Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Free Essays

While ethics refers to understanding and adopting moral values such as code of conduct, morals are the beliefs of individuals determining what is right and wrong in behavior. Although organizations may have set rules to standardize a working environment, individuals may follow standard procedures while the morality solely lies in individual behavior. While groups and organizations may provide values of establishment within a working environment, moral issues may obtain examples of lying, stealing and cheating. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical and Moral Issues in Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now Personal ethics may also obtain morality and may affect an individual’s goals which may differ from business ethics. Business ethics have company policy and standards in which employees must follow such as being respectful within the environment. As there are many differences to compare between ethics and morality, common problems do occur in businesses because of the human traits of greed. Why do ethical problems occur in businesses today? The majority of times, invidividuals can be selfish obtaining values of self interest which may lead to unethical conduct (William, 2009). Whether issues lie in management, work centers or between individuals, the results of the companies may be directed towards poor company performance and bad reputable perceptions from overall consumers. Research has shown that companies with poor and lower in profits are more prone to commit unethical acts (William, 2009). Fixed-pricing is an example of unethical problems which, avoids fair competition between companies. This is an unlawful agreement between manufacturers, which is considered illegal in the United States (William, 2009). Stealing and lying is also one of many common problems within businesses. For example, individuals working in IT may take and steal computer parts like HDMI cables rather than going to Fry’s electronics to pick one up for personal use. When it is time to install or troubleshoot a client’s computer or network, missing resourceful products may lead to bad customer service. Software piracy in IT is also considered unethical and many programmers and IT businesses may lose profits. When IT businesses lose profits, so do employee jobs. It is important for individuals to hold ethical personal conduct and hold morals to never steal from any company because it increases the efficiency of work performance and cost benefits. These company resources are valuable and stealing is unethical within any company. Another example is making personal phone calls on a corporate phone which may cost the company’s bills to increase. It is up to individuals to separate personal ethics such as personal phone calls with business ethics in this situation. These ethics are usually in the majority of all company policies. Also such unethical business practices may include discrimination against protected classes, bribes, sexual harassment and dishonesty. Ultimately ethical issues require people or organizations to choose actions which may judge their character of right and wrong. While organizations may want preserve customer relationships and employee concerns, business ethics may promote standard policies for diverse individuals. Such examples of unethical and immoral doings within businesses were stealing IT resources for personal use, using company resources for personal use and fixed pricing. Other examples were lying and cheating. These are choices individuals are expected not to commit and hold moral values so that companies and businesses may prosper towards a bright future. References: William, P.  (2009).  Why Ethical Problems Occur in Business.  Yahoo! Contributor Network.  Retrieved from http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1429755/why_ethical_problems_occur_in_business.html?cat=3 How to cite Ethical and Moral Issues in Business, Papers Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Free Essays Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Mgt/216 Steve Fletcher October 18, 2010 One Ethics and moral issues in business become factors that individuals encounter at several times in one’s daily life. An individual becomes greeted each morning in the newspaper, confronted in the fundamentals of one’s daily jobs, and bided good night on the evening news. In a professional setting, a person’s behavior to act in a manner that upholds the good of society becomes expected. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical and Moral Issues in Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now To understand ethical and moral issues in business, their differences must become imperative, the differences between personal ethics and business ethics become essential, and examples of common ethical problems in businesses become important. Ethics become extremely important to everyone in the workplace, and are the beliefs, values, and morals that an individual possess. â€Å"The discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation,† defines ethics according to according to  Merriam-Webster, Incorporated  (2010). These values, belief, and morals become usually instilled in the individual from family, church, society, peer groups, profession, or other sources. A variety of ethical issues that becomes apparent within various organizations today include â€Å"conflict of interest,† â€Å"discrimination,† â€Å"harassment, Sexual and otherwise,† â€Å"recruitment and staffing,† â€Å"customer confidence issues,† and â€Å"corporate