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Is it possible for an individual with strong moral values to make ethically questionable decisions in a business setting? What affects a person’s inclination to make either ethical or unethical decisions in a business organization? Although the answers to that question are not entirely clear, there appear to be three general sets of factors that influence the standards of behavior in an organization; individual factors, social factors and opportunity.

Several individual factors influence the level of ethical behavior in an organization. An individual’s knowledge level regarding an issue can help to determine ethical behavior. A decision maker with a greater amount of knowledge regarding an object or situation may take steps to avoid ethical problems, whereas a less-informed person may unknowingly take action that leads to an ethical conflict. One’s moral values and central, value-related attitudes clearly influence his or her business behavior. Most people join organizations to accomplish personal goals. The types of personal goals an individual aspires to and the manner in which these goals are pursued have significant impact on that individual’s behavior in an organization.  Read more...

Hundreds and thousands of people have made use of the Internet in a variety of ways, each in an attempt to subjugate its great power and potential to give profit and gain to users and businessmen. However, alongside the aims of these hardworking innovators and entrepreneurs are people who simply want to extort as much money from people in exchange for dubious products and services.

Web content is brought to a potential user by means of either direct recall of a particular service provider’s website, or by blind searches done on various Internet search engine platforms made available by Internet software giants. By entering words, known as ‘keywords’ relevant to the desired information, product, or service, into the search field, users can employ these blind searches to look for content closest to what they are looking for.

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Wow — every day seems to bring us a new story about business ethics wrongdoing! Is America headed to hell in a hand basket because of a serious lack of ethics at the highest level in American business? Or, it is just that ethical transgressions are more visible now? Or is it that the media reports more? Whichever it is, I urge you to be concerned about business ethics, even if simply for yourself.

A few facts will raise your awareness about the current state of ethics in American business. The Ethics Resource Center notes that the number of ethics programs is on the rise in corporate America. Unfortunately, the center also notes that ethical misconduct is high. (Google “The National Business Ethics Survey” for more details.) Other research shows that a majority of people in America have quit a job due to an ethical concern at sometime in their lives. (Google “lrn” for more details.)  Read more...

You may think that business ethics pertains to OTHER people. You learned good ethics at your mother’s knee. Well, what did she tell you about conflicts of interest?

As a former Director, Ethics and Compliance for a $1.5B publicly traded organization, I learned a few important bits of information I would like to share with you.

1. A conflict of interest is when someone puts their own interest above those of the organization they work for. I found this to be the most commonly misunderstood concept in business ethics.

Here is an example: You sometimes buy lunch for your staff. As it turns out, your wife recently invested in a nearby sandwich shop which will deliver lunch. Isn’t it okay to throw your lunch business her way? Well, probably not. But no answer is absolute. It may be that she can bid on delivering lunches just like any other nearby sandwich shop, and she may get the business now and then like her competitors.  Read more...

We are hearing more and more that readers believe the information contained in Blogs is more reliable than the print news media. (I don’t think a direct comparison between the electronic media and Blogs makes much sense, so my comparison is direct: written material vs. written material.) While I find this shift in ‘believability’ to be somewhat surprising, I must admit that I don’t think I personally know anybody that reads the newspaper without a nagging suspicion and a bit of doubt. Even more, I continue to be amazed at the growing number of people I know that do not even bother to read the newspaper.

Well, how does this relate to the subject of ethics?  Read more...

                                DHARMA AND THE WORK CULTURE AND ETHICS OF INDIA.  Read more...

You can find various business ethics quizzes around thPick the one answer you think is wrong. This one is different. Each question has only one WRONG answer, doesn’t analyze your answers and tell you where you went wrong. Rather, it is simply intended to raise your ethical consciousness, maybe even stimulate a little discussion between you and your peers or family.

In this quiz, try to pick the answer that is wrong. I hope the “wrong” answers are obvious if you care about business ethics.

Enjoy!

1. My reputation

a. Is only as good as my word

b. Precedes me

c. Once lost is hard to regain

d. Is the legacy I’ll leave behind

e. Doesn’t matter to me.  Read more...

I remember a “Business Ethics” seminar I took in college that confirmed everything my parents had taught me a child. I heard clearly that capitalism was not an easy way to steal money from others but a way to make as an honest living by providing a service or product to people who needed and wanted it. This secured my desire to become a businessman. During my career, I have held different positions in small, medium and even large Fortune 100 corporations. I have had the opportunity to work with great visionaries, empty “suits”, assembly workers, and, yes, those individuals who only wanted to get all they could while doing as little as they could.  Read more...

How as a corporate manager you can ensure that your company is conducting business a way that is responsible and ethically sound?

In order to ensure the company is conducting  business  responsibly and ethically sound the following point given below are very much necessary to ensure:
 
Ethical issues and society – examples

    * Involvement in the community
    * Honesty, truthfulness and fairness in marketing
    * Use of animals in product testing
    * Agricultural practices e.g. intensive faming
    * The degree of safety built into product design
    * Donation to good causes
    *  The extent to which a business accepts its alleged responsibilities for  mishaps,   spillages and
    * leaks
    * The selling of addictive products e.g. tobacco
    * Involvement in the arms trade
    * Trading with repressive regimes  Read more...

Being a leader you have to train your skills on decision making.

Because of my extended experience I can help giving these reflection topics. I am available to develop any special need for you

This would focus on:

• Looking at some established models of ethical decision making;

• Examining and discussing cases/scenarios involving individual ethical dilemmas

• Examining the issue of Conflict of Interest from an ethical perspective

• Discussing organizational ethical climate as a factor in ethical decision making

Ethical Checklists

Example I: 12 Questions to ask yourself

1.Have you defined the problem accurately?

2.How would you define the problem if you stood on the other side of the fence?

3.How did this situation occur in the first place?

4.To whom and to what do you give your loyalty as a person and as a member of the corporation?  Read more...