Business Ethics And The Role It Plays

With everything that has been happening in the world lately, business is being looked at closer than ever. And that is not a bad thing. Ethics play a major role in business and the discussion of what is ethical versus what is not often causes people take strong opinions to one side or another. Understanding business ethics is an important aspect of business. There may be opportunities to partner with companies that will bring in a good profit, but their business practices may not be in line with your companies. At that point, you need to ask yourself if it is worth it to partner with them or to pass on the deal, knowing that staying true to your companies mission, ethics, and morals is more important in the long run.

Recently, a friend sent me a link from Ethisphere. The article was titled, “The Role of Business Ethics In…” written by five CEO’s from across different industries. It was an interesting article in that it showed the distinct perspective on business ethics from five different people who work in five different industries. Seeing their views and then making the connections between them allows the reader to come to their own conclusions by getting information from an assortment of resources. This is both a great template for writing an informative article as well as engaging to the reader.

The five authors come from very different backgrounds and  of the companies they manage and oversee.

Don Knauss, CEO of Clorox

Chad Holliday, Chairman of DuPont

Charles Harrington, Chairman and CEO of Parsons

Tom Monahan, CEO of the Corporate Executive Board

Bob Lane, Chairman of John Deere

I especially liked how the CEO of Parsons spoke about how company culture has been shaped by the six Core Values of Parsons. In the article Harrington states:

Our strong commitment to our six Core Values – Safety, Quality, Integrity, Diversity, Innovation and Sustainability – governs everything we do at Parsons. Our Core Values are the very beliefs that form the culture of our organization, that make us who we are, that form the basis for all of our decisions. We strive hard to create an atmosphere where the question of deviating from those Core Values, from doing what is right, whether for perceived individual or corporate gain, never even gets raised.

As I have written about company culture before, it is critical that the values, mission, and identity of the company come from the leaders and be implemented throughout the organization so that it becomes second nature to the employees of the company. This is what I call inner-branding. That is, branding on the inside of the organization to in turn, allow the employees to speak naturally about the company to their peers and potential clients.

I encourage you to read the article and to post a comment below. Which author do you agree with most? Which author do you disagree with? Can you relate what they write of to your business or your particular industry? Let me know!

Here is the direct link to the article:

http://ethisphere.com/the-role-of-business-ethics-in/