Ethics and Compliance in Business: A Detailed Report

This report delves into the critical concepts of ethics and compliance in a business context. It begins by exploring the author's initial perspectives on ethics, highlighting the impact of a TED Talk by Shefali Roy on their understanding. The report discusses how the video transformed their perception of ethics, emphasizing its daily influence and the responsibilities of an employer in upholding ethical standards. The author connects the video's content with course learnings, differentiating between ethics and compliance, and emphasizing the importance of ethical strength alongside legal compliance. The report further examines the ethical dilemma of choosing between ethical correctness and profitability, and highlights the significance of ethics, compliance, and governance in organizational practices. The report also references a case study of a factory collapse in Bangladesh to illustrate the consequences of neglecting ethics and governance. The author concludes by emphasizing the difficulties of enforcing ethical practices and the importance of individual ethical principles in shaping organizational ethics.

Running head: VIEWS ON ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE
VIEWS ON ETHICS AND COMPLIANCE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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The video features the Ted Talk delivered by Shefali Roy, who has worked as a Chief
Compliance Officer formerly and works as a Money Laundering Reporting Officer for Stripe
(YouTube 2018). In the video, Shefali presents her views about ethics and compliance sharing
her experiences in the field. She then presents a number of cases where questions of ethics and
compliance were put at stake.
Prior to watching the video, I had expected that it would be just another lecture on ethics
and the need to follow it in organizations. Ethics, to me was a topic that needed no explanation
because I was well aware of my own moral principles and things that I would do or not do.
However, the video changed my perception on ethics greatly. The speaker talks about the
way ethics influences our daily lives each day. She states that ethics influences us each day
without us realizing it. These things were not new to me but I ha perceived it as an employee or a
worker in a big organization. The speaker however compelled me to perceive it from the
viewpoint of an employer with the responsibility of cleaning up the mess, which are unethical
incidences. I had never pondered upon the thought that I could have my company and then I
would have the responsibility to incorporate ethics within the company. I would have to recruit
people based on the ethics I hold close and see whether I have any unconscious bias.
I could relate the video with the learning I have had during the course of my unit. I
learned that the topics of ethics and compliance are different and must not be confused as one. I
had a better understanding of the concepts of compliance and governance. It is important for an
individual and an organization to be ethically strong and not just have strong legal compliance.
The video also explained clearly that choosing between ethical but legally incompliant is the

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most difficult yet important choice. Sometimes we have to engage in practices that might be
unprofitable for the company but ethically correct.
Watching the video, I have learned that ethics, compliance and governance, although
vital to any organization, are highly neglected and ignored. I learned that doing unethical
business is much easier than engaging in and encouraging others in ethical practices. Shefali
shared the incident of a factory collapse in Bangladesh that resulted in the death of 1100 textile
workers employed under a giant textile company (YouTube 2018). The results that came out
from the investigation were shocking, as she revealed that major safety and security issues were
ignored for the sake of quick profit. Ethics and governance wee heavily ignored and from this, I
learned that it is very easy to break ethical codes without even being punished.
I would want others to understand that it is not easy to become a compliance or ethics
officer and far easy to be an employer and breach ethics and compliance. In addition, I would
want to others to learn that ethics and governance that their organization follows depends on the
ethics and moral principles that they bring on their own.

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Reference:
YouTube. 2018. Why do ethics matter? | Shefali Roy | TEDxOxbridge. [online] Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yesE4mcv4CM&feature=youtu.be [Accessed 29 Nov.
2018].