Download Business Ethics Artifact Name Chapter 2 Business, Discussion

Business Ethics
Artifact Name
Chapter 2 Business, Discussion Board: Chapter 2
Core Competency
The student will demonstrate a working
understanding of ethical standards that govern
business operations and transactions and employee
behavior.
Last Update
Chapter 2 Business and Chapter 2 Discussion Board
were each worked on 8 months ago.
Rationale
I am including my notes from Chapter 2 Business
because it gives a great explanation of what
business ethics are. Business ethics are defined
as the principles and standards that determine
acceptable conduct in business. There is also this
concept of social responsibility. A business’
obligation to maximize its positive impact and
minimize its negative impact on society. This is
such an important part of business. Basically,
this is how a business portrays itself to the
public. Are they doing the right thing?
I chose to use discussion board: chapter 2 because
I believe it asks us to look up a couple of
businesses that are engaging in unethical
practices. There are going to be businesses all
over the place that may not do the right thing. As
sad as it is, it’s true. Some businesses take
advantage of others and get their way by doing
something that is not acceptable. It’s usually up
to the public to expose this but sometimes it
comes from within.
Knowledge
I think that I took solid notes on Chapter 2
Business and really understand this concept. There
are two different issues under this topic of
business ethics: ethical issues and social
responsibility issues. An ethical issue is an
identifiable problem, situation, or opportunity
that requires a person to choose from among
several actions that may be evaluated as right or
wrong, ethical or unethical. There are six main
issues that are brought up in companies. These six
are: misuse of company resources, abusive and
intimidating behavior, conflict of interest,
fairness and honesty, communications, and business
relationships. Misuse of company resources is the
leading ethical issue. This type of misconduct can
range anywhere from firing workers for excessive
use of email at work to unauthorized use of
equipment and computer systems to embezzling of
company funds. The 2nd most common ethical issue
is abusive and intimidating behavior. This means
physical threats, false accusations, profanity,
insults, yelling, harshness, and
ignoring/annoying. Now, the most common issue
identified by employees is conflict of interest.
Conflict of interest is whether or not to advance
his own personal interests or those of others.
Social responsibility is just about relations with
owners and stockholders. Businesses must first be
responsible to their owners, then employees, and
then consumers.
In the discussion board question about ethical
issues, I found two that stood out to me. One that
I will share is the ethical issue with Nike. Their
employees went and complained to the NGO that they
were working in “sweatshops”. Sweatshops are an
illegal form of business operation. Nike may blame
whistleblowers for this accusation. A
whistleblower is
Knowledge (continued)
someone from within the company who goes public
with the company’s wrongdoing. Whistleblowers
usually expose the company by using the media or
government regulatory agencies.
Skills
I developed business ethic and social
responsibility skills. I now know what is ethical,
unethical, and how to convey my business’ image in
a positive manner.
Growth and Improvement
Statement
If I had to do this project again, I honestly
don’t think I would do it any differently. I
certainly grew and improved as a young
entrepreneur because of these exercises, though.
My knowledge of this subject improved and I think
I retained the most information on this topic of
business ethics.