Business Ethics & Social Responsibility Research Paper

Business Ethics & Social Responsibility - Research Paper Example This essay stresses that business ethics are moral standards and guidelines that guide the conduct of business founded on the concept of what is right, fair and wrong. Majority of business people rely on their consciences for decision making and fall back on their own religious and moral backgrounds for guidance. Business people are on the other hand affected by their immediate colleagues and superiors when making decisions and at times feel pressured to behave in unethical manner when aiming to make profits. This paper declares that many firms have in the recent past made efforts to establish and develop codes of conduct to be used as standards to guide managers in decision making in business. Corporate responsibility on the other hand is a business philosophy that stresses the need for companies and organizations to behave well as corporate citizens by conducting their marketing and production activities in such away to prevent environmental pollution or exploitation as well as obeying the law. Some firms due to their developed code of conduct behave in a more socially responsible way, partially because their managers need to do so and partially due to fear of consumer pressure groups, environmentalists and the media, as well as their concern for their public reputation. This is actually because of the argument that social responsible behavior pays off in the long run even when it includes particular short term sacrifices. (Solomon, 2004). This paper seeks to develop standards for ethic al and moral conduct in the form of a Code of Ethics. The paper will reflect upon my own ethical standards and consider from where my values and principles emerged and how they have evolved over time. Through this, the paper will include references to the moral philosophy or social issues that affect my approach to the development of this Code of Ethics. My Code of Ethics will contain the following components: Statement of values, and why the principles are non-negotiable, the moral philosophy or social issues affecting my approach to ethics, training and communication plan, implementation plan, plan for the role of leadership, corporate social issues, monitoring and enforcing plan, ethics auditing plan, and considerations for working internationally. Development of Code of Ethics involves prescribing values and principles that a firm aspires to operate in consistency to. The Code of Ethics contains the â€Å"thou shalts† and specifies the operation’s ethical rules. Mo st ethicists have argued that the development and continuous dialogue around the values of the Code of Ethics is very significant and pivotal to the business organizations. However, other philosophers have disagreed on the value of Code of Ethics and assert that too much emphasis is often put on them though the codes are not influential in ethics management at workplace. In quite larger organizations with multiple departments and programs, an overall corporate Code of Ethics is mandatory to guide and separate each department or program. I would not develop my Code of Ethics out of Legal departments or Human Resource departments alone. This is because, the Code of Ethics would be insufficient if only intended to ensure the legality of policies. I will do this to ensure that all other people see the program of ethics as driven from top management (Boatright, 2008). On reflection upon my own ethical standards and consideration of where my values and principles emerged and there evolvem ent over time, I would say that ethical principles as standards of conduct define my own conduct of behavior and therefore emerge from within myself. These principles help in establishing the criteria by which other people will judge my decisions and guide me in making such decisions as well. It is important to note that, poor personal ethics ultimately result into poor business ethics. In this regard, my own ethical standards and principles from which I would develop my Code o