What Is Ethical Behavior? Why Is It Essential To Business?
Although not all workplaces formally implement ethical behavior, it is still one of the most important aspects of businesses. This helps the business not only to provide quality services to customers but also ensures a high reputation of the business. Every company must strive to create an ethical culture, and it starts with the leadership of the company. The emphasis should be on respecting the ethical standards of the company.
In this article, you will learn what is business ethics and the role of ethical behavior in business. Apart from that, you will also learn the importance of ensuring ethical behavior in business and how it can benefit businesses in the long run. In addition to that, we will also provide you with some of the most common examples of ethical behavior in businesses. Hence, to learn more, read on through to the end of the article.
Business Ethics – What Is Ethical Behavior In Business?
According to Investopedia,
“The system of moral and ethical beliefs that guides the values, behaviors, and decisions of a business organization and the individuals within that organization is known as business ethics…What qualifies as business ethics in history has changed over time and the different areas of ethics are important to every business.”
Ethical requirements can be anything. However, in most cases, businesses codify some of their ethical requirements into law. Some of the major ethical behaviors codified into law include environmental regulations, insider trading restrictions, minimum wage, etc. These are some of the major examples that the government is setting forth for companies to attain minimum ethical standards.
Inside the organization, ethical behavior applies to all the employees, including managers, authorities, and all the stakeholders. All the members of the organization must be honest with their behavior and must be fair in their relationships with their coworkers, as well as clients.
If all the members of the organization display good ethical behavior, it will help in boosting the overall morale of the company. This shall also help to improve the company’s relations with its clients. Apart from that, the company will also be able to retain its employees if the employees who work for the company believe that the company is ethical in its approach. Employees like to work for companies that treat everyone fairly and maintain good behavior.
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What Is The Importance Of Ethical Behavior In Business?
According to Business News Daily,
“To understand why ethical behavior is important, it might be helpful to know how unethical behavior affects a company. Think about a business that hires only family or one that gives inappropriate incentives, for example. While these actions might not be illegal, they can definitely have negative effects on the morale and success of a company, especially if their dirty laundry is aired publicly.”
Businesses that violate basic ethical approaches and engage in illegal activities can be associated with lawsuits and costly fines as well. Hence, there are serious consequences for businesses if they do not engage in ethical behavior.
Leadership Ethics
The leaders are the ones who lead by example and set the tone for how the organization operates on a daily basis. Leaders guide their teams to make decisions that are beneficial for both the employees and the organization.
Employee Ethics
Employees follow the footsteps of the management when it comes to ethical behavior. They are able to make faster decisions when they make use of ethics as guiding principles. This also helps in increasing the productivity and the overall morale of employees.
If employees work with honesty and integrity, the whole organization benefits as a result. Employees who work for organizations that operate on high standards of business ethics are likely to perform their job roles better.
Industry Ethics
With changes in the major aspects of the industry, or as per different industries, business ethics change. This also depends upon national economies, laws, and many other aspects. There is a lot of influence of the nature of business operations on ethical issues related to business.
Ethics Related To Privacy
Marketing is one area where technology companies need to make tough ethical decisions. Due to advancements in data mining technology, businesses can now track online movements and sell data to marketing companies.
These companies use that data to match customers by using promotions and advertising. This is one of the major invasions of privacy. However, this data is really invaluable to businesses, as it helps businesses increase their profits. This creates an ethical dilemma.
Environmental Ethics
Business ethics matters a lot in the field of energy. Companies that produce non-renewable energy experience a high level of scrutiny on the way they treat the environment. Ensuring a stringent code of environmental ethics is of paramount importance if an energy company wants to thrive where there are increased regulations due to climate change.
A Few Examples Of Ethical Behavior In Business
According to Indeed.com,
“Ethical attitudes may include integrity, honesty, equality, and a range of other positive attributes. Those who make decisions with the best interests of others in consideration are demonstrating ethical conduct.”
Here are some of the most common examples of ethical behavior in business:
- No matter what the relationship between two individuals is, or no matter how much disagreement is between them, they still have mutual respect for one another.
- Open communication between all employees and managers ensures less likelihood of workplace violation.
- Individuals and organizations taking responsibility for errors and misunderstandings are also examples of ethical conduct in business.
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Final Thoughts
Hope this article was helpful for you to understand the importance of ethical behavior in business. Having a set of business ethics enables the business to create a standard guideline for values, behavior, and decision-making. Business ethics at every part of the business process helps in enhancing the integrity of the company.
If all the individuals in the business always behave in an ethical manner, this helps in creating a great reputation for the business and helps the company to reap long-term financial rewards. How do you think a business can implement ethical behavior at its initial stage? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.
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soumava goswami
A passionate writer and an avid reader, Soumava is academically inclined and loves writing on topics requiring deep research. Having years of content writing experience, Soumava also loves creating blogs in other domains, including digital marketing, business, technology, travel, and sports.
