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There are four Questions In this assignment. The student should answer all the four questions. Marks allotted 100. s/ Each Question carries equal marks (25 marks) unless specified explicitly. Questions IQ -What in your opinion is Business Ethics and what is not? Do you think Business ethics builds in values for a Business to sustain itself in a world of grueling competition? Business ethics are often guided by law, while other times provide a basic framework that businesses may choose to follow in order to gain public acceptance.
Business ethics (also corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise In a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business conduct and Is relevant to The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the interaction of profit- maximizing behavior with non-economic concerns. Interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the sass and sass, both within major corporations and within academia.
For example, today most major corporations promote their commitment to non-economic values under headings such as ethics codes and social responsibility charters. Adam Smith said, “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. ” Business ethics are implemented in order to ensure that a certain required level of trust exists between consumers and various forms of market participants with businesses.
For example, a portfolio manager must give the same consideration to the portfolios of family members and small individual investors. Such practices ensure that the public is treated fairly. Business ethics means taking the right course’. Acting ethically takes into account all the factors of doing business. Sustainability is about meeting the challenges of ensuring that future generations can enjoy the same kind of lifestyles people enjoy today. This naturally involves taking a long-term perspective on balancing economic, environmental and social impacts of business.
Q-What is CARS (Corporate Social Responsibility ) ? How is it different from Philanthropy ? Is it unethical on the part of the organization to gain benefits out of its CARS related activities? Give examples. Corporate social responsibility (CARS) is also known by a number of other names: reporter responsibility, corporate accountability, corporate ethics, corporate citizenship, sustainability, stewardship, triple bottom line and responsible business, to name Just a few. CARS is an evolving concept that currently does not have a universally accepted definition.
Generally,CARS is understood to be the way firms integrate social, environmental and economic concerns into their values, culture, decision making, strategy and operations in a transparent and accountable manner and thereby establish better practices within the firm, create wealth and improve society. ND early sass after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization’s activities have an impact. When a small business decides to donate a portion of profits to a charity, this action qualifies as philanthropy.
You make either a one-time or ongoing commitment to give money to a non-profit organization, and that organization uses the money to further its mission. Whereas, corporate social responsibility encompasses any practice that improves the lives of your work force, community and the environment. Though it is not unethical to gain from corporate social responsibility; however, it is accessory for company to not fall in the trap of gaining money. For instance, organizations do spend a lot of money in Nags for the child development. Here, they need to ensure that the Nags to which they are contributing must act on the ground level.
It is because there are Nags that may promise advertisements of the companies during their events. In such cases, without looking at the return, companies need to work with a single focus of helping the needy children and bring a change in their lives. Question No 3: a) Explain the corporate social responsibility towards the educational institutions ) Explain the significance of ethics in business planning and decision making a) Today, public education faces the mounting challenges of standardized testing, strained budgets, teacher retention, and global workforce competition.
Businesses have begun to take a more targeted approach in their corporate social responsibility programs and are seeking to impact areas that have a correlation with their own business goals. For many businesses, education is an important part of their plans, since the needs exist in all geographic areas, across all subject areas, and for all kinds of people. The bottom line is that educational outreach efforts have the potential to make a real and lasting difference for all players involved.
Companies get involved in education for a number of strategic reasons, including building a positive reputation and goodwill among consumers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders; developing brand recognition, whether to increase consumer loyalty, boost sales, or establish the company as an industry leader; building a more educated workforce; raising consumer awareness about a particular issue; and fulfilling a company mission or mandate. All ethical questions are focused on making a decision. In determining right of ethics, can be very helpful. The code is the baseline by which a person, group, or organization can measure the facts of a case (including whether a determination can be made impartially). It is also important to develop an organization’s value statement to reflect your ethical values as well; this will help employees understand your commitment and direction.
When analysis and evaluation begins, the rights of the individual and group, the equality of treatment, and the steps taken to remedy the issue or situation in a way hat best serves the organization’s vision or identity must all come into play. By examining each of these elements, a decision that’s cohesive, consistent and appropriate will begin to form. Finally, that decision must be implemented. Question No 4: a) Explain the factors influencing ethical environment a service organization. Ethical environment is a general perception organizational employees have about whether the organization is ethical.
In an ethical climate you would see the following things: ; Employees have a lot of skill in recognizing ethical issues ; Success is fined not Just by the results, but also the way they are obtained ; Employees continually strive to maintain high ethical standards ; Employees have a lot of knowledge regarding how to handle ethical issues ; Employees rarely feel pressured to compromise the organization’s ethical standards to achieve business objectives Although there is a human tendency to blame a few “bad apples” for wrongdoing in organizations, the inconvenient truth is that the organizational environment-?including the leadership, practices, and climate-?is the most critical factor in creating ethical organizations. ) How can the character, goals and aspirations of leader contribute to business ethics of the organization? In his recent paper on ethical reasoning, eminent psychologist Robert Sternberg suggests that organizations suffer from ethical drift – a gradual, unconscious lowering of moral standards. While businesses compete for profit, the boundaries between right and wrong become blurred and people’s ethical frame of reference shifts. He focus becomes navigating the system, rather than doing what’s right. Instead we need leaders with a strong moral compass. They, in turn, need to teach not Just right s. Wrong, but a way of negotiating ethical dilemmas so that their followers always act with integrity. C) What are the ethical dilemmas regarding competitive intelligence? Competitive intelligence (C’) is receiving more notoriety in every industry sector. This discipline can aid companies to make better strategic decisions by gathering information about their industry. The ethical dilemmas regarding competitive intelligence: 1 . Misrepresentation is the most common issue that subdivides many CLC practitioners in many ambiguous ethical issues.
Misrepresentation is falsely identifying oneself in order to receive or access information that would not have been provided if one’s identity was used. 2. Omitting some details about one’s identity Not revealing one’s identity in a public venue after overhearing classified information 3. Another misrepresentation issue is not disclosing the true intent on how the information will be used. 4. Client conflict arises mostly with CIA practitioners who are consultants. CLC consultants agree that there should never service competing clients at the same time because the practitioner may act in favor of one of the clients and share classified information about a competitor.