Ethical behaviour in business

Ethical behaviour in business Ethics generally means motivation for group of people or community for ideas.   Attributes like honesty, trust, responsibility and your behaviour towards other people. (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_ethical_behaviour , 2010). Ethical behaviour is very useful in all platforms of life and work. In our life it is helpful in all different relationships like manager and employee, employee and client or even in personal life relationships like father and son, Student and teacher. The use of ethical behaviour always pays us in long run. Ethics are a set of principles on which our life runs. Without ethics our life is worthless as we dont know what we are doing. Initially we learn ethics from our parents, teacher and society where we live. Ethical principles of ones life define their personality and values of life. It is a stepping stone of the success. A person cannot become successful in their life without having good ethical behaviour as your ethic reflects on other people. For example good for good and bad for bad. In this global world we deal with people from different places with different set of ethical behaviour considering their religious and cultural behaviour. While dealing with people from different culture and religion we need know their ethics so that we dont hurt them in anyway. In addition to this, positive approach is also a main concept in Ethical behaviour. It helps you to set aims and targets in your life. On other side negative ethical approach results in conflicts, loss and failure. A good example is Adolf Hitler whose negative ethical behaviour affects thousands of people. Benefits of Ethical behaviour are as follows:- The first thing is that it can grow a business to great heights. This is because doing what you should do will develop a discipline which will boost your work practices to a high level and set a high standard. It has been seen to promote teamwork among workers. This is because there is great respect placed in fundamental issues in the work place. It also builds confidence which will translate to trust among workers. Trust in your career is one invaluable attribute that is able to pave way to progress and great success. A positive ethical behaviour helps to influence others. Ethical business practices include assuring that the highest legal and moral standards are observed in your relationships with the people in your business community. This includes the most important person in business, customer. Short term profit at the cost of losing a customer is long term death for your business. A reputation for ethical decisions builds trust in your business among business associates and suppliers. Strong supplier relationships are critical to a successful business. Consider the problems you might have if you could not supply what the customer needsat the time that they need it. (http://www.entre-ed.org/_teach/ethics.htm) The imperatives of day-to-day organizational performance are so compelling that there is little time or inclination to divert attention to the moral content of organizational decision-making. Morality appears to be so esoteric and qualitative in nature that it lacks substantive relation to objective and quantitative performance. Besides, understanding the meaning of ethics and morality requires the distasteful reworking of long-forgotten classroom studies. What could Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle teach us about the world that confronts organizations approaching the twenty-first century? Possibly a gap in philosophical knowledge exists between organizational executives and administrators of different generations. Yet, like it or not, there has and will continue to be a surge of interest in ethics. The word ethics is often in the news these days. Ethics is a philosophical term derived from the Greek word ethos meaning character or custom. This definition is germane to effective leadership in organizations in that it connotes an organization code conveying moral integrity and consistent values in service to the public. Certain organizations will commit themselves to a philosophy in a formal pronouncement of a Code of Ethics or Standards of Conduct. Having done so, the recorded idealism is distributed or shelved, and all too often that is that. Other organizations, however, will be concerned with aspects of ethics of greater specificity, usefulness, and consistency. (http://construct.haifa.ac.il/~danielp/soc/sims.htm) A good example of ethical behaviour is Hindu ethics. Hindu ethics is mainly subjective or personal, its purpose being to eliminate such mental impurities as greed and egoism, for the ultimate achievement of the highest good. One cannot achieve good ethical behaviour if you have greed and ego in you for others. Hindu ethics defines the humans position in society regarding other people and social welfare. Objectives of Hindu ethics is to help the members of society to rid themselves of self-centredness, cruelty, greed, and other vices, and thus to create an environment helpful to the pursuit of the highest good, which transcends society. Hinduism further speaks of certain universal ethical principles which apply to all human beings irrespective of their position in society or stage in life.