The ethics term is come from the Greek word ethos which means
custom, habit, character or disposition. Generally, ethics concerns with
discovering a system one may use to determine who or what is good, or with
evaluating systems that others have proposed. Philosophical ethics also can be
called the study of what is good and bad. Ethics is a system of moral
principles and it affects how people make decisions and lead their lives.
Ethics is a requirement for
human life. It is our means of deciding a course of action. Without it, our actions
would be random and vain. There would be no way to work towards a goal because
there would be no way to pick between a limitless numbers of goals. Even with
an ethical standard, we may be unable to pursue our goals with the possibility
of success. We are able to correctly organize our goals and actions to
accomplish our most important values. Any flaw in our ethics will reduce our
ability to be successful in our effort.
At some point ethics considered
oxymoron which is bringing together of two apparently contradictory concepts
like cheerful pessimist or deafening silence. Oxymoron is also parallel of
contradictory words or concepts. That is what we have with the term
"Business Ethics". The very contradiction that is exist in this
latter phrase is an indication of the challenge that individuals who work for
organizations face as we all approach the resource limits of this planet.
One of the necessities of being ethical is telling the truth.
However, when we look at how businesses, services and products are often
promoted, the truth is stretched rather thin. One example, of course is the
mobile communications or cell phone industry. Each carrier runs ads trying to
convince us how superior they are. However, since there are no legal
requirements even for using terminology such as "4G," and each
carrier handles their lines differently, there is often quite a bit of
variation. However, as good as it is, it is certainly not as quick as wired or
WI-FI service. Every other service has its proponents, as well as its
attackers. The issue is not which service is the best, but rather how the
services promote themselves. While effective advertising is self-promotional by
definition, misleading ads are certainly not terribly ethical.
Secondly, have you ever gone into a store and purchased something,
and the store quickly asks you if you'd like to purchase an Extended Warranty.
While there is nothing wrong with offering this, nor with the stores making
additional revenues doing so, have you ever been given a clear cut explanation
of what is and is not covered, and the limitations? Remember, we are discussing
ethics here!
The global concept of business is fundamentally based on the
principle of competition for limited resources. That is the practice of
maximizing one's gains at the expense of others. This ultimately has the effect
of creating a hierarchy of those who have and those who have not. This is
really paramount to other human beings.
In other words business is about engaging in activities that
essentially go against our core human values. Now this may come as a surprise
to some because most consider business as normal a human activity as breathing.
It is this exist contradiction that has led to the spate of business executives
coming under the ethical spotlight in recent years. In a sense this outcome was
inevitable and the trend will continue unless we begin to redefine the
principles on which business is carried out
There are so many situations in business where there is the
opportunity for a business, product, or representative to prioritize ethical behaviour,
or to merely do what might be expedient and in the store (or business, product,)
best interest, rather than the customer (or buyer). Therefore, one must wonder
if business ethics is another one of those oxymorons, such as military intelligence,
moral politician and etc.
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