Management Fundamentals - Concepts, Applications, Skill Development - Assignment Example

Introduction Business or corporate ethics is the term referring to the guiding morals of of conduct in a business entity. They define what is allowed and what is restricted. Business ethics must have concern on what goes on; good or bad, as these tend to have consequences on the businesses as a whole as the following discussion explains. Good or bad ethics affect organizations, stakeholders, employees and the public as a whole. Therefore, it is logical that a single action affects many parties found within the business. Observation of corporate ethics goes a long way in saving businesses a lot of money depending on their size because misconduct by either the management or employees in turn affects the business due to incursion of lawsuits, strikes, losses, sackings or destruction. Further, a company with a bad reputation because of unethical practices tends to have difficulty when recruiting or maintaining its workforce. In many cases, job seekers prefer to work for institutions that uphold business ethics while giving them the opportunity to expand themselves within the organization (Miller & Jentz 2008:49). The result of this is that the effect of business ethics spills over to a company’s consumers because they experience satisfying services because of the unity that exists within a company. Potential employees also get attracted to companies with good reputation, not to mention buyers as well. Good ethics will improve the society. If no one dies or gets hurt at work, there is no exploitation, and no one is complaining, then that means the society is moving forward. Good ethics at work places creates a favorable working environment that means there is teamwork and coordination that leads to more productivity and higher profits. According to research, fair and sincere ethics like correction and motivation at the workplace contributes to employee growth and organizational commitment by employees as this instills values and treatment with respect (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013:57). Additionally, corporate ethics also prevents criminal acts as it aids in detecting and reporting cases of theft and unethical conduct to the respective authorities. A company that observes the required business ethics operates within a sense of pride as its work force extends its reputation beyond the workplace, which influences a stronger public image. Scholars have established that the relationship that exists between ethics and good financial performance tends to attract positive result that may include prosperity for the company (Sims, 2003: 240). In many cases, the business ethics tends to influence corporate social responsibility and guided leadership. In this regard, this essay will delve in to the four alternative views of ethical behavior in business enterprises and explain on its link with the definitions of corporate social responsibility using examples. As per the existing definitions, ethics defines the set moral code of principles that denote good or the opposite bad, right or the opposite wrong in an individual’s conduct. Essentially, an individual’s moral principles draws influence from family, culture, friends, learning institutions, religions, and personal experiences. Ethics and the moral code yield ethical behavior, which is relatively the acceptable ‘good’ and ‘right’ instead of the ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ within the context of regulating moral code. In many cases, society and individuals tend to view anything practiced within legal parameters to be ethical, but this may not necessarily be the case (Schermerhorn 2011). A better-placed example of this would be the way in which women could not participate as voters in any democratic process because it was law. On the contrary, a practice may not be illegal, but this does not warrant it ethical as adhering to the law may not be entirely ethical (Lussier 2012: 69). In relation to a business setting, there is no justification when an employee skips work in the guise that they are sick with their intention being to have time off in order to have time for leisure. In many cases, unethical practices within a business setting arise when people have to perform tasks or activities that tend to infringe their personal beliefs and values. Personal values are a set of personal beliefs and attitudes that are critical in influencing the behavior of an individual in which terminal and instrumental values are the two clusters of values. The four alternative views of ethical behavior 1. Utilitarian view According to researchers, utilitarian view ethical behavior is the approach that yields tremendous good to many individuals. The basis of this concept was the works of philosopher Mill Stuart John who developed this concept in the nineteenth century whose aim was to influence ethics through assessment of moral actions and their resulting actions. In most cases, a business might experience recessions and financial hurdles hence provoking to downsize its workforce in order for the business to continue staying afloat during the crisis. Therefore, a management team can justify the reduction of work force citing the utilitarian view in relation to ethics (Miller & Jentz, 2008:49). Most of these decisions may not necessarily be the favorable ones to the workforce, but an organization might resort to them if there are no other alternatives to solving recession problems. 2. Individualism view This is a rather individualized view of ethics that focuses on personal gains first, in contrast to utilitarianism. Relatively, the individualism view promotes self-interests for the long term in which the belief is that society would benefit from maximization of personal utility or fulfillment. An ideal example of this scenario is when employees keep on lying for short-term benefits while the long-term personal interests will stagnate (Schermerhorn, 2011:55). On the contrary, the individualism view seeks to uphold integrity and honesty but its downside might be influencing greed where an employee’s talent or strength is the criteria of their classification in an organization. In the end, individuals that apply this ethical behavior may do so by trampling over others in order to achieve self-gain rather than work in harmony in order to influence organizational success. 