Contents 1. Introduction 2. What Is Business Ethics 3. The 10 Benefit Essay Example For Students

Contents 1. Introduction 2. What Is Business Ethics? 3. The 10 Benefit Essay s of Business Ethics 4. Case Study on Nestle 4.1. The Impact of Business Ethics on Nestle 4.2. Nestles view on Business Ethics 4.3. The Implications of Business Ethics on Stakeholders 5. Conclusion Introduction Businesses have power through their ability to spend vast amounts of money. They have the ability to enhance or change situations that the common individual does not. As organisations affect many people, they have obligations to their employees, consumers, community and the world. They have a responsibility to conduct business in a way that is not harmful and which positively benefits as many people as possible and themselves. Although this sounds simple, it is easier said than done! as there will always be a conflict of interest between various groups of people. Any decisions made by businesses need to be made with an informed awareness of the specific situation and then act according to some sort of system of principals which is Business Ethics. What is Business Ethics? Business ethics is exactly the same as normal ethics, and that is knowing what is right or wrong, and learning what is right and what is wrong in a business environment. Then doing the right thing, but the right thing is not as straightforward as explained in many business ethics books. Most ethical dilemmas in the workplace are not simply a matter of Should she steal from him? or Should he lie to his boss? Businesses cannot function without ethics, why? Society dictates a set of rules and conformities and seeing as all businesses strive after common goals it means that these goals can only be achieved on the basis of standards, values and morals in society. It can be assumed that business life has to be called moral as well. As in society, standards and values are spontaneously formed once people come together and start behaving, likewise, business life becomes exactly the same and thats when morals come into effect, and when businesses decide on implicit or explicit ways to achieve certain goals and then are agreed on. Businesses in general are working on the basis of an ethics that settles different interests. The standards and values within companies can be characterised as mutual respect. In this respect it is in everyones interest, and is considering people as an end in themselves, not as a means, reciprocity and fairness. This ethics is passed down and filtered to a group of stakeholders who have an interest in the company. These parties usually are: personnel, customers, suppliers, subcontractors, shareholders, society and those who speak on behalf of the environment and future generations Many ethicists say theres always a right thing to do based on moral principle, and others believe the right thing to do depends on the situation, ultimately its up to the individual on what they do and on what they believe to be the right thing is. Sometimes the right thing is not necessarily the best thing to do. Many philosophers consider ethics to be the science of conduct. Twin Cities consultants Doug Wallace and John Pekel (of the Twin Cities-based Fulcrum Group) explain that ethics includes the fundamental ground rules by which we live our lives. Many professionals in ethics say that new ethical beliefs are state of the art legal matters, and that what becomes an ethical issue of today is then later made into a law. Values that say how we should behave are said to be moral values, values such as respect, honesty, fairness, responsibility, etc. Statements about how these values should be implemented are sometimes called moral or ethical principles. The concept of business ethics has been seen to mean various things to different people, but usually its knowing what is right or wrong in the workplace and doing whats right in regard to effects of products, services and relationships with stakeholders. Wallace and Pekel say that attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change, times much like those faced now by businesses, both non-profit and for-profit. In times of fundamental change, values that were previously taken for granted are now strongly questioned. Many of these values are no longer followed. Therefore, there are no clear morals to guide todays leaders through difficult problems about what is right or wrong, just vague perceptions of what should and has already been done. A focal point on ethics in the workplace shows and alerts leaders and staff on how they should act. An attention to ethics in the workplaces helps ensure that when leaders and managers are struggling in times of crises and confusion, they retain a strong moral focus. However, attention to business ethics provides numerous other benefits, as well. Note that many people believe that business ethics, with its continuing focus on doing the right thing, only asserts the obvious be good, dont lie,, and so these people dont take business ethics seriously. For many people, these principles can go right out the door during times of stress. Business ethics can be a strong preventative medicine. 10 Benefits of Business Ethics These benefits were attained from http//: www.businessethics.com/index/benefits.htm Many people are used to reading or hearing of the moral benefits of attention to business ethics. However, there are other types of benefits, as well. The following list describes various types of benefits from managing ethics in the workplace. 1. Attention to business ethics has substantially improved society. A matter of decades ago, children in our country worked 16-hour days. Workers limbs were torn off and disabled workers were condemned to poverty and often to starvation. Trusts controlled some markets to the extent that prices were fixed and small businesses choked out. Price fixing crippled normal market forces. Employees were terminated based on personalities. Influence was applied through intimidation and harassment. Then society reacted and demanded that businesses place high value on fairness and equal rights. Anti-trust laws were instituted. Government agencies were established. Unions were organised. Laws and regulations were established. 2. Ethics programs help maintain a moral course in turbulent times. As noted earlier in this document, Wallace and Pekel explain that attention to business ethics is critical during times of fundamental change times much like those faced now by businesses, both non-profit and for-profit. During times of change, there is often no clear moral compass to guide leaders through complex conflicts about what is right or wrong. Continuing attention to ethics in the workplace sensitises leaders and staff to how they want to act. 3. Ethics programs cultivate strong teamwork and productivity. Ethics programs align employee behaviours with those top priority ethical values preferred by leaders of the organisation. Usually, an organisation finds surprising disparity between its preferred values and the values actually reflected by behaviours in the workplace. Ongoing attention and dialogue regarding values in the workplace builds openness, integrity and community critical ingredients of strong teams in the workplace. Employees feel strong alignment between their values and those of the organisation. They react with strong motivation and performance. 