Values and Ethics in Professional Business - Term Paper Example

? Values and Ethics in Professional Business Introduction The magnitude of values as well as ethics in the professional business world is believed tobe superlative along with being global. The constant increase in the degree of competition along with growing complexities has made it necessary for the businesses to pursue values as well ethics. This makes the smooth functioning and sustained endurance of the business organizations quite certain. Fresh inclinations and concerns which occur on a regular basis are capable enough of giving rise to a significant trouble for the organizations and even for the end-customers. The environment of business has been undergoing a constant alteration which is giving birth to various complexities with regard to the business organizations (International Trade Administration, 2004). In the recent times, owing to the intricacies involved with businesses it has become necessary and vital for the organizations to indulge in appropriate ethical behavior and to maintain certain values for the reason of staying away from probable lawsuits. The public disgraces of the corporate unethical and malpractices have created an adverse influence on the viewpoint of the general people towards numerous organizations like Arthur Andersen, Enron, Union Carbide and WorldCom (Mahdavi, 2005). The Need for Values & Ethics in Professional Business Compromising with the values and indulging in unethical behavior have led to the collapse of quite a few organizations. In the present day’s context, the business organizations are anticipated to comply with the standards regarding carrying out of the business in a responsible way. The expected standards surpass the ones that were followed traditionally. Although, the concept of business is frequently referred to on the basis of profits, productions and jobs but at the same time, it is comprehended and acknowledged worldwide that a particular business enterprise continues to be an associate of the community it is operating in. The hunt for profit followed by economic development is not being considered to be a permit for disregarding the standards of the community norms, respect, quality, integrity along with the values with regard to the business organizations (Weiss, 2008). Profit is measured to be the most important factor for the business enterprises. Enhanced business performance, economic development and profits have been found to be attained by those who efficiently and competently promote and meet up to the rational beliefs of their respective primary stakeholders. The stakeholders entail employees, investors, customers, environment and suppliers along with managers as well as owners. The factor of success with regard to any kind of a business is in due course gauged and ascertained in terms of profits as well as losses. The socially dependable businesses have been learnt to create the proceeds and the capitals that is supposed to be necessary to continue the business functions and to ensure existence in the long-term with the help of taking into concern the beliefs of the stakeholders. The businesses that are conducted in a socially responsible manner have been identified to be successful in creating and making sufficient income for meeting up to the actual ‘cost of capital’, the doubts as well as risks related to the economic procedures that are predicted to arise in the coming days along with the necessity of the employees and the pensioners. However, the businesses that are considered to be socially irresponsible remain unsuccessful in meeting up to the mentioned expenses as the reasonable requirements of the stakeholders are not met by such businesses. For instance, a proficient, effectual and dependable business organization would earn income or profit by fulfilling the necessities of its customers. It would lure capital with the help of meeting up to the prospects of the different investors. It further augments its effectiveness with the help of luring employees with superior competencies. It trims down the expenses by bringing down the delinquency, misinterpretation and errors (Alavudeen, Rahman & Jayakumaran, 2008). Understanding Business Values & Ethics The business or the corporate sector has developed to be an essential and fundamental part in the lives of individuals. It has gained significance owing to its capability of creating employment. The mentioned sector has been observed to be an abode of foul actions as well as power plays which has given rise to the necessity of entailing business values as well as ethics in the process of its operations. The reliability and the need of the concept of business values along with ethics gained its significance in the recent times because of the increasing number of corporate scandals. These corporate scandals were believed to have upset the business community globally in the past few years which had once more triggered the interest of individuals in the field of values as well as ethics. Values as well as ethics with regard to the business are implemented in the organizations in various ways. They are exemplified with the help of responsible business functioning in few different stages. The initial stage would entail conformity of the business operations or rather the conduct with the legal guidelines. The next stage would involve the management of the business related risk and the improvement of the reputation of the business organization. The final stage would involve the process or the conduct of activities which would contribute to the community worth (Ethics World, 2007). The dependable manner of carrying out business entails the preferences and the behaviors of managers, agents, owners and employees who come under an organization’s influence and are well knowledgeable. The preferences of the mentioned individuals are taken into concern in the course of carrying out the business functions. It is owing to the fact that their behaviors along with their selections are believed to be intentional for chasing the objectives of the organization and to enable the organization to meet up to the expectations of the shareholders. Dependable or accountable carrying out of the business operations facilitates an organization to enhance the business performance, helps in the economic development of the community and to earn profits (International Trade Administration, 2004). It was observed in this regard that ensuring responsible behaviors with regard to a business could be supported with the help of systems as well as structures, procedures and carrying out of reliable business conduct. This kind of procedures and implementations are referred to as best practices or even superior corporate governance. Furthermore, numerous business organizations presently have been observed to offer an explanation for the influence that is created on their respective stakeholders entailing their social influence. The social influence refers to the way in which the employees are dealt with, the community is dealt with and the suppliers. The influence on the environment by a particular business organization is also taken into concern which