Ethics Reflective Paper
Cuilla, (2011), defines ethics as deciding on what is considered good or bad in the society; it deals with striving towards moral responsibility and commitment. “In this case morality signifies differentiation of actions, decisions, and intentions in certain situations” (Cuilla, 2011, p. 336). The two words ‘ethics’ and ‘morality’ can be used in place of another, but in some instances they have different meanings like in deontology ethics. The paper will explain the role of ethics and social responsibility in coming up with a long-term plan of a company while considering the requirements of stakeholders. In conclusion, an explanation of my personal ethical outlook will be discussed during my MBA program.
Ethics
Ethics in business is crucial as it helps in creating organizational culture, preserving the confidence of crucial stakeholders, and sustaining clients. There are instances globally that ethics was ignored and it resulted in disastrous consequences, like the Enron scandal where financial statements did not depict the true situation to financial analysts and stakeholders. The scandal resulted in the company—Enron—to become bankrupt, loose customers, and eventually close down. Enron is not the only organization that has suffered because of absence of business ethics as numerous banks have suffered too. Therefore, it is imperative that social responsibility and ethics be integrated in the long term business strategy of a company to enable its business practices reflect integrity.
Social Responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical dogma where all companies have to act in such a manner as to benefit the society (Kotler & Lee, 2005). Hence, any organization not having any programs or policies involving the society, face criticism for not being socially responsive. In business, the specific social responsibility is corporate social responsibility (CSR), and it has become a major requirement that companies wanting to get certified standards like ISO 26000, have to incorporate CSR policies and programs in their strategic plan. For a company to be social responsible it has to be fully accountable hence the reason that ethical codes be set up and upheld before social responsibility is achieved. The possible benefits of social responsibility are: retention and hiring of competitive staff; acting as a requirement for operations when certain laws require standardization marks before offering licenses; differentiation of brands; and managing risks when instances such as corruption and scandals arise.
Ethical Perspective
While undertaking my MBA program, several situations have arisen where ethics has been required. Firstly, the program is expensive and without proper ethics one can decide to channel funds to other commitments. Once the fee is paid, it is ethical to dedicate all energies to school work, wake up early in the morning to head to class, and come up with genuine assignments without plagiarism. Also in the classroom it is ethical to respect every member of the class, respect rules of the education institute, and properly communicate with everyone in a respectful way. Therefore, from my daily operations in my program, I can define ethics as insisting on always doing the right thing.
In the business field, ethics is a valuable where stakeholders can be able to trust of the company hence invest more. Furthermore, it enhances the public relations of a company where the society can be able to associate it with accountable and integrity operations; hence social responsibility. Therefore, I agree that ethics should be considered when strategically planning business operations to enhance social responsibility and accountability.
References
Cuilla, J. B. (2011). Is Business Ethics Getting Better? A Historical Perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(2), 335-343.
Kotler, P., & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate Social Responsibility: Doing the most good for your company and your cause. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Pp. 45-109
Shaw, W.H. (2010). Business Ethics: A text book with cases (7th ed.). Ohio: Cengage Learning. Pp. 3-43