resources. † These ethical issues occur within today’s business environments and have a tremendous effect on organizations. Two â€Å"Moral principles, teachings, or conduct,† defines moral according to  Merriam-Webster, Incorporated  (2010). A variety of moral issues that becomes apparent within various organizations today include â€Å"falsification of facts, deception, concealing information,† â€Å"misrepresenting correspondence or publications,† â€Å" the swaying of people’s feelings,† â€Å"cheating, rule-bending, misleading people,† â€Å"exploitation of weakness and vulnerability,† â€Å"excessive profit,† â€Å"greed,† â€Å"resistance to reasonable investigation,† â€Å"recklessness or irresponsible secrecy and lack of transparency and use of authority, power, reputation,† â€Å"breaking confidentiality,† â€Å"lack of compassion and humanity,† and â€Å"unfairness. Several influences define personal Ethics, which include family influences, religious beliefs, culture affects, personal experiences, and internal reflection. Parents or guardians dictate one’s morality during the early years of an individual’s life. T hey become the first to voice and demonstrate ethical boundaries. Religious beliefs become important by allowing a person to accept an established set of moral rules. By following these moral rules, an individual behave ethically with the promises of rewards in the afterlife as a motivation. Culture dictates the ethical norms simply because of the customs and traditions in the society surrounding him or her, and becomes ingrained in an individual’s psyche. Personal experiences shift one’s ethics, which become events that happen in an individual’s life. Emotional and personal experiences cause changes one’s beliefs. Internal reflection becomes developed by one’s inward feelings. When an individual Three does something that goes against one’s moral code, a feeling of guilt or shame results. When an individual does something that fits into one’s ethical idea of â€Å"right† he or she becomes proud or happy. Business ethics become what constitute a business to its employees, customers, the community, vendors doing business with them, and all business relationships. Although guidelines, basic laws, and rules became created to maintain a business, the codes of conduct enforce ethics, and make an organization successful. When values in the workplace become viewed as fair and just with a collective willingness to provide services and products in an ethical manner; trust and confidence becomes stronger. When management adheres to company ethics, it sends a strong message to employees and often set strong ethical standards for what the company stands for. The Madoff investment scandal that became the largest â€Å"Ponzi scheme† ever committed by an individual becomes an example of ethical and moral issues in business. Money laundering, securities fraud, perjury, mail fraud, wire fraud, and making false fillings with the SEC became the federal crimes that Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty. â€Å"He actually managed to fool 4,800 clients. None of this money was ever invested; it was simply deposited into his  business  account. The losses of his clients were almost $65 billion and now Madoff faces a lifelong sentence and up to $170 billion in restitution,† according to (Articles base, 2010). Four The Enron failure that caused thousands of people to lose their jobs and pensions because of unethical practices by management becomes a prime example of personal and business ethical problems. â€Å"The SEC has uncovered several instances of financial fraud committed by high-ranking executives at Enron, and many of the executives have been charged with wire fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy,† according to (Lawyer Shop, 2008). Appropriate business ethics become vitally important in businesses; both large and small. Several ethical issues may arise within an organization, but acquiring the right training, policies, procedures, and guidelines available and comprehensive to all employees, businesses will aid in a decreasing amount of ethical and moral issues in the workplace. Reference: Articlesbase. com, (2010), retrieved from http://www. articlesbase. com/law-articles/how-the-madoff-investment-scandal-was-uncovered-927189. html Lawyershop. com, (2008)  retrieved from http://www. lawyershop. com/practice-areas/criminal-law/white-collar-crimes/securities-fraud/lawsuits/enron Merriam-Webster, Incorporated,  (2010),  Merriam-Webster Dictionary,  retrieved How to cite Ethical and Moral Issues in Business, Papers Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Free Essays Ethical and Moral Issues in Business LaTonya Beeler September 13, 2010 MGT 216 Ray Crum Ethics and morals are essential to the success of a business. The two are synonymous with one another. According to DeGeorge, â€Å"ethics is a systematic attempt to make sense of our individual and social moral experience†¦ to determine the rules that ought to govern human conduct, the values worth pursuing, and the character traits deserving development in life (DeGeorge, 2010, pg. