Ethics in Business is a Fad or Reality?

Ethics in Business is a Fad or Reality?

Ethics in Business is all about value management at workplace. While business is said to be better when kept shrewd yet moral values are given high place most of the time – either to ensure that business ethics get a place there or to confirm that the employees are all agreeing and prioritizing ethical values over the profit and loss run that governs business.

The list of ethical values, sometimes said and sometimes unsaid, exists at every workplace. Those guidelines out of a rulebook of ethics are meant to help you place right over wrong every time you find yourself in a place like that. The big question is whether these rules are actually followed or simply maintained on the outside while on the inside pure business prevails.

Fad:

1. All about profit making: Business, whether run by an individual or a committee, exists for the sole purpose of making profit from the resources taken from the society or public and converting them into useful entities for the benefit of both. They hardly care about the destruction they could be causing in the process and try to simply stay uninvolved in things which are supposed to be their responsibility. They pay no heed to morals and simply follow the path that would yield them more produce, even if the society or some people have to pay a price for it.

2. Just high terms : Ethical values like maintaining trust and being honest towards work have simply become high terms to be used for advertising about a business. Surprisingly, people are lured by these terms into trusting companies that promise to be governed by moral values. They are thought to be trusted people who would fear God and not indulge in any kind of deed that would be harmful to the consumer or society. Maggi was all promising of health and taste but at the end it turned out that they did go unethical in order to get high profits.

3. Playing foul : In business, people do not concentrate on how to make their products better; they are more devoted towards showing the competitors down so that they could go higher. Tainting each other’s name and indulging in unfair practices of spreading rumors about the opponent is the business strategy of most brands. Every year those warning messages that allege Coca-Cola brand of contaminating their drinks with harmful substances are not real but someone else’s business strategy. Even big brands indulge in these practices making ethics just a passing fad.

4. Joining hands with politics : Business and dirty politics have always been known to join hands in order to complement each other in achieving their selfish motives. All those scams and corrupt practices are done with no regret. The biggest of the business scams that took lives of many have been hidden behind the faces of ethically elated people, those well trusted by the society to be the one that would enlighten them. Where is ethics in cheating the trust of the society and misleading them with false promises of a better tomorrow?

5. There is no charity in business anymore : Big businesses show their interest in helping the poor and the needy with charitable funds. A large sum is said to be used for the purpose but what are the real intentions behind this? Cheating tax is the only reason why businesses indulge in charity these days. They are known to hide their charity balance sheets deep where the Income Tax department would not question their intents and purposes.

6. Everyone is buyable: Even the most noblest of professions have become business and have knelt down to ill practices of hurting others in order to make the most profit. Doctors are in a hurry to earn more in multiple clinics and hence pay less attention to patients. Policemen take bribe and let go of those who could be the reason for a road accident in future. Right from the top notch to the lowest form of self-employed business, they have left ethics behind and are in the run to make more profit.

Reality:

1. Long term success: If a company or organization has to achieve long term success, it must make strong pillars of ethical values and ensure that they are thoroughly followed in the entire system – right from the top to the bottom of the system. If a business cannot earn the respect of the people and society with their ethical values of trust and reliability, they cannot expect to flourish in the long run. People could fall prey to their shrewd business strategies once or twice but they will learn not to trust again and the business will see its fall.

2. Success comes with ethics: What better example could there be than Tata group of companies who have always walked with ethics side by side even after facing loss. They are a huge success owing to the fact that their ethical values have led people to believe in them no matter what. Mr. Ratan Tata continued with the Nano project even when the yield was not so good but for the sake of common people, they entertained the concept throughout.

3. Non government organizations: NGOs are the living examples of people working solely for the purpose of bringing solace to people in trouble. They have made it their duty to help eradicate poverty, illiteracy and malnutrition. Though there are NGOs who have other selfish intentions behind the good work, there also exist the good ones that run on ‘no profit no loss basis.’ If it wasn’t for these NGOs, there would have been no solace to poor people in remote areas, far away from medical facilities and educational services.

4. Happy working environment: When ethics are maintained in a workplace, it automatically becomes a happier place for the employees. They invest values and ethics along with resources and the yield is so much more than just monetary gain – there is respect and reputation won which is something that is absolutely necessary if the business is to flourish over the years. Moral values in the employer as well as the employees make business less complicated.

Ethics in business is not a fading concept. There are companies that truly believe in moral values and also implements the same in their workplace and in their dealings with others. It strengthens the very foundation of the business yielding something much more priceless than success – you earn respect and appreciation and people know you for the kind of person you are rather than just by counting the number of properties under your ownership.

In the world of scams and competition and dirty politics, there are also those that retain belief in good work. These are the torch bearers of humanity and selfless deeds. As long as these good Samaritans exist, ethics in business cannot be considered a passing fad.