Ethical Issues that Businesses Face

Ethics Essay Outline

Introduction

• Explanation of the lack of quality integrity as an ethical issue
• Importance of ethical values in promoting honesty, truthfulness, and professional competence

Integrity and Trust

• Discussion of integrity as a fundamental ethical issue in business
• Importance of conducting business affairs with honesty and fairness
• Building trust with customers through ethical business practices

Ethical Response to Diversity

• Role of diversity in ethical considerations
• Recruiting a diverse workforce and promoting equal opportunity
• Creating a respectful workplace environment that values contributions

Ethical Decision-Making Framework

• Overview of an ethical decision-making process
• Protecting employee and customer rights, ensuring fairness, and promoting the common good
• Reflecting on outcomes and individual values and beliefs

Fraud as an Ethical Issue

• Recognition of fraud as a complex ethical issue
• Ethical obligation to report fraudulent activities
• The role of ethics of virtues in addressing fraud

Discrimination in the Workplace

• Addressing discrimination based on ethnic origin, gender, race, or sexual orientation
• Potential legal consequences for discrimination
• Ethical perspectives for resolving discrimination issues

Conclusion

• The challenges of ethical behavior faced by managers
• The importance of positive ethical cultures and ethical issue resolution in modern businesses
• The role of individual ethical perspectives in ethical accountability and standards

Ethics Essay Example

Lack of quality integrity as an ethical issue may be explained in simple terms of ethical values that supports to provide the best and do not do anything that harms others. Do something positive and try to improve the quality of life for everyone. In ethics, integrity is concerned about the honesty and truthfulness and similarly ethical values demands high level of professional competence and thus lack of quality integrity may be termed as an important ethical issue that needs to be addressed. In fact in todays competitive world the very existence and growth of an individual, group, firm, company and or organization needs quality integrity more than the traditional cost advantages. Premium for quality integrity makes it much more relevant and meaningful in improving the quality of life and environment to live in.

The most fundamental or essential ethical issues that businesses must face are integrity and trust. A basic understanding of integrity includes the idea of conducting your business affairs with honesty and a commitment to treating every customer fairly. When customers perceive that a company is exhibiting an unwavering commitment to ethical business practices, a high level of trust can develop between the business and the people it seeks to serve. A relationship of trust between you and your customers may be a key determinate to your company’s success.

According to the HSBC Group, “the world is a rich and diverse place full of interesting cultures and people, who should be treated with respect and from whom there is a great deal to learn”. An ethical response to diversity begins with recruiting a diverse workforce, enforces equal opportunity in all training programs and is fulfilled when every employee is able to enjoy a respectful workplace environment that values their contributions. Maximizing the value of each employees’ contribution is a key element in your business’s success.

According to Santa Clara University, the following framework for ethical decision-making is a useful method for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying ethical courses of action: “recognizes an ethical issue, gets the facts, evaluates alternative actions, makes a decision and tests it and reflects on the outcome”. Ethical decision-making processes should center on protecting employee and customer rights, making sure all business operations are fair and just, protecting the common good and making sure individual values and beliefs of workers are protected.

Fraud is another complex ethical issue managers confront and can be very severe ethical violation within the company. Ethical managers aware of deceitful activities within the workplace are ethically required to report this to the appropriate authorities. Also known as, a whistleblower and most managers do not want to be a whistleblower, but reporting this to the appropriate authorities will maintain and promote an honest and fair workplace. The best ethical perspectives suited to resolve such ethical issues are the ethics of virtues. I say this because this approach according to Beauchamp, Bowie, and Arnold (2009), “relies even more than does Kent’s theory on the importance of having a correct motivational structure”. Moreover, because this would be acting fairly and morally appropriate in acting justly.

Discrimination is a complex ethical issue managers confront in the workplace now more than ever before, due to the diversity in the work force and the chronological discrimination based on ethnic origin, gender, race, or sexual orientation lawsuits are serious. Charges could be filed against not just the company but possibly to the managers themselves. Ethical perspectives best suited to resolve such ethical issues would be for the managers to ensure employees are educate about discrimination and avoid discriminating when hiring, promoting employees by basing on sex, race, or ethnic origin.

In conclusion, ethical managers face many challenge of ethical behavior that they must confront if they are truthfully apprehensive about the survival and competitiveness of the business. In today’s complex times businesses must step up, function with positive ethical cultures, and know how to deal with and resolve any ethical issues that come around. In order for ethical managers to stick to a high degree of ethical accountability and standards, they must be aware of their own individual ethical perspective and have an understanding of all ethical perspectives.

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