Ethical Theory And Business For Corporate Ethics

Question: Discuss about a Report on Ethical Theory and Business for Corporate Ethics? Answer: Introduction: The business ethics is most essential for any business organizations in respect of continuous growth of their business along with improvement of their work environment. Business ethics are the system of laws, guidelines or rules and regulations by which any organization or companies operate their business in a legal, fair as well as moral manner. Business ethics comprises of the most critical duties of any business organizations such as, corporate governance, bribery protection, fiduciary responsibilities, insider trading, discrimination, corruption, tax avoidance, unionization, political contributions, globalizations, executive pay, corporate social responsibilities, privacy, earning management, intellectual property, human resource, health and safety of the employees as well as marketing practices Background and development of theoretical ethical approaches: Ethical approach is the most significant part of the management of the company. The companies maintain their standard of quality of their products or services in the market along with satisfying the employees by looking upon their basic values, such as Family: By ensuring that the job secures the well-being of the family of the employees. Recreation: Ensuring the various recreational facilities of the job to the employees. Sense of Accomplishment: Ensuring that the employees get a sense of accomplishments after completing the job. Advancement in the company: Ensuring that the employee equal and fair chance to advance in their career within the company. Financial Security: Ensuring that the employees get the financial security in performing their job. Integrity: Ensuring that the job provides accurate information as well as emphasizing the equality in the corporation. Due to rapid globalization of the world, which means the drastic changes in transport, communications as well as media, the world economy has grown more mutually dependent. The consumers are more conscious about the quality along with variety of the products and services. Therefore, the market has grown more competitive for the market as the more and more companies are doing their business in same market as well as with the customer base (Arnold, Beauchamp and Bowie, 2013). Hence, the idea of the business ethics have evaluated in a rapid succession. Various theories of business in contemporary market are discussed below: General Business Ethics: The general business ethics concept ensures the interest of the stakeholders by forbidding to focus on the interests of anyone else. It also performs the corporate social responsibility. Moreover, it also comprises of the responsibilities in relation with fiduciary responsibilities, stakeholder versus shareholder concept, hostile takeovers, industrial espionage, political contribution, reforming the corporate law as well as the misuse of corporate ethics policies (Hanekamp, 2007). Professional Business Ethics: Professional business ethics are mostly comprises of infinite problems in respect of practical ethical ground as well as various business administrational activities. Accounting Information Ethics: This part of business ethics covers the various activities in relation with accounting; such as, creative accounting, management of earnings, ambiguous financial evaluation, compensation of executives, bribery as well as payments in relation with facilitation (Brooks and Brooks, 2000). Human Resource Ethics: This part mostly manages the various issues related to human resource, that is, relationship between employer and employee, age discrimination, union busting, strike breaking, surveillance of workplace, drug testing, employment law as well as safety and health of the employees (Deckop, 2006). Sales and Marketing Ethics: This concept of particular ethics covers the total extent of sales and marketing function; that is, pricing of the products, anti-competitive expertise, and specific marketing strategies, such as, green washing, baiting and switching, shill, viral market practices, spam, and pyramid scheme. Moreover, it also includes the advertisement contents; children related marketing as well as black markets along with grey markets (Brenkert, 2008). Production Ethics: This part mainly focuses on the quality of the products and services. It also comprises of the relation with the environment and products as well as services. Intellectual property ethics: This part of the business ethics comprises with intellectual property system of the company. Comparison of absolute and relative ethics: Since the origin of the ethics, there are arguments about the foundation of the absolute and relative ethics in philosophical point of view. Lots of the scholars provide the opinion to form the acceptability of the either ethical concept. The comparison between the absolute and relative ethics, which will indicate the stark contrast between tem, is discussed below: Absolute Business Ethics: Absolute business ethics signifies that the ethic is unbendable and cannot be violated under any circumstances. It defines that whatever the situation demands; the company must follow the same code of conduct. There are lots of positive points to absolutism in respect of business ethics as certain policies can be easily applied in the controversial ground. It also ensures the equality of the employees, customers as well as other stakeholders https://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/absolutesandrelativisim.htm. Relative Business Ethics: Relative business ethics indicates that the ethic can be dependable on the various situations along with circumstances. It denotes that on the basis of different scenario as the situation demands; the company can apply, skip or bend the code of conduct. There are lots of positive points to relativism in relation with business ethics as lots of policies can be applied in a flexible manner. It also allows the corporation to grant lots of ground to perform their duties in an efficient fashion https://www.globalethicsuniversity.com/articles/absolutesandrelativisim.htm. Ethical issues affecting operational activities of a business In the present era of 21st century most of the companies of every scales face an infinite number of