Business Ethics Can Be Denoted As Written Or Unwritten Codes Of Morals, Values, And Principles
That governs actions and decisions in a company. In the business world, standards are set for determining good and bad behavior and decision-making. Business ethics is a broad topic, covering everything from corporate governance to corporate social responsibility.
Business ethics is a subjective term. However, it is easy to identify unethical business practices in an organization, such as employing child labor, taking bribes, or illegally using copyrighted materials.
When ethical guidelines are followed, trust is developed between the employees and management, as well as the public and the corporation. Thus, business ethics leads to a more productive workplace.
Importance Of Business Ethics
Every company should have their own moral principles and guidelines. Following business ethics has more benefits than you think. It will help you to keep and attract employees, customers, and investors.
For example, consider that you are an “energy drink” manufacturing company and you’ve proclaimed on the labels and advertisements that you don’t add any preservatives to the drink, then You should adhere to the claims you’ve made. If you disobey your claims and sell the product by adding preservatives, then it is considered as unethical business practice. It will deteriorate your brand and eventually, you will lose trust from the customers. It also damages the reputation and keep away the stakeholders. Therefore, following business ethics is very important.
Reputation is one of the most important assets of a company and it is also one of the most difficult tasks to rebuild once it is lost. You will start building a good reputation with consistent ethical behavior. Potential Investors and shareholders are likely to get attracted to the companies which adhere to their moral guidelines and promises they’ve made; this keeps the company’s share price high.
To retain a positive reputation and image, businesses must be committed to operating on an ethical foundation as it relates to respecting the surrounding environment, treatment of employees, and good market practices in terms of customer treatment and price.
Employees also feel comfortable and wants to stay in the business for the long term when working with a company which has strong business ethics. This increases the productivity and reduces the labor turnover. They are also bound to follow the footsteps of the organization. When an employee does his work with integrity and honesty, and by following the guidelines, it will eventually benefit the company.
Leadership Ethics
The conduct of the management team sets the tone for how all the employees behave at the workplace. If people at the top follow ethical practices and behavior, others will do the same. Leading by action and example helps employees make better decisions. In turn, it helps the organization do well as a whole.
How?
It improves the ability to retain and attract top-performing individuals. It even elevates the performance of people that aren’t doing good at work.
Employee Ethics
As we said in the last point, employees follow what they observe around them in the company. If business ethics are set in order, employees make better decisions quickly. It increases productivity.
Work driven by honesty and passion benefits everyone. Employees that care about integrity take more responsibility. Also, perform at a higher level and don’t require hand-holding to finish their tasks.
Here are few other benefits of business ethics:
- Stops malpractices in business
- Improves confidence of the customers
- Helps in making business a robust one
- Protects employees and their interests
- Develops good relations among stakeholders
- Allows for smooth functioning of operations
- Promotes healthy competition among stakeholders
Create Ethical Culture In Organization
Define company ethics
Every company has spoken and unspoken rules about how to act within a company environment. Give lucid explanations about what is okay and what is not okay. This includes behavior towards other employees, customers, and the public. Sometimes these guidelines are different for different companies.
Ensure that you have the necessary tools
It is the duty of the Human resource department to ensure that the employees are equipped with adequate tools which enable them to behave ethically in the organization. In this case, the HR professionals can go with an HR software where they can be equipped with better tools & in turn help employees receive the same.
Strengthen the Behavior You Want
Strengthening the behavior in an employee is an easy task. Offering awards and recognition is one of the best ways to encourage the ethical behavior you want to reinforce in an employee. To create a strong ethical culture in an organization, there has to be a constant communication about ethical values among the members. You can also specifically explain about the behaviors you do not want to inculcate
Focus on building skills
Create workshops that improve the ethical culture in the company. It is the duty of the organization to build and develop ethical skills among the members rather than just stating the behaviors which you encourage and behaviors that you do not. This should also develop ethical behavior and problem-solving skills in an employee.
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