Business Ethics

Business Ethics

University of Phoenix

MGT/216 - Organizational Ethics and Social Responsibility

Willis Witty

September 24, 2009

Business Ethics

Business is faced with a multitude of different ethical beliefs from the employees. Many companies find coming up with a single standard for all to adhere to is a challenge. Personal ethics can conflict with business ethics so is harder to moderate when an employee is faced with this type of dilemma. Business ethics is described as “the principles, norms, and standards of conduct governing an individual or group” (Trevino, 2006). Business ethic dilemmas can be described as “situations concerning right and wrong where values are in conflict” (Trevino, 2005).

One situation comes to mind where employees were reimbursed for cell phone cost. The company’s policy was to pick up the entire amount up to a set figure. After analyzing the data and speaking with employees, it was discovered that several had canceled all land lines and used their work cell phones exclusively – for personal and business, then proceeded to charge the full amount to the company. Through the analysis, the policy was refined to include a percentage reduction to account for personal use of the company’s property. The discussion with the employees revealed they felt no ethical reason to report this discrepancy as they felt the phone usage was part of their salary for having all hour access. With refinement, the company was able to modify the policy to encourage the appropriate use of the phones while making the ethical issue clear from the company’s point of view.

A second ethical view comes from an employee who sees an opportunity to make the workflow of his or her position quicker and easier. The workflow proposition was introduced to the employee’s supervisor. The supervisor decided the implementation of this proposal was not worth the amount of time necessary to analyze the actual benefits...