Ethics in Business Organizations in the 21st Century
Mom Terfa Michael
retcomsemaj@gmail.com +2348066314754
It is common to hear one say, ‘after all this English, you no fit shake body.’ Such a statement is usually bone out of expectation for tips; it could also mean a request for favour from an individual most especially after a successful business transaction. This is one out of the many situations that draw the attention of business people to unethical behaviours in business organizations.
Business ethics are knowledge about a person’s nature and business nature. It discloses good to bad, right to wrong, true to false, fair to unfair nature of business. Ethics have become an organizational priority. It includes everything from the way you deal with employees to the rules and regulations you set in place within your business organization and have to be guided by ethical code. In the 21st century, ethics is neither a luxury nor an option because there is a growing impatience within organizations with selfish and irresponsible actions that impoverish organizations, while enriching the crafty. This action can tarnish an organization’s image.
Most business actions and choices, decisions and judgments have ethical aspects, since they specifically involve values that help or harm people and indicate character. The actions of hiring and firing, choosing suppliers, setting prices, establishing objectives, allocating resources, determining dividends, disciplining workers, planning schedules, awarding contracts, all involve ethical choices. Even the most trivial decisions that appear to be made on purely technical or economic criteria have ethical aspects. It is on this note that many Managers in different business organizations who have respect for moral values have spent time making important choices such as firing people who don’t conduct themselves with integrity in contrast to those tolerating bad behaviour and justifying it as “not really illegal” thereby creating a climate that ultimately becomes corrosive.
Furthermore, ethics in business will show stakeholders the necessary ethical boundaries that will ensure that businesses are carried out with utmost decency. This will establish good corporate and personal image and reputation (build and groom value in organizations), build good interpersonal relationships as people would know when and where to draw the line in relationships, help entrepreneurs and employees know how to conduct themselves, deal with grey areas that may arise in the business and make Managers trustees of whatever material possession they find in their custody rather than being enslaved by it.
Therefore, business organizations in the 21st century can employ a number of ways in order to maximize the impact ethics bring to bear if properly practiced. Employees and employers need to exhibit high sense of self awareness and management of time, exhibition of human relations, striving for excellence, self-discipline, personal grooming and consciousness of individuals and managers are all required so that their business activities can benefit all stakeholders.
More so, as an organizational priority, ethics will not only affect decision making but also, and ultimately, institutional culture. To achieve this ideal today, there must be an alignment process that integrates business ethics with mission, vision, values, strategies and goals. Ethical values are essentially social in nature, therefore, this alignment process will be concerned with relationships and defining relational expectations. The goal of an ethical organizational culture is the greater good of all. Managers and subordinates should ensure high sense of responsibility and loyalty to their own roles in executing assigned task in a manner that exhibit expected ethical organizational conduct, the interaction between superior officers and subordinates should be one that give timely reports and feedbacks, the company’s customers and suppliers should have a sense of being treated fairly because they are human beings who have feelings which shouldn’t be exploited or abused, observing and seeing how your business operations affect the people and the environment among others will go a long way in curtailing any unethical behaviour that may arise.
To determine and know what action is required at a particular time, certain questions relating to the operations, safety and habitable nature of the environment where the organization operates are always to be asked by those who manage the organization and also ensure that the answers they get and action(s) required conform to international or global ethical best practices.
More than ever, today’s organizations need to advance beyond a view of ethics as necessary for safeguarding their reputation and thereby avoiding bad media coverage, or as mere compliance with forced regulations. A great opportunity awaits organizations alert to the potential of ethical values in shaping the future. To this end, a high sense of probity is required when dealing with organizational information that should be maintained as confidential. Management has a duty of ensuring that authority is assumed where necessary and roles are played by concerned persons. This can strengthen the accountability process and enhance proper resource utilization. Thereby, crystalizing the gains for the benefit of the business organization in the future. This can be ascertained in the way employees handle confidential matters, utilize resources and how management apply probity with respect to changes and challenges they may encounter in exercising their authority.
In addition, there are generally, accepted key factors for creating a value-based culture for organizations in the 21st century. These key factors can be maximized within business organizations by practicing shared core values of solidarity, rationality, fairness, efficiency, refraining from willingly harming other human beings (compassion), accepting responsibilities and honesty. It will be proper for organizations to use a common language that allows them to communicate readily and comfortably about issues that are typically sensitive and difficult to discuss. Effective training programs provide the common language needed. There is increasing need for commitment at the top level because Ethics training is meaningless without top-level executives who walk the talk. When leaders consistently reward those, who choose to do what is right, it helps to create an ethical culture more than anything else could. The moral courage to face up to ethical dilemmas and moral wrong doings firmly and confidently without flinching or retreating is also required.
Finally, business is a sequence of economic activities, involving the use and exchange of resources for money. Business organizations operate in a social and natural environment and should be accountable to the society in which they operate and grow. Irrespective of the demands and pressures upon it, business is built to be ethical for at least two reasons. Firstly, whatever the business does affects it stakeholders. Secondly, every business action has ethical as well as unethical paths. Business organizations should endeavour to always follow the ethical way – the better way!
