business ethics essay example

Business Ethics Essays

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Business Ethics: Reflective Essay

The concept of ethics is very essential in the development of operational strategies in any business organization. Various decision-making procedures right from the time of recruitment of employees, defining the goals and objectives of the organization, designing the appropriate organizational structure, developing the organizational strategies, and integration of the strategies in the business operations all require ethical consideration.

This course on business ethics has endowed us with the ability to make ethical judgments when handling issues that often arise at different workplaces.

It touched on different issues that are encountered at workplace like discrimination based gender, harassment at work, alcohol and drug testing on the new employees in an organization, business and individual privacy, and the impacts that the operations of the organization has on the environment. However, ethics in business remains to have various controversies (Ferrell, Fraedrich & Ferrell, 2009, p.5).

Module 1 of the course had some of the most striking concepts encountered in the contemporary business world. The module comprised ethical consideration relating to privacy in business. Privacy has been regarded as a legal right of an individual for a long time (Frye, 2001, p.32). The current market is competitive and business organizations are striving to acquire or maintain a higher market position.

This is often achieved through the kind of relationship that the business organizations develop with the stakeholders especially the clients of the organization. A good privacy statement by a given business organization will strengthen the kind of trust that the clients have in the organization thereby retaining such clients (Zahorsky, 2011, para.7). Utilitarianism, one of the ethical principles, is illustrated in this module.

The principle asserts that an ethical act is that which yields the greatest amount of good for the majority in a given setting (Kay, 1997, para.1). The concept of utilitarianism is often difficult to comprehend in the normal context as the kind of the “goodness” it requires may not be defined explicitly. The other party may regard what seems good to one party as bad. However, in this context, it was very clear that establishing a private policy that protects the information on consumers was of benefit both to the organization and to the clients.

A good privacy statement will explain to the clients why the information concerning them is needed by the organization, how the information will be used in the organization, the individuals who will be allowed access to such information, and how the information will be protected from unauthorized users (Zahorsky, 2011, para.8).

It also needs to provide the clients with an option to decline to provide such information. Instantly, the need of modern technology is evident in ensuring privacy in business. Technology has been seen to improve privacy although a lot of care needs to be taken to bar the irresponsible users from mismanaging the systems.

The second module focused on ethical considerations on cases of discrimination witnessed at workplaces. This was also interesting as it focused on how ethics can help avoid cases of discrimination witnessed at workplace.

The third module presented what I viewed as some of the challenges that may be experienced when applying ethics in business operations. This module also focused on the kinds of discrimination at workplace and the best approach to avoid them. It emerges that certain situations will call for discrimination. A typical organization in a competitive market would always want to have good reputation among a wide category of individuals.

A good approach would be to ensure that different individuals are included in the workforce by considering different categories: gender, age, race, disability, or language group. Situations often arise when a role is available that may not be performed by an employee randomly selected from these category. In deed, there are circumstances that require one to acknowledge the differences like gender, race, and even disability (Hunter, 1992, p.6).

For instance, in the event that the available job requires lifting of heavy loads like large parcels, it may not convenient to hire an employee with physical disability or a female employee. The organization will be forced to discriminate based on these factors. Other situations may call for discrimination based on the language group in order to improve on the delivery of services to the clients. This area generated many discussions and gave me much trouble as these could be seen as violation of the rights of these minority categories.

Ferrell, O., Fraedrich, J. and Ferrell, L. (2009). Business Ethics: Ethical Decision Making and Cases. Seventh edition. South-Western: Cengage Learning.

Frye, C. (2001). Privacy-enhanced business: adapting to the online environment. Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group.

Hunter, R. (1992). Indirect discrimination the workplace. Sydney: Federation Press.

Kay, C. (1997). Notes on utilitarianism. Retrieved from http://sites.wofford.edu/kaycd/utilitarianism/

Zahorsky, D. (2011). Is your small business privacy friendly? Web.

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Business Ethics in the Business World

How it works

Ethics “focuses on morality and the way in which moral principles are derived and applied to one’s conduct in daily life” (Miller 184). From a very young age, we are taught the difference between what is wrong and what is right, and as we grow, we develop our own sense of morals. The law cannot make ethical decisions, but there is a moral minimum that assumes we have a basic sense of ethical behavior we should use in society. Ethics are complicated, every individual has their own concept of what they consider to be ethically acceptable.

Business ethics focuses on the ability to make honest and ethical decisions in the world of business. “Ethics is important in making business decisions” (Miller 185). Making ethical business decisions is important because these decisions can have a legal effect. Consumers and employees have the power to continue or stop supporting a business. Businesses that are not applying ethical decisions can ultimately face financial issues. If a business makes a questionable decision their business can be affected negatively. “An action that is legal is not necessarily ethical” (Miller 187). Understanding business ethics is important but making decisions on legal actions is crucial. Making ethical business decisions is not a simple task because legal issues are involved. Differentiating between good and bad becomes more complicated when something is legal, one can assume it would be a right and ethical choice but there is more to know than just that. The details must be examined before making such a decision.

Ethical issues tend to arise from an attempt to maximize profits, profits may be maximized in a short-run or long-run profit. The difference between the two is that in short-run profit, products that are defective will continue to sell in order to increase profits. Long-run profits on the other hand will suffer the consequences of such questionable ethics. For maximization to be consistent and ethical it must comply with the use of long-run profit. The image and the way a business or corporation is perceived can also cause issues. Businesses that are known to “exploit” their workers have had to deal with the negative implications of these wrongful actions. Some companies create codes of ethics, they are rules to implement policies and list expectations of employee conduct. These codes only work if they are enforced and practiced by leaders and the company.

Ethical standards have a major role in the hiring process of potential employees. Social media can be a good thing, but it can also create issues. Employers can conduct online searches on a potential employee to see what he or she posts on their social media sites, this can show employers a little about who they are. Others consider this to be unethical, and an invasion of privacy because what an employee does outside of work should not determine whether they are hired or not.

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