ETHICAL AND UNETHICAL

Business ethics are moral values and principles, that determine our conduct in the business
world. It refers to the commercial activities, either with other business houses or with a single
customer. They can be applied to all aspects of business; from generation of an idea to its sale.
Business use the society for its resources and functioning, thereby obligating it to the welfare of
the society. While the objective of all business is to make profits, it should contribute to the
interest of the society by ensuring fair practices. However, greed has led the present business
scenario towards unethical business practices, legal complications and general mistrust.

Code of Ethics

Many organizations now implement the code of ethics in their company polices, which they
implement during induction and regular training. A Code of Ethics "is generally a more blanket
statement of values and beliefs that defines the organization or group" (Brandl and Maguire). It
is primarily for the following areas:

 Company's assets, funds and records

 Conflict of interest
 Management and employee practices
 Information on competition

Ethical Business Practices

Following are a few ethical business practices that should be followed to build a honest
reputation and ensure smooth running of the organization.

 Investors: Ensuring safety of their money and timely payment of interest.

 Employees: Provision of fair opportunities in promotions and training, good working
conditions and timely payment of salaries.
 Customer: Complete information of the service and product should be made available.
Personal information of the customers should not be used for personal gain.
 Competition: Unscrupulous tactics and methods should be avoided while handling
competitors.
 Government: Rules and regulations regarding taxes, duties, restrictive and monopolistic
trade practices and unlawful activities like corruption and bribing should be adhered to.
 Environment: Polluting industries should ensure compliance with the government norms
regarding air, water and noise pollution.

Unethical Business Practices

The financial sector is abuzz with acts of violation of norms to amass wealth in an unethical
manner. Following are some of the activities that come under the ambit of unethical practice.

 Resorting to dishonesty, trickery or deception.

  Distortion of facts to mislead or confuse.
 Manipulating people emotionally by exploiting their vulnerabilities.
 Greed to amass excessive profit.
 Creation of false documents to show increased profits.
 Avoiding penalty or compensation for unlawful act.
 Lack of transparency and resistance to investigation.
 Harming the environment by exceeding the government prescribed norms for pollution.
 Invasion of privacy used as leverage, for obtaining personal or professional gains.
 Sexual discrimination

Business houses that comply with ethics to determine their conduct are shrinking in number. The
lack of business ethics in the market, is the reason the world economy is presently in crisis.
Organizations now recognize the positive effects and outcomes of being ethical, humane and
considerate. They have a competitive edge in the market, because of the honesty they show in
their services. Their morally upright reputation attracts better staff and helps in retention. Though
ethics are legally binding in most cases, self-monitoring, transparency and accountability will go
a long way in establishing trust of the people. Besides this, it makes sense to change, before you
are penalized.

Inquality and human values

Whenever I used to contemplate about the “economic imbalance” in society, i.e. many are poor,
whereas a few are rich, it always occurred to me that lack of Human Values is the fundamental
problem. And I used the oft-quoted paradigm of “IT industry pays best than rest” to conceptualize
this.

To illustrate this, let us take a case study of a super market. Let us describe the services / transactions
/ stakeholders in a diagram as follows (sorry about the pathetic arrows!).
As all of us know, supermarket never manufactures things. Assume a poor farmer producing rice/
wheat / vegetables / fruits supplying for this supermarket. If the base amount he would get for
producing the commodity is ‘x’, the supplier (whose job is relatively simpler than farmer) gets at
least ‘3x’, and the supermarket would sell the product with an equal or more profit. And there are
customers, who are ready to pay this figure!

Let us go back to diagram. People do not mind paying 2 rupees for an item, while they could get an
equal / slightly low-quality item for Re. 1. Many of them buy things which they would seldom /
sparingly use. And the supermarkets price the products based on these “strategies”. Thus, rich people
continue to become richer.

Of course, one may argue that it is the so-called “knowledge” which makes people rich (software
guys are, after all, smart!!). I have come across many of these so-called “know ledged” whose whole
intention is to “Live and Let Die”. They do not hesitate to trample others for their well being. The
poor, for the simple reason that they are less / illiterate, inspite of their hard work, remain poor.

A little thought would reveal that if only we practice, what Sathya Sai Baba calls, “Ceiling on
Desires”, i.e. putting a stringent limit on our otherwise uncontrolled desires, having a little
“discrimination” (what we really need / what we do not), and sharing of wealth (giving back to
society from where we got riches), would equalize / balance the economy.