Free Essay

Ethics Reflection

In:

Submitted By anthony100
Words 801
Pages 4
Ethical Reflection
Ethics and social responsibility are key factors when planning one’s personal life or planning for the success of a business. When companies develop strategic plans, they must consider what role ethics will play and how social responsibility will affect the plan keeping stakeholders need at the forefront. If businesses and individuals are making a conscious effort to display ethical behavior, ethical perspectives and beliefs should evolve over time.
Ethics and Social Responsibility
According to Pearce and Robinson (2011) “ethics refers to the moral principles that reflect society’s beliefs about the actions of an individual or a group that are right and wrong” (p. 74). To ensure employees understand the rules and make good ethical decisions, a company’s plan should encompass the beliefs and values that the business and their employees view most important.
Before developing a strategic plan for a company, managers must take into consideration the company’s mission. This mission statement can be used by the company as a way to show employees and customer what the company hopes to accomplish. According to Pearce and Robinson (2011) “The mission statement is a message designed to be inclusive of the expectations of all stakeholders for the company’s performance over the long run” (p. 21). The mission and vision statements can be the baseline for goal-setting and strategic planning while keeping ethics at the core of all decisions.
Pearce and Robinson (2011) stated, “central to the idea that companies should be operated in socially responsible ways in the belief that managers will behave in an ethical manner” (Chapter 3 University of Phoenix, p. 74). With a plan in place and ethical guidelines established, unethical behavior is a possibility which will occur at management or upper level.
Each company will need to understand the four types of social responsibility. The four types include economic, legal, ethical, and discretionary social responsibilities (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). However, managers should keep in mind that in the view of the general public, economic and legal responsibilities are required, ethical responsibility is expected, and discretionary responsibility is desired (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Too many top-level management and executives have acted inappropriately and have violated company policies.
Ethical perspective evolved in the MBA program
In the Masters of Business Administration program (MBA), ethics play a very important role. The team concept may possibly be a good test for ethics and values. Participation impacts the ability to practice patience and develop understanding towards a diverse group of individuals when completing assignments. At times it may seem that some team members may lack communication skills or have a lack of skills, however, we should not make decisions based on personal preferences. There is always doubt to a decision made by a team member to dismiss the person due to personal perception becomes an ethically right or wrong decision. It is important to sustain an ethical profile because it is an asset when judging others.
Each week the papers required the student not only to process the required reading but also require the student research different sources to gather information to support their ideas. Finding ways of documenting where the information was gathered required the student to be ethically responsible. According to the Williams Ethical Awareness Inventory the author stated that ethics was more than actions, it is instead a core belief (2011).
The results from the respect for individual judgment, organizational integration of ethics, and performance integrity showed that there is room for improvement (Williams Institute, 2011). The results show that the need for ethical improvements at the individuals’ current company is needed. These improvements will help management and employee relationships at the workplace. This means that the person has an individual duty or obligation to do what is morally right. Throughout the degree program these ethical perspectives have improved so that the ethical decisions can be made. At some point everyone have to make some type of ethical decision whether personal or professional. Making a right choice does not necessarily increase the good for the decision maker.
In conclusion, this paper has discussed at the role of ethics and social responsibilities involved in developing a strategic plan as well as the strategic plan development that took into consideration the stakeholders needs. Strategic management, social responsibility and ethics were also discussed to understand the process of developing a strategic plan. The final subject discussed was the results of the ethical awareness inventory and the ethical choices in the workplace.

References
Pearce, J.A., & Robinson, R.B. (2011). Strategic management: Formulation, and control (12th ed.). [University of Phoenix Custom Edition e-Text]. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Retrieved from , STR581 Strategic Planning & Implementation website
University of Phoenix Assessment. (2011). The Williams Institute; EAI. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Assessment, STR581 website. https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/secure/aapd/Vendors/TWI/EAI

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ethics Game Simulation Reflection

...University of Phoenix Material Ethics Game Simulation Worksheet Student Name: ________________ Facilitator: ______________ Complete the interactive Ethics Game Simulation, located on the student website. You will only be able to go through the simulation once, so please use this worksheet to take notes. The simulation will use the following decision model with the indicated critical decision points. Take notes about your decisions or make a copy of the screen when you complete the work to assure that you have the information needed to write your reflection at the end of the simulation. |The Case of the Troubled Teen | |Step 1: |What is the issue? |Screen | |Be Attentive | |4 | | |Your notes: | | | | | | | | | | |Step 2 ...

