Business

Ethical Issues

University of Phoenix

Emikele Okhipo

Business ethics can be easily summed up as knowing the difference between right and wrong and choosing to do the right thing. With businesses, written or unwritten codes of principles govern decisions and actions within a company. The phrase “business ethics” could refer to the behavior of individuals within an organization, as well as the organization itself. For some time many believed that business ethics was merely a fad. But research has found that business ethics has steadily climbed for more than 40 years (Trevino & Nelson, 2007).

Ethical issues impact people of various backgrounds. Business ethics are more in the public eye than probably at any point in history. An issue that directly affected an ex-employer involved someone who experienced a personal issue and had to leave the company very suddenly. The employee was not able to provide adequate notice before leaving due to the seriousness of the situation. Once the personal matter had cleared itself up, the employee tried reclaiming his position but was denied his job back. The Human Resources manager cited the fact that adequate notice was not submitted by the employee. Others had suffered personal matters but were able to put in a two week notice. The issue of ethics here was whether or not to allow one employee special circumstances even though none had been extended prior. The company did not want to create an air of preferential treatment.

An issue recently raised in our community is where a local politician recently nominated his girlfriend to a prominent position in state government. The issue is one of nepotism and how qualified the nominee is for the position. Nepotism has been a business practice for as long as business has existed. The community would like for another more qualified candidate be nominated for the position to avoid any potential conflict of interest issues that may arise. The politician who nominated his girlfriend...