3. Moral rights view Ideally, moral rights are in other words human rights that tend to uphold and respect the basic rights provided to every individual such as the right to life, fair treatment and freedom. In an organizational or business setting, these rights are expansive as they also include the right to privacy free consent, due process, health, and safety among a list of several other rights. They work to inform an organization of its consequences of it being there, and the effects it has on the employees, stakeholders and consumers (Mullerat, 2010:48). Therefore, the moral rights view as a form of ethical behavior promotes and upholds the fundamental rights and provisions as stipulated in the universal declaration of Human Rights. 4. Justice view The Justice view is advocacy for equal rights for everyone without social or economic discrimination meaning that moral behavior draws basis from impartial and fair treatment. Mostly, this tends to be within the established legal frameworks and standards in which this ethical behavior evaluates the decisions made based on equity. Essentially, justice has four branches attached to it, which are procedural, commutative, interactional, and distributive justices. Commutative justice refers to the degree to which a transaction is fair to the involved trading parties. On the other hand, interactional justice promotes treatment among individuals with respect and dignity. Distributive justice advocates for equal distribution of outcomes irrespective of age, religion, gender, or ethnic background among a list of many other factors (Beauchamp & Brenkert 2012: 551). Finally, there is procedural justice that advocates for fair application of policies and organizational rules with fairness. In many occasions, this ethical behavior is applicable in making decisions in relation to hiring of employees, which should base on qualifications and not on gender. Comparison and disadvantages in application of the four alternatives of ethical behavior Evidently, examining ethical issues from the four alternatives provides insights into making ethical and applicable decisions as compared to relying on a single view of the same (Miller & Jentz 2008). Each alternative has its own disadvantage in terms of application and approach that an organization of business entity should realize. First, the utilitarian view bases its success on future outcomes, which are not certain hence making it hard to measure the outcomes accurately. In the second view of individualism, there is an obvious assumption that people can self regulate and that they cannot overstep the existing boundaries, which is a wrong assumption. The implication of this statement is that not many individuals can regulate their behaviors as others may infringe on the rights and feelings of others in order for their ambitions to survive (Sims, 2003:79). Such unethical behavior has the potential to disrupt the existing trust within an organization for business community. In the moral rights view, protecting individual rights could be relevant, but this does not mean that this protection would be to the benefit the business community in general. For instance, an organization may uphold the right to privacy to an individual while the same becomes a threat to the other organization members. With this, these alternative views of ethical behavior may not be an applicable approach to a business enterprise (Schermerhorn, 2011:56). The link between business ethics and corporate social responsibility Ideally, business ethics are essential in making critical decisions for a business or organization either on an individual level or on a group level but organizational culture tends to be the determiner of these critical decisions. However, behaving ethically is a moral decision in which employees have to decide on the right action to take before embarking on the same. For instance, employees may reject a plan that would significant short-term profits instead of one that is sustainable to a company’s growth and operations. Business ethics and corporate social obligations have a direct correlation in that they both attract significant benefits to a business enterprise or organization (Rendtorff 2009: 383). First, these two aspects when affectively applied attract and maintain a company’s customer base hence translating to an increase in sales and net profits. These two also help in retaining employees in order to maintain productivity because of the reduction in labor turn over. Further, CSR and ethical behavior within an organization also attracts investment potential as this influences the share price of a company’s shares to remain high. Lastly, CSR and ethical behavior also influences more job seekers to seek employment opportunities in an organization that applies these principles hence attracting skilled and talented professionals (Rendtorff, 2009:385). In many instances, the lack of these two principle applications facilitates the damaging of an enterprises reputation, which can translate to reduced profit margins and lower investor interest. Ethical behavior also spills to the handling of a company’s shareholders as the success of a company does not entirely rely on the input of the consumers, but on other stakeholders that support an organization from behind the curtains. Suppliers, business partners, employees, and shareowners are the other relevant stakeholders whom ethical behavior spreads to (Mullerat 2010: 48). Employees are also an integral part of a company’s intended success hence making it pertinent for them to comprehend the company’s values from a corporate angle