Importance of Ethics Over Law in Business Practices for BCL101

The essay explores the critical relationship between ethics and legality within business contexts. It argues that while businesses must operate legally, ethical considerations often carry more weight than legal compliance alone. The essay highlights scenarios where actions can be lawful but unethical, such as terminating an employee without notice despite contractual terms, which may harm livelihoods and morale. Additionally, it addresses activities that are both illegal and unethical, like workplace bullying, which negatively affects mental health and organizational productivity. Through references to scholarly works, the essay emphasizes that prioritizing ethics leads to inherently legal behavior, as ethical practices encompass ideal standards that laws aim to codify. Ultimately, businesses striving for excellence must consider ethics alongside legality to ensure positive outcomes.

Running Head: BUSINESS AND CORPORATION LAW 0
Ethics V. Legality
7/4/2019
Student’s Name

Ethics V. Legality
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Every business organization requires conducting the business activities in a legal manner.
Nevertheless, this will be wrong to state that law is everything and leaders can do any unethical
actions if the same is a legal one. Ethics is equally or sometimes more important than law. Law is
developed in a standard manner and implications of the same to a particular situation can create
unethical situation. This is the reason that at time of conflicts, ethics should be given more
importance in comparison to law.
Unethical actions also seek much attention because employee does not have any option to
bring actions against management in cases of such incidents in general, whereas action can be
initiated against illegal actions. Further, such unethical incidents reduce morale of employees.
This is to state that only these actions are there which creates difference between a good and in a
bad organization; therefore to be ahead in competition one needs to look upto ethics (Su, 2014).
When an organization would follow good and ethical practice, law will be followed
automatically because law is nothing but a bunch of idol practices.
There are some actions, which is legal but does not seem to be ethical. The very first
example of such action is firing an employee without serving a notice period may be legal, under
an employment contract but the same is an unethical action which directly affect living hood of
an employee and his/her family.
Further, sometime an action is unethical as well as illegal. For instance in almost every
country, workplace bullying at workplace is banned and treated an illegal activity. Nevertheless,
to say that in addition to being an illegal action it is also an unethical activity (Yamada, 2012).

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Bullying employees at workplace leave a deep impression on mental health of employees and
affect their efficiency as well as productivity of the organization in a negative manner. It spoils
their relationship with management.

Ethics V. Legality
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References
Su, H. Y. (2014). Business ethics and the development of intellectual capital. Journal of Business
Ethics, 119(1), 87-98.
Yamada, D. C. (2012). Emerging American legal responses to workplace bullying. Temp. Pol. &
Civ. Rts. L. Rev., 22, 329.