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Ajay Arun Sabale Business Ethics
Ajay Arun Sabale Business Ethics
INDEX
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Business ethics is a form of applied ethics to business situations. It relates to
moral behaviour and actions on the part of business firms. This means,
business firms need to practice ethics towards various stakeholders.
They must provide quality goods at right prices to the customers. They should
not indulge in unfair business practices
They must not exploit the employees - they should pay proper wages and
salaries, provide good working conditions and welfare facilities, etc.
Ethical business firms must pay proper dividend to shareholders and provide
relevant information.
The business firms must also repay loans and interest to the banks and other
lenders.
The business firms must fulfil their social responsibility towards members of
the society.
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Business ethics is the study of appropriate business policies and practices
regarding potentially controversial subjects including corporate governance,
insider trading, bribery, discrimination, corporate social responsibility, and
fiduciary responsibilities. The law often guides business ethics, but at other
times business ethics provide a basic guideline that businesses can choose to
follow to gain public approval.
1. Religion:
Religion is the oldest source of Religion is the oldest source of ethical
inspiration. There are more than ethical inspirations. 1,00,000 religions which
exist across the whole world, but all of them are in agreement on the
fundamental principles. Every religion gives an expression of what is wrong and
right in business and other walks of life. The Principle of reciprocity towards
one's fellow beings is found in all the religions. Great
religions preach the necessity for an orderly social system and emphasize upon
social responsibility with an objective to contribute to the general welfare.
With these fundamentals, every religion creates its own code of conduct.
2. Culture:
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Culture is the set of important understandings that members of a community
share in common. It consists of a basic set of values, ideas, perceptions,
preferences, concept of morality, code of conduct etc. which creates
distinctiveness among human groups. When we talk about culture we typically
refer to the pattern of development reflected in a society's pattern of
knowledge, ideology, values, laws, social norms and day to day rituals.
Depending upon the pattern and stage of development, culture differs from
society to society. More over culture is passed from generation to generation.
Culture facilitates the generation of commitment to something larger than
one's individual self-interest.
mechanism that guides and shapes the attitudes and behaviour of people.
Managers have to run an industrial enterprise on the cutting edge of cultural
experience. The tension that their actions create makes
3. Law:
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The legal system of any country, guide the human behaviour in the society.
Whatever, ethics the law defines are binding on the society. The society
expects the business to abide by the law. Although it is expected that every
business should be law abiding, seldom do the businesses adhere to the rules
and regulations. Law breaking in business is common egg. Tax evasion,
hoarding, adulteration, poor quality & high priced products, environment
pollution etc.
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Need and Importance of Business Ethics
The need for business ethics is more felt in recent years than ever before.
1.Survival of Business:
Business needs to follow ethical values for its own good and survival. A firm
can have short-term and quick gains by resorting to unethical means and
disregarding social welfare.
However, such firms grow fast and are out of business faster. On the other
hand, organisations doing business ethically have continued to survive and
prosper for a long time.
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market small-scale units can establish their position and fight for their rights in
the industry follows a code of ethics.
5.Better Relations with Members of the Society:
Business ethic is needed to develop good relations between business and
society. The relationship of business with society has various dimensions such
as its relations with shareholders, employee consumers, distributors,
competitors and government. Ethic is needed to maintain good relations
among the firms on onside and between the firm and social groups on other.
Business ethics will help to promote and protect the interest of various groups,
associated with business activities.
6. Mutual Benefit:
Business ethics benefits the business firm as well as the society. The business
firm that adopts business ethic get good name in the society. It may be able to
increase confidence in the minds of the buyers who in turn would help to
improve the sales of the firm. The society can also gain due to ethical practices
on the part of the business. For instance, the consumers can benefit by way of
quality goods at right prices the employees can get fair treatment, and so on.
7.Facilitates Growth and Expansion:
Business ethics facilitates growth and expansion of the business. Ethical
practices enable the business firm to gain trust and confidence of the
customer’s employees, shareholders, and society. Therefore, there would be
greater support to the firm from various stakeholders, which in turn facilitate
growth and expansion of the firm.
8. Benefits to Shareholders:
Business ethics helps a company to expand and grow. Therefore, the
performance of the firm will improve in terms of market share, profits, etc. As
a result, the shareholders stand to gain in terms of higher returns in form on
dividend, bonus shares, and high share price on the stock markets.
9.Decision Making:
Firms that adopt ethical practices make better decisions in the interest of the
organisation and that of the stakeholders such as customers, dealers,
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employees, etc. Respect for ethics will enable a firm to consider economic,
social and ethical aspects while taking decisions. Therefore, a business firm
would be in a better position to take sound business decision firm in the short
term as well as in the long term.
10.Market Share and Profits:
When a business firm adopts ethical practices relating to production,
marketing, etc., customers develop trust and confidence in such companies.
Therefore, the sales of such business firms and market share will
Also, being ethical does not mean working in the interest of the society only.
Every organisation has a responsibility towards itself i.e., to earn profits. Ethical
companies are bound to be
successful and more profitable in the long run though in the short run they
may make losses.
11. Attracts and Retains Competent Employees:
People aspire to join companies that adopt ethical values. Business ethics helps
to attract and retain competent employees. An ethical company that is
dedicated in taking care of the employees will be rewarded with employees
being equally dedicated in taking care of the company. Employees provide
their skills, efforts and time in return for higher salary, bonus, and career
advancement opportunities. Thus, business ethics motivates employees to
work with commitment and dedication.
12. Corporate Image:
Ethical practices enable a firm to improve its performance. Therefore, the
image of the firm improves in the minds of various stakeholders such as
employees, customers, dealers, financial institutions, government agencies,
suppliers, shareholders, media and other sections of the society. For instance,
in India, the firms under Tata Group enjoy a good corporate image in the minds
of stakeholders due to the ethical practices followed by the firms under Tata
Grow
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Thank You
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