refers to the manner the environment is taken care of (International Trade Administration, 2004). The economy related to the international trade market has turned out to be highly global. Leaders belonging to government, business and non-governmental organizations have begun to perceive economic progress as the best possible method for the reason of amplifying the degree of affluence in as well as among the various countries. The development in the international economy is also believed to give rise to prospects for numerous individuals, particularly in the progressing world, to protect a respectable way of life for those individuals along with their children. The challenge that is witnessed by the different business organizations is to strike the perfect balance among the budding international standards, the local cultures along with the values and the specifications, the business applications and the requirements of the community (International Trade Administration, 2004). It could therefore be stated that maintaining and operating the business functions with the help of proper business values as well as ethics ensure the responsible conduct of a particular business. This helps a business organization to fulfill the requirements of its stakeholders which results in adding to the success of the organization. Business values as well as ethics have gained significance for the reason of attaining success for the organizations (International Trade Administration, 2004). Importance of Professional Values & Ethics Strategies like maintaining values as well as ethics have not been given importance just for the reason of attaining the final objective of entailing ethical global responsibility in the process of carrying out business worldwide. In this regard, it has been mentioned that there also exists numerous ethical responsibilities that need to be witnessed by various multinational organizations. It was confirmed by different theorists that the presence of situational elements like the organizational environment consists of the potency to create an influence on the ethical actions with regard to the individuals (Michael, 2006). It needs to be mentioned that the concept of ethical climate is considered to differ from the concept of culture which has been usually widely perceived. It has been rather referred to as a notion which actually entails a broader idea regarding the ethical culture. Culture is supposed to be increasingly connected with the aspects of profound values, trust and suppositions. Therefore, the business values of an organization are defined through the culture that is followed. It was observed in numerous instances that those organizations with profound values or rather a strong ethical culture witnesses few grave ethical issues. Such organizations were also measured to be increasingly successful in dealing with the ethical issues encountered by them. It was further proposed in this context that it is considered to be vital for the managers to take into deliberation the establishment of profound ethical environment in the organizations. This requires to be done with the intention to offer the individuals in the organizations with the competency to deal with the ethical problems as well as to keep away from any kind of innate liabilities. Managers are hence required to trigger and keep up an apparent and a profound collection of standards to initiate appropriate ethical behavior (Hooker, 1996). The mentioned approach undertaken by the managers or rather the organizations does not entail an individual’s values and principles along with their manipulation on their respective observations and actions. The facet of ethical climate is considered to be quite an effective means in maneuvering the actions of individuals in an organization. It was substantiated in this regard that the ethical guidelines and implementation of the regulations with regard to an organization help to a large extent in managing and guiding the actions in relation to the social entities. The values of an organization are even considered to be quite significant as they help in ascertaining the standards, the regulations and the functions as well as the responsibilities of the individuals. The legality and the significance of ethics is no more being questioned by numerous leading and successfully operating businesses. The significance of the part played by ethics for the organizations in attaining success has already been realized by them or rather the business enterprises. This has made them strive for looking for fresh methods or manners to implement the application of ethics in the way of conducting businesses. It has been mentioned that persistent and successful businesses fundamentally pursue a common universal attribute. It entails emphasizing on offering value for distributing their respective values with the respective societies they operate in. In most of the instances, it is found that the individuals associated with the society directly remain engaged with the business organizations in the form of employees, shareholders, customers and suppliers. The basic principle with regard to the business organizations entails the aspect of generating worth for their respective stakeholders (Hooker, 1996). The increasingly competitive and complex environment of business has been observed to give rise to frequent ethical misconducts with regard to the business organizations. These misconducts have been developing into being one of the main reasons of concern for the business organizations as such incidents endanger the sustained survival of the organizations. Mistreatment of the organizational resources, interest clashes, bribery, accounting fraud, poaching of employees and defective products have been regarded to be the few instances of prevalent ethical misconducts. The knowledge and the awareness of business values as well as ethics have become quite important and valuable owing to various reasons. The notion of business values and ethics is not considered to be just an expansion of the personal ethics with regard to a particular individual. It is being supposed by numerous individuals that the recruitment of individuals possessing profound ethical values helps making a business organization to be a responsible and successful one. Individuals holding minimum degree of experience in the field of business have at times all of a sudden found themselves in coming to decisions regarding the product advertising, sales techniques, quality, pricing, pollution management and making use of applications. The values absorbed by those individuals from their respective religion, school and family might not prove to be sufficient in offering them the definite guidelines in relation to the complicated business decisions. Therefore, it could be well understood that a significant degree of difference exists between the personal and the professional values as well as ethics. However, it needs to be remembered that the professional values and ethics are founded and supported by the personal ones of an individual (Hooker, 1996). Business Ethics Business ethics usually refer to the knowledge of knowing or realizing the distinction