But what does ethics mean, and why do ethics matter for business? We can think of ethics as the principles that guide our behavior toward making the best choices that contribute to the common good of all. Ethics is what guides us to tell the truth, keep our promises, or help someone in need. There is a framework of ethics underlying our lives on a daily basis, helping us make decisions that create positive impacts and steering us away from unjust outcomes.
Ethics guides us to make the world a better place through the choices we make. Ethics in business is just as important as ethics in personal life. Business leaders have a unique role and a great responsibility in shaping the ethical culture of their businesses, and thereby influence their broader communities as well.
Business leaders may not set out to define the ethical culture of their businesses but they inevitably do. Here are a few key questions to consider to bring ethics into your business mindset:.
Business leaders, and entrepreneurs especially, are under tremendous pressure and can face very significant ethical challenges. Here are a few examples of how unethical decisions arise for entrepreneurs:. Social responsibility is the idea that an individual or organization has an obligation to act for the benefit of society at large. Today, social responsibility has become an important part of culture at businesses of all sizes.
Health and Safety [Company Name] is dedicated to maintaining a healthy environment. Avoid Conflicts of Interest Conflicts of Interest We must avoid any relationship or activity that might impair, or even appear to impair, our ability to make objective and fair decisions when performing our jobs.
Here are some other ways in which conflicts of interest could arise: Being employed you or a close family member by, or acting as a consultant to, a competitor or potential competitor, supplier or contractor, regardless of the nature of the employment, while you are employed with [Company Name]. Hiring or supervising family members or closely related persons. Serving as a board member for an outside commercial company or organization. Owning or having a substantial interest in a competitor, supplier or contractor.
Having a personal interest, financial interest or potential gain in any [Company Name] transaction. Placing company business with a firm owned or controlled by a [Company Name] employee or his or her family. Gifts, Gratuities and Business Courtesies [Company Name] is committed to competing solely on the merit of our products and services. Accepting Business Courtesies Most business courtesies offered to us in the course of our employment are offered because of our positions at [Company Name].
Meals, Refreshments and Entertainment We may accept occasional meals, refreshments, entertainment and similar business courtesies that are shared with the person who has offered to pay for the meal or entertainment, provided that: They are not inappropriately lavish or excessive. The courtesies are not frequent and do not reflect a pattern of frequent acceptance of courtesies from the same person or entity.
The courtesy does not create the appearance of an attempt to influence business decisions, such as accepting courtesies or entertainment from a supplier whose contract is expiring in the near future. The employee accepting the business courtesy would not feel uncomfortable discussing the courtesy with his or her manager or co-worker or having the courtesies known by the public.
Gifts Employees may accept unsolicited gifts, other than money, that conform to the reasonable ethical practices of the marketplace, including: Flowers, fruit baskets and other modest presents that commemorate a special occasion.
Gifts of nominal value, such as calendars, pens, mugs, caps and t-shirts or other novelty, advertising or promotional items. Offering Business Courtesies Any employee who offers a business courtesy must assure that it cannot reasonably be interpreted as an attempt to gain an unfair business advantage or otherwise reflect negatively upon [Company Name].
The business courtesy is consistent with industry practice, is infrequent in nature and is not lavish. The business courtesy is properly reflected on the books and records of [Company Name].
Set Metrics and Report Results Accurately Accurate Public Disclosures We will make certain that all disclosures made in financial reports and public documents are full, fair, accurate, timely and understandable. Corporate Recordkeeping We create, retain and dispose of our company records as part of our normal course of business in compliance with all [Company Name] policies and guidelines, as well as all regulatory and legal requirements. Promote Substance Over Form At times, we are all faced with decisions we would rather not have to make and issues we would prefer to avoid.
Accountability Each of us is responsible for knowing and adhering to the values and standards set forth in this Code and for raising questions if we are uncertain about company policy. Use of Company Resources Company resources, including time, material, equipment and information, are provided for company business use.
