2. WHAT IS BUSINESS ETHICS
• Ethics refers to principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the
conducting of an activity
• It refers to a set of practices and policies set by a company or an
organisation in order to give proper guidance to the company through
financial decision making ,negotiations and deals ,corporate social
responsibility.
• It is also characterised by the standards of morally right and wrong conduct
in business .
• In order for your company to benefit you must have personal conviction to
do what is right ,even if it means doing something that is difficult or
personally disadvantageous .
4. WHY STUDY ETHICS
• It enhances the business law by outlining acceptable behaviours beyond
governmental control .
• It builds a good reputation for your business (having clients share memories of how
you treated them is the best form of advertising any business can have) .
• One becomes a better businessman and human being as they develop a mind-set of
weighing the potential consequences of your business decisions .
• It promotes integrity among employees and thus gain trust from key stakeholders .
• To make way for good networking that is so much needed in the growth of a
company (no companies would want to associate themselves with an organisation
whose policy of business ethics is weak) .
5. ETHICAL ISSUES / DILEMMAS
• These are difficult social questions that involve some level of controversy over what the
right thing to do is .
• Is it a good idea to donate company funds to a local charity ?
• In the case that your friend is about to be fired ,should you warn them ?(conflict of
loyalty)
• Is it okay to accept a gift from someone ? (check with company policies on the issue of
nature of gifts that are acceptable)
• Whistleblowing (according to Ralph Nader (1972) “an act of a man or woman who
,believing in the public interest overrides the interest of an organisation he serves
,publicly blows the whistle if the organisation is involved in corrupt ,illegal ,fraudulent or
harmful activity”.
• Harassment and discrimination in workplace because of your gender ,age ,religion
,disability etc .
• Nondisclosure and Corporate Espionage (deals with the stealing of intellectual property
from an organisation hence poses a great risk to classified information of clients ).
6. MAINTAINING INTEGRITY AND
HONESTY IN A BUSINESS
ENVIRONMENT
• Business integrity refers to operating an organisation consistently in
accordance with a strong set of moral values while following
applicable ethical guidelines
• Treat everyone the same(clients / employees)
• Admit your mistakes
• Encourage teams to speak freely
• Keep commitments
• Conduct self assessments regularly
• Reward honestly
7. Corporate social
responsibility(CSR)
• Is the idea that a company should play a positive role in the
community and consider the environmental and social impact of
business decisions .
• Besides maximizing shareholder value ,the business should operate in
a way that benefits the society
• Championing women’s rights ,fighting poverty on all levels (local
,national ,global)
• Organisations such as UNICEF AND WELT HUNGER HIFE (they either
give food aid or assist with agricultural inputs )
• Sponsoring of sporting tournaments by supermarkets (SPAR ,PICK N
PAY)
8.
9. HOW TO AVOID ETHICAL
LAPSE
• Talk about the importance of ethics
• Uphold promises and commitments to employees and stakeholders
• Hold accountable those who violate standards ,especially leaders .
• Build a culture of integrity from the top down
