Business Ethics and Its Significance

This assignment discusses the importance of business ethics in organizations, highlighting its managerial implications and how Burberry implements it to increase reputation, sales, and profitability. It also explores various business ethics theories, including moral rights approach, social justice approach, and management ethics approach. The report emphasizes the need for businesses to adopt ethical practices to be successful in the future.

BUSINESS ETHICS

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK...............................................................................................................................................1
Identification and evaluation of the most relevant normative and descriptive business ethics
theory ..........................................................................................................................................1
Significance of business ethics at an academic level and its managerial implications................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business ethics is also known as the corporate ethics. It is a form of applied ethics or
professional ethics. Generally it refers to the system of a good and bad, moral and immoral, fair
and unfair. It is based on a code of conduct where the alignment of behaviour and the social
framework is done within the organization. Burberry is a British luxury fashion house and it is
famous for fashion accessories, sunglasses, cosmetics etc. Their brand is very famous worldwide
as they developed the fabric called Gabardine which is completely breathable, waterproof and
also produce other fashion accessories which are unique. This report shows the Burberry Ethical
Code of Conduct which have various ethical practices, rules and principles which help them to
create their good image in the market. This report also explains the significance of business
ethics at an education level and its managerial conclusion. It also includes the identification and
evaluation of normative and descriptive theories of business ethics.
TASK
Identification and evaluation of the most relevant normative and descriptive business ethics
theory
Business ethics is related to individual’s moral judgement about the right and the wrong.
Decisions which are been made in the Burberry is taken by individuals or the groups but
whoever implements them will be influenced by the culture of the company. Ethical behaviour
and corporate social responsibility can bring out the most benefit to the business. The various
benefit that corporate social responsibility can give to Burberry that ethical behaviour attracts the
huge amount of consumers to them (Ferrell and Fraedrich, 2015). Behaving in the ethical way
can make the workers want to stay in the organization.
Normative theory of business ethics
Normative theory of business ethics is related to the ethical action. This theory is considered to
be the sub-set of philosophical ethics that discusses about how an individual and group in the
organization needs to behave. This theory of ethics can be useful for the Burberry as it can assist
the organization in realising about the wrongful and rightfulness of the acts. It is based on the
moral beliefs. Company needs to make sure that there is no discrimination been done in the firm
on the basis of attitude, thoughts, values and beliefs. If the firm is involved in doing any type of
unethical behaviour, then it can increase the labour turnover in the firm. Social structure and
motivation can make morality binding in a sense, but only because it makes moral norms feel
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inescapable, according to Foot. John Stuart Mill adds that external pressures, to please others for
instance, also influence this felt binding force, which he calls human "conscience". Mill says that
humans must first reason about what is moral, then try to bring the feelings of our conscience in
line with our reason.
Non consequentialist theory of ethics
It is also one type of normative theory. The Non consequentialist theory of ethics can also be
known as the normative theory. It is a theory that includes whether the act perform by Burberry
is right and wrong. This theory describes that the rightness and the wrongness of the act do not
depend on the act or morale of the individual (Crane and Matten, 2016). This theory describes
that Burberry needs to make the most ethical behaviour with the employees, which are totally
based on rules and regulations set up by them. This can assist the organization in retaining the
workers and also behaving ethically can assist them in making the good will in the market.
Ethical behaviour can also increase the brand value. It is one of the most important aspect to be
in the market. Behaving ethically can also help the Burberry in gaining competitive advantage. It
can also make the firm ethically better. Also the workers must also behave ethically with another
peer or employees. This will also build the bond between them and will also increase the team
work and collaborative working. It can make the Burberry gain competitive advantage. Strength
and weakness of this theory are the following:
Strength
 This theory can assist the employees and management of the organization in self-
improvement. It can help them in solving the issues related to the ethics, which has not
been followed in the firm.
 It can also help the Burberry in preventing the harm that can be caused when the
organization is involved in unethical behaviour. This can assist the company in growing.