Words: 380 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...Ethics Reflection April 24, 2015 Strategic Planning and Implementation 581 When it comes to ethics and its meaning one tends to think about the definition of ethics which is basically moral principles that governs a person or group behavior or a branch of knowledge that deals with moral principles and dealing with values relating to human conduct, with respect to the rightness and wrongness of certain actions and to the goodness and badness of the motives and ends of such actions. Social responsibility is defined as a mode of ethics that implores us to act a certain way which can benefit society. From the social responsibility in the business world, it is how a business can perform its activities to show they can handle different obligations towards society. Strategic planning is a preliminary step in the corporate world in which management defines the organization's strategy, direction and decision-making. Ethical values and social responsibility serve a very important role in the strategic planning process. Social responsibility to stakeholders is a very important process to focus on in the strategic planning process. Management must ensure that strategic decisions are reached even though the possibility can impact the stakeholders. Stakeholders...

Words: 687 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...Ethics Reflection Paper José Irizarry Strategic Planning and Implementation STR 581 January 8, 2015 Prof. Magda Oquendo Santiago Individuals are always in the process of making choices and decisions. It does not matter if they are transcendental or general decisions, the vast majority is formed by their values and points of view of what is correct or what is not, that which by definition is commonly referred to as ethics. As referenced in the ethics awareness inventory, the base for making ethical choices is founded by four fundamental values: character, obligation, results and equity, also known as CORE. These represent the ethics philosophy persons use to make ethical decisions, be it personal or professional. A business, a company, or an entity just as a person does, has a personality and a set of rules that direct and influence the subtleties of making choices. Therefore, careful consideration must be given to finding a balance among the leaders of the company and the organization itself. If an employee is in ethic agreement with the company, the employee will have a sense of belonging and have faith in the mission, product or service offered. However, if an employee is in disagreement with the ethics of the company, this employee will experience conflict. The ethics awareness inventory defines the first value as character. This feature focuses on the development of a solid principle of good morals. A person with good moral shows a strong behavior and strong beliefs...

Words: 759 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...Ethics Reflection Unethical business practices around the world has caused many people to lose faith in how businesses run. This paper will discuss how ethics and social responsibility is important in strategic planning and how it affects stakeholders. Ethics and Social Responsibility Ethics is knowing the difference between right and wrong, making the right choices and practicing good moral behavior (Ethics, 2014). People deal with ethics on a personal and professional level every day. Ethical decisions affect people’s lives and future, and in the business world can mean the difference between a successful business and a failed businesses. Social responsibility determines how an organization plans to contribute to society around it (Pearce & Robinson, 2013). Social responsibility is as important to an organization as its mission statement. A company must be accepted by the society around them in order to thrive. Many scandals have emerged over the years, none as famous as Enron. Enron opened the eyes to people around the world that unethical decisions can cause a financial crisis with lasting effects. Today investors want to ensure the businesses they invest in are making the right choices, and not practicing unethical business. No one wants to be caught with the business that is cheating its way to the bank with innocent people’s money. When creating a strategic plan, the business needs to consider how it will affect and reflect on all the people involved. Employees...

