Ethics in managerial decision making process

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Ethics in Decision Making

Applied Ethics in business happens when moral or ethical problems arise in a business environment. We live in an increasingly conscience-focused marketplace. For example, The Body Shop espouses fair trade in manufacturing and sourcing its body & bath products. Starbucks, as part of its marketing approach is espousing social responsibility in buying resources and products that benefit disenfranchised peoples in poverty stricken areas in the world. For example, it supports co-ops in Kenya & Colombia, selling specific blends in their global stores where part of the profit goes back to the people that plant & harvest the coffee. There are general ethics that companies follow. They are normative & descriptive in nature.

Following the philosophy of business which is established when the company first comes to be, it determines the fundamental process & goals of the company. For example, if a co-operative was established to support the interest of farmers who pooled together their resources for the purpose of competitiveness, it is unethical for the co-op officials to work at achieving their own self-interest goals via the facilities of the co-op. The issues of the moral rights & duties of the company & it's share holders is also a great area of ethical concern. Also included in the scope of general business ethics are the following - misuse of corporate ethics for the purpose of marketing, corporate abuse & crime, leadership & governance issues and ethical issues concerning relations with competition & other companies (hostile takeovers).

There are ethical concerns in every minute detail of the aspect of a business from management, production, sales & marketing as well as accounting. Take for example the case of Enron. Enron was guilty of creative accounting, securities fraud, excessive executive compensation, bribery, among others. The Enron executives who made this happen decided to adopt these measures without considering professional ethics as well as taking note of the criminality of the act. In the end for those who chose to ignore ethics & professionalism, it boils down to motivation. Bernie Ebbers of WorldCom for example chose to commit fraud for personal gains. Now, Wall Street and the world is shocked by the $50 billion Madoff Ponzi scheme and the victims are reeling as to how ...