Over the past few decades, the
government authorities and business regulators emphasize the need for
organizations to exercise business ethics and enshrine sustainability measures
in the firm’s codes of conduct. Industrialization in the developed world
yielded unethical business practices including dishonesty in trade, child labor
and an absence of equity and systematic procedures across the business divide. As business people become socially aware in
the late 1960s, the organizations considered business ethics as a way to boost
its image. Today, many companies face an ethical
dilemma when making decisions on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities (Carroll et al. 6).
What are Business Ethics, Sustainability and
Business Responsibilities?
Ethics is a set of disciplines that
examine moral standards adopted as part of the organizational culture to meet its goals effectively while ensuring
sustainability. People in the society have moral stances, beliefs, and values
that should be respected by business entities. Business managers should,
therefore, be aware of the existing conflicts due to ethical dilemmas
(DesJardins et al. 62). As organizations embrace international trade and expand
beyond the borders of a particular country, the customers, and the workforce
becomes diversified. It calls for refinement of ethical codes, policies, and
social responsibilities to accommodate the changes in the business environment
hence ensure business sustainability.
Business ethics is still a complex
issue, even in a modern environment. The workforce and the stakeholders are
getting increasingly discouraged because of the uncovering of unethical
business practices over the past few years. As the scandalous business
practices come to light, it is clear that business ethics and sustainable
practices should be considered. In the United States, organizations
influence the society via advertisements thus affecting the values and
attitudes in a work environment.
Successful business leaders
consider profitability in the organization as secondary to sustainability. Lack
of core values such as cooperation, trust, fairness, and honesty, it is hard
for a firm to be assured of sustained long-term success and business expansion.
As such, an increase in the quality of production and productivity is highly
dependent on such virtues.
Business managers should consider
several factors before endorsing and implementing initiatives in the corporation.
Such considerations should include the legality of the undertaking, a potential
for profitability and the ethical needs.
Besides, an engagement in socially responsible activities is imperative
to stamp the company’s position as a leader. Notably, business touches on every
societal aspect, hence the need for a greater emphasis. There is an ongoing
debate on the existing controversy between social challenges and business.
However, most experts unanimously agree that the separation of the two can
spell a doom to the concerned corporations.
Considering this, there are
multiple guidelines to be followed in a business setting. First, the management
should be aware that social power is the source of a social responsibility.
What this proposal suggests is that any established business institution has a
sphere of influence and power, thus should be responsible for its actions.
Secondly, a business should operate in a two-way system that consists of a
public disclosure of its operations and openness when receiving inputs.
Businesses that misuse power by engaging in irresponsible deeds tend to lose it
over time. Lastly, the business institutions, similar to citizens, are
responsible for social involvement in their best areas of competence with the
presence of social needs. A claim that a business is responsible for all social
issues is far-fetched. As a part of the society, corporations should assist in
offering a solution to the rising matters. It should utilize its core
competencies to eliminate such issues in the society because of the accruing
benefits.
Combating unethical business
behavior calls for an adoption of detailed and distinct ethical codes. While
ethical codes hardly cure the prevalent problems within a business cycle, it is
a vital step in the right direction. A clear reference to specific incidences
coupled with adequate leadership support produce effective results.
Business
Sustainability
Business sustainability refers to a
proactive and strategic approach to ensure the business' long-term integrity
and viability. It is attainable via resource optimization and reduction of an
impact on the environment while not compromising on profitability, product
quality, and competitiveness. Many organizations are yet to consider ethics and
social responsibility as important business engagements. In fact, the
environmental destruction by careless pollution is a product of such
violations. Advocacy for sustainability and conscious social responsibility is
one of the biggest challenges that activists face today.
Sustainable
Value
The sustainable value concept is
attainable via long-term corporate social responsibility. Today, endless
environmental and social issues trigger a global crisis that affects the
stability of the business environment. Resultantly, shareholders and managers
are concerned with the future of the organization. Sustainable value serves as
a remedy because it does not view social responsibility as an added cost and
burden to the organization, but as a
business opportunity to be exploited.
It is the responsibility of the
organizations to address special and
specified environmental and social issues to create awareness of the possible
hazards. At the same time, the company gets solutions through innovation of
products and voluntary services. Gaining such
benefits through internal ethical conduct is hard. Most importantly, the
business image and brand is improved for future profitability. Creation of
products and services to attain a sustainable value demands social innovation.
Social innovation involves the creation
of new plans, strategies, ideas, and concepts to solve specified and existent
social needs as targeted by the corporation.
Sustainability value refers to a concept
that is emergent from the groundwork of a
holistic value (Bansal et al. 73). Such an idea integrates the social
environment with the financial objectives of the organization. It also fuses
the internal organizational structure and the community that the firm’s
operations are based.
Talking of sustainable value, holistic value and social responsibility should
focus the organization on the social environment some of the elements of a
social environment include the firm’s employees, potential customers, social
activists, the organizational culture, a secondary and primary set of
attitudes, and societal norms.
The social environment teams up
with other factors to influence the business environment.
Sustainable value strategy, for instance, addresses vivid concerns on extreme economic challenges facing the nation and
the planet. Global economic recessions make it difficult to fulfill CSR duties while addressing shareholder and
investor needs. A Sacrifice on socially responsible behavior has to be made when the annual revenue shrinks. In
light of this, an organizational management that is committed to sustainability addresses its issues using
well-formulated strategies while maintaining business ethics.
In summary, business ethics can be
enhanced through the incorporation of social responsibilities and improvement
of the environment that the business is based. This way, the firm enhances its image hence ensuring customer
loyalty. In the long run, the revenue generated will increase hence ensuring
business survival.
Works Cited
Bansal, Pratima, and Mark R. DesJardine. "Business sustainability:
It is about time." Strategic
Organization 12.1 (2014):
70-78.
Carroll, Archie, and Ann
Buchholtz. Business
and Society: Ethics, Sustainability, and Stakeholder Management. Birchmount: Nelson
Education, 2014: 1-76.
DesJardins, Joseph R., and John
J. McCall. Contemporary
Issues in Business Ethics. Singapore: Cengage Learning, 2014:
3-132. Print.