Words: 615 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...| The Ethics Reflection Paper Assignment | Management 340 | | #### | 4/29/2011 | | 1. Ethical Model/Rules/Views Throughout the semester, in management 340, we’ve studied a broad overview of ethical behavior. The definition of ‘deontological’ in ethics is the moral rights and duties of people which affect us in many different environments such as; work, school, home and more. No two people are exact or have the same views. We have set standards in most aspects of our lives. The ability to learn and eventually know right from wrong is what I believe ethics to be. Good judgments and safe decisions is what I’ve taken from this class and tried to apply to all areas in my career and lifestyle. Ethical models include: ethical decision-making, ethical leadership, business ethics, ethical dilemmas and values. 2. Personal Perspective Making a business ethical decision is also following a process which means the first thing you do is identify a problem and decision criteria and allocating weights to the criteria. The second step is developing, analyzing and selecting an alternative that can solve the problem, (basically finding a solution that works best for you and surrounding parties.) The third step is implanting the selected alternative. The final step needed to make an ethical decision is evaluating your decisions’ effectiveness. Knowing the difference between right and wrong is something I believe should be learned at a young age. Family, friends...

Words: 996 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...Reflection on Ethics Luis Heredia STR/581 May 20, 2015 Robert Cantu Role of Ethics In the business organizations ethics represent the base core management beliefs and credo. When implementing a code of ethics, organizations need to ensure that they are working towards the objective of protecting interest of shareholders and employees. At the present time, ethics has become a priority for the organization. It is important for organizations to ensure that it makes this particular thing as priority for its activities. After various kinds of scandals occurring within the organizations in Wall-Street, role of ethics is definitely important for the organizations over a period of time in the future. Ethics in organization is crucial regarding certain kinds of areas. First area for role of ethics within the organization is the area regarding benefit of shareholders of the organization. Second are for role of ethics in organization is regarding organizational employees. Regarding the shareholders, organization should make sure that it is working for the purpose of ensuring that it provides transparent information to the shareholders. Financial reporting of the organization should be accurate. In this area, ethics is important as it will help organization to a larger level for ensuring that, shareholders are motivated to invest more in the organization. Ethics will avoid any instance of fraudulent activity within the organization. Such activities will result in the area that...

Words: 1051 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection

...Ethics Strategic Planning and Implementation – STR/581 October 8, 2012 The major concern of any shareholder is to maximize the profit of the business; therefore organizations that seek to maximize their profits tend to periodically redefine the company’s missions and strategies. Those in successful strategic management positions also realize the importance of social responsibility. Strategic managers must recognize the importance of the stakeholders, which include stockholders and employees, while also considering the importance of outsiders such as suppliers, local communities, government roles, and the public (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Because incorporating social responsibilities into the company’s mission is not an easy task, any organization that incorporates the interests of the internal and external stakeholders into its mission statement must consider the following steps: 1- Identify all internal and external stakeholders 2- Understand the stakeholders’ needs and expectations 3- Prioritizing the stakeholders’ needs and expectations as well as the reconciliation of stakeholders claims 4- Coordinating the claims, needs, and expectations with the company mission (Pearce & Robinson, 2011). Ethic/Social Responsibility In management, ethics is like the rules or guidelines that help employees display proper conduct according to the company’s personal standards and values that management has chosen to use to define the company. The company...

Words: 974 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Ethics Reflection Paper

...Ethics Reflection Paper STR 581 April 15th, 2015 Ethics Reflection Paper Ethics are important guidelines for all organizations to establish. Ethics drive an organizations culture and a lack of ethics can lead to very negative results. When describing ethics simply it can be defined as what is considered right and wrong. An organizations ethics should be clearly defined for all of its employees. Managers and leaders should always lead by example in making decisions that do not conflict with the organizations ethical principles. Establishing ethics can often times be much easier then actually living them. All organizations should be steered by a strategic plan that considers all the stakeholders involved and affected by the organization. This plan should be available to all employees. Furthermore all leaders in the organization should base their decisions on supporting and furthering the strategic plan. In the formation of a strategic plan both ethics and social responsibility should be heavily considered. Social responsibility can be defined as the responsibility the organization has to the greater good of the overall society that it operates in. While profits are always the main goal of an organization it cannot be the only driving force of an organization. This would lead to immoral and unethical decisions, which will ultimately result in a lose-lose scenario for both the organization and society as a whole. Strategic plans should consider all the stakeholders’ needs...

