Business Ethics Research Report

The provided research report delves into the significance of business ethics in different types of organizational structures. It emphasizes the need for effective management and control within firms, adhering to government-regulated rules and regulations. The report also touches upon the concept of virtue ethics as a resource in business, corporate citizenship, and sustainability in the age of globalization.

Business Ethics

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1 Different types of organisation, purpose and ownership ......................................................1
P2 Different types of stakeholders .............................................................................................2
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
P3 Describe how two companies are organised..........................................................................3
P4 Explain how their style of organisation helps them to fulfil their purposes..........................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................4
P5 Describe the influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities . .4
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................5
P6 Describe how political, legal and social factors ...................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
In the current era, business industry is the fastest developing sector in nature for
effectively manage and control all over organisation firms so there regulated and enacted some
effective rules and regulations by the government of country. Business ethics refers to, a
particular firm of basic working polices, ethics, norm and rules, which all are have to be
followed by their employment in appropriate manner so they can achieve their decided vision
and mission as well. In this research report will be discussed about different types of business
firm as well as their major purpose (Crane and Matten, 2016.). There have some major factors
which can be impacting on enterprise and their activities so it is required to properly analyse and
evaluate them in process. There will be explained about two types of organisations profit and
non- profit companies. Mark and Spencer(M&S) is one of the largest clothing company in UK.
Along with this, National Health Service (NHS) is a national non profit organisation in UK.
TASK 1
P1 Different types of organisation, purpose and ownership
The two businesses have selected are Marks and Spencer (M&S) and the National Health
Service (NHS).
Marks and Spencer (M&S)
M&S is an international company and is part of the tertiary sector. An international
business is a business that operates and sells products/services around the world, M&S trades in
Europe, the Middle East and Asia. M&S is a public limited company, the public part of it means
that shares can be brought by the public and the limited company part means that it has limited
liability (De George, 2011). Having limited liability has many advantages as it protects a
shareholder from being responsible for more than their share of the company so they wouldn’t be
accountable for the liabilities resulting from the bankruptcy. Being part of the tertiary sector
means that M&S provides services in the form of selling groceries, clothing and home products.
The purpose of M&S is to supply products, M&S also offers services but that isn’t their primary
way of doing business. M&S is driven by profit meaning that they make sure that their sales
cover all of their running costs and more (Trevino and Nelson, 2011). Running costs include
anything that the organisation needs to spend money on in order for the company to operate
(salaries, utilities and rent). When M&S was founded the main goal was to only sell British made
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goods that were of a high quality, this started to change in the 1990s but they continue to aim to
offer high quality food at a fair price. M&S is a private company meaning that it is owned by its
shareholders, the shareholders do not run the business, instead they have a senior management
team. The current chairman of the company is Robert Swannell who has been in the position
since 2011, he ensures that all the board meetings run smoothly and helps to achieve a consensus
in all the boards decisions. The shareholders put capital into the business by buying shares they
then receive a dividend payment depending on how many shares they own (Fassin, Van Rossem
and Buelens, 2011).
National Health Service (NHS)
The NHS is a national not-for-profit organisation and is part of the tertiary sector. The
NHS is a public company meaning that it is owned by the government, it was set up in 1948 by
the labour government. The NHS is a not-for-profit business it is run mainly using money from
taxation. The NHS is part of the tertiary sector meaning that it provides a service to the general
population. The purpose of the NHS is to provide high quality care for all4 . The NHS employs
doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals so even though it is a not-for-profit
organisation it is not comprised out of volunteers. Money from taxation is used to pay for all the
running costs staff wages, medicines, equipment, buildings etc. The NHS is owned by the
government, the department of the government that is responsible for the NHS is the Department
of Health which is led by the Secretary of State for Health (Pies, Beckmann and Hielscher,
2010). The NHS is part of the public sector and as it a not-for-profit organisation they try to
make the service as efficient as possible.
P2 Different types of stakeholders
There will be describing different stakeholders which are; customers, employees,
suppliers, owners, trade unions, employer associations, local and national communities and the
government. There will be stating what they are, who they are, why they useful, how they
influence stake holders on organisation and why they are useful to business. There have been
chosen which is M&S is public company and NHS is a non profit business firm. Firstly
Stakeholder is an individual or a group who has an interest in the success of a business
delivering high results and maintaining the viability of the business’s products and services.
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Employees
Employees are people who have contracts with two parties, one being the employer and
the other as employees. Employees rely on their job for pay. Most employees work for money
but there are some who work voluntarily. Employees can work as part-time, full time, temporary
and permanent all depend on their commitments. Employees are one of the Stakeholders, they
are interested in the business and want it to do well and succeed. The employees will have job
security as they will be well secured by the business. Employees are interested in good sales and
good service to the customers therefore they can get rewards/ promotions and bonus (Sparks and
Pan, 2010).
Customers: These are key stakeholders in any organisation. The way they are catered to and their
level of satisfaction determines how the company runs. Customers want value for money which
involves providing the highest quality products at competitive prices. They often identify with
the brands they buy. These stakeholders like to see improvements that give them better value of
money.
TASK 2
P3 Describe how two companies are organised
All organisations need an organisational structure which can help to manage the business
so that it can be successful. The structure can be shown in an organisation chart which is used to
represent lines of authority within an organisation. Hierarchical structures are used by businesses
to show how an organisation is organised by showing the levels of authority, the span of control
and the chain of command. In a hierarchical structure the person with the greatest authority is at
