University Business Ethics Module: Self-Reflection and Learning

This self-reflection paper delves into the student's learning journey in a business ethics module, focusing on critical concepts and their practical implications. The student reflects on the importance of ethical decision-making, stakeholder relationships, and corporate social responsibility, emphasizing the integration of values like integrity, honesty, and fairness in business practices. The paper covers various ethical issues, including resource misuse, fraud, bribery, and discrimination, while also exploring ethical leadership and the globalization of ethical decision-making. It highlights the significance of stakeholder analysis, business ethics programs, and ethical auditing, as well as the role of formal, process, and output controls in maintaining ethical standards. The student demonstrates a clear understanding of these concepts and their relevance in creating sustainable and ethically sound business operations.

Running head: SELF-REFLECTION
Self-Reflection
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1SELF-REFLECTION
The lessons that have been taken up by me, on ethics and sustainability. Business ethics is
important to be imparted such that ethical decision making and lessons on emerging business
ethics could be learned. In these lessons, the various chapters that are learned include emerging
business ethical issues, ethical decision making, stakeholder relationships, corporate social
responsibilities. I have learnt the philosophies and values that have to be incorporated at a
personal level, to ensure ethical business. I have also learned about ethical leadership and
globalization of the ethical decision-making. Thus, these lessons are important for me. The
knowledge imparted is essential to ensure ethical business and decision-making1.
I have learned about the importance of ethics in business. The importance of the
identification of the various stakeholders in a business has been described in the lessons.
Stakeholders are defined as people who possess a stake or claim on a company and have an
active participation in the company’s operations. I have gained knowledge about the various
theories of stakeholder analysis. These include the normative approach, the descriptive apporch
and the instrumental approach2. The stakeholders are mainly of two types, the primary and
secondary stakeholders. The primary stakeholders are the people, whose contributions are
1 Ward, Sharon, Scott Killingsworth, Andrew Leigh, Anthony Smith Meyer, Ludo Van der
Heyden, and Phillip Weights. "Ethics in Business." Business Compliance 4, no. 3-4 (2015): 75-
91.
2 Crane, Andrew, and Dirk Matten. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press, 2016.

2SELF-REFLECTION
essential for the survival of the company3. The secondary stakeholders do not engage directly in
the transactions of the companies4. Social corporate responsibilities have to be taken up by the
business organizations, in order to gain competitive advantages, and establish them as
sustainable business. The foundation values for identifying the ethical issues include integrity,
honesty as well as fairness. The various ethical issues identified in business includes misuse of
the various resources of the company, along with theft, assault or false accusation. Bribery and
discrimination are also some of the ethical business issues that the employees should refrain5.
The various kinds of frauds that take place in business are also shed light upon in the lessons
learned by me. Ethical decision-making are important from business perspective6. I have
understood the significance of ethical decision-making and learned about various decision-
3 Hoffman, W. Michael, Robert E. Frederick, and Mark S. Schwartz, eds. Business ethics:
Readings and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
4 Halinen, Aino, and Päivi Jokela. "Exploring Ethics in Business Networks: Propositions for
Future Research." In Extending the Business Network Approach, pp. 333-356. Palgrave
Macmillan UK, 2016.
5 Ward, Sharon, Scott Killingsworth, Andrew Leigh, Anthony Smith Meyer, Ludo Van der
Heyden, and Phillip Weights. "Ethics in Business." Business Compliance 4, no. 3-4 (2015): 75-
91.
6 Crane, Andrew, and Dirk Matten. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press, 2016.

3SELF-REFLECTION
making practices. Knowledge about ethical decisions will help me make good decisions, which
are useful from the business perspective.
The lessons learned by me includes the incorporation of values and morale that needs to be
incorporated by individuals, such that ethical group decisions could be taken up. The various
stages of cognitive morale development and its challenges are also learned. I have developed
ideas regarding the white-collar crimes that take place in business and the philosophies and
values that are important to be incorporated. I have developed a clear idea regarding the
responsibility of the corporation regarding the stakeholders. The needs for business ethics
programs have also been understood7. The requirements for the ethics and compliance programs
include the various standards and procedures, high-level personnel, training programs given to
the employees, consistent enforcement of the standards8. I have also become aware of the
various codes of conduct that needs to be followed in business. Every business organization
needs to ensure that the employees abide by the ethical considerations successfully, such that the
ethical issues could be mitigated9. Moreover, I have learned the importance of abidance with the
ethical and legal policies in order to ensure compliance with the ethical considerations. Ethical
7 Halinen, Aino, and Päivi Jokela. "Exploring Ethics in Business Networks: Propositions for
Future Research." In Extending the Business Network Approach, pp. 333-356. Palgrave
Macmillan UK, 2016.
8 Hoffman, W. Michael, Robert E. Frederick, and Mark S. Schwartz, eds. Business ethics:
Readings and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
9 Weiss, Joseph W. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers, 2014.

4SELF-REFLECTION
auditing needs to be conducted in the business organization such that the benefits of the ethical
audition could be implemented in the business organizations. The various control systems in the
business ethics includes the formal control, process control as well as the output control. I have
developed a clear idea, regarding the importance of these controls in the business ethics.
Weiss, Joseph W. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers, 2014.

5SELF-REFLECTION
Bibliography
Crane, Andrew, and Dirk Matten. Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Halinen, Aino, and Päivi Jokela. "Exploring Ethics in Business Networks: Propositions for
Future Research." In Extending the Business Network Approach, pp. 333-356. Palgrave
Macmillan UK, 2016.
Hoffman, W. Michael, Robert E. Frederick, and Mark S. Schwartz, eds. Business ethics:
Readings and cases in corporate morality. John Wiley & Sons, 2014.
Ward, Sharon, Scott Killingsworth, Andrew Leigh, Anthony Smith Meyer, Ludo Van der
Heyden, and Phillip Weights. "Ethics in Business." Business Compliance 4, no. 3-4 (2015): 75-
91.
Weiss, Joseph W. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach. Berrett-
Koehler Publishers, 2014.