Words: 753 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Personal Ethics Reflection

...Tianna Shepperson March 16, 2012 Personal Ethics Reflection Out of the four ethical lenses, my preferred ones are Rights and Responsibilities and Result lens because I often use my feelings to determine the choices that I make towards my happiness. As an example I moved out my mother house soon as I graduated because I rather be independent and free than living with my mom rules and not having as much freedom as I do now. My blind spot stated that as long as I’m satisfied that I unintentionally leave everyone else to fend for themselves. This is badly handled because the problem is left unresolved. I am satisfied so I am okay with it. My strengths out rule my disadvantages because I had more positive theories that related to me more than the negatives did. It stated that my gifts are self-knowledge and free will because since I tend for myself I am fiercely reliable and accountable; I make responsible choices that are good for everyone. The best solution for me is both consistent and flexible as well as treating everyone fairly. On a different perspective my disadvantages were a change of thought to the way I felt about my ethics of life. I relate to the theory because of the simple fact that by me being more reliable on myself that I have a hand full of responsibilities to organize and fit into my everyday schedule. My values in life have a major impact on me because of my nationality. My morals in life have been handed down from older generations and which I believe...

Words: 366 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflection

...Business Ethics Reflection Being human, we face ethical dilemmas every day in some way or another. When you look up the meaning of Morals, values, and principles you will find these terms intertwined with each other. Morals, values, and principles are motivation based on thoughts of what is right and wrong. These are a series of beliefs that lead a person to make decisions based on their personal ethics. As for virtue it is defined as the quality or practice of moral excellence or righteousness. Growing up my mother taught me the difference between right and wrong; and every decision that I make would shape me as a person. She taught me that I should always think long and hard about the decisions I made, and to remember there will be consequences; good or bad based on your choices. The assignment asked for me to describe an ethical dilemma that I have faced at work. I really had to think hard and looked back over the many different jobs I have had during my life. I continued coming back to a particular time when I was an accounting clerk at a retail store. I figured out an associate, who I had become friendly with, was stealing money from his register. My job was to balance the receipts from the registers on the floor. My suspicion was peaked when I notice some unusual activities on his register. At first I thought it was maybe a quick change artist scam; wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt. I did not just want to come right out, and accuse him. So I suggest...

Words: 779 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflection

...Business Ethics Reflection XMGT/216 University of Phoenix People face ethical dilemmas everyday, some severe and some that require little to no reflection to determine the “right” action to take. When these dilemmas occur in the workplace the wrong decision could have damaging effects on the individuals involved and the company. I was lucky enough to develop good moral concepts, or ideas of “right” and “wrong” from a combination of my values and virtue. My virtue has allowed me to rise above ethical dilemmas in the workplace and apply my values to make the “right” decision when facing a dilemma. My Ethical Obligations I work for a third party energy supplier as an account manager, supporting salespeople in their roles of entering accurate customer information, requesting usage data for the customer’s accounts, pricing customers, running credit checks, generating contracts, and handling any issues that may arise during this process. I have many ethical obligations in my job; one is to ensure that the data entered into the system is accurate so that the information reported to shareholders is without error. Another obligation I have is to the customers, to provide them with accurate pricing information so that they can properly budget their expenses based on the pricing I present to them. Another obligation I have is to the salespeople I support; if a matter arises that requires their attention or requires them to be informed, I am responsible...

