Ethics and Social Responsibility
Ethics and Social Responsibility: In Business
Ethical behavior and social responsibility are very different, but are commonly confused. A standard of moral behavior, behavior that is accepted by society as right or wrong that is ethics. Social responsibility is about improving the quality of relations with key stakeholders. Novo Nordisk defines it as putting values into action in the perspective of human resources, human rights, health and safety, and our relations with society at large. Having an ethical code is very important to have in a business setting it sets the standards of your company. Social responsibility is a continuance of ethics it involves more than just the principles of ethics in includes integrity, fairness, and respect. To create a well oiled business you need both a good ethical system and social responsibility. Ethical Behavior in the Work Place?
Having ethical behavior is extremely important in the work place. Most businesses have an ethical code that they make there employees follow. There are some businesses unfortunately who do not follow there codes. Ethics is sometimes confused also with legality. The legal aspect should only be used when the ethical codes have been broken. For example when the scandal involving Enron came out, it was found out that the company created partnerships to hide their depts. This scandal could have been avoided if the company’s heads would have followed a standard of ethics. Since no ethics were followed the government took legal action against the heads of this company. What this shows is that companies who do not follow a code of ethics and in turn break laws should be punished. Companies with a code of ethics generated significantly more economic added value (EVA) and market added value (MVA) in the years 1997 - 2000, than
Ethical behavior and social responsibility are very different, but are commonly confused. A standard of moral behavior, behavior that is accepted by society as right or wrong that is ethics. Social responsibility is about improving the quality of relations with key stakeholders. Novo Nordisk defines it as putting values into action in the perspective of human resources, human rights, health and safety, and our relations with society at large. Having an ethical code is very important to have in a business setting it sets the standards of your company. Social responsibility is a continuance of ethics it involves more than just the principles of ethics in includes integrity, fairness, and respect. To create a well oiled business you need both a good ethical system and social responsibility. Ethical Behavior in the Work Place?
Having ethical behavior is extremely important in the work place. Most businesses have an ethical code that they make there employees follow. There are some businesses unfortunately who do not follow there codes. Ethics is sometimes confused also with legality. The legal aspect should only be used when the ethical codes have been broken. For example when the scandal involving Enron came out, it was found out that the company created partnerships to hide their depts. This scandal could have been avoided if the company’s heads would have followed a standard of ethics. Since no ethics were followed the government took legal action against the heads of this company. What this shows is that companies who do not follow a code of ethics and in turn break laws should be punished. Companies with a code of ethics generated significantly more economic added value (EVA) and market added value (MVA) in the years 1997 - 2000, than
References: Burns, M. (2008, June 3). 2008 world 's most ethical companies. Retrieved October 2008, from Ethisphere: http://ethisphere.com/WME2008/ Friedman, M., Mackey, J., & Rodgers, T. (2005, October). Rethinking the social responsibility of business . Retrieved October 2008, from Reason online: http://www.reason.com/news/show/32239.html McClure, T. (2007). Excutive speeches, Leadership and Ethics in Today 's Climate. Retrieved October 2008, from UPS Pressroom: http://www.pressroom.ups.com/execforum/speeches/speech/text/0,1403,664,00.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=Corporate+Compliance+and+Ethics+ Webley, S. (2003, April). Does business ethics pay? . Retrieved October 2008, from Institute of Business Ethics : http://www.ibe.org.uk/DBEPsumm.htm