are also not based on the law and neither are they what society accepts as the norm. What is ethics then? According to Andre  (2010), "standards that are reasonable and solidly-based.” (What is Ethics?). This means that it is a mix of everything from law, to society to religion, such as not murdering, not stealing, being fair, things of that nature, in other words doing the right thing. An organization must always do the right thing. Making a profit for stakeholders is the main goal of an organization, but they have the responsibility to society to ensure that they will do so in a fair manner, that follows the law and protects employees, as well as consumers from any harm or unfair treatment. This protection may come in many forms, like letting the community know if the company is planning lay offs or shutting down a production center, while they do not have to do this it is socially responsible to let the affected parties know. Organizations that are both ethical and socially responsible are usually the ones society looks up to and does business with.

Overstepping Ethical Boundaries

Although ethics and social responsibility should not only play an important role on strategic planning they are...