Business Ethics

ETHICS is derived from a Greek word ‘ethos’ which means values, beliefs which pervades a group or community. Business ethics means the norms, conditions, terms which govern any business or business activities. They are concerned with what is right or wrong, good or bad, etc.
Few examples of business ethics are:
Charging reasonable profits
Providing genuine products
Fair treatment to workers
Using fair weights for measurement of quantities of products
Paying taxes
Charge fair prices from customers
Determinants of business ethics are:
Social factor: Ethics should be such which are readily acceptable by society.
Economical factor: Economic development affects nature and spread of business ethics.
Cultural factor: It refers to and includes family background, education, religion, historical heritage, etc.
Political factor: It means that the party in power influences ethics through their ideology and philosophies.
Organizational factor: The ideology and philosophy of a firm, attitude of managers and superiors influences ethics.
Institutional factor: It means that the codes of conduct of various institutes such as ICAI, ICSI influence ethics.
Ethical issues faced by managers are:
With respect to employees can be feedback, working conditions, employment security, etc.
With respect to peers and superiors can be truth telling, loyalty, support, etc.
With respect to customers to can be truth telling, fair treatment, questionable practices, etc.
With respect to suppliers can be fair treatment, balanced relationship, truth telling, etc.
With respect to stakeholders can be truth telling, respecting legal constraints, etc.

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