ethical dilemmas. Various business organizations must focus on their rules and regulations to maintain a strict organizational system and execute the business programs in an efficient manner (Trevino and Weaver, 2003). However, there are lots of issues that originate on the implementation of the ethical structures. Those issues are discussed below: Fundamental Issues: By implementing all of the ethical ideas in an organization, the corporation mostly faces the major issues such as integrity and trust. Without the trust and integrity the business professional will not conduct the business affairs with honesty of the fair treatment of every consumer. Subsequently the consumer will lose trust towards the corporation and the company will lose the potential customer as well as the growth of their business (Vilcox and Mohan, 2007). Diversity Issues: In case of implementing the appropriate code of conducts the companies mostly faces the major issue of diversifying the workforce in efficient manner. Without the proper diversification the company will not gain the apposite work environment for their employees and consequently hamper their success of their business. Decision Making Issues: By executing the all kind of ethical concepts the company faces a lot of difficulty in respect of decision making process. Without the proper decision making system the corporation will not be able to build crucial decision in critical situation. Therefore, it will be difficult for the corporation to improve their business growth in a smooth fashion. Compliance and Governance Issues: Although, the companys most important responsibility is to ensure the growth of their business, the execution of the every ethical concept demands to comply with the laws of the environment, federal and state security laws, fiscal and monetary act as well as laws about civil right (Monks and Minow, 2004) Business objectives are affected by ethical considerations Talking about the executing of the ethical concepts, the corporation mostly faces a lot of factors that witness the effect of the ethical considerations in respect of conducting the business objectives. Those factors are discussed below: Corporate Governance: The corporate governance system is mainly affected by the various ethical considerations (Monks and Minow, 2004). Corporate Social Responsibility: By the execution of various ethical considerations the corporation faces a number of dilemmas in respect of performing the Corporate Social Responsibility (Hunnicutt, 2009). In order to implement various ethical considerations the corporation has to focus on the environment. Consequently that affects the growth of their business (Newton, 2005). By the performing of the various ethical ideas the corporation faces infinite difficulty to sustain in this competitive market. Human Rights: With the help of execution of various ethical concepts the company directly affects the human resource management of the corporation (Langwith, 2008) The major issue in respect of ethical consideration in the organizational workplace is the corruption (Jakubowicz and Fiedler, 2010). Trading Fairly: With the proper execution of ethical ideas a corporation can be achieve their success in their business by trading fairly. Legal and regulatory compliances: The ethical concepts help the corporation to comply with the legal and regulatory statute. Business Practices: The ethical theories can change the entire business practices of the corporation. Relationship between stakeholders and shareholders: The ethical considerations can highly affects to conduct the relationship between stakeholders and shareholders (Phillips and Freeman, 2010). Implications for a business and its stakeholders In order to conduct a successful business approach in an ethical manner the corporation must focus on some crucial factors. These factors can highly help to develop a systematic and evaluated business program in which the corporations and its stakeholders to operate their business ethically (Phillips and Freeman, 2010). These major factors are mentioned below: Adapting Business Behaviour: The Corporation must adapt their business behaviour in a manner that the business is operated in an ethical manner. Responding the ethical pressures: The Corporation must respond to the various ethical concepts as well as pressures both the internal as well as external. Implementing Ethical Practices: The organisation must perform their responsibilities in respect of implementing ethical practices. Influence of stakeholders and pressure groups: In order to operate the business ethically the company must look upon the stakeholders and various pressure groups; consequently influencing them accordingly (Phillips and Freeman, 2010). Impact on competitiveness: Although, the various implementations of the ethical concepts can affect the competitiveness, the company must carry on the operation of their business ethically. Reputation: The Company will gain a huge positive reputation by conducting their business program ethically. Public Image: The organisation will increase their public image by executing the ethical concepts in their business scheme. Ethical Trade: The organisation must perform the trade in an efficient manner. Complying with legislation: The Corporation must study the various act such as UK law, EU law, UN declaration on human rights and various phenomenon on the contemporary economic study. Role of the company A company has a major role in order to act as moral agent. The company must perform some major responsibilities to conduct the business in an efficient manner. Those responsibilities are mentioned below: Safe Workplace: In accordance with department of Occupational Health and Safety Administration, the corporation must ensure a secure and healthy work environment (Ringel, 2000). Every employees of the company must have the workplace without the unnecessary risk. The company must provide various tools in relation with security and safety of every employee of the company. Prompt Payment of Employees: The Company must pay their employees in proper time in a regular fashion. The small delay of the payment to the employee can create a difficult situation for their employees. It can raise high resentment within the employees. Customer Relation: The Company must maintain their relation with their customer