conducting business ethically and responsibly

Business essentials -- part 2 -- summary

there are three broad categories of ways in which managerial ethics can affect people's work.
1 -- behavior toward employees
2 -- behavior toward the organization
3 -- behavior toward other economic agents

One model for applying ethical judgments to business solutions recommends the following three items:
(1) gather relevant factual information
(2) analyze the facts to determine the most appropriate moral values
(3) make an ethical judgment based on the rightness or wrongness of the proposed activity or policy.

For other principles may affect any situation:
(1) utility
(2) rights
(3) Justice
(4) caring

Perhaps the single most effective set that a company can take is to demonstrate top management support. In addition to promoting attitudes of honesty and openness, firms can also take specific steps to formalize their commitment by adopting written codes and instituting ethics programs.

social responsibility

ethics affect individuals. The social responsibility refers to the way of firm attempts to balance of its commitments to organizational stakeholders -- those groups, individuals, and organizations that are directly affected by the practices of an organization and, therefore, have a stake in its performance.
Many companies concentrate on five main groups: (1) customers, (2) employees, (3) investors, (4) suppliers, and (5) local communities. Attitudes towards social responsibility have changed. In the late 19th century concern about unbridled business activity was soon translated into laws regulating business practices. Out of the economic turmoil of the 1930s, when greed was blamed for business failures and the loss of jobs, came new laws protecting and enhancing social well-being. During the 1960s and 1970s, activism prompted increased government regulation in many areas of business. Today's attitudes stress a greater social role for business. Perhaps globalization and environmentalism have made businesses more sensitive to their social responsibilities. This view, combined with economic prosperity of the 1980s and 1990s, market return for the laissez-faire philosophy, but the recent academic of corporate scandals threatens to revive the 1930s call for more regulation and oversight.

A firm confronts four areas of concern:
(1) responsibility toward the environment
(2) responsibility toward customers
(3) responsibility toward employees
(4) responsibility toward investors

For small business people, ethical issues are questions of individual ethics. But in questions of social responsibility, they must ask themselves if they can afford a social agenda -- sponsored Little League baseball teams or making donations to the United Way, for example. They should also realize that managers all organizations face issues of ethics and social responsibility