Value Of Business Ethics

Introduction

Trade is essential for the growth of economies and civilization. Businesses allow people and companies to produce the goods and services for people and organizations that do not have the resources or capacity to do so on their own. As industries expand so does the degree of impact businesses have on both their internal and external stakeholders.

Big or small, businesses are considered entities on their own. Like people, their actions and decisions have a significant impact on society and on their competitors. However, many businesses are mostly concerned with profit-maximization and only operate for the purpose of serving their own interests, oftentimes disregarding the interests of some stakeholders, especially those not directly

These principles and values are normally understood by people as something they should apply at all situations. They are like default knowledge: stealing is wrong, lying is wrong, cheating is wrong. We understand it by heart and mind; we have learned of them at an early age and do not need to be constantly reminded. However, the fact that some people do not value ethics the way others do cannot be overlooked. For this reason, there is a need for the codification of ethical standards as a concrete means of pushing others to behave accordingly. That said, another definition of business ethics can be considered: The “written and unwritten codes of principles and values, determined by an organization’s culture, that govern decisions and actions within that organization” (Boundless,

They advocate the free market system and encourage the protection and respect of individual human rights, “the rule of law,” and “the environment” (Aldonas, Abramov, & Johnson, 2004).

Unethical behavior comes in many different forms. It could be something as trivial as an employee using company computer for personal benefit or something as serious as accounting or auditing fraud and corruption by an authority or government official. With the absence of ethics in the organization, unethical behavior will surely prevail. When the business world becomes corrupt, companies lose their credibility and become forever loathsome in the eyes of the public. Business ethics and corporate social responsibility matter because not only do they make a company appealing to “socially conscious consumers and employees,” but also makes “a real difference in the world” (Cooney,