Ethical issues of business

Ethical issues of business

Now I would like to give a talk about ethical issues of business. Nowadays ethical guidelines are crucial in making business decisions. Business professionals have responsibilities to make decisions based upon ethical principles and people expect ethical attitude from business functioning.

Therefore, most companies have a Code of Conduct that includes norms and rules of behaviour in workplace. Following the rules allows employees succeed in their job.

In the modern world international transactions is a basic part of business operations, but it can be difficult to communicate ethically with each other because of different cultures. So, such situations are particularly prone to “grey areas”, where ethical decision is not always clear.

Also, it’s necessary to say that local culture impacts how people see relationships between employee and employer. For instance, Japanese companies were expected for lifelong loyalty, so any efforts to lay off or fire employees were perceived as unethical. In the 1990s the decade-long recession triggered a change in attitude.

Certainly, ethics evolves over time. Some of the business practices that are commonly accepted today may be frowned on tomorrow. For example, bribery has been accepted business practice for centuries in Japan and Korea.

Finally, let’s move on to some fundamental principles. Accountability is about individual responsibility of employee and firm. Care and respect are also essential in professional interactions, firm should support safe and harmonious atmosphere in workplace.

So, what ethics studies: the object is society and man, and the subject is their moral values. Any science has its own laws and ethics is no exception. Its main rule (it is called "golden") states: "Do to others as you want them to do to you."

That’s all I wanted to say.