between the right as well as the wrong conduct in the place of work. This is considered to be associated with the stakeholders along with the products as well as the services. Ethics cannot be stated to be a science but it has been explained by different individuals in conformity with their respective collection of values and the way of carrying out something which keeps on altering on the basis of place, time and culture. The subject and the field of business ethics have been referred to as a kind of art which relates to the applied ethics and which evaluates and assesses the ethical codes and moral standards or ethical issues that are capable of arising in an environment of business. Various incidents of ethical misconducts over the years have not only negatively affected the businesses processes but have also posed an adverse impact on the regular lives of the individuals. This has led to the growing significance of the ethical values in the present day context along with exerting pressure on the various industries to enhance the business ethics with the help of fresh public endeavors and laws. Business ethics have been described to be the preferred standards relating to the behavior entirely concerning the commercial transactions related to the business. Moral values have been stated to be the profoundly seated thoughts and emotions that make themselves apparent in the form of conduct or action (Hooker, 1996). In the world of business, ethics have frequently been put out of place by self-indulgence at times of episodic fury with regard to the degree of increase in the prices related to the stock market. Without any doubt, a sharp slump then imposes the burden of losses on the business and the associated investors as well with a related decrease in the overall count of the employees. An extreme competitive strength of mind displays the tendency to encourage unethical business conducts. This as a result turns the business industry into a battleground where the usual standard regulations are disobeyed, avoided or even just disregarded. The resultant unsteadiness turns out to be adversely proving negative for the government as well as the economy. In this regard, the subject of business ethics has been categorized into two extensive aspects (Stern, 2006). Managerial Mischief The concept or field of managerial mischief has been believed to entail unethical, doubtful and illegitimate application of behaviors by the organizations or the managers accompanied with the reasons underlying the conduct of such behaviors and the solution to get rid of them. The various interpretations regarding the notion of managerial mischief have directed numerous individuals to accept the fact that the facet of business ethics is simply regarded as a subject of advocating the fundamentals and essentials relating to the right and the wrong. However, frequently the idea of business ethics has been referred to as the subject of coming across and handling the predicaments which fail to display an evident sign of things being right or even wrong (Stern, 2006). Moral Mazes The other wide area related to business ethics has been stated to be the management with regard to the moral mazes. This particular area entails the several ethical issues that are required to be dealt with by the managers of the business organizations on a regular basis. For instance, the possible differences in the interest, unjust availing of the resources and unprofessional conduct with regard to the agreements as well as the contracts are the issues that are needed to be handled by the managers (Stern, 2006). The subject of business ethics has been observed to go through a constant alteration at a quite rapid pace as more organizations started to recognize the advantages of enhancing the ethical way of conducting business operations and the association shared among the financial performance and the business ethics. It has been substantiated with the help of various researches and observations that developing a strong ethical reputation among the customers, the employees and the common people proves to be advantageous for the business of the organizations. There have been stated to be quite a number to advantages to conduct operations or behaviors in an ethical manner. However, several individuals involved with businesses adopt definite decisions that are considered by them to be necessary for that particular situation or are rather believed to be the appropriate conduct as a responsible individual of the society (Stern, 2006). Conclusion With regard to the above discussion, the international organizations need to identify the requirement for a consistent policy related to the business ethics. This is regarded to be of immense importance as in the absence of such a standard policy, the actions of the business organizations in their respective industries and communities would continue to remain unpredictable. Additionally, it requires to be comprehended by the national governments that the most likely effectual way of safeguarding their respective citizens, international environments and national interests is to maintain ethical and legal standards. Maintaining a common ethical standard as well as value would not only ensure the sustained survival of the organizations but would even aid in the development of the country along with the life of its respective citizens. Ethical conduct of the organizations could be ensured with the application of suitable corporate governance. Corporate governance would help in monitoring the activities or the business functions of the organizations. This would make certain that the business operations are carried out in accordance with the specified standards and in the interests of the stakeholders. This would further imply that the organization with the help of its efficient and ethical functioning would attain to fulfill the prospects of the stakeholders. This would also ensure an organization to achieve growth which would further add to its success. Therefore, it could be stated that professional values as well as ethics contribute to a large extent towards the success of an organization. References Alavudeen, A., Rahman, R. K., & Jayakumaran, M. (2008). Professional ethics and human values. India: Firewall Media. Ethics World (2007). Shaping tomorrow’s business leaders: principles and practices for a model business ethics program. Business Roundtable for Corporate Ethics, pp. 1-18. Hooker, J. N. (1996). Toward professional ethics in business. Carnegie Mellon University, pp. 1-10. International Trade Administration (2004). Responsible business conduct in an emerging market economy. Business Ethics pp. 3-333. Mahdavi, I. (2005). International business ethics: Strategies and responsibilities. Journal of Academic and Business Ethics pp. 1-6. Michael, M. L. (2006). Business ethics: The law of rules. Harvard Kennedy School pp. 1-33. Stern, L. D. (2006). A guide to global acquisitions. California: Fultus Corporation. Weiss, J. W. (2008). Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. United States: Cengage Learning. Bibliography Rosenstand, N. (2008). The moral of the story. United States: McGraw-Hill. Read More