Business Ethics

Business Ethics

Business ethics is a subject that is always being debated. Whether it is the definition of business ethics or how a company should go about enforcing those ethics, there is always going to be something that needs to be debated or changed.

Business ethics is a behavior that is consistent with the principles, the norms, and the standards of business practice that have been agreed upon by society. All this means is that a company, by law, has rules to follow. Upon not following those rules, investigations will ensue and lawsuits and charges will be filed. It is also important that these companies and businesses also have codes of conducts for their employees to follow.

There are always going to be ethical issues within the business environment that will affect our communities and organizations. Some that have affected us more recently would be dishonesty, inability to accept responsibility for something that has gone wrong and privacy rights.

My first choice of an ethical issue is one that has been and probably will always be around. That issue would be dishonesty. This issue comes in all shapes and sizes, from forms of insider trading to accountants who say they are investing your money in one thing, but really are just stashing your money away for an extended vacation.

My second choice of an ethical issue is the inability to accept responsibility for something that has gone wrong. This is not only seen within in business practices, but also can be seen in children. An example that has made the news was the horrible Gulf oil spill by BP. It took the company a little bit to come out and say “Hey, we made a mistake and take full responsibility.” An example that affects us more closely would be the children. I cannot count how many times I was afraid to accept responsibility when I was a child and did something wrong. It was not the fact that I was trying to hide the fact that I did wrong, but that I was afraid of what the consequences might be....