Corporate Ethics Are The Emerging Battleground Within And Between Companies’

By Author: Henry Ford
Total Articles: 189
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Corporate ethics can be defined as the moral principles and guidelines that define the acceptable and unacceptable behaviors of business people. Corporate ethics are also called business ethics (Trevino et al, 951-990). The main purpose of corporate ethics is to provide a guideline to the organization on the acceptable behavior in formulation of its strategies and in its daily operations. Many corporate leaders are today faced with the dilemma of developing effective corporate ethics. There are many media reports persisting on the unethical behaviors of many corporations. It is important for a company to adopt an ethical approach as this is important for its corporate image and success. Many organizations are making a public commitment on ethical issues due to pressure from consumers. In today’s world, consumers are demanding more ethical and more responsible business practices. This has led to organizations developing codes of conducts and principles of operations. It is important for an organization to develop a culture that supports ethics in order for it to succeed in its ethics program. It is imperative that corporate ...
... ethics be practiced by all the stakeholders in a given business. Corporate ethics has been affected by the expansion of the international market and the increase in global competition. There is an increase in the demand for business processes and actions that are more ethical. Also there is increased pressure from government, public stakeholders and customers to improve on business ethics. Corporate Ethic dilemmas are a major issue confronting many business executives in today’s corporate world. The reason for this corporate ethics dilemma has resulted from the conflict between corporations’ traditional objectives of profit maximization and the current increased desire for social welfare (Storey, 327-47). There are diverse opinions on what ethical practices are and how they should be implemented and encouraged. This paper expounds on how corporate ethics have become a battle ground both within and between companies.

Corporate ethics is based on principles of fairness and integrity. It aims at embracing the responsibilities that an organizations impacts on the environment, consumers, stakeholders and the public at large due to its activities.. Its main focus therefore is on both the internal stakeholders, local communities and environmental. To the internal stakeholders, it aims at production of quality products by the organization, customer satisfaction and good wages and benefits to the employees. To the community it aims at encouraging growth and development. To the environment, business ethics aims at eliminating activities and practices that may harm the environment and the public in general. The concept of business ethics helps an organization in its mission and acts as a guide to the stand of the company and what the company upholds to its consumers. However there are critics who argue that the whole concept of corporate ethics is a window dressing aimed at only attracting customers.

Corporate ethics are important within an organization and especially between the stakeholders, owners, directors and the management. These are important elements in balancing the interests of all the stakeholders. Many businesses are faced with the dilemma of cutting down on quality to meet a deadline and reduce operating costs, laying off works to maximize the profits, employing low wage earners especially foreign workers or to uphold corporate ethics and do none of the above. In this regard, some corporate leaders are not in favor of the corporate ethics as they see upholding it leading to reduced profits.
Many companies have changed their views on corporate ethics due to an increase in competition. For a company to gain a competitive advantage, it must demonstrate its ability to withhold corporate ethics. This is because companies have realized that their success depends on the respect and confidence that they earn from their customers. Therefore many companies and corporations are prodding on the ways to improve business practices and operations that are in line with corporate ethics. The demand for higher corporate social responsibilities standards has grown rapidly. This has led to companies being responsible for their actions. This has led to companies being more responsible. The growing global competition has also led to companies competing with each other in the upholding of corporate ethics. They are doing this in order to have a competitive advantage over their competitors (Kaler, 56-60).
Development of Corporate ethics should not be a responsibility of top management alone as these are not free moral agents (Menon, 51-67).

There are various methods used to promote ethical decision making within an organization. In business, ethical decision making process is influenced by establishment of code of conducts and ethical guidelines (Trevino et al, 951-990). But the decisions and actions that individuals in an organization undertakes is what influences the implementation of ethical guidelines. This is because it is the individuals who enact the set ethical guidelines and principles. The utilitarian approach focuses on undertaking the action that will lead to the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This will involve determining eg whether lowering the quality, laying off workers or employing low wage foreign workers will lead to greatest good for the greatest people.
Moral rights approach involves following moral principles regardless of the consequences that will result. In this regard, one considers what is right and what is wrong instead of stressing on the profit to be incurred. The universalism approach determines whether a particular course of action is appropriate to everyone under any circumstances and then considering whether you will be comfortable if somebody else applied the same rule to you. The cost benefit approach involves analyzing the costs and benefits involved in taking or not taking a particular decision.

Conclusion
Corporate ethics has become a common practice in today’s corporate world. There has been an increase in the development and implementation of corporate ethics both within and between companies. Companies’ have been competing with each other on corporate ethics due to the increased competition. Also there has been increased pressure from consumers and the government which has forced companies to improve on their corporate ethics. Therefore the companies have improved their corporate ethics in order to improve their image and hence have a competitive advantage. Corporate ethics is important to the community and the general public in that it encourages growth and development and also helps in preserving the environment. The latter is because it eliminates any activities by the companies that can lead to harming of the environment.

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