Posted: August 31st, 2022

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility
Profit maximization is the main objective of most businesses and organizations. Every company wants to be the best with the largest market share in the industry. However, this does not give it the authority to do whatever they want in a quest to increase their revenue. This is where the concept of business ethics and corporate social responsibility comes in.
Business ethics is simply a system of rules and policies that differentiate right from wrong in the decision-making process within an organization. Business ethics focuses on the obligations of the business to shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and competitors. This involves doing what is right and beneficial to parties whom they are engaged with directly in their daily operations. This includes caring for the employees, complying with the state laws, providing quality products to their consumers, employing fair means of competition, and being truthful mainly through advertisements.
Differentiating right from wrong and making the right decisions may seem an easy task. However, in the commercial context, the right thing is not always straightforward. The right decision is not always ethical. An ethically upright decision may also be morally contradicting. When encountered with such dilemmas, the decision should be based on moral principles. Some people believe that the decision may vary with the situation at hand, which to some extent is true. Ultimately, the decision made will depend on the individual or the parties involved.
Social responsibility, commonly known as Corporate Social Responsibility CSR, is a much narrow subject under the concept of business ethics. It is the company’s social obligations and deals with giving back to society in general and parties that are not involved directly with the daily organization activities. A company’s social responsibilities revolve around caring for the workers, being financially, socially, and environmentally responsible. Common practices in CSR encompass fair treatment of employees, promoting recycling, reducing pollutions, giving back to the community through donations, helping the poor, and above all, disclosing any information that may affect the wellbeing of the people.
Business ethics and social responsibility have such an enormous influence on the success of a business. Ethical business practices have a positive impact on the image and reputation of an organization. Unethical practices such as false advertisement will have a negative influence on society and customers. A company that organization that values its employees and gives back to the community builds trust relations with the community, eventually developing a positive reputation that attracts more customers.

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