The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
Ethics in business refers to a philosophical ideology and behavior that “a business adheres to in its daily dealings with the world”. Most running stable businesses bloom as a result of good behavioral relationships with other players in the same sector by maintaining the aspect of practicing ethics.
Ethics not only apply to how the business interacts with the world but also on how they deal with the customer. Business ethics is a type of applied ethics that examine ethical principles and moral that arises in a business environment. This applies to all aspects of business conduct and is relevant to the conduct of individuals and business organizations as a whole.With ethics as a control measure for business, keen priorities have to take the leading position as a guide. Some of the businesses operating worldwide focus so much on how to make lots of money and do too little to try and balance the welfare of what the society require them to do. This is termed as being unethical because the business infringes some of the ethical laws.
In favor of these, employers and employees ought to be aware of the ethical philosophies in business and how to apply them in their day-to-day undertakings as this will help them acquire the professional skills and help them run the business in ethically accepted ways; this in turn will help the business grow expansively.The practice of ethics in a well organized business has been seen to favor all players; hence a good relationship within the business environment is observed. These moral theories help employers to run the business in a way that is ethical and socially responsibly setting accepted standards within the existing business environment. Acceptance of BribesAs much as business ethics must be observed, it is in the least of expectations for executives who are holders of big functional offices to accept bribes as an inducement to buy other business products which can be termed unethical. “If a business does not adhere to business ethics and breaks the law, they get fined” heftily, hence incurring a loss which is not part of the business forecasts.
Many of the businesses today worldwide practice unethical laws of business so as to gain advantage over other businesses which is wrong.Executives are the mirrors of an organization so they must be the key players in practicing good ethics for the business environment. With this in mind, they should try to manage the business in a way that meets all standards that are required and also have their activities done in openness and honesty. If executives accept bribes as an inducement to buy other business products, they will be practicing ‘corruption’ which is part of unethical laws. In the long run business may be mired and this may bring the fall of a giant business or even contribute to the hefty fines a business has to part with, hence incurring huge losses.
As business executives, the utmost goal is to have a business grow through the future rather than generate quick returns which are only to last for a short period of time. This can only be reached if the executives plan and run the business in an honest manner.With this in mind, executives are to be blamed for any sort of corruption ongoing within a business. Employees can only act from the word of the employer who conducts the business through dictating what or what not to be done. This in itself is a form of infringement of the ethical laws.Importance of Ethics and Social ResponsibilityEthical and social responsibility in the business world is important as it helps the business environment achieve a stable working atmosphere.
Social responsibility takes into consideration the aspect of a business being able to handle social aspects that affect the business, environmental aspects and rights of the persons who are working in an organization.It is in light of this that governments and employers are pushing for ethical and social responsibility as these theories proves to be of great help in curbing dishonesty in a business environment. These theories enable the business focus laterally on what the position of the business is heading to within the fast changing business environment. This is important as employers can work extra hard if the business environment is conducive hence a projection of high returns can be observed.With stern laws that businesses should deliberate on in the effective running of a business, employers must put up to agreements laid down in favor of employees and the customers so as not to infringe their human rights.
This is a key step towards good business relationships, as this will bring about the sterling performance from the employees which in turn set the business standards higher and of quality value. In relation to this, we can clearly see that the ethics that govern a business can either make it flourish or tumble. The management of a business should be keen on the welfare of workers, pay taxes and adhere to all factors that may affect the flourishing of the business. With these aspects that have to apply in a normal functioning business, we are rest assured that many businesses will prosper and all players set to benefit.