Words: 1019 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflections

...Business Ethics Reflection Russell Meyer XMGT /216 May 22, 2011 Mark Eutsler Business Ethics Reflection Journal Entry – May 21, 2011 It is amazing to me that we live in the 21st century and sexism is still a battle that has to be waged. My friend John is married to Gail, who is in the United States Air Force, and what she experienced recently is mind boggling. I have seen numerous commercials for the United States Air Force promoting how “advanced” they are however I guess in some ways they are still “old school.” Gail has mentioned on several occasions how most of the people she works on base with have very low moral values. What she experienced recently illustrates her point. Gail has been in the United States Air Force for a few years now and is currently stationed here in Washington State. I was visiting John and Gail and over dinner the subject came up about sexism in the United States armed forces. John had mentioned that since Gail was married he didn’t think she would experience much sexual harassment; turns out he was wrong in his thinking. Every third month the personnel in Gail’s unit are evaluated by their unit boss. They are evaluated on just about everything from showing up on time to how they are dressed to their actual work performance. These evaluations are official and are part of each military member’s personal file and these reviews follow them for their entire military career. It seems that Gail was punished for being a married woman who was off...

Words: 925 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflection

...Business Ethics Reflection Business Ethics Reflection In today’s world there are so many situations where an individual may have to stop and think about which decision would be the best to make, obviously the best choice and ethic choice is to do the right thing in any situation. However the situation may be that doing the right thing may not have the best result for the person, but this really depends on the situation. When concerning making ethic decisions most people do the right thing without thinking because that is how they were raised. Most people do not think about how they were raised depends on how they make their decisions, but it really does. If you are used to making good decisions because of how you were raised, you will most likely continue to make those decisions, but if you grow up making bad decisions you will most likely continue on that path of the bad decisions. As in a workplace ethics are very important because there are tons of issues that come up in workplaces everyday. Ranging from pay-related issues, family and so on. What many people do not realize is that many of these problems are closely related to person’s morals, which is what they think is right. People will make decisions based on what they are comfortable with because they are so used to making the same choices otherwise. A few years ago I had worked at a Burlington Coat Factory, I enjoyed working there after I had become...

Words: 1334 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflection

...Business Ethics Reflection Anitra C. Barnes XMGT 216 Dr. T. Glaid December 16, 2010 Even in today’s fast –paced world, most people still take the time to use their own personal ethics and morals to make big decisions. There are some individuals who believe that ethics and morals are the right way to make a good decision in life, but there are others who think that they are wrong. Sometimes morals are used without a person even realizing it. This is due in part because of the way a person was raised. Most people do not tend to think about how their upbringing influences their adult lives on a daily basis. As people grow older, there will be a times that s scenario is observed in which unethical and immoral behavior takes place; this can leave another individual in some type of despair. There are individuals out there that build upon their ethical/moral behaviors while others continuously fail to make good ethical judgments. Workplace ethics are extremely important. Tons of issues arise out of the workplace; these include pay-related, issues, family problems, time restraints, and so on. What so many people fail to realize is that a lot of these problems are very closely related to one’s personal morals. So, the truth is that a lot of the ethical problems one has in the work force are due to personal morals. When I was eighteen years old, I started to work for a fast food restaurant. Now this restaurant was open late into the nights, so the restaurant typically...

Words: 1114 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Business Ethics Reflection

...Business Ethics Reflection Katie Bernt XMGT/216 November 1st, 2015 Nicole Dinan Business Ethics Reflection Introduction A company I used to work for carried many different brands of high end skin care and make up. At this company, it was very important to monitor the testers that were made available for the clients to try on in the store or to take home in a small sample. Many of the brands did not distribute any or enough of their products in tester form; rather, it was common for us to have to “damage” a product out of what was called “live inventory” for use as a tester. That meant that we could take a product off of the shelf, scan it out of “live inventory”, place a tester sticker on it and use that as the tester. When I use the term “high end” as it relates to the skin care and other products that we sold, I am talking about quality and price point. It was not uncommon to have facial serums that were $500 or more, along with fragrances that were close to $1000, and cosmetics where the average price point for a lipstick or eyes shadow was around $40. Tester usage was not as closely monitored by the management as it should have been. The policy of the store was to use a tester until there was almost nothing left. The policy of the visual merchandising department, along with some of the brand managers in the store, was to never have a tester that was less than half full on the shelf. It is easy to see that the conflicting nature of these policies allowed...

Words: 1555 - Pages: 7