Business Ethics Learning outcome: Understand the meaning and importance of ethics in the business world P1

Outline  What is Business Ethics  Ethical Activities  Business Values  Professional Ethics

Starter

What is Business Ethics  Business Ethics is the system of laws and guidelines by which business professionals and corporations operate in a fair, legal and moral fashion.  It’s a broad topic, covering everything from a corporation’s responsibilities to the public (corporate social responsibility), to specific laws prohibiting illegal practices in the workplace.

What is Business Ethics  When ethical guidelines are followed, trust develops between workers and management, as well as between the public and the corporation. Thus, business ethics lead to a more productive workplace.

Ethical Activities  Businesses develop Code of Conduct as a guideline for its employees in order to avoid any unethical behavior from them.

Ethical Activities HonestyIntegrity Keeping promises LoyaltyFairnessCaringRespect Obeying the Law

Ethical Activities Honesty: You need to be honest in all of your actions, and every communication you make. When people see you making honest decisions, they start to trust your company because you’re not only being truthful, you’re being upfront and candid. Integrity: Being ethical in business means maintaining a high level of personal integrity. This is how you earn the trust of others, whether they are your customers, team or your superiors. In this definition integrity means having a consistent character that is demonstrated by an alignment of your thoughts, words and action.

Ethical Activities Keeping Your Promises: Your word is one of the most important tools in your arsenal as a business manager. Keep every promise that you make, and always fulfill a commitment. The trust you build as an ethical executive means people like doing business with you. Loyalty: You need to be loyal to both your company, your team and yourself, while operating within a strong moral compass. If you demonstrate your loyalty it builds trust, and shows that you place a high value on advancing the interests of both the company and your colleagues.

Ethical Activities Fair: In all of your actions, you must strive to be fair and just. An ethical executive is committed to fairness in all that they do, and do not seek to exercise their power for an unfair advantage or use indecent methods to gain a competitive edge. Caring: This involves having a genuine concern for others, as well as a sense of compassion. An ethical business manager is caring, benevolent and kind to both customers and staff, and seeks to reach their goals while causing the least amount of harm and the greatest amount of good.

Ethical Activities Respect: Being ethical means treating everyone with respect, demonstrating this by being courteous and having an equal treatment of people regardless of who they are. Obeying the law: An ethical executive always obeys the law, and never breaks the rules, regulations or laws surrounding their business activities.

Business Values  Core values help companies in the decision-making processes. For example, if one of your core values is to stand behind the quality of your products, any products not reaching the satisfactory standard are automatically eliminated.  Core values educate clients and potential customers about what the company is about and clarify the identity of the company. Especially in this competitive world, having a set of specific core values that speak to the public is definitely a competitive advantage.  Core values are becoming primary recruiting and retention tools. With the ease of researching companies, job seekers are doing their homework on the identities of the companies they are applying for and weighing whether or not these companies hold the values that the job seekers consider as important.

Professional Ethics  Professional ethics: cover the personal, organizational and corporate standards of behavior expected of professionals Professional Ethics Accountability Commitment Community Diversity Empowerment Innovation Ownership Safety

Professional Ethics  Accountability – Acknowledging and assuming responsibility for actions, products, decisions, and policies.  Commitment – Committing to great product, service, and other initiatives.  Community –Contributing to society.  Diversity – respecting the diversity and giving the best of composition.  Empowerment – Encouraging employees to take initiative and give the best..  Innovation – Pursuing new creative ideas.  Integrity – Acting with honesty and honor without compromising the truth  Ownership – Taking care of the company and customers as they were one’s own.  Safety – ensuring the health and safety of employees and to provide an accident-free workplace.

Activity  Intel is a company that makes motherboards and computer components. Intel hires more than 1000 employees in many different countries. Intel buys materials from different suppliers and sells the end product to different companies.  List 3 ethical and 3 unethical activities that Intel can make.  Visit and take the Ethical Activities quizwww.quizlet.com  List Batelco, Viva and Zain Business Values