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical and Moral Issues in Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now 13). † Consumers rely on business to make moral and ethical decision regarding all business transactions. If the consumer does not believe that a business is moral or ethical he or she will not patronize the business, which in turn causes the business to lose money causing adverse effects on the economy. This essay will ascertain the differences between ethical and moral issues, the difference between personal and business ethics as well as provide examples of common ethical problems in business for each of the aforementioned ethics. Ethics and morals are words that people use interchangeably in regards to conduct and how people interact with society. However, some differences exist between the two in business. Ethics are a set of rules or codified system implemented by a company that explains how one should act on-the-job whereas morals are set in stone and is principles by which an entire society is supposed to live by. One can distinguish between ethics and morals by understanding that ethics is the action or conduct of what an individual deems right or wrong, therefore morals are the basis to which ethics stand on. For instance, if two big businesses were in competition with one another for the same customers one of the companies may choose to bribe an employee of the other company for internal information to use against the other company to gain a competitive advantage. Bribery is a common ethical problem that occurs in business. Personal ethics can refer to an individual’s life outside of work whereas business ethics pertain to the moral aspects of business to consumer interaction or business to business interaction. The foundation of personal and business ethics are equivalent. What differentiates the two are how they are enacted. For example, there are retail stores that require their employees to promote the sale of store credit cards. The customers may not be knowledgeable of the rules in the fine print; however the customer service associate is well aware but cannot disclose certain information because he or she has to comply with code of ethics of the company. This directly conflicts with the personal ethics of the employee and the business ethics to which he or she has to comply with. The aforementioned example is a common ethical problem seen in the retail business. Ethics and morals are essential in the success of a business because they determine whether or not a customer will continue to patronize the business or take his or her money to another business. A company is only as successful as the people who work there. The employee in a business goes to work and employs his or her personal ethics in conjunction with the code of ethics implemented in the place he or she works. Differences are apparent in morals and ethics. The difference is ethics are a codified system in a business to which employees have to adhere to and morals are the basis to which one determines right from wrong. Just as there are differences in ethic and morals, there are differences between personal and business ethics. The difference is how personal and business ethics are enacted. Businesses can prevent scandals within the company by ensuring that all employees including management adhere to the business code of ethics. Reference DeGeorge, R. T. (2010). Business ethics (7th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. How to cite Ethical and Moral Issues in Business, Papers Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Free Essays Business ethics and morals can be significantly different or may overlap in many other ways. Ethics generally applies to the standards of an organizational or social system whereas morals define personal character of each individual involved in the business. Morals are typically unchanging throughout one’s life whereas ethics may change as society and government make changes. We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical and Moral Issues in Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now An organization generally communicates its business ethics through a code of conduct to the employees of the business whereas family, friends, mentors, and religious leaders ingrain individual morals. Ethical problems may arise when personal morals and business ethics conflict one another. It is then that an individual must make decisions that may place the business at risk or do what he or she believes is the right thing to do. This could mean saving lives and jeopardizing ones employment. Ethical and Moral Issues Ethical and moral issues can have significant or subtle difference and even sometimes appear the same. Morals play large part in forming ethics whether business, personal, or social. Individuals who avoid cheating, lying, stealing, and even murder are good morals that most of us share. These same moral principals are applied to our personal, social, and business ethics. However, differences can be found between ethical and moral issues. While it may be ethical to respect other beliefs and religions, it is not considered to be a moral issue. The medical and scientific communities may deem an act ethical while our individual moral standard considers the act to be immoral, as evidence shown in debates about stem cell research, abortion, and testing on animals. Personal and Business Ethics Personal ethics and business ethics differ in that personal relate to one’s own ethics while business ethics are defined for the workplace. Personal ethics are what an individual believes to be true and right while business ethics are determined by an organization and are generally governed by law. Business ethics may also be written to gain public trust and acceptance. Personal and business ethics can be a reflection of each other or even complete opposite. Personal and business ethics may have great conflict with other. One’s personal ethics may believe it is acceptable to date another employee of the business while the business ethics may prohibit this action. Some pharmacists may consider medications