Media Inquiries [Company Name] is a high-profile company in our community, and from time to time, employees may be approached by reporters and other members of the media. Do the Right Thing Several key questions can help identify situations that may be unethical, inappropriate or illegal. Ask yourself: Does what I am doing comply with the [Company Name] guiding principles, Code of Conduct and company policies?
Have I been asked to misrepresent information or deviate from normal procedure? Would I feel comfortable describing my decision at a staff meeting? How would it look if it made the headlines? Am I being loyal to my family, my company and myself? What would I tell my child to do? Is this the right thing to do? You have successfully saved this page as a bookmark. OK My Bookmarks.
Please confirm that you want to proceed with deleting bookmark. Delete Cancel. You have successfully removed bookmark. Delete canceled. Please log in as a SHRM member before saving bookmarks. OK Proceed. Your session has expired. Please log in as a SHRM member. Cancel Sign In. There are no moral rules or rights - each case is unique and deserves a unique solution.
Some philosophers teach that ethics is the codification of political ideology, and that the function of ethics is to state, enforce and preserve particular political beliefs.
They usually go on to say that ethics is used by the dominant political elite as a tool to control everyone else. More cynical writers suggest that power elites enforce an ethical code on other people that helps them control those people, but do not apply this code to their own behaviour. One of the big questions in moral philosophy is whether or not there are unchanging moral rules that apply in all cultures and at all times. Some people think there are such universal rules that apply to everyone.
This sort of thinking is called moral absolutism. Moral absolutism argues that there are some moral rules that are always true, that these rules can be discovered and that these rules apply to everyone. Immoral acts - acts that break these moral rules - are wrong in themselves, regardless of the circumstances or the consequences of those acts. Absolutism takes a universal view of humanity - there is one set of rules for everyone - which enables the drafting of universal rules - such as the Declaration of Human Rights.
Moral relativists say that if you look at different cultures or different periods in history you'll find that they have different moral rules. Therefore it makes sense to say that "good" refers to the things that a particular group of people approve of. Moral relativists think that that's just fine, and dispute the idea that there are some objective and discoverable 'super-rules' that all cultures ought to obey.
They believe that relativism respects the diversity of human societies and responds to the different circumstances surrounding human acts. Search term:. Read more. This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets CSS enabled.
While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets CSS if you are able to do so. This page has been archived and is no longer updated. Find out more about page archiving. Ethics guide. Ethics: a general introduction. On this page What is ethics? What use is ethics?
Ethics and people Are ethical statements objectively true? Four ethical 'isms' Where does ethics come from? Are there universal moral rules? Page options Print this page. What is ethics? Ethics covers the following dilemmas: how to live a good life our rights and responsibilities the language of right and wrong moral decisions - what is good and bad?
Approaches to ethics Philosophers nowadays tend to divide ethical theories into three areas: metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Meta-ethics deals with the nature of moral judgement. It looks at the origins and meaning of ethical principles. Normative ethics is concerned with the content of moral judgements and the criteria for what is right or wrong. Applied ethics looks at controversial topics like war, animal rights and capital punishment Top. Ethics needs to provide answers.
However, ethics does provide good tools for thinking about moral issues. Ethics can provide a moral map Most moral issues get us pretty worked up - think of abortion and euthanasia for starters.
An entire society can become ethically corrupt. Nazi Germany is a good example of a morally corrupt society. Moreover, if being ethical were doing "whatever society accepts," then to find out what is ethical, one would have to find out what society accepts. To decide what I should think about abortion, for example, I would have to take a survey of American society and then conform my beliefs to whatever society accepts.
But no one ever tries to decide an ethical issue by doing a survey. Further, the lack of social consensus on many issues makes it impossible to equate ethics with whatever society accepts. Some people accept abortion but many others do not. If being ethical were doing whatever society accepts, one would have to find an agreement on issues which does not, in fact, exist.
What, then, is ethics? Ethics is two things.
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