Business Ethics Reflection Paper

Business ethics has been a very worthwhile course that has shown me new ways of seeing companies and products. I not only learned about the legal compliances that businesses have to address and the laws that exist to protect certain individuals, but I also learned real life events that deal with the ethical or unethical conduct of companies. Business ethics has changed my mindset from being slightly conformist to now evaluating and questioning the ethical state of any business. I am more informed now that I took the course than I was before. I learned that corporate culture influences whether a company is ethical or unethical; and that one should investigate into the corporate culture before applying for a job there in order to not be surrounded

There are a lot of grey areas and factors to consider. The class did not give me the answers on how to solve an ethical dilemma and what one should do to be ethical. Instead, the class gave me new perspectives and factors to consider before making a conclusion about what is ethical or unethical. Different countries and businesses have standards of what it means to be ethical, which is something people have to take into consideration. What might be seen as ethical in Japan and Saudi Arabia, might not be seen as ethical in the U.S.

The course also taught me ways that businesses can control or prevent unethical behavior. A company should have an ethics officer, a hotline, a codes of conduct, an ethics program, good communication about ethics from top management, and ethical role models, to name a few. It taught me that most people will behave unethically if that behavior is rewarded and if performance relied on employees behaving

One of the films was Milton Hershey School. Milton Hershey, after making a lot of profit in his business, decided to build a school for the orphans, which is now used for any child 4-18 with problems at home. Milton was an example of corporate citizenship and how companies can help society after they have met all the company’s needs. Overall, business ethics gave me the information and assistance to strive to be an ethical person and look into company’s ethical conduct to determine if they behave ethically or