( http://www.hinduism.co.za/ethics.htm ) Another example of ethical behaviour is from my practical experience. There are high ethics I have seen at my work place. Ethical behaviour and its effects on other staff members have been considered very seriously. On the team member notice board there is a special corner on which ethical behaviour at work place has been written which is for everyone from high post to entry level. The ethical behaviour is defined very closely to the companys values and culture. The entire employees have given a right to speak if unethical decisions such as cheat, steal etc, have happened at work. Conclusion:- Yes i believe that the use of ethical behaviour will pay off in long run plays a vital role in our life. If a person has a good ethical values he will always be remembered by his colleagues or friends or society. ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR IN BUSINESS WORLD : 2) In business ethics plays a vital role. For success of organization we need to develop a set of values and define the ethical behaviour at workplace. It is very difficult to define ethical behaviour at work place as hardly two people has same set of ethical values but in organization they have to follow values which suites everyone. As we all know that in todays competitive business environment ethical behaviour is must to follow to gain healthy profit and to make a growth for the company or organisation. Ethics work on different proportion in business world. For example: financial sector and sales sector, property sector and etc.of the company or organization. Ethical behaviour works on two paths, good ethical behaviour helps in the progress of the company but unethical behaviour becomes a disaster for the company. Whereas unethical behaviour for the company lead to decrease in the output of the company or organization. It also results in the bankruptcy, loss of customers and decline in production. Ethical leadership is a leadership that is involved in leading in a manner that respects the rights and dignity of others As leaders are by nature in a position of social power, ethical leadership focuses on how leaders use their social power in the decisions they make, actions they engage in and ways they influence others. Leaders who are ethical demonstrate a level of integrity that is important for stimulating a sense of leader trustworthiness, which is important for followers to accept the vision of the leader. These are critical and direct components to leading ethically. The character and integrity of the leader provide the basis for personal characteristics that direct a leaders ethical beliefs, values, and decisions. Individual values and beliefs impact the ethical decisions of leaders. Leaders who are ethical are people-oriented,and also aware of how their decisions impact others, and use their social power to serve the greater good instead of self-serving interests. In ethical leadership it is important for the leader to consider how his or her decisions impact others Ethical leaders prove as boon for the company or an organization as they can lead easily their co-workers and employees because ethical leaders easily deal with different people from different cultures. Ethical leaders works on the principles on the profit of the company. For good organization leader should tell their employees about their performance updates and such values like teamwork, ambition, honesty, efficiency, quality, accomplishment, and dedication. Traditionally, the view of leadership has been that the main goal of leaders is to increase production and profits. The traditional view of leadership is slowly diminishing, as more theorists are asserting that leaders also have the responsibility for ensuring standards of moral and ethical conduct. Good leadership refers not only to competence, but to ethics and transforming people as well. Ethical leaders play an important role in society because they are motivating other people, they are giving a direction to other people to do that work or task like they are telling. They are creating a path for those people those influence from them. you can take a example of Mahatma Gandhi. He will always be remembered by his ethical behaviour as always stood for the good and always thinks about the goodwill of the people and not for himself only. Non-violence is the major thing that people follow from him. Ethics is a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behaviour of individuals and groups. While ethical behaviour is based on a set of values and principles, ethical behaviour goes beyond mere belief; it also encompasses actions of individuals, groups and organizations. For there to be ethical behaviour in an organization, leaders must not only state a belief in a set of actions, their actions as a leader must be in alignment with those values and beliefs. The leader must work to establish clear business practices within the organization that reward and promote positive ethical behaviour and promote the reasoning and consequences of ethics as strongly as they promote business results. In time all individuals and teams must be able to follow the ethical decision-making process involving; moral awareness (recognizing the existence of an ethical dilemma), moral judgment (deciding whats right), and ethical behaviour (taking action to do the right thing) .They can only do this if an organizational culture has been developed that clearly defines its values and supports actions in alignment with those values. Because individuals may have different values and cognitive ability that influences their ability to recognize and act ethically, leaders must ensure that training, rewards, recognition and consequences are clearly defined in the organization in order to help individuals act accordingly.( http://businesstraining.com/resources/promoted-ethical-behaviour-in-modern-world/)