Ethics

Business ethics is a term often used to refer to ethical or unethical behaviors by a manager or employee of an organisation. But how can we apply or ethical judgments to situations that may arise during the course of business activities? First, we have to gather the relevant factual information. Next step is that we have to determine the most appropriate moral values. Lastly, we have to make an ethical judgment based on the rightness or wrongness of the proposed activity or policy. Simple as may sound but it does not always work as smoothly as following steps 1, 2 and 3. What if the facts are not clear-cut? What if there are no baseline moral values? Whatever it is, a decision must be made.

Within the workplace, the company itself influences individual ethical behavior. As unethical and even illegal activities by both managers and employees have plagued more and more companies, many firms have taken steps to encourage ethical behavior in the workplace.

An excellent, and now classic, illustration of the power of ethical commitment involves Johnson & Johnson. In 1982, capsules of the company's Tylenol pain reliever were found to be laced with cyanide. Managers at J&J quickly recalled all Tylenol bottles still on retailer's shelves and them went public with candid information throughout the crisis.

Government reports