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Code Of Conduct Analysis

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Introduction
The firm’s position in society is getting stronger. Business plays alongside governments and are seen as corporate citizenships, awarded with both the rights of citizenship but also responsibility of good behavior (Crouch, 2011). No firm hence acts in isolation, creating externalities that need to be recognized and managed. The ethical behavior causing these externalities can be managed formally through codes of conduct (Crane, A. & Matten, D., 2010).
The purpose and the effectiveness of code of conducts could however be questioned. Who is charged responsible for the negative externalities of businesses and to whom are we laying our faith in to be responsible for the firm to act ethical when using code of conducts? This paper …show more content…
It could be argued that code of conducts is implemented in order to ease the moral dilemmas of the employees since ethical decision may include a lot of complexity. Explicit outlines of what is ethically desired and expected from the employees will make it easier to act correct and furthermore create a coherent corporate moral and reduce the negative externalities of the firm (TenBos, 1997). Tag Oil is for example in their code of conduct guiding their employees by stating that they are “obliged to be straightforward and honest” in their work (Appendix 1.). It would appear that the normative core of this argument to implement code of ethics, is one of utilitarian character since the consequences is beneficial for the firm, its employees and the society. Furthermore the code could be justified by virtue ethics, where honesty and sincerity is values appreciated in business (Crane & Matten, 2010). However the firm’s intentions could be …show more content…
To substitute an individual’s own moral impulse and solely put faith in the code is therefore dubious (Crane & Matten, 2010, TenBos, 1997).
Furthermore, it could be argued that situations may require another ethical core of the decision-making, than the one that justifies the correct action according to the code of conduct, criticizing ethical absolutism of codes (Crane & Matten; TenBos, 1997). However lack of ethics and difficulty of making judgement is often a result from the complexity of the situations, and non-proximity towards the issue, making a code nevertheless a helpful tool as a minimum standard, promoting ethical pluralism of codes (Crane & Matten, 2010; TenBos,

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