Introduction
This paper is about the challenges posed by the credit crunch, corporate social responsibility, and business ethics on the organizations that are equipping themselves to deal with these challenges. A description of each of the challenge along with an example of a company that is grappling with the challenge is described in this paper.
Challenges
The ongoing credit crunch has severely affected the functioning of the businesses across the chain and is responsible for many bankruptcies and foreclosures of the banks and other institutions. It started with the sub-prime crisis and quickly spread to the other sectors leading to a situation where the entire global economy has been adversely affected by the crisis. The crisis is so severe that governments all over the world have been forced to bail out the banks and other companies to prevent the entire financial system and the global economy from collapsing.
The two challenges deal with the issue of practice of corporate social responsibility and business ethics. These are very relevant topics in the context of the ongoing financial crisis that is a manifestation of unethical practices in the entire global economy. Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is a term that is used in connotation with the socially responsible practices of corporates and businesses as part of their duties towards society. This term refers to the practice of corporates in giving back to society and includes charitable activities as well as socially responsible practices (Arter & Russell, 2003, 34).
Business Ethics
The business ethics are the standards to which the corporates aspire in their business practices. This refers to the existing system of accountability and fairness in dealings with customers, suppliers and the business model in general. Thus, practice of business ethics is essential for transparency in dealings and would necessitate the involvement of high-level practitioners of ethical norms.
How to Create an Ethical Workplace
The issue of Ethics (or the lack of it) has received much attention because of the ongoing economic crisis and the role of unethical behavior in exacerbating the situation. In this context, I believe that my purpose in creating a personal code of ethics is to help me steer through the murky waters of life and ensure that my career is free from unethical behavior from my side. My aim is to make myself a career in a Multinational company. My other goal is to make a difference to the place where I work and promote my beliefs in my own war. My role model in my life is my father who is working in a senior management role in a company. I intend to follow in his steps and ensure transparency in my dealings and provide accountability for my actions. I resolve not to transgress on the rules and regulations that govern the conduct of business in my native country and determined to be a true professional in all senses of the word. I wish to be honest in my dealings with co-workers and follow ethical and normative rules of behavior in my professional interactions (Egteren & Smith, 2002, 380).
I wish to add that I would strive to report instances of gender specific harassment and not sweep under the carpet any such occurrences in my professional dealings. Finally, I want to ensure that I follow these beliefs at all stages of my career and would not let position or fame get to me and hence commit mistakes. Towards this end, I want to make sure that I remind myself every now and then what my purpose in life and what I intend to achieve through my life.
Conclusion
As we have surveyed the challenges faced by the companies along with the respective details of how each of these companies are facing up to the threats as well as the opportunities being posed by them, it is apparent that the organizations’ have to evolve with the times and then take pro-active measures to deal with the crisis of confidence in the corporate sector. I have relied on the videos of the cases that have been referred to in the manual and have also referred to the company reports to arrive at the conclusions for this paper (Hemphill, 2004, 99).
In conclusion, it is hoped that the industry leaders would come up with innovative solutions to the issues that have been raised by the combination of these factors and would deal effectively with the same. The industrial economy as well as the knowledge economy has shown remarkable resilience in dealing with crises and challenges and this should reflect the next wave of innovation and entrepreneurship. Hence, this paper is an attempt on my part to elucidate the main ethical challenges facing the companies in the current environment.
References
Arter, D. and Russell, J. (2003). Ethics, auditing and Enron. Quality Progress, 36 (10), pp.34.
Egteren, V. and Smith, H. (2002). Environmental regulations under simple negligence or strict liability. Environmental and Resource Economics, 21 (4), pp.367-396.
Hemphill, T. (2004). Antitrust, dynamic competition and business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 50 (2), pp.99.
