Reaction paper on Business Ethics, social responsibility and Accountability
Business ethics is the application of ethical principles and standards to business behavior. Ethical principles in business are not materially different from ethical principles in general because business actions have to be judged in the context of society’s standard of right and wrong”. (Thompson, A.A., Strickland, A.J. & J.E. Gamble)
Now a day’s even in those companies who are believed to be practicing ethical code in the organization just have window dressing ethics and core values. These organizations mainly used or link their strategy, values and ethics stems mainly due to a desire to avoid the risks of embarrassment and of possible disciplinary action.
In most societies, people believe that companies should not pillage or degrade the environment in the course of conducting their operations. In most societies, people would concur that it is unethical to knowingly expose workers to toxic chemicals and hazardous materials or to sell products known to be unsafe or harmful to the users. To the extent there is common moral agreement about right and wrong actions and behaviors across multiple cultures and countries, there exists a set of universal ethical standards to which all societies, all companies, and all individual can be held accountable. (Thompson, A.A., Strickland, A.J. & J.E. Gamble)
Truly speaking, there is no universally applicable standard of ethical values and norms that can be implemented globally. This is because whatever is deemed right or wrong, fair or unfair, moral or immoral ethical or unethical in business context depends partly on the context of each countries local customs, religious traditions, and societal norms. Therefore, in reality businesses need some room to tailor their ethical standards to fit local situations and demand. A company has to be cautious