Systemic Issues In Business Ethics

Whenever the word “ethics” is said, our brain automatically thinks of the words “right and wrong”. We tend to think that it is the study of what is right and wrong and in the end doing the right thing. However simple it may sound, when it comes to “business ethics” there is a lot more to it than just doing what is right and wrong. In a workplace, it is about the moral values and ensuring that behaviors are aligned within those values. Failure in giving importance to business ethics has led to a lot of businesses to be unsuccessful in the long run. Within the broader topic of business ethics, comes social responsibility. Social responsibility is just as important as business ethics within a workplace.

Business ethics and social responsibility

In business ethics, systemic issues are where ethical questions are raised about the economic, political and other social systems within the business operates. In other words, these systemic issues are also identified as the macro level of business ethics. A company’s operating standards and policies can be influenced by the factors mentioned in the macro level. The owners of the company must be conscious of how these factors affect and impact the market. The corporate issues of business ethics are where ethical questions are raised about the particular company. The ethical standards that are embedded in the policies and procedures of the organization form an important foundation on which business strategy is built. Often there can be a gap between the ethical standards and the conduct of individuals working within the environment and outside it; the separation of ownership and the management. This can present an ethical challenge for some employees. The individual issues of business ethics are where ethical questions are raised about a particular individual or particular individuals within a company. Ethical standards of individuals will vary from one another. Their ethical standards will be different from the employer which can cause tension. Factors such as ones’ own personality, peer pressure, social and political

This is where employees doing the same kind and quality of work gets compensated differently. In Islanders Education, the foreign employees are paid much more than the local employees. They are compensated so much more that it goes beyond the double amount of what the local teachers get compensated for. The difference in compensation is not just between the foreign and local employees. There is discrimination among the foreign employees themselves depending on their ethnicity or race. It is known to everyone that the work of all the teachers are equal, but it is also known that the foreign teachers get compensated more for the same amount of work that the local teachers or the Asian teachers do. Moreover, while all the teachers were given a salary increment recently, the administrative staff was not given any salary increment. This clearly shows equal pay compensation