Ethics, Legal And Regulatory Considerationin Hrm 6f4x1v

Business ethics

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Contemporary Business Ethics 

Business ethics is a form of applied ethics that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment.

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The field is vast, often encoming such concerns as corporate governance, reputation management, accurate ing and audits, fair labor practices and environmental stewardship

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Business ethics continues a rich tradition of leading the way with new ideas about business and the intersection of business and society.

Nature of Ethics The word “ethics” is derived from the Greek word ethos means “character”. Ethics is a major branch of philosophy, encoming right conduct and good life. It is significantly broader than the common conception of analyzing right and wrong. A central aspect of ethics is "the good life." Every profession has its own unique set of standards called “Code of Ethics” like legal ethics, medical ethics, and business ethics.

Two Systems of Ethics  There

are two systems of Ethics Formalism and Consequentalism. Both systems are not mutually exclusive in the outcomes of their moral analysis. They begin from different assumptions.

Formalism • Formalism is also called Deontology

which is an approach to Ethics that affirms absolute morality. A particular act is in itself right or wrong always in every situation. For example lying is wrong so there is no justification for end, because wrongness does not depend on the situation in which the lie is told.

Consequentalism • The Consequentalism is also called

Teleology, it is concerned with moral consequences of actions rather than with the morality or the actions themselves. For consequentalist lying itself is not unethical. It is consequences, as a result of lying, that must be evaluated for their ethical implications. It is the lost of trust for firm done by lying i.e. unethical. • The dominant form of consequentalism , utilitarianism, judges actions by usefulness, by whether they served to

Sources of Values for Business Ethics • There are four sources of values for business ethics. – – – –

Legal Regulation Professional Codes of Ethics Organizational Code of Ethics Individual Values

Legal Regulation • Ethical Legal Relationship is to realize

that in our society Ethical Values frequently become law and that legal regulation can reflect society’s ethical values. • For example insider trading fraudulent practices and conflict of interest are often cited as examples of Ethical failures. These practices are illegal.

Professional Codes of Ethics • Professional

Codes of Ethics has historical background of Professional Codes like medicine and law. Other professions recently developed their own code of ethics to regulate the profession in accordance with the Regulatory Framework of the State. • Professional Codes of Ethics also regulate the conduct of professionals for example Pakistan Bar Council and Pakistan Medical Dental Council.

Organizational Codes of Ethics • All the organizations operating in any

State are subject to enforcement of legal system, so all business organizations now have developed their own code of business ethics which is also called “CODE OF CONDUCT” • The Code of Conduct is dealing with honesty, compliance with laws safety and security of employees customer relationship and protection of the

Individual Values • The sources of Ethical values for

business decision making comes from the individuals • Ethics are used by Managers as guidelines in decision making that affect employees, organization, consumers and stakeholders. • Managers should look at existing ethical norms and trends in the industries in order to determine what decision and actions are right or wrong.

Achieving an Ethical Business Corporation • The primary object of Modern Business

Organization is to earn profits because profits motivate the entire organization, corporate culture and it promotes the common good by providing incentives for job creation and results in organizational growth and success.

The Control of Resources by Non-owners • In the corporate world the owners of • •

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business organizations are not in position and control of their business resources. This produces the problems of corporate governance. Managers, who are the agent of the owners, have ethical and legal duties to manage the organization for the benefit of their owners. As managers are controlling the organization resources so it is easy for them to misuse their authority or to infringe upon the property of the

Consideration of All Stakeholders

• The Investors, owners, shareholders,

employees and consumers having interest with business organization have their interest at stake because the company may take any action which is against its stakeholders. • So ethical corporate behaviour of organization is based on managers who recognized and tact into the interest of various stakeholders.

Property as a system of Personal Ethics • Property provides an ordering relationship

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between people. Legally and morally owners of the property must respect the equal right of others to what is proper to them. It is unethical for an employee to fail to warn employees of safety risk in the work place for the employees to embezzle money from the employer. The property system does not explain which resources fall in the first instance within the exclusive right of property protection. The rule of law and property are fundamental not only to structure but also to the values of the private market and of ethical behavior in

Key ingredients of Business Ethics 1.

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Corporate Compliance Particularly related to government contracts - gave rise to corporate compliance, which is most often narrowly focused on complying with national and local laws and regulations. Corporate Responsibility Corporate responsibility refers to fulfilling the responsibilities or obligations that a company has towards its stakeholders. Corporate Social Responsibility Corporate social responsibility can be understood in of corporate responsibility, but with greater stress laid upon the obligations a company has to the community, particularly with respect to charitable activities and environmental stewardship. Corporate Governance Corporate governance refers to the oversight of company operations by bodies (e.g., board of directors) that bear the responsibility to oversee, direct, and evaluate company operations on behalf of the company’s investors.

