Ethique des affaires (document en anglais)

Introduction

- Definition

Ethics: The rules or standards governing the conduct of a person or a Group of individuals

Business ethics: Can be defined as the critical structured examination of how people and institutions should behave in the world of commerce and it is also an examination of ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that arise in a business environment; it involves examining appropriate constraints on the pursuit of self-interest, or (for firms) profits, when the actions of individuals or firms affects others.

- The major Ethical issues business people face

Are the cases in which the person or the organization doesn’t respect ethics while doing there business, and the problem with them is that they are not only routine and frequent but they are also becoming more widespread, some examples of these issues:

- Bribing powerful officials in order to get tenders accepted

- Bribing competitor employees to get informational leaks (it is a crime that is legally punishable in most countries today.)

- Gender discrimination, employee harassment, minority community participation (issues at workplace)

- Child labor

- Bad working conditions (like ignoring health safety and environmental standards)

- Forcing employees to work at below minimum wages, and sometimes violation of workers’ rights

- Some companies omit the details of the side effects of the use of their products on the environment including pollution, habitat destruction (place where human destroy the home of another) and urban sprawl (the spreading of a city or its suburbs)

- Animal tasting ( Make up Firms)

- Colluding with competitors to fix higher prices in order to earn market shares

- Deceptive advertising (the use of false statements in advertising.)

- Using women in the advertising in order to get the public attention and get more customers

- Making ethical choices all the time can be hard especially when the person can be losing out his business, but it is not a reason to violate other’s rights, business men and women should evaluate themselves from time to time, because if they only paid attention to maximizing profits and production, then they will cause great damage to Man and to environment. Looking at all the ethical issues in business and finding the optimal solutions for them, by taking well-thought out and rational decisions based on all possible parameters will help everyone, the society, the consumer, the environment and more importantly, The business.

- Ways to prevent ethical issues in business

- Create a Code of Conduct: it provides the employees and managers of the type of conduct and behaviors the company expects. It outlines what behaviors are unacceptable and what measures are taken if an employee violates the code of conduct.

- Lead by Example Employees look to business owners and managers for direction on how they should conduct themselves

- Reinforce Consequences Business owners should not tolerate their employees when they act unethically, referring to the code of conduct they should take the necessary measures

- Show Employees Appreciation: Showing appreciation to the employees for work well done on a regular basis to encourage loyalty.

- Welcome an Ethics Speaker: having an ethics trainer in the company, to discuss ethical behavior and explain why it is important in organizations, regardless of the size or industry.

- Hire for Values: the owners should hire employees who have the education and experience that prove they are skilled workers and also those who have ethical behaviors.

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- The owner of the company, should evaluate their dictions: by what we call « four way test »and should ask these following questions:

 Is my decision a truthful one?

 Is my decision fair to everyone affected?

 Will it build goodwill for the organization?

 Is the decision beneficial to all parties who have a vested interest in the outcome?

- Why is business ethics important

The importance of business ethics should be obvious throughout every area of the business. When a business is known for dealing honestly with all people,

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