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Debarshi Bagchi
PGP-15-182
Division- C
Ethics in Business
Business Ethics form an unwritten, notional and moral code that not only
determines how we are perceived by others but also affects our decision making
processes and directs the path in our present life as well as in the future.
Honesty and ethics are considered the building blocks of our society and it is not
something that we can choose to look away from. Ethics in business defines the
fine line between what is right and wrong for us to do. There are a number of
ethical dilemmas that an individual or business faces in everyday operations.
There is no hard and fast rule about what is right and wrong, but when taking a
decision, one has to consider the degree of acceptability in the eyes of the
public. Everyone has to accept responsibilities beyond their defined boundaries,
concerning the environment and social services.
The
The
The
The
Commitments
Commitments
Commitments
Commitments
of Private Life
as Economic Agents
as Company Leaders
beyond a Firms Boundaries
where they dace an ethical dilemma while taking a decision, but pressure to
perform must not lead them to making unethical decisions.
and customer orders to make up for the wrongdoings as a proof. This proved
successful only for some time until the distributors started giving back
inventories and some employees of the company revealing it to the higher
management about the unethical practices that had been going on in the
company. This shows that it is not possible to succeed using unethical practices,
rather it tarnishes a persons or companys image forever.
Trust
repair.
Management Accounting
The topic discussed in class was about the president of a company asking his
accountant to recognize revenues of the next fiscal year in the current year so
that the profits could be shown to around the figure that they had targeted and
it would have resulted in more incentives for both of them as well as making the
shareholders happy with their return on investments. This represents an ideal
ethical dilemma where the manager is torn between being ethical as a person
and abiding by rules of accounting and on other side meeting his targets and
maximizing shareholders wealth. These kinds of situations are pretty common
in a firm where the stakes are very high on either side.
Operations Management
In operations also, there are a lot of ethical issues that managers face which
mainly deals with quality standards and environmental regulations. Quality is the
most important thing for a manufacturing firm as using below par items may
cause disaster as we have seen in the past with a plane crashing due to use of a
previously rejected nut and bolt. Similarly, adhering to environmental regulations
is a very critical thing because too much pollution affects the society as a whole
and also the people who live in areas surrounding a plant or manufacturing
facility. We saw the disaster that Maggi had to face when some laboratories
found out that it contains ingredients like Lead beyond the allowed limit.
Sometimes managers might be tempted to play with the quality standards to
reduce costs or similarly fudging numbers, but it is very important that they
adhere to ethics and morality because their decisions impact the society as a
whole.
Information Management
As we all know, today BigData is the biggest buzzword in the Information
Management industry and it is showing path-breaking techniques and making
data handling very easy. But this situation also poses serious questions like
whether the companies dealing with data will adhere to the privacy rights of the
public and stand out ethically clean when they are forced to take decisions that
have a lot at stake. There are also a lot of concerns regarding the cyber laws like
hacking, spamming, cybersquatting and cyber bullying in this industry.
Conclusion
The course on Ethics in Business has taught me the importance of moral values
in business, which is kind of an underrated thing in business. It teaches us the
importance of such situations in our life that we will face as a business manager,
where there might be big trade-offs related to a decision where we might be
inclined to take unethical decisions given the pressure on us to make the
numbers, but its important to hold onto business ethics and morality.