Ethics in Business

2 Pages 599 Words

When taking about the subject of “business ethic,” it may sound like an oxymoron. As Wartick & Wood assert, “Business ethics is based upon some normative concepts about they way business should operate” (Wartick & Wood, 1998, p. 124). Since this day and age we are living in, business practices mostly seem to be publicized as unethical, the word “should” that is emphasized in Wartick and Woods definition of business ethics stands out.
People tend to be more apt to uphold a higher code of ethics in a personal or societal context, as opposed to a business context. There is also the ever present “what comes first, the chicken or the egg” rhetoric. Is it the responsibility of the people within the organization to uphold a code of ethics? Since a corporation cannot enforce ethicality amongst its members since ethics themselves cannot be imposed on others, it is the organizations responsibility to find a way to ensure members fit into the code of ethics they promote or at least follow it when working within the organization.
Virtually all decision-making in the business setting is affected, either positively or negatively, by ethicality. All organizations are imbued with their own code of formal and informal code of ethics. The formal code of ethics comes in various forms, such as vision and mission statements, and written policies in which the organization chooses how business should be conducted. The informal codes of ethics are the unspoken rules; how people relate interpersonally, and if there is any punishment when the formal code of ethics is violated.
When someone joins an organization, they bring with them their own personal values, and morality shaped by their own personal and professional experiences. “If the formal and informal organizational ethics are consistent, one is left merely to decide whether the organizational ethical climate is compatible with his/her individual ethics. If compatibility ...