Ethical Behavior in Management and Business
Ethics is the term we give to our concern for good behavior. Its human nature to not only is
concerned with our own personal well being, but also that of others and of human society
as a whole. Basically, treat others how you would like to be treated. Business ethics is very
similar to normal every day ethics. It is related in a way that it involves being fully aware
of what were doing including the complications and consequences of our actions. Being
aware of ethics in business requires us to be aware of two things. First, we have to have a
need with complying with rules, such as laws, customs and expectations of the community,
the principles of morality and the policies of the organization and such general concerns as
the needs of others and fairness. Second, we should know how the products and services of
the business, the actions of its members, could affect its employees, the community and the
society as a whole, either positively or negatively (Ethics 5).
Good ethics means good business is the viewpoint of many businesses. Businesses and
their managers take ethics seriously. They reason their way through ethical problems and
acceptable solutions. Although there is always the reverse, where businesses give the
appearance of success for long periods of time in spite of unethical practices. The news
today is overloaded with stories of the fallen heroes and devastated businesses that
ultimately result from deception and unethical solutions to the business problems (5).
Many managers say that they run into ethical dilemmas because they are involved in
relationships with people being employees, peers, and bosses with whom they have to
work with and on whom they are dependent. The problem is complicated because these
people have needs that are contrary to a business goals and competing needs. The manager
is forced to either chose between the business or the person, being a peer or employee, and
an unethical choice will affect the relationship of the other for years to come (Ethics 6).
Businesses themselves have several responsibilities many of them being ethical. First, they
have the priority of making jobs (106). Once they create a job, it their responsibility to see
that hard work and talent are fairly rewarded. When employees feel they are being treated
fairly and with respect, they return the favor back to their management by following orders
and doing any task assigned to them (107). If they feel they are being treated badly, they