Weakness
 It does not consider the values, believes, ethics, morale and norms of the employees
working in the Burberry. It only is based on the system of the act. This is one of the
major disadvantage.
 The one of the weakness in the normative theory of ethics is also that, the act which is
wrong and which is right is not described.
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Descriptive business ethics theory
Descriptive business ethics is also known as comparative ethics. It is the study of beliefs about
the morality. In this theory Burberry needs to take care of the moral aspects of the employees
working under them. In this the company needs to analyse about the attitude of individual and
group of people. To behave ethically firm must engage in evaluating the customs, beliefs and
values which one follow. If the organization have the in-depth idea of the values and beliefs of
the workers, the management can build relationship with employees. It will also improve the
friendship between the employer and the employee in Burberry company. Ethics can assist the
organization in retaining the workers and also attracting new employees towards them. This can
also increase the profitability of the firm (McCloskey, 2017). The descriptive theory of ethics
also includes understanding of the human behaviour. Organization can follow this practice and
can ensure the loyalty of workers towards the firm. This can also assist the Burberry to go grow.
Consequentialist theory of ethics
Utilitarianism is a family of consequentialist ethical theories that promotes actions that maximize
happiness and well-being for the majority of a population. It states the consequences of any
action is only based on the right doing and wrong doing. This theory is based on the belief,
attitude, thoughts and morale value of the employees working in the Burberry. Adhering to this
can support the organization in retaining the workers and also can support in creating the
worker’s loyalty (Shaw, 2016). In this the company can engage in making the workers happy by
adhering to their culture and beliefs. This can make support them in reducing the employee
turnover. It can also help the firm in increasing the profitability and growing. The word utility is
used to mean general well-being or happiness, and Mill's view is that utility is the consequence
of a good action. Utility, within the context of utilitarianism, refers to people performing actions
for social utility. This can help firm in growing.
Significance of business ethics at an academic level and its managerial implications
Business ethics is a code of conduct which is based on principles, rules and standards that
helps to govern the decision making process within the organization which is made by
individuals or groups. The people who makes these decisions will be influenced with the culture
of the company. The Burberry Ethical Code of Conduct helps in setting standards for Burberry to
maintain its relation to its own employees and supply chain partners to uphold in relation to their
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employees. Burberry requires agreement to the Code of Conduct involving all supply chain and
Business Associates. Unethical behaviour can damage the company's reputation and make it less
appealing to stakeholders (Trevino and Nelson, 2016). Businesses who does not follow any kind
of ethical code or corporate social responsibility leads to wider consequences. Due to lack of
business ethics it can affect the natural world by not showing care about the disposal of waste
products, land disruption for development, damaging the future prospects of all companies.
Ethics are very important to businesses as it can help in increasing sales and reputation. By
following ethical behaviour and CSR it can provide benefits to the business. Burberry is applying
these ethics and getting benefits such as:
 Attracting customers with their product which is helping them to boost sales and profits.
 It helps in increasing staff retention which means employees want to stay for the longer
time and also decreases labour turnover and results in increase in productivity.
 Good ethical behaviour helps in attracting more employees and wanting to work for the
company's goal, which reduces the recruitment costs and provide company the most
talented and enthusiastic employees. Burberry ethical behaviour towards its staff is very
good and values their ideas and efforts which increases the loyalty towards the company.
 Good business ethics helps in attracting investors and keeps the share of the company
always high. Burberry is a British luxury fashion house and it is famous for fashion
accessories, sunglasses, cosmetics etc. Their brand is very famous worldwide as they
developed the fabric called Gabardine which is completely breathable, waterproof and
also produce other fashion accessories which are unique.
Burberry targets to promote fair and responsible employment practices and believes
responsibility of social business is very important and by reducing inequalities and supporting
the diversity within the organization across operations and its supply chain gives equal
opportunities to the workforce (Sources of Business Ethics,2019). Burberry have tied up with
many countries and acknowledges who have their own cultures, laws, norms and traditions.