4. Ethics programs support employee growth and meaning. Attention to ethics in the workplace helps employees face reality, both good and bad, in the organisation and themselves. Employees feel full confidence they can admit and deal with whatever comes their way. Bennett, in his article Unethical Behaviour, Stress Appear Linked (Wall Street Journal, April 11, 1991, p. Galileo (882 words) Essay This trust comes from a quality image that has been built up for over a century. Nestl? carries out its global social responsibility, firstly, by taking a long term approach to strategic decision making which recognises the interests of our consumers, shareholders, business partners, and the world-wide economies in which we operate. Secondly, our responsibilities and values are reflected by the commitment of management and employees at all levels, to our Corporate Business Principles, which define standards of behaviour for all companies in the Nestl? Group, and are intended to complement applicable legislation and international recommendations. P. Brabeck-Letmathe Chief Executive Officer Nestl? S.A. Nestl? Corporate Business Principles From www.nestle. com Nestl? is committed to the following business principles in all countries. Taking into account local legislation, cultural and religious practice: Nestl?s business objective and that of management and employees at all levels, is to manufacture and market the companys products in such a way as to create value that can be sustained over the long term for consumers, shareholders, employees, business partners and the large number of national economies in which Nestl? operates. Nestl? does not favour short-term profit and at the expense of successful long term business development, but recognises the need to generate profit each year in order to maintain the support of the financial markets, and to finance investments. Nestl? believes that, as a general rule, legislation is the most effective safeguard of ethical conduct, although in certain areas, additional guidance to management and employees in the form of voluntary business principles is beneficial in order to ensure that the hig hest standards are met throughout the organisation. Nestl? is conscious of the fact that the success of a corporation is a reflection of the professionalism, conduct and ethical values of its management and employees, therefore recruitment of the right people, and ongoing training and development are crucial. Nestl? recognises that consumers have a legitimate interest in the company behind the Nestl? brands, and the way in which the Nestl? Company operates. The Impact of Business Ethics on Nestle As you can see nestles whole foundation is based around ethics. As Nestle is a global company they have to take in many factors when considering their ethical policy, and the fact that they are a global organisation, makes that process one step harder. Being a global company Nestle is affected by different laws around the globe. Nestles reputation is paramount to them so by having a strict code of ethics is to their advantage as consumer awareness is growing with each and every day. More and more people are becoming concerned and disturbed by moral issues surrounding companies, if a company does a certain action that consumers dislike, it can have drastic effects to revenues. Nestle have had first hand experience of the power of consumers, as not so long ago was involved in allegations that it was supplying unsafe addictive baby milk supplements to mothers in the 3rd world. This brought on an outrageous response from consumers all around the world, as this was seen to be immoral and totally unacceptable by such a large well-known and respected organisation as Nestle. As these allegations spread, it was devastating to Nestle as many retail outlets began to boycott Nestle by removing all Nestle products from the shelves. This boycott was done for several reasons by different outlets, the reason for this was because of consumers. If other companies were seen to be siding with Nestle, then that could conflict with their own ethical policies and consumers could be deterred by that fact. With the introduction and implementation of a strict and concise ethical policy, Nestle has seemed to redeem themselves by ensuring a good upstream communication. Nestle have also reached back into the good books by promoting their codes of ethics by various medias and making them readily available to the public. A list of Nestle ethics can be found on their web site, this list has covered everything from environmental issues to child labour, by doing this they have appealed to the moral issues facing everyday people and the emotions of its consumers. As Nestles ethics are so detailed and cover almost every aspect of moral dilemmas in various societies, Nestle now have the responsibility to live up to their word, and make sure that this policy does exactly what it says. The impact that this will have on them will be great, as it will be a fairly costly process to monitor all of these conditions globally. This would also have a positive effect in the respects of its consumers, as in this age the consumer market is more competitive than it ever was, and Nestle need to be seen as a consumer friendly organisation, sympathetic, moral and ethical. Consumers would see this as Nestle doing something beneficial and good for people. Implications of Business Ethics on Stakeholders The implications on stakeholders of Nestle is plain and simple, whatever Nestle do, so do they. What is meant by this is as follows; any actions that are taken upon Nestle than the stakeholders are doing these actions also, it can also be called, guilt by association. Any stakeholders also must abide by the ethics policies set out by Nestle, as guilt by association also functions the opposite way. Any actions deemed unethical or any unethical behaviour by either party can result in harm for the other, a classic lose-lose situation, therefore upstream communication is essential for these ethics policies to be adhered to. The impact on all stakeholders can be a great strain, as Nestle have a very thourough and comprehensive ethics policy, to conform to this could take a great deal of time, Conclusion What is Business Ethics? Plain and simple, ethics is the choice between right and wrong. BibliographyFrancis, David R. (1991, June). Prevent Trouble by Improving Ethics. Christian Science Monitor, p. 9. Fulcrum Consulting Group, 1093 Snelling Ave. South, Saint Paul, MN 55116. Phone 1-800-55-ETHIC. Gandz, J. Bird, F. G. (1989, Autumn). Designing Ethical Organizations. Business Quarterly, 54(2), 108-112. Genfan, H. (1987, November). Formalizing Business Ethics. Training and Development Journal, pp. 35-37. 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