Business Ethics Report: Ethical Approaches, Issues, and Frameworks

This report on business ethics explores various ethical approaches, including duty-based, rights-based, utilitarian, virtue, justice, common good, and egoism. It contrasts absolute and relative ethics, examining ethical issues affecting business operations such as workplace harassment, unsafe products, and unfair labor practices. The report discusses the implications of ethical operations on businesses and stakeholders, highlighting conflicts among them. Furthermore, it outlines the regulatory framework of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), including the Companies Act 2006 and other relevant legislation. The report emphasizes the importance of ethical conduct in guiding employee behavior and organizational practices, providing a comprehensive overview of ethical considerations in the business environment and referencing relevant academic sources.

BUSINESS
ETHICS
Task 1

1.1 Background and development
of ethical approaches
 Ethics is concerned with norms, beliefs and values which are
prevailing in society.
 Ethics defines the line between right and wrong and states
what correct thing to do is.
 In an organisation the ethics are implied as rules and
regulation and conduct the behaviour and action of
employees.
 With passing times ethics in business have become key
important for guiding the conduct of employees and overall
organisation.

Types of Ethical approach
 Duty based approach- Do as the managers instruct to do
even if employee do no want to the it.
 Right approach – basic right given to employee such as
focusing on social, economic, civil, and political policy
orientation.
 Utilitarian approach- to take an action regarding its
consequence, for eg: determination of net cost to all
stakeholders on individual level.

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 Virtue approach- honesty, courage, generosity, integrity,
compassion, fairness, fidelity, prudence and self-control.
 Justice approach- paying employees on the basis of
contribution made in work.
 Common good approach- providing basic needs such as
clean water to drink, healthy atmosphere with fresh air to
breath and work in.
 Egoism- not helping co-workers due to self-interest.

1.2 Comparison of Absolute and relative ethics
Absolute ethics:
 This states that there are universally applicable
moral principles.
 It determines quality of right and wrong actions.
 Managers follow the universally accepted rule in
organisation.
 Manager does not change the ethical principles
because they are absolute rule of universe.

Relative Ethics:
 This provides morality under each department of
the company.
 No rational determination of universal rights and
wrong.
 No single set of moral rules can work every
situation.
 Rules are changes according to circumstances.

1.3 Ethical issues affecting
business’s operational activity
 Managers are presented with ethical issues in daily life.
 More than 30% workers have encountered workplaces
harassment in 30% of MNC.
 This done through use of social networking sites.
 The comment on employees on these sites sometimes cost
job of employees.
 The organisations are setting up policies in context of using
social networking sites at workplace.
 Employees also use these sites when they are no working to
avoid such problems.

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Some other ethical issues affecting organisational
operations are:
 Production of unsafe products for consumers;
 Non recycling of wastage of company
 Cutting wages to maximize profits
 Termination of employees on unfair conditions

1.4 and 2.1:Implication of ethical
operation on business and its
stakeholder, conflicts among
stakeholders
 A business is required to follow moral ethics accepted by
the society.
 Computing Supplies Ltd does not operate under the law of
honesty and profit maximisation main motive.
 Employee being one of stakeholder is are affected negatively
regarding getting lower wages.

Mind MAP

3.2 Regulatory framework of CSR
 Under organisational context sometimes corporate
governance and CSR concept overlap each other.
 Corporate governance is a system of operating and
controlling business.
 It is governed by rules, regulation and legislation.
 CSR is voluntary initiative that is taken by
organisation towards it stakeholders.

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Companies are applying triple bottom line approach for
CSR which is directed by regulation and legislation:
 Companies act, 2006: environmental and community
impact;
 Employment act, 2002;
 Disability Discrimination Act, 2005;
 Working time Regulation, 2001;
 Race relation Act, 2001;
 Maternity and paternal leave regulation, 2001;
 Health and safety at workplace, 1974.
 As per the instruction given by Account Modernisation
Directive, large PLC’s are required to file reports over
environmental significance matter publically.