Ethical Behavior vs. Unethical Behavior

There really isn’t one way or another to be able to ensure ethical behavior in any business all the time. There are things that can be done to help encourage and increase the likely hood of a business acting ethically all the time. The two strongest influences for ethical behavior in the professional world are the regulations that are set by the government and committees like the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission), and to have good ethical behavior being modeled from top management (lead by example). The federal laws for social responsibilities for business represent the minimum standards of social responsibility that businesses must adhere too. If a company is acting socially responsible then more than likely they are acting ethically. It is currently up to each business leader to decide how far beyond the minimum standards they go when performing in their business. There really isn’t room for unethical behavior in the professional world; there is no greater impact on stakeholders than a company/business performs unethically.
We have already witnessed what can happen when businesses have employees who act unethically, i.e.: Enron. The Enron situation actually brought on more regulations for companies to follow to promote/ensure ethical behavior. Companies obviously still aren’t always acting ethically but there certainly seems to be less unethical behavior in the professional world than before Enron. When people are aware of the consequences of what could happen to them if they act in a certain way they are less likely to do that action, unless the consequence is a positive one. With unethical behavior it is very unlikely to have a positive consequence unless they don’t get caught. Personally I think that having regulations for ethical behavior is a must, but it is not the only tool or resource we, as stakeholders, need businesses to use moral principles to guide their business down a moral and ethical path. However, without regulation there is no way