Business Ethics Values Corporate Culture
There is a question commonly asked these days about whether or not corporate culture has fallen victim to a deterioration of ethics in business dealings. Not even big government is free of corruption, money laundering, cheating and preferential treatment. When people think of corporate America they will most often think of corrupt, arrogant types, looking out for number one… profit and more profit! Business ethics values corporate culture because it’s more important than ever for consumers to trust a company for the goods and the services they provide.
The Institute of Business Ethics recently conducted a study that showed a proven correlation between ethical practices and business performance. The study shows that business ethics values corporate culture in the sense that with ethics comes an environment where people want to be there and want to work as a team striving for the same goal. They are less likely to behave in an unethical manner. They aren’t looking out merely for their own interests, as they were when working conditions led to low morale. Due to the high worker morale, there is increased employee retention, not to mention better productivity and services that come with keeping happy experienced employees.
Business ethics values corporate culture only if there is an effective and consistent ethics program in place. Some companies may just skim over business ethics during new hire orientation and the words are never brought up again. BIG MISTAKE! When there is more than business ethics education, such as the company leading by example in their practice of ethical business, the success is amazing. Management, from the CEO on down, should view themselves as the model of ethical behavior in the eyes of their employees. If they demonstrate practices like favoring certain employees, compensation that is based on office relationships/politics rather than merit, and failing to take disciplinary action when unethical behavior of another employee is reported, employee morale and ethics will undoubtedly suffer. The concept of the corporation being a “team” is disregarded and employees are just bitter of the corporate environment. Most employees will gauge their actions by watching that of their supervisor or higher ups in the business.
Ethics tend to be learned more than taught. We learn ethical behavior from the time we are young and it’s mostly by observing the conduct of others, especially people we respect and admire. Our personal ethics may differ from person to person but business ethics is all about finding a uniform code of conduct that everyone can follow to cultivate a positive work environment and corporate structure. The business ethics values corporate culture is very important to the structure of the business and employees that make the business run smooth.
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