Ethics And Social Responsibilities

1079 Words3 Pages

Introduction

This paper will examine the statement, “Strict government regulations are necessary to make companies behave ethically.” It will also examine the impact of government regulations have on business ethics and social responsibility along with the chosen statement. Also, this paper will defend the position of the author with relevant business examples and appropriate references.

As a manager, we bring along with us our own concepts of what is right and what is wrong. Every decision that is made, for better or worse is the application of these values to the question at hand. This is made more difficult by the pressures of organizational life. There are pressures surrounding us from all angles. (I.e. productivity, competition, bosses) Sometimes managers make decisions which conflict with their own or society’s values because of what they see as the pressures of the business world. But what is the right thing to do when it comes to social responsibility? Is the decision that was made also ethically correct?

“Strict government regulations are necessary to make companies behave ethically.” Business ethics defines how a company integrates core values – such as honesty, trust, respect, and fairness – into its policies, practices, and decision making. Business ethics also involves a company’s compliance with legal standards and adherence to internal rules and regulations. In today’s world, a large number of companies are designing values-based, globally consistent programs that give employees a level of ethical understanding that allows them to make appropriate decisions, even when faced with new challenges.

The scope of business ethics has expanded to encompass a company’s actions with regard not only to how it treats its employees and obeys the law, but to the nature and quality of relationships it wishes to have with stakeholders including shareholders, customers, business partners, suppliers, the community, the environment, and future generations. Some important issues that have been faced recently are: conflicts of interest, financial integrity, corruption and bribery, consumer privacy, and ethical advertising. If the government enforced stronger policies to keep companies in compliance, then scandals like Enron would have never happened. Think of all of those employees affected by losing all their retirement that they believed that they had by investing back into their company.

Government regulations are fairly clear cut when it comes to outlining what is acceptable and what is not.

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