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Today into Tomorrow Business ethics has evolved through time and across disciplines into a discipline that is one of the most important topics in the field of business. If you think business ethics is crucial in today’s scandal-ridden era, then just wait a few years. The reasons for running ethical businesses are only going to get more compelling??as well as more complex??over the coming decade, suggests a new global survey conducted by the Human Resource Institute HRS) and commissioned by American Management Association (AMA).
The question is: ‘Why should businesses behave ethically? ” The top-ranked reason is “to protect a company’s brand and reputation,” closely followed by the desire to “do the right thing. ” Highlighting the facts, business ethics has both bottom-line and moral implications for business professionals. Recent surveys have been solicited to obtain information into the next decade of business ethics. It has been predicted that factors such as protecting the rand, establishing customer trust, and winning investor confidence will only get more critical.
It was also foretold that globalization will be the number one business driver of ethics in 10 years’ time. After all, globalization is not only going to intensify market competition, it’s going to make establishing organization-wide ethical corporate cultures and standards more complex. Will the red-hot market competition, brought on by globalization, will lead to shadier business conduct in the future? What about “environmental issues? This is just of the couple of questions we are faced with into tomorrow.
Other research on business ethics has demonstrated that corporate cultures play an even greater role than formal programs when it comes to preventing unethical behaviors in organizations. But what processes can actually ensure such a culture? If an organization has leaders who simply don’t “walk the talk” when it comes to ethics, there’s little hope of maintaining a strong ethical culture. As for specific programs and practices, a corporate code of conduct is viewed s being most important.
Such a code must reflect and reinforce the values and principles of an organization. Rounding out the top five programs are “ethics training for all members of the organization,” “CARS programs,” “ombudsman services,” and “help-lines. ” In summary, employees need to have a code to set the ethics foundation, training to help people truly understand it, and programs that permit them to inquire about and report ethical violations. In conclusion, there is still much to be done to understand and improve business ethics globally.
The academic community can support business ethics with more research to determine the role of both the individual and organizational culture in building an effective ethics program. Businesses need to remain open to learning more about how to build an effective ethics initiative and understanding the importance of managing the internal organizational culture to maintain a commitment to integrity and transparency. Personal character and ethical leadership will continue to be key ingredients to improving business ethics in the future.