such as the birth control pill to be unethical according to their own personal ethics; however the company they work for considers the dispensing of any prescription medication written by a licensed physician to be ethical. Some may say that individuals place a lower standard on business ethics than they do their own personal ethics. Business ethics have been shown in a negative light for companies such as the Enron and WorldCom. Because of such negative light, businesses are becoming more concerned about their reputation with regards to ethics. â€Å"Many of them are establishing high-level ethics committees, drafting codes of ethical conduct, and conducting ethics training programs† (Trevino Nelson, 2007, p. 8). Employers are also known to hire individuals who possess close personal ethics with the organizations business ethics. This is generally done in the interview process with personality tests. If a potential hire demonstrates personal ethics that do not align with the business ethics, this could pose a high risk for misconduct and potentially place the business at risk. Ethics, whether personal or business, are the foundation to our relationships with society. â€Å"Ethics can determine how we relate to our employers, our employees, our coworkers, our communities, our suppliers, our customers, and one another† (Trevino Nelson, 2007, p. 19). This is an important part of our lives and each of us has to lie down at night and examine our own actions of the day and determine if we have been ethical toward one another in our personal relationships as well as our business relationships. How to cite Ethical and Moral Issues in Business, Essay examples Ethical and Moral Issues in Business Free Essays Whether or not a company can influence the ethical behavior within their organization or whether there are just a few bad apples who were not brought up with good character continues to be debated. This debate raises the question as to whether or not ethical behavior should be a priority within the business and academic environments. Understanding the differences between ethical and moral issues and the complexity of business versus personal ethics will explain why We will write a custom essay sample on Ethical and Moral Issues in Business or any similar topic only for you Order Now com/what-are-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-ethical-behavior-in-business/"business ethics must be actively addressed through forrmal channels. According to Trevino Nelson, ethics focuses on the conduct of which values and principles govern an individual group (2004). Ethics can be driven by external factors such as society, peer groups, religions, and profession; therefore, ethics can also change if any one of these factors change. For instance, hunting certain animals for sport is considered acceptable until they are listed as endangered and it then becomes illegal. Morris quotes Velasquez when defining morals as dealing with matters that can either benefit or cause harm to another individual and morals are not either established or changed by authoritative figures (Morris, 2004). A person’s morals are influenced by religion, family, friends, and life experiences and are concerned with what is right or wrong as defined on a deeper, individual personal level. They do not change easily and generally require a paradigm shift on a personal level. For example, it will always be considered immoral to commit murder. When there is a conflict between an employee’s moral beliefs and a company’s code of ethics, it can be difficult to determine the best course of action. For instance, if a doctor witnesses a fellow doctor engage in taking an illegal drug, he or she may believe that the right moral action would be to talk to their fellow employee first instead of reporting the incident and placing the doctors license in jeopardy. However, the doctor’s code of ethics would require him or her to report the incident. Personal ethics pertains to a philosophy of life that is chosen to guide one’s life. Personal ethics impact one’s relationships with family and friends and are carried everywhere one goes; whereas, business ethics pertains to a code of conduct that governs decisions and actions within a company. Again, conflict between personal and professional ethics can create a conflict of interest and lead to difficult decision making. For instance, a vegetarian may believe it is wrong to eat animals; however, he or she may work in a factory that manufactures and sells meat. Dennis Gioia was an activist who participated in protests against social injustice. He was also Ford’s vehicle recall coordinator who failed to order a recall during the time the Ford Pintos were exploding into fire upon impact, trapping, and killing several victims. In his paper Reflections on the Pinto Fires Case, Gioia makes the point that it may appear absurdly easy to make moral decisions; however, â€Å"they are not easy to make, and it is perhaps the most important lesson of all† (Trevino Nelson, 2004). Whether one chooses to take action based on his personal ethics and morals or business ethics will depend greatly upon their recognition of an ethical dilemma, the culture of the company and their experience with handling similar situations. Therefore, formal channels in which to learn the differences between ethical and moral issues and personal versus professional ethics will make it much easier for people to recognize and determine the best course of action when there is a personal versus professional conflict of interest. How to cite Ethical and Moral Issues in Business, Essay examples