BUSINESS ETHICS

UNETHICAL PRACTICES
PRESENTED TO : PROF. CYRUS GONDA

MOHAMMED ALI SHAIKH 90

MOHAMMED HANIF SABLE 94
MUSTAFA JAMALI 103
NAZMUDDIN FAROOQUI 106
NIMESH SHAH 112
NIRAJ TIWARI 114
 INTRODUCTION

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.

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.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

  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.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

 EXAMPLES OF
UNETHICAL PRACTICES

MEDICINES INDUSTRY
a. The medicines are being charged at a higher price than that of the original price
of that medicine. This practice is done in order to gain a higher profit margin.
This practice should be stopped as the customer is supposed to pay only on the
MRP.
b. The pharmacists gives the customer the different tablets than that which are
prescribed by the doctor. This practice is done when the prescribed tablet is not
available or the tablet of same formula of a new company is available in bulk.
So in order to clear the stock ,he does this.
c. The most harmful unethical practice done in this industry is that the medicines
before manufacturing are not being tested properly. Usually the tablets are
tested on animals. All tablets are not tested ,hence it could be harmful or even
injurious to health. This practice of testing should be done as it is concerned
with the human beings health.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

 MOBILE INDUSTRY
a. GREY MARKET- The mobiles are being sold at a lower price but does not
give warranty. This is a daily unethical practice which is followed by most
dealers and markets like Manish market and Heera Panna.

b. Disconnecting the said customers by calling customer care, pretending to be

the customer, then immediately signing them up again to get better
commissions. Signing up new subscribers earn double the commission from
upgrades.
The dealer earns more commission from connecting new accounts rather than
upgrading existing ones, so managers encouraged staff to call Vodafone
customer care, pretend to be the customer, and request that the original service
be disconnecte

c. Adding multiple phone numbers to a customer as they get commission for

each number.

Other internal Comms Direct emails suggest the dealer engaged in "SIM
stacking", whereby extra mobile numbers are added to a business customer's
account without their knowledge. This helps dealers earn more commissions
and hit their monthly connection targets

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

 MEDIA INDUSTRY
a. Unethical Mixing: Facts are sacred and comment is free’ is the basic norm of
journalism. This is reinterpreted as ‘news is sacred and views are free’. But
the situation is changed to: ‘false news is for a price and the views are free’.
Selling news space by TV Channels and columns by the print media,
especially some of the Telugu News Dailies breach all ethical norms, such as
‘an Advertisement shall be distinguished from the news item, or news
programme, and accompanied by the indication that it is an advertisement and
the amount charged by media’.

b. Freedom to decide the content : Generally, the Newspapers or the News

channels can decide its contents including the following .

1. News Items: News items present the reports of the current events and
happenings which include campaign.
2. Views: Editorial, articles, opinions, press conferences, and columns from
eminent writers come under this category.
3. Advertisements: Advertisement is in fact selling the space of the
newspaper for commercial promotion of the products and services offered
by different companies.
The Supreme Court of India has stuck down the statutes and executive orders
of the government when the State tried to introduce controls on the contents of
newspapers, and restrict the space allotted to advertisement saying at least 60
per cent should be of news. It was considered as state interference with the

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

 autonomy of newspaper to decide how to fill their pages, which was violation
of the freedom of press guaranteed by the Constitution

c. Missing Distinction between News and Advertisement :  The basic norm that
there should be strict separation between news and views has been violated day
in and day out. The thin line between ‘news’ and ‘advertisement’ was blurring
till date, has been totally disintegrated today.  News is supposed to be regarded
as factual reporting of events, and generally the newspaper would not be liable
for the truthfulness of the contents of the advertisement unless they contain
defamatory or obscene material.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA

 Nursing Home
a. During diagnosis of any patient the doctors sometimes ask for an extra
treatment or check up in order to earn money from the patient. These checkups
are not required for the patient but still they are asked for the checkups.

b. During the diagnosis if the doctor finds an alternative problem in the patient he
sends to another doctor or laboratory from where he gets commission rather
than the required doctor or laboratory for further tests.

c. The doctors go for the patients operation even though it is not required. This
practice is done in order to gain money from the operation.

d. By the time the Patient is taken to the operation theatre, he is already dead .The
doctor performs the operation on the dead body and charge money for that. An
agreement is signed by the guardians of the patient that the doctor is not held
responsible for the result. In this case, the result was already known to the
doctor but this is done in order to earn the money for the operation.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES PRESENTED TO : PROF : CYRUS GONDA