Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Business Ethics and Social Responsibility – About Ethics, Principles and Moral Values
Simply put, ethics involves learning what is right or wrong, and then doing the right thing — but “the right thing” is not nearly 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 Bob steal from Jack?” or “Should Jack lie to his boss?”
(Many ethicists assert there’s always a right thing to do based on moral principle. Others believe the right thing to do depends on the situation — ultimately it’s up to the individual.) Many philosophers consider ethics to be the “science of conduct.” Twin Cities consultants Doug Wallace and John Pekel (of the Twin Cities-based Fulcrum Group; 651-714-9033; e-mail at jonpekel@atti.com) 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, i.e., what becomes an ethical guideline today is often translated to a law, regulation or rule tomorrow. Values which guide how we ought to behave are considered moral values, e.g., values such as respect, honesty, fairness, responsibility, etc. Statements around how they apply these values they sometimes call moral or ethical principles. (Extracted from Complete (Practical) Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace.)
What is Business Ethics?
The concept has come to mean various things to various people, but generally it’s coming to know what it right or wrong in the workplace and doing what’s right — this is in regard to effects of products/services and in relationships with stakeholders. Wallace and Pekel explain that attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change — times much like those faced now by businesses, both nonprofit or for-profit. In times of fundamental change, values that they take for grant is now strongly questioned. Many of these values are no longer followed. Consequently, there is no clear moral compass to guide leaders through complex dilemmas about what is right or wrong.
Ethics in the workplace dilemma’s
Attention to ethics in the workplace sensitizes leaders and staff to how they should act. 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. However, attention to business ethics provides numerous other benefits as well.
Note that many people react that business ethics, with its continuing attention to “doing the right thing,” only asserts the obvious (“be good,” “don’t lie,” etc.), and so these people don’t take business ethics seriously. For many of us, these principles of the obvious can go right out the door during times of stress. Consequently, business ethics can be strong preventative medicine. Anyway, there are many other benefits of managing ethics in the workplace.
(Extracted from Complete (Practical) Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace.)
Managing Ethics in the Workplace
Managing Ethics Programs in the Workplace
Oorganisationscan manage ethics in their workplaces by establishing an ethics management program. Brian Schrag, Executive Secretary of the Association for Practical and Professional Ethics, clarifies. “Typically, ethics programs convey corporate values, often using codes and policies to guide decisions and behaviour, and can include extensive training and evaluating, depending on the organisation. They provide guidance in ethical dilemmas.” Rarely are two programs alike.
“All organisations have ethics programs, but most do not know that they do,” wrote business ethics professor Stephen Brenner in the Journal of Business Ethics (1992, V11, pp. 391-399). “A corporate ethics program is made up of values, policies and activities which impact the propriety of organisation behaviours.”
Bob Dunn, President and CEO of San Francisco-based Business for Social Responsibility, adds: “Balancing competing values and reconciling them is a basic purpose of an ethics management program. Business people need more practical tools and information to understand their values and how to manage them.” (Extracted from Complete (Practical) Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace.)
According to Wallace, “A credo generally describes the highest values to which the company aspires to operate. It contains the `thou shalt.’ A code of ethics specifies the ethical rules of operation. It’s the `thou shalt not’s.” In the latter 1980s, The Conference Board, a leading business membership organisation, found that 76% of corporations surveyed had codes of ethics.
Some business ethicists disagree that codes have any value. Usually they explain that too much focus is put on the codes themselves. That codes themselves are not influential in managing ethics in the workplace. Many ethicists note that it’s the developing and continuing dialogue around the code’s values that is most important. (Extracted from Complete (Practical) Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace.)
Developing Codes of Conduct
If your organisation is quite large, e.g., includes several large programs or departments, you may want to develop an overall corporate code of ethics and then a separate code to guide each of your programs or departments. They must not develop codes out of the Human Resource or Legal departments alone, as is to often the case. Codes are insufficient if intended only to ensure that policies are legal. All staff must see the ethics program that top management is driving and implementing.
Note that codes of ethics and codes of conduct may be the same in some organisations, depending on the organisation’s culture and operations and on the ultimate level of specificity in the code(s). (Extracted from Complete (Practical) Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace.)
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas and Making Ethical Decisions
Perhaps too often, business ethics is portrayed as a matter of resolving conflicts in which one option appears to be the clear choice. For example, case studies are often presented in which an employee faces the decision with whether or not to lie, steal, cheat, abuse another, break terms of a contract, etc. However, ethical dilemmas faced by managers are often more real-to-life and highly complex with no clear guidelines, whether in law or often in religion.
As noted earlier in this document, Doug Wallace, Twin Cities-based consultant, explains that one knows when they have a significant ethical conflict when there is presence of a) significant value conflicts among differing interests, b) real alternatives that are equality justifiable, and c) significant consequences on “stakeholders” in the situation. An ethical dilemma exists when one is facing the decision with having to make a choice among these alternatives.
What’s an Ethical Dilemma?
Culture is comprised of the values, norms, folkways and behaviours of an organisation. Ethics is about moral values, or values regarding right and wrong. Therefore, cultural assessments can be extremely valuable when assessing the moral values in an organisation.
Ethics Training
The ethics program is essentially useless unless all staff members receives training about what it is, how it works and their roles in it. The nature of the system may invite suspicion if not handled openly and honestly. Therefore, all staff must be aware of and act in full accordance with policies and procedures (this is true, whether policies and procedures are for ethics programs or personnel management). This full accordance requires training about policies and procedures.
Social responsibility and business ethics are often regarding as the same concepts. However, the social responsibility movement is but one aspect of the overall discipline of business ethics. The social responsibility movement arose particularly during the 1960s. With increased public consciousness about the role of business in helping to cultivate and maintain highly ethical practices in society and particularly in the natural environment.
General Resources Regarding Social Responsibility
There are many online resources in regard to social responsibility. The following resources will help you to start:
Business for Social Responsibility
Educators for Social Responsibility
Behaviourists for Social Responsibility
Center for Computing and Social Responsibility
Business Ethics and Leadership Blog
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