the top and each level has a subordinate apart from the bottom level. Each level has managers or
employees of equal authority or status. The advantages of a hierarchical organisation is that it
shows the lines of authority, the formal lines of communication between managers and, how
many people each manager is responsible for.
Communications between top and bottom levels of the hierarchy can be slow as there are
more people in the business between the person at the top and the bottom of the chart. Separate
departments can lead to poor coordination between them and decisions made can be for the
benefit of the department not the whole business. The chain of command runs straight from the
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top to the bottom. This is the line of authority through which orders and downward
communication are passed.
Flat organisational structures have few levels of hierarchy and management which are
usually 2 or 3 levels. It has a short chain of command and each manager has a shorter span of
control. Tall structures are very similar to flat organisational structures but instead have a longer
chain of command from the top to the bottom of the organisation. Each manager also has a
narrow span of control. The advantage of both a flat and tall organisational structures is that
there are fewer managers, so fixed costs of salaries and other employment-related costs are
reduced (Audi, 2012).
P4 Explain how their style of organisation helps them to fulfil their purposes
The aims of organisations depend on the type of business they are. For example, the aims
of a charity organisation will be quite different from those of a for-profit global business. A
business needs to have a clear sense of direction, which must be clearly communicated to all
stakeholders. This is the aim of the business which can then be broken down into smaller aims
and objectives. By setting out in all these new directions M&S ran the risk of losing our way. So,
they have relied on every little helps more and more over the years, to act as a common
philosophy to bind the company and make it work together.
Strategic aims and objectives
As M&S is a profit-based business, it maximises their sales and profit, expanding to
maintain its competitiveness in addition to outshining competitor. It also focuses on providing
shareholders with progressive returns on their investment improving profitability through
investment in efficient stores and distribution depots, in productivity improvements and in new
technology, developing the talents of its people through sound management and training
practices, while rewarding them fairly with equal opportunities for all (Uysal, 2010).
TASK 3
P5 Describe the influence of two contrasting economic environments on business activities
Economic environment of business activities will be explained into two parts, which are
stated under following.
Boom
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With boom, this means that it is a period of fast economic growth; this means that it is an
output is high due to being increased demand, this would mean that the unemployment is lower
than it should be. With the business confidence means that it may be a high leading to increased
investment. This therefore means that with the consumer confidence, which then may lead to
extra spending. With boom what happens is that they may have the experience of businesses
producing more products for them to sell. Boom is also shown as a period of time in which sakes
of a product or a business activity may increase rapidly. In the actual stock market, the booms
are associated with clothing markets, rather than busts are associated with food industry’s
markets with the actual cyclical nature of the market and the actual economy in general suggests
that with every strong economic growth (Heath, Moriarty and Norman, 2010).
Recession
With recession this means that it may be a period on time in which the economical
growth may slow down, and the level of output may actually decrease rather than increase or
rise. This therefore means that with the unemployed that it may have the chance on increasing. If
this happens then it will be bad for businesses from the fact that they may lose confidence and it
also may have to experience the reduce on investment. This would be bad because it would mean
that their customers may save up instead of spending their money buying products from the
company.
TASK 4
P6 Describe how political, legal and social factors
Business organisations are affected by different types of factors such political, legal and
social these all are explained under:
Political: Firstly I will talk about a change that can have both a positive and a negative
effect on the cited company which is pay rises. When the government issues a pay rise, the
general public has more disposable income, which means that they can spare more to spend on
less vital items. In the earlier time period government of UK, had enacted some effective rules,
all these had a positive impact on businesses as consumers could afford to spend more on luxury
goods and therefore the sales of the products increased (Doh and et.al 2010).
Legal: The M&S has to pay heed to many laws which have been issued by the
government. One law which is in favour of consumers is the ‘sales of goods act’. If the sale of
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goods act is breached, serious consequences may arise and as a result, the business will have to
undergo legal processes. This can destroy the image of the company and if this happens, it will
be a hard to re-build it (Ryan, Buchholtz, and Kolb, 2010).
CONCLUSION
As per above mention this research report on business ethics, which all are play every
eminent role in any kind of enterprise. For effectively handling and controlling over all activities
of firm, government of the country regulated some rules and regulation, which all are have to be
followed. There has been defined different types of organisation structures as per that easy to
identify or determine actual working system of particular firm.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Audi, R., 2012. Virtue ethics as a resource in business. Business Ethics Quarterly.22(2). pp.273-
291.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
De George, R. T., 2011. Business ethics. Pearson Education India.
Doh, J., and et.al 2010. Ahoy there! Toward greater congruence and synergy between
international business and business ethics theory and research. Business Ethics
Quarterly.20(3). pp.481-502.
Fassin, Y., Van Rossem, A. and Buelens, M., 2011. Small-business owner-managers’
perceptions of business ethics and CSR-related concepts. Journal of Business ethics.
98(3). pp.425-453.
Heath, J., Moriarty, J. and Norman, W., 2010. Business ethics and (or as) political philosophy.
Business Ethics Quarterly.20(3). pp.427-452.
Pies, I., Beckmann, M. and Hielscher, S., 2010. Value creation, management competencies, and
global corporate citizenship: An ordonomic approach to business ethics in the age of
globalization. Journal of Business Ethics .94(2). pp.265-278.
Ryan, L. V., Buchholtz, A. K. and Kolb, R. W., 2010. New directions in corporate governance
and finance: Implications for business ethics research. Business Ethics Quarterly.20(4).
pp.673-694.
Sparks, J. R. and Pan, Y., 2010. Ethical judgments in business ethics research: Definition, and
research agenda. Journal of Business Ethics.91(3). pp.405-418.
Trevino, L. K. and Nelson, K. A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Uysal, Ö. Ö., 2010. Business ethics research with an accounting focus: A bibliometric analysis
from 1988 to 2007. Journal of Business Ethics. 93(1). pp.137-160.
Online
Business Ethics, 2017. [Online]. Available through:<https://www.infineon.com/cms/en/about-
infineon/sustainability/business-ethics/>. [Accessed on 14th July 2017]
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