Ethical Business Practices

Paper Summary:

The paper points out that almost everyday the media covers another organization being accused or investigated for ethical violations. These events around the world have heightened everyone's awareness of ethical business practices. The paper discusses how to establish a business code of ethics and relates that it is a complicated process that needs to be backed by everyone in the organization. The paper stresses that in order to be successful, businesses have to have more than written standards. The paper concludes that as companies become more global, formal ethics programs are becoming even more essential. The "smart" organizations will develop their policies now so they are better prepared for challenges to come.

From the Paper:

"There is a good deal of evidence that most people value ethical behavior so much that they will find some way to punish those whom they believe are behaving unethically and reward those who are perceived as ethical (Velasquez 1996). Social psychology research has concluded that people in all kinds of social situations react to perceived injustices with distress and will try to eliminate this distress by restoring justice. On the other hand, they are attracted to just organizations and will reward them with loyalty and commitment. Employees who believe or actually see that their company's dealings are unjust, will exhibit higher absenteeism and turnover and lower productivity and demand higher wages (Vesasquez 1996). However, if employees feel that an organization's decision-making is just, they will exhibit lower levels of turnover, decreased numbers of absenteeism, higher levels of trust, and more commitment to the organization, as well as demand lower wages (Folger, & Konovsky). Further, when employees believe that their company is just, they are more willing to follow the organization's managers. Likewise, customers will turn against a company if they perceive a gross injustice in the way it conducts business and will lower their desire to purchase its products (Brockner, Tyler & Schneider)."

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