Burberry believes that all the Business Associates work together with the company which will
help them to strengthen the business and improve the quality of life of the people.
Business ethics is important for the following ways:
 The business organization who is engaged in ethical practices serves the needs of the
customer by providing them better goods and services at the right place, time and price.
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 It helps the organization to run for a long time survival in the market. Businesses running
in society should be morally and socially look after the interests of the society by
adopting business ethics like CSR.
Ethics and values education
At academic level, business ethics can be used to all aspects of education which either
internally or externally relate to ethical dimensions of life and are such that can be structured,
regulated and monitored with appropriate educational methods and tools. The importance of
business ethics at academic level are to stimulate ethical reflection, awareness, responsibility and
compassion in children and people by providing ethical principles and values. Burberry equip
them with intellectual capacities such as critical thinking and evaluation, reflection, discovery,
understanding, decision-making, non-reasoning abilities like compassion which are responsible
for moral judgement and help the Burberry to develop approaches to build the organizational
department as an ethical community and to reflectively situate individuals into other local and
global communities with a purpose to contribute the common good. This type business ethics at
academic level helps the Burberry to overcome prejudice, discrimination, and other unethical
practices and attitudes.
Moral education
Another importance business ethics at academic level is that it helps to orient into
nurturing respectful attitude towards others. Burberry acknowledges and respect the cultures,
laws, traditions and norms as the work in different parts of the countries and putting one's
beliefs, attitudes and values into practice. There are various theories at academic level which can
create opportunity to learn about business ethics such as utilitarianism, Kantian deontology or
care theory. These theories are taught to resolve or inform the ethical dilemmas, Burberry
purpose of using this education is to help their workforce to make virtuous, honest, responsible
and compassionate. It also wants to make the superiors and executives informed and reflective
about important and controversial moral issues. The moral education on religion is one of the
oldest foundation of ethical standards and Burberry has a various type of people who have
different culture and religion which enables the organization to learn about world religions and
supports the development of beliefs and values. This type of ethics helps them in business by
focusing on learning about belief system, value system and practices of other traditions and
viewpoints. Burberry explores this moral education which helps them to develop understanding
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and respecting the supply chain and from the perspective of how they affect action and how they
can peacefully coexist. Burberry provides training and nurturing their workforce in values and
virtues which are generally recognized in the society which enables them in flourishing and good
life which is named as moral socialization.
Character education
Other level of academic business ethics that Burberry follows is character education
which primarily focus on character development for e.g. moral virtues, habits, actions etc. This
education ethics helped the Burberry to focus on forming virtues and good character habits to
their workforce and eliminating the poor habits (Pearson, 2017). The company adapted these
ethics at the early stage which helped the organization to create the impression of self control,
responsibility and contribution of the employees to the work which made them famous and
successful in their career of fashion accessories, cosmetics, sunglasses etc.
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the other academic level which became important for Burberry in
business ethics. This approach helps the Burberry to enhance the critical skills of leaders,
managers and employees and provided the reflective thinking which deals with what to believe
or what to do, it aims for responsibility that promotes self-corrective assessments of the
workforce and it is based on some criteria such as clarity, accuracy, validity and soundness,
consistency, explanatory power etc. and all these criteria was fulfilled by the organization team.
This type of approach helped in business ethics such as to analyse errors, mistakes and biases.
Burberry with this approach does not only improve logical arguments but also enhanced its
thinking in depth understanding, good-decision making, evaluating, analysing, making
assumptions and considerations etc.
Citizenship education
It is the other aspect of education ethics which encourages individuals to play a better
part in democratic society. Burberry used this type of education ethics which helped in their
business by developing the skills of enquiry and communication, developing skills related to
action and responsibility. Burberry was established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry which was
focusing on the development of the outdoor attire and opened the first shop in the Haymarket,
London, in 1981.
Significance of business ethics at its managerial implications
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Burberry management is implied by business ethics and stated their morals and made a
promise to work in an ethical and responsible manner and satisfy their customers and investors
by allowing peace of mind that their money is being used on the right path. Customers only buy
products from those companies whose ways are ethical and responsible.
