Business ethics
Business Ethics is emerging as one of the greatest recognized needs in business and government today. No other element in business life can profit so greatly for such a small investment. Lacking this, no other element can cost business so dearly.To start, one must ask; what is ethics? In its most basic form, ethics involves learning what is right or wrong, and then doing the right thing. However, the right thing is not as straightforward as conveyed in a great deal of business ethics literature. Most ethical dilemmas in the workplace are not simply a matter of "Should Robert steal from Jane?" or "Should Jack lie to his boss?" Many philosophers consider ethics to be the "science of conduct." Others explain that ethics includes the fundamental ground rules by which we live our lives. Philosophers have been discussing ethics for at least 2500 years, since the time of Socrates and Plato. Many ethicists consider emerging ethical beliefs to be state of the art legal matters. For example, what becomes an ethical guideline today is often translated to a law, regulation or rule tomorrow. Values that guide how one ought to behave are considered moral values, e.g., values such as respect, honesty, fairness, responsibility, etc. State
From grade school on, Americans don't treat tattletales kindly. Adelphia's top executives have been arrested on fraud charges. Attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change -- times much like those faced now by businesses. ImClone's top executive has been accused of insider trading along with Martha Stewart. "In most cases, an employee is not legally obligated to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission or other law enforcement, when something wrong is discovered. Bill Redgate, founder of the Center for Values Based Leadership, states that, "If somebody doesn't get a fair response internally, they have the right to go anonymously to the SEC. One Tyco top executive has been accused of tax fraud and evasion. Perhaps most important, attention to ethics in the workplaces helps ensure that when leaders and managers are struggling in times of crises and confusion, they retain a strong moral compass. Unethical behavior that has gone unnoticed usually precedes breaking the law. The new law will help ensure that corporate misdeeds are found and punished, by authorizing new funding for investigators and technology at the SEC to uncover wrongdoing. A code of ethics is an organic instrument that should change with the needs of society and the organization. Codes can be very powerful in smaller as well. Human Resource professionals are in a unique position to observe the organization's ethics and serve as a catalyst for change if the ethics system is weak. However, business ethics was written about even 2,000 years ago. Today's writings about social responsibility do not address practical matters of managing ethics in the workplace, such as developing codes, updating polices and procedures, approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas.
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