Ethics in Business: Importance, Demonstration, and Improvement

This assignment explores the critical importance of ethical conduct in business. It emphasizes the benefits of ethical behavior, such as a better image, increased competencies, avoidance of legal issues, and higher employability. The essay delves into practical ways to demonstrate ethical conduct through accounting practices, responsible advertising, ethical management, and customer service integrity. Furthermore, it provides actionable strategies to improve professionalism and ethical conduct, including joining professional associations, reading ethics books, planning for ethical challenges, and forming peer groups for support and feedback. The assignment highlights the need for businesses and individuals to prioritize ethical practices for long-term success and societal well-being, supported by references to key academic sources.

Running head: ETHICS
ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Answer to Question 1: Importance of ethical conduct....................................................................2
Answer to Question 2: Demonstrating ethical conduct...................................................................3
Answer to Question 3: Ways to improve professionalism and ethical conduct..............................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

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Answer to Question 1: Importance of ethical conduct
It is very important for any business enterprise to ensure that they conduct their business
ethically and even the individuals need to engage in ethical practices. Personal unethical
behavior may vary from scenarios and may range from activities like cheating, stealing greed
and other related sins. It must be the aim of an individual to ensure that they always conduct
themselves ethically. Thus, the ethical conduct in any domain, is considered to be very crucial
for the person as it provides various benefits to the self and the society. A person who conducts
ethicality enjoys praise and security in life. These benefits have been stated as follows:
Better image: When an individual behaves ethically, it tends to portray a good image of the
person in the eyes of the society (Carroll & Buchholtz, 2014). The different members as present
in the society tend to respect the decisions as made by the person and this can go a long way in
ensuring that the individual achieves competitive edge in the long run.
Increases competencies: When the self-image of the individual tends to improve, the
competency increases and the individual becomes more capable. This is beneficial for the career
of the individual.
Avoidance of legal issues: When an individual conducts practices ethically, they can easily abide
by all regulations and legislatives present which further contribute to safe practices.
Higher chances of employability: This means that when the person portrays better ethical
behavior, they become more attractive than other individuals and hence, they increase their
chances of employability and success in the long run (Peters, 2015).

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Answer to Question 2: Demonstrating ethical conduct
Although ethical conduct seems easy on papers, it is very difficult to demonstrate the
ethical conduct which takes place in reality. However, one needs to ensure that the maintain
ethicality in all their domains. Given below are certain ways in which ethical conduct can be
demonstrated:
Accounting Practices
The financial honesty forms the most crucial aspect of any organization and for this
reason, it is important to ensure that all the standard accounting practices are followed so that the
true financial standing of the firm can be portrayed in front of its customers (Crane & Matten,
2016). Hence, an individual would portray financial ethicality by following all processes of
accounting.
Selling of the truth
When selling the products to the customers, they need to deliver the item which is
promised. Hence, responsible advertising needs to be done so that the customers do not feel
cheated later on. One needs to ensure that the advertisements one delivers are honest.
Management practices
The organizational integrity is incomplete without ethical management practices. All
practices like the management of staff to customer service, need to have ethical practices so that
the reputation of the organization can be maintained easily (DesJardins, 2014). Hence, as a
manager one should portray ethicality in their managerial practice.
Customer service integrity

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The customers of the organization are the primary reason for which the business
functions. Hence, as a part of the company one needs to ensure integrity in customer service so
that the customer service can be improved and a loyal customer base can be built.
Moreover, to demonstrate ethicality, one needs to be honest in nature and function as per
ones value system and integrity
Answer to Question 3: Ways to improve professionalism and ethical conduct
In order to improve one`s professionalism and ethical conduct the following needs to be
done:
Joining a professional trade association: The group can be joined and it should be such that it
portrays ethical conducts and thereby provides room for improvement. Gaining affiliations in
these cases can help in the future.
Read books on ethics: There are a wide range of books available for the different individuals to
read and learn from (Niebuhr, 2013). Hence, one should read these books to improve their
ethical conduct. Learning from the examples in these exercises helps in gaining professional
knowledge.
Planning for ethical challenges: Planning for the ethical challenges is important and hence, as an
individual one should lay down a list of challenges that are ethical in nature and may be faced by
him in future (Sorokin, 2017). This planning provides an opportunity to the individual to think
about their actions which would make the situation correct and ensure long term success.
Searching for a peer group: Forming a crucial peer group within the organization or outside the
organization is very crucial as it helps in sharing of ideas and attaining feedback. These members
will freely discuss various issues and provide solutions for the same.

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References
Carroll, A., & Buchholtz, A. (2014). Business and society: Ethics, sustainability, and
stakeholder management. Nelson Education.
Crane, A., & Matten, D. (2016). Business ethics: Managing corporate citizenship and
sustainability in the age of globalization. Oxford University Press.
DesJardins, J. R. (2014). An introduction to business ethics. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Niebuhr, R. (2013). Moral man and immoral society: A study in ethics and politics. Westminster
John Knox Press.
Peters, R. S. (2015). Ethics and Education (Routledge Revivals). Routledge.
Sorokin, P. (2017). Social and cultural dynamics: A study of change in major systems of art,
truth, ethics, law and social relationships. Routledge.