Large corporations are a reflection of both our culture and values, as well as their own, and what they decide to do affects us all us. Business Ethics is a very crucial part of the business industry, without it, businesses would be able to do as they please without worry of any legal unpleasantness.

Values

Businesses’ values are based on laws and regulations created by the government, mandatory boundaries. On top of that, companies adhere to strict rules that they apply to themselves, voluntary balances. Some inspired by religion, some by everyday morals and values. What values the business most closely follow, is called their core practice, those that ensure that laws are directly being followed.

Decision-making

Ethical decision making involves a multitude of factors and variables. Starting with the intensity of the factors, organizations have to be willing to approach issues, with their core values at the forefront of their minds. On top of core values, they have to take into consideration the community and their values and culture, ethical culture, and the corporation’s previous culture.

Cause and Effect

In business, companies will act according to the cost-benefit analysis that makes on ethical issues. Just as in the “real world”, people act on whether their decision will affect other people and themselves. Businesses cannot solely act for themselves because they have to appease their customers, aka their image to their customers. But they still maximize their own benefit.

Internal Ethics

Along with external ethical awareness, internal ethics is just as crucial. Aspects of internal ethics can be seen in the type of culture and the type of exerted power. One could potentially judge a business’s ethical norm by looking at how they treat their employees tied with how they gain their profits.

Communication

Companies, compared to parents with children, ought to have a strong parent as well as an empathetic parent. In business, operating while being warm and personable to the employees and, at the same time, explaining to them all expectations and repercussions of not following the rules and regulations. This would lead to a stronger bond among all company employees.

Outside Checks and Balances

One sure and true way to re-enforce ethical standards is to perform an ethics audit on a company, and using an outside organization to do so. Detecting future ethical problems and potentially uncovering hidden problems and the pros and cons of undergoing an ethics audit. Stakeholders are crucial for this process, due to communication, transparency, conformity, and the need to measure prior ethical training program’s effectiveness.

Conclusion

Business ethics on a broader scale involves a myriad of cultural values and beliefs and integrating them into blanket mission statements for multinational corporations. Businesses, similar to people, have to abide by each country’s codes of ethics and conduct separately, including laws and cultural customs. And adhering to so can even create loopholes in some cases.