Ethics and social responsibility

Posted: November 29th, 2013

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Ethics and social responsibility

Ethics and social responsibility are important element in the success of a business. Ethics consist of how all stakeholders in a business should conduct themselves. Social responsibility is part of ethics. A business should take responsibility of its operations. This mainly applies to where the community is involved. Ethics must be applied when the business is interacting with its environment. In the modern business world, ethics and social responsibility is mandatory requirement. Business activities will run smoothly if these two elements are always there. Having ethics and social responsibility is a way of advertising the company or business. When clients learn about the good conduct, they will be loyal to the business and attract others. It is important to note tat advertisement by word of mouth is effective and fast.

Ethics can be implemented by use of code of ethics. Organizations should formulate policies regarding this issue. It will benefit both the management and the employees in general. Some of the benefits include dictating the conduct of members in the organization. The management will not have to describe to every individual what to do. In case of ethical dilemmas, members will use the code of ethics as reference in making decisions. Ethics enhance relationships among members and other external stakeholders like customers. Clients and suppliers appreciate dealing with loyal and honest people. There should be consequences of defying ethical policies. It will make members of the organization to adhere to ethics.

Social responsibility mostly involves actions, which benefit or protect the community. The actions depend on the nature of the organization and its activities. A good example is an oil mining company. They should rehabilitate land after mining activities. Those companies using wood as raw materials, they should fell trees then plant others as soon as possible. This is a benefit to the company as well as the environment. Other companies participate in community development like sponsoring events. For example, Companies like Nike and others have been sponsoring Olympics for many years. Coca cola sponsored World cup in the year 2010. It is a law requirement for business to be socially responsible. This mostly addresses activities, which are a risk to the environment. For instance, companies emitting toxic gases should neutralize them before releasing into the atmosphere. A certain cruise ship leaked oil in the ocean and tried to cover up in their records. This is an act of irresponsibility and when the offense was discovered, the management was fined.

Knowledge in ethics and social responsibility is important to students because they will use it in future. The knowledge will be utilized when students become professional in the business world. Some of them will be business owners or members of board. They can introduce a culture of ethics and social responsibility if it will not be in their organization. Such a culture will remain in the business or company. Other colleagues will learn important values in these two fields, which they will also adopt. Learning about these two topics will contribute greatly to success in the corporate world. Knowledge in ethics and social responsibility will enable the learners to observe the law in future. Some business laws require business to be socially responsible and ethical. All business and company should be ethical and socially responsible because there are many benefits accrued to it.