Ethical role of the manager:
The ethical role of the Burberry manager is to manager and lead the tasks based on
business ethics as every managerial decision affects either people or natural environment in some
way. But decision made by the managers at the Burberry was taken into full considerations
related to effects and impacts. The role of the ethical manager should serve only the interests of
the shareholder as the ethics are the part of the core management practice. The manager's
decision at Burberry can affect both stakeholders and nature but they make logical conclusion
and considering the managerial decisions, behaviours and actions which are inherently ethical in
nature.
Ethical leadership
The leadership at Burberry is based on being a moral person which rests on the
combination of the key traits such as integrity, honesty and trustworthiness. The leader at the
Burberry manages soundness of the whole entity as well as the society in which the organization
is located. The behaviour of being a moral person involves in doing the right thing, concern for
people, extrovert, personal integrity (Chell and et.al., 2016). Burberry leadership style was based
on the essence of ethics where leader or manager were open to be learning from multiple sources
about the ethical situation or difficult circumstances and taking care of their employees by
treating them well in the decision-making process. They have their standards or values, code of
conduct or integrity which allows them to take decision with a clear rationale mind. Ethical
leadership follows discipline, role model for others in terms of responsibilities and duties.
Burberry has a moral management which is communicating openly, explicitly and frequently
about ethics and values.
There are three approaches to management ethics which is implemented by Burberry
such as:
Utilitarian approach
In this approach, managers determine the impacts of decisions on people and nature.
They focus of this approach is the action rather than motive behind the action. It weighs positive
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and negative results, if the positive effects outweigh the negative effects then the managerial
actions are justified. It maintains the pollution standards and analysing the impact of pollution on
society is management ethics.
Moral rights approach
This approach follows the ethical code which concern about the moral rights of human
beings such as right to speech, right to life and safety, right to express feelings etc. In Burberry,
managers disclose information in the annual reports which are concerned about the welfare of the
people like nature, timing, validity of information are taken into consideration while reporting
information in the annual reports.
Social justice approach:
Burberry uses this approach to make managers actions impartial and equitable or fair to
all the individuals and groups (Bowie, 2017). Employees in Burberry are not distinguished on the
basis of caste, religion, race or gender but judge on the basis of skills, abilities and the production
rate of an employee.
CONCLUSION
From the above it had been summarized the business ethics plays an important role
economically and socially if the organization engaged with ethical practices. This report also
highlighted the significance of the business ethics on education level and its managerial
implications and how the Burberry implemented this business ethics in its organization to
increase it reputation, sales and profitability. This report described the business ethics theories
which are used most relevant in the business organization. This report concluded that the
business ethics must use moral management to be successful in the future.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bowie, N. E., 2017. Business ethics: A Kantian perspective. Cambridge University Press.
Chell, E., and et.al., 2016. Social entrepreneurship and business ethics: Does social equal
ethical?. Journal of business ethics, 133(4). pp.619-625.
Connelly, S., and et.al., 2017. What is Working, What is Not, and What We Need to Know: a
Meta-Analytic Review of Business Ethics Instruction.
Crane, A. and Matten, D., 2016. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
Ferrell, O. C. and Fraedrich, J., 2015. Business ethics: Ethical decision making & cases. Nelson
Education.
McCloskey, D. N., 2017. Wealth, Commerce, and Philosophy: Foundational Thinkers and
Business Ethics. University of Chicago Press.
Pearson, R., 2017. Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice and the
idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.
Shaw, W. H., 2016. Business ethics: A textbook with cases. Nelson Education.
Trevino, L.K. and Nelson, K.A., 2016. Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.
Werhane, P. H., 2019. The normative/descriptive distinction in methodologies of business ethics.
In Systems Thinking and Moral Imagination (pp. 21-25). Springer, Cham.
Online
Sources of Business Ethics.2019.[Online] Available through :
<https://www.managementstudyguide.com/sources-of-business-ethics.htm>
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