Managing business ethics

14 important questions on Managing business ethics

Business ethics management

direct attempt to formally or informally manage ethical issues or problems through specific, policies, practices, and programmes

Direct employee behavior:

  • mission or values statements
  • consultants
  • managers, officers, and committees
  • education and training
  • reporting channels
  • codes of ethics
  • auditing, accounting, reporting, risk analysis
  • stakeholder consultation, dialogue and partnership

Three most important areas for buiness ethics management

  • setting standards of ethical behaviour
  • management of stakeholder relations
  • assessment of ethical performance
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Setting standards of ethical behavior

  • designing and implementing codes of ethics, which are volunatry statements that commit organizations, industries, or professions to specific beliefs values or actions. 

How can business make sure that its codes of ethics are lived up by its members?

  • participation
  • discipline
  • follow-through
  • audit instrument
  • performance evaluation

Company should base its codes

1. basic human values
2. local traditions
3. context does matter when deciding what's right/wrong

The UN Global Compact

universally accepted principles on labour rights, human righta, environment and anticorruption

Differences between social accounting and financial accounting

  • social accounting focuses on other issues next than financial data
  • its audience is stakeholders next to shareholders
  • social acc is not required by law

Why social accounting?

  • more accountability and transparancy
  • internal and external pressures
  • stakholder management improvement (communication)
  • identifying risks

Why not engage in social accounting?

  • insufficient information
  • perceived high costs
  • inadequate information systems
  • lack of standards
  • unwillingness to disclose data
  • secrecy

4 ways to formally organize business ethics

  • compliance orientation (prevent, detect, punish)
  • values orientation (to commit ethical organizational values)
  • external orientation (satisfying external stakeholders)
  • protection orientation (protect top management form blame)

Two factors of leadership

  • moral person (honesty/integrity)
  • moral manager (organizational values/ethics)

Managing stakeholder relations

  • power: perceived ability of a stakeholder to influence organizations action
  • legitimacy: whether organizations perceives stakheolders action as desirable, proper, or appropriate
  • urgency: degree to which stakeholder claims are perceived to call for immediate attention

Business ethics and leadership:

  • Cultural change approach (personify values, inspire employees)
  • Cultural learning perspective (empowerment in order to foster moral imagination and autonomy)

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