in a fair and equal manner. The company must avoid of false advertisement and vague terms in respect of sales of their products. The company also must provide the products within the promised time. However, if the delay occurs the company must notify their customer about the probable time of arrival of the products (Peppers and Rogers, 2004). Comply with the Legislation: The Company must comply with the legislation of the federal and state department. Environment Consciousness: The Company must operate their business without harming the environment. Development of mechanisms The environment where the employees of the company directly participate to fulfil the goals of their company is known as employee involvement and empowerment https://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/employee-involvement.html. The mechanism on which the total employee involvement and empowerment is founded is discussed below: Regular participation of employees: The Company must create an environment where the employees of the company will be able to participate at the planning of various program regularly (Sagie and Koslowsky, 2000). Monitoring the work performance: The Company must analyse the work performance of every employee, so that the level of the quality of the work is systematically checked out. Suggestion for Improvement: The Company must provide regular suggestion on the basis of the performance analysis of the employees (Sagie and Koslowsky, 2000). The Company must regularly plan to improve their work environment as well as performance for the betterment of their business. m of the working: The Company must conclude an well evaluated system of the working process as this system can enhance the efficiency of the work. Current ethical issue in Primark: The major issue regarding the implementation of every ethical consideration is critical dilemmas in Human Resources Management and Work Environment maintenance. Across the world as well as Primarks condition of textile worker is very poor. The major factors those are the most important ethical issue in textile sector are discussed below: Wages of the textile sectors: The wages of the entire textile sector across the world is a critical concern for the garments company as it is the major factor of ethical ground. According to the research done by the scholars the average hourly wages in textile workshops of Primarks is less than 50p. However, the prices of each and every basic commodity have increased minimum 200 per cent. Work Environment: The entire work environment in Primarks garments factory is very much poor. The workers are forced to work in a lengthy work shift without suitable break. The garments workers face a lot of harsh behavior from the management of the Primarks textile sector. As the wages system is too low to support a comfortable life for the families of the workers, they are forced to perform over-duties. Job Insecurities: The workers are forced to work on contract without the direct payroll of the company. They are forced to work in various shifts throughout the month. Thus the workers face a lot of insecurity towards their job. Primark could improve the ethics of their operations In order to ensure good employer/employee relationships by improving the ethics of their operations the company must enlist the workers in the direct payroll of the company. In this way the textile workers will obtain the job security and they will be highly dedicated towards their job. Moreover, the company must need to raise the wages of their workers so that they can have a good life and will be inspired to get better in their work as far as the quality is concerned (Snoeyenbos, Almeder and Humber, 2001). The company will also need to focus on their management as they maintain a professional environment in the workshop. This way the organization will be more efficient in operating their business in a more smooth as well as ethical fashion. However, it will seem that these ethical changes will affect the profit of the organization, it can be a crucial process for the achievement of the business growth of the organization as the professional and dedicated work environment will resul t a better quality for the production (Snoeyenbos, Almeder and Humber, 2001). Suitable ethical code In order to obtain the goal of ultimate growth of the organization the company must set out an ethical code (Barth, 2003). The most suitable ethical code for Primark is discussed below: The company must focus to transform itself in a socially responsible organization. The company should look forward to promote human rights at work and ensure better work environment. The company must participate in the well-being of the surrounding community. Primark also need to be more conscious about the environment and make an effort to protect it. The company must ensure that the worker get a fair chance to progress their career within the company. The company must fix the level of maximum overtime hours. By the execution of this ethical code the company can obtain the most efficient ethical code in order to operate their business (Barth, 2003). Conclusion: Hence, it is concluded that in the contemporary corporate world business ethics are most crucial factors in respect of operating business in the most proficient manner. Due to significant changes of the modern business world the companies all over the world has to adapt their business ethics in a more efficient as well as professional fashion. There are lots of parts of the business ethics those have to be considered to maintain the organisational phenomenon smoothly. The most basic difference of the point of view towards the business ethics are absolutism and relativism. The comparison and stark contrast between them is discussed above. There is a detailed discussion above about lots of ethical issues, which affect the operational activities. There is most effective ethical code for Primark is discussed above. References: Arnold, D., Beauchamp, T. and Bowie, N. (2013). Ethical theory and business. Boston: Pearson Education. Barth, S. (2003). Corporate ethics. [Boston]: Aspatore. Brenkert, G. (2008). Marketing ethics. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub. Brooks, L. and Brooks, L. (2000). Business and professional ethics for accountants. 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