in order for them to be part of an organization. In the employee recruitment process, ethical behavior has to apply because it is a means to influencing diversity to include a broader range of people. In essence, applying diversity when recruiting employees helps in analyzing ethical challenges from different perspectives, which in turn leads to the solving them effectively. Diversity also influences creativity in solving business problems in which the recruitment exercise gives opportunity to job seekers irrespective of age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religions, or marital status (Parboteeah & Cullen 2013, 168). Once employed, an organization should provide career advancement opportunities for employees and use appraisal system to allow them to grow and help in expanding a company. Other than allowing employees to experience individual growth, an organization should also ensure that there is no form of harassment for employees at the workplace as part of enforcing behavioral ethics. A healthy and up to standard working environment is an entitlement and not a privilege to the work force as these encourages to adopt organizational safety because of the safety levels applied. Therefore, it is important for an organization to promote ethical behavior as this enhances cohesiveness between the various stakeholders within the same (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013:59). Importance of business ethics Over time, the business ethics debate has gained momentum as society demands that businesses and organizations adopt ethical ways of practicing business. The media has been instrumental in highlighting cases of unethical business practices, which has led business entities to safeguard their reputation to society. The subject of ethical behavior has also become an area of focus because of the dominance that business has commanded in recent times. Many argue that a majority of business giants operating in established economies are highly influential to their governments in terms of policy formulation. However, understanding business ethics helps in foreseeing the implications of practicing unethical behavior. According to surveys, most companies believe that their presence in societies has a positive contribution, which is not so most of the time. Therefore, by applying business ethics a business corporation might re-evaluate itself from the eyes of society and not their own. Stakeholders within organizations also seem to be changing their list of demands, but it also pertinent for business people to receive training on business ethics in order to know the boundaries to some of the demands (Gambrill 2013: 63). Presently, the number of trained business people in the area of business ethics is relatively, which business analysts believe to be alarming. They also believe that being business ethics efficient helps in the making of effective decisions and decisions by managers and employees alike in relation to ethical problems. Business ethics also helps in analyzing the consequences of certain unethical practices, which in turn facilitates improving of human conditions. Additionally, reviewing ethical behavioral conduct helps in ascertaining challenges that face managers and business operators in relation to business ethics and ways of improving the application of this concept (Parboteeah & Cullen, 2013:69). Business ethics is also a relevant application because it allows stakeholders to evaluate the benefits and challenges linked to diverse ways of managing ethics. Therefore, the study of business ethics can be a rewarding venture as it imparts skills and the expertise that would be essential in the systemic running of the society through business practice. However much business ethics is relevant, it also clear that the concept has its share of problems that inhibit it from ensuring the success of an organization or business entity. Despite business ethics being a subject in institutions of higher learning, ethical problems have persisted hence influencing curiosity on whether this concept is effective (Sims, 2003: 242). In turn, ethical behavior promotes trading within ethical markets where the values of the traders and other stakeholders are relevant to this practice. The constant monitoring, reporting, and auditing of business ethics practices is significant as it will influence the establishment of better and improved principles that would govern the ever changing market (Miller & Jentz 2008:51). Further, ethical behavior as a principle is a significant application across public, private and societies considered civil meaning that the approach is a similar approach, as all these require acceptable repute and their obligation to CSR. Therefore, it is imperative for business traders to learn these principles together with the alternative views of ethical behavior for this to be a success. Bibliography Brenkert, G. G., & Beauchamp, T. L. 2010. The Oxford handbook of business ethics. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Gambrill, E. D. 2013. Social work practice: a critical thinker's guide. New York, Oxford University Press. Lussier, R. N. 2012. Management fundamentals: concepts, applications, skill development. Mason, Ohio, South-Western. Miller, R. L., & Jentz, G. A. 2008. Business law today: the essentials : text & summarized cases--e-commerce, legal, ethical, and international environment. Australia, Thomson/South-Western West. Mullerat, R. 2010. International corporate social responsibility: the role of corporations in the economic order of the 21st century. Austin, Wolters Kluwer Law & Business. Parboteeah, P. & Cullen, J. B. 2013. Business Ethics. London, Routledge. Rendtorff, J. D. 2009. Responsibility, ethics, and legitimacy of corporations. [Frederiksberg, Denmark], Copenhagen Business School Press. Schermerhorn, J. R. 2011. Management. Hoboken, N.J., Wiley. Sims, R. R. 2003. Ethics and corporate social responsibility: why giants fall. Westport, Conn. [u.a.], Praeger. Read More