Ethics in Management

ETHICS IN MANAGEMENT

Ethics in the art of business has always been an area importance and especially specifically in management. Ethics is defined as the principles, values, and beliefs that define what is right and what is wrong behavior. Every business has a code of ethics, whether it be written or just commonly understood. Research shows that 97% of employees polled from numerous businesses said they have a written code of ethics to follow on a daily basis. This goes to show that ethics are important, needed and appreciated throughout businesses all over the world.

In Bernhard Schwab’s article he begs the question “Do good ethics always make for a good business?” (page 499). The answer is technically no, because you can have the most ethical, greatest people you ever met that have their own business but their products or services are subpar, the business is probably going to fail. A successful business needs a mix of both ethics and proper business management/techniques. Bernhard agrees with me saying that ethics are great in society but do not make a great business; great products and services make a great business. Ethics are crucial when dealing with customers but the reason the customer came to the business in the first place is for the product, not moral code.

Secondly, John Kaler describes how business ethics, management and political philosophy all come together to make sense of business ethics. Kaler says “In short, business ethics is a branch or sub-discipline political philosophy. As such it can properly be called the ‘political conception’” (page 258). What he is getting at here is that a code of ethics is almost like a law, that is should be enforced when not taken seriously or disobeyed. I agree with him, a code of ethics should be taken seriously like a law because it presents and describes how your business operates and could ultimately make or break a customer’s sale.

Thirdly, Weaver talks about business and its relationship with the local culture’s ethics. Weaver says that businesses need to adapt to their surroundings and base their ethics off of the culture (page 7). He says this because the customer is a part of the culture and as a business you want to relate as much as possible to them to keep their interest in your business. Weaver argues that business in the United States compared to the Philippines is greatly different because the U.S.’s culture is very different from the Philippines’ (page 4). Culture definitely affects the way a business designs their code of ethics and how they conduct business as a whole.

The code of ethics has always been an “issue” in business management. Ever since there was the first business there has been an importance on ethics. If a business has a poor set of ethics and do not hold themselves responsible to it, odds are their business will flourish to full potential