Business ethics

- Ethics
- -Ethics in business
-The difference between ethics and law
-Types of business
-Ethical code
-The 11 ethical codes
Benefits and drawbacks
 Meaning of ethics

We define Ethics (also called Moral

Philosophy) as a set of moral guidelines that
govern good behavior.
• What is ethical behavior?
Ethical behavior is about knowing and doing
what is morally right.
 Ethics and business
• When we mentioned ethics we said they
are moral guidelines that govern a good
behavior but If we put the word business
in ethics we are now talking about the
moral guidelines that govern the way
businesses and individuals engage in
business activity.
 Is ethics necessary In business?
• There are a lot of different companies and
businesses out there and not all of them use
ethics , but ethics plays a huge role on how those
company are perceived.

• What we consider and ethical business?

• Typically, businesses are ethical if they take
actions that ordinary people would consider fair
and morally correct.
• A business’s ethical or unethical behavior can
impact its public perception, daily operations,
and revenue.

• Companies that act ethically can attract loyal

clients, hire top talent, and even win awards.

• However, businesses that are perceived as

unethical may face boycotts, social media
campaigns, and even legal problems.
The difference between ethics and law

• Ethics • Law
Ethics is about Law is about
what is morally what is lawful
wrong and right and what is not
-Ethics its -Law is
depended on depended on
our moral code institutions
 Types of businesses

The amoral The legalistic

business business

The
The ethical
responsive
business
business
• The amoral business
-seeks to win at all costs
-anything can be acceptable including breaking the law
• The legalistic business
-will obey the law but not more than that
• The responsive business
-obeys the law
-consider that being ethic can pay off
• The ethical business
-obeys the law
-ethical practice is at the core of business
 Ethical code
• Is a written document that outlines expectations
for ethical conduct within business operations
and employee behavior.
• Who creates ethical code?
Ethical code is created by the management of the
company.
• Is ethical code the same for every business?
Not completely . Because every business or
company is different from the other and has
different priorities.
 The 11 ethical principles
• 1. HONESTY
All personnel must be committed to telling the truth in
all forms of communication and in all actions. This
includes never purposely telling partial truths, making
misrepresentations or overstatements.

• 2. FAIRNESS
Treating others as you would like to be treated. Fairness
requires treating all individuals equally and never
exploiting weaknesses or mistakes for personal or
corporate benefit.
• 3. LEADERSHIP
is a commitment to excellence through ethical
decision-making. Businesses and business
executives maintain their leads by constantly
improving things like worker satisfaction and
customer approval.

• 4. INTEGRITY
Integrity means keeping promises, honoring
commitments, meeting deadlines and refusing
to participate in illegal activities.
• 5.COMPASSION
spending enough time to understand the needs
and sensitivities of others, empathy
• 6. RESPECT
recognizing that everyone deserves equal respect
and support for sharing ideas and opinions,
without fear of any penalty or form of
discrimination.
• 7. RESPONSIBILITY
their responsibilities seriously demonstrates
employee maturity and ability to do a job without
needing strict supervision.
• 8. LOYALTY
Loyalty is proven by never disclosing information
learned in confidence and by remaining faithful to
coworkers, clients, business partners and
suppliers.
• 9. LAW-ABIDING
Obeying the law, and avoiding illegal matters.
• 10. ACCOUNTABILITY
• taking accountability of your actions right and
wrong doing.
• 11. TRANSPARENCY
sharing criteria for price hikes, wages, hiring,
granting promotions, addressing workplace
infringements and firing employees.
 Benefits and drawbacks
• Benefits
• Higher revenues-demand from positive
and consumer support
• Improved brand
• Business awareness
• Better recognition
• Better employee , motivation and
recruitment
 Drawbacks

• Higher cost-sourcing from Fairtrade

suppliers rather than lowest price
• Highest overheads-ongoing costs to
operate a business
• A danger of building up false
expectations