Business Ethics and Social Responsibility

Running head: BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
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1BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Business to sustain in the market needs maintain ethical approach of business. Business
ethics are crucial for any business to grow as it concerns people’s moral judgments in regard to
right and wrong. An organization can take decisions by the decision of an individual or a group
(Spence 2016). However, people making the decision may become influenced by the culture of
the business. It is a decision of morality that pushes an organization to work with ethics. The
paper aims to discuss the company Bio-Organic’s unethical practice that was highlighted in the
article written by Hannah Barry. The article is focused on the claims on Bio-Organics as an
unethical business.
The case:
The company was considered a ‘rough operator’ in the composting industry after the
residents of that area began to complain of a putrid smell coming from the facility in 2013. There
were several concerns and questions that were raised in regard to the company’s operating
license and the reasons the company was allowed to work in such a way. Questions were raised
for letting the company accept things such as grease trap liquid, food processing and blood waste
and food processing waste when the company was technically a green waste facility. However,
later it was also found that the company was only vindicated in number of court cases even
though it was it had been operating under the terms of its licenses. It is certainly thought
provoking that even though the company has come out true, there should be reasons that would
justify the reasons for these many allegations and cases on the company (Barry 2019).
The ethical issue:
Businesses are expected to comply entirely with environmental laws, fiscal and monitory
reporting statues, federal and state safety regulations and all applicable civil rights laws

2BUSINESS ETHICS AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
(Fernando and Lawrence 2014). It is important a company comply with the government’s rules
and regulation along with maintaining peace with the community they work. Often goes
unnoticed however, social responsibility is an ethical theory in which individuals and the
members of an organization are required to fulfill their civic duty. The actions of an organization
must act in a way that would benefit the society they live and operate. Through this way, a
balance should be maintained between the economic growth and the welfare of society as well as
the environment. Social responsibility is accomplished when this equilibrium is maintained
(Carroll and Buchholtz 2014).
According to the theory of social responsibility, a system of ethics should be followed
when the decisions and actions are taken (Wood et al. 2015). They are required to be ethically
validated before proceeding their work. It is here, the Bio-Organic went wrong. If by anyways
their actions or decision impact negatively to the society or environment, it would be considered
as a socially irresponsible behavior. The Bio-organic company violated this unsaid rule of
abiding by the society and environment. Even though they were working as a waste management
organization, the foul smell began spreading in the surrounding of the company. Controlled
waste products have the potential to ultimately cause harm to human health as well as
environment if they are released to the environment without treatment. Therefore, when the
released gases began spreading the community began to doubt the company. In this specific
situation the company needed to have social responsibility. Ethics and social responsibility
applies in both individual and group capacities. Both needed to be incorporated in the
organization’s daily action, decisions specifically that were associated with having an impact on
the other persons or the environment. in this case where the larger picture is concerned, a code of
social responsibility and ethics is applied within said group while they were having interactions