Business Ethics as Discipline Business ethics can be both a normative and a descriptive discipline. As a corporate practice and a career specialization, the field is primarily normative. In academia descriptive approaches are also taken. The range and quantity of business ethical issues reflects the degree to which business is perceived to be at odds with non-economic social values. Historically, interest in business ethics accelerated dramatically during the 1980s and 1990s, both within major corporations and within academia. For example, today most major corporate websites lay emphasis on commitment to promoting non-economic social values under a variety of headings (e.g. ethics codes, social responsibility charters). In some cases, corporations have redefined their core values in the light of business ethical considerations.

Issues in Business Ethics

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Ethical issues concerning relations between different companies , like t ventures, mergers, acquisitions, take-over, etc.

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It also includes leadership issues, organizational development issues, financial scandals, misuse of corporate ethics policies as marketing tool etc.

Professional Ethics Professional ethics covers the myriad practical ethical problems and phenomenon which arise out of specific functional areas of companies or in relation to organized business profession.

Ethical issues in ing Information 

Creating ing reports with misleading facts and figures.

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Insider trading, securities fraud, forex scams, and manipulation of financial market.

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Kickbacks, bribery, facilitation payment.

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Corporate frauds and fake companies.

Ethical issues in HRM 

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The ethics of Human Resource Management (HRM) covers those ethical issues arising around the employer-employee relationship, such as the rights and duties of employer and employee. Discrimination issues include discrimination on the basis of age, gender, race, religion, disabilities, etc. Issues surrounding the representation of employees and the democratization of the workplace: union busting, and illegal strike. Issues affecting the privacy of the employee: workplace surveillance and drug testing. Issues relating to the fairness of the employment contract and the balance of power between employer and employee. Occupational Health and Safety.

Ethical issues in Sales and Marketing 

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Marketing which goes beyond the mere provision of information about (and access to) a product may seek to manipulate our values and behavior. To some extent society regards this as acceptable, but where is the ethical line to be drawn? Marketing ethics overlaps strongly with media ethics, because marketing makes heavy use of media. However, media ethics is a much larger topic and extends outside business ethics. Pricing: price fixing, price discrimination, price skimming. Anti-competitive practices: these include but go beyond pricing tactics to cover issues such as manipulation of loyalty and supply chains. Children and marketing: marketing in schools.

Ethical issues in Production 

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This area of business ethics deals with the duties of a company to ensure that products and production processes do not cause harm. Some of the more acute dilemmas in this area arise out of the fact that there is usually a degree of danger in any product or production process and it is difficult to define a degree of permissibility, or the degree of permissibility may depend on the changing state of preventative technologies or changing social perceptions of acceptable risk. Defective, addictive and inherently dangerous products and services (e.g. tobacco, alcohol, weapons, motor vehicles, chemical manufacturing). Ethical relations between the company and the environment: pollution, environmental ethics, carbon emissions etc. Ethical problems arising out of new technologies: genetically modified food, mobile phone radiation and health. Product testing ethics: animal testing for experimental purpose, use of economically disadvantaged groups (such as students) as test objects.

Ethical issues in Intellectual Property, knowledge, and skills 

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Knowledge and skills are valuable but not easily "ownable" as objects. Nor is it obvious who has the greater rights to an idea: the company who trained the employee, or the employee themselves? The country in which the plant grew, or the company which discovered and developed the plant's medicinal potential? As a result, attempts to assert ownership and ethical disputes over ownership arise. Patent infringement, copyright infringement, trade mark infringement. Even the notion of intellectual property itself has been criticised on ethical grounds. The practice of employing all the most talented people in a specific field, regardless of need, in order to prevent any competitors employing them. Bioprospecting (ethical) and biopiracy (unethical).

Ethical issues in International Business Systems 

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While business ethics emerged as a field in the 1970s, international business ethics did not emerge until the late 1990s, looking back on the international developments of that decade. Many new practical issues arose out of the international context of business. Theoretical issues such as cultural relativity of ethical values receive more emphasis in this field. Other, older issues can be grouped here as well. Issues and subfields include: Comparison of business ethical traditions from various religious perspectives. Ethical issues arising out of international business transactions; e.g. bioprospecting and biopiracy in the pharmaceutical industry; the fair trade movement and transfer pricing. Issues such as globalization and cultural imperialism. Varying global standards - e.g. the use of child labour. The way in which multinationals take advantage of international differences, such as outsourcing production (e.g. clothes) and services (e.g. call centres) to low-wage countries.

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