Ethics in Business

1. Ethics in Business MGM4136

3. Definition of Ethics • Ethics refer to a body of principles or standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups. • Business ethics means a form of the art of applied ethics that studies ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in business environment. It deals with issues concerning the moral and ethical rights, duties and corporate governance between a company and its shareholders, employees, customers, media, government, suppliers and dealers. Thus, ethics plays important roles in the business activities

4. Importance of Ethics in Business • Ethics is important not only in business but in all aspects of life because it is the essential part and the foundation on which the society is build. Moreover, organization's culture has sets standards for determining the difference between good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair in business world.

5. Importance of Ethics in Business • Some management guru emphasized that ethical companies have an advantage over their competitors. “Consumers are used to buying products despite how they feel about the company that sells them. But a valued company earned a kind of customer loyalty most corporations only dream of because it appeals to its customers more than a product,” said Cohen and Greenfield.

6. Importance of Ethics in Business • Ethics need to be high on the list for organizations because it will lessen total negativity within the organization and encourage the performance from both the managers and employees. Furthermore, ethics can be understood as important to the individual because the individual's reputation is on the line, and from this ongoing positive reputation, success and personal satisfaction will be the results.

8. Ethical Issues in Business • 1/Social responsibility that a business is supposed to have towards the community. For example, the Exxon Mobil oil spill. It is the responsibility of the business to protect the interests of the people, animals and environment where it uses resources. It became public relations nightmare for the company due to improper handling of the issue. Now, Exxon has been ordered to clean up the area which it should have taken care not to damage in the first place. If there is indifference to business ethics in this case, it will cause negative public image for the company and a huge lawsuit.

9. Ethical Issues in Business • 2/ Inter-company dealings and negotiations. Rivalries in business often can turn ugly due to the amount of money and ego riding on them. For example of

10. Ethical Issues in Business • 3/ Stakeholder protection. Every business has stakeholders other than its owners – the employees, the stockholders and the general public. They have to ensure that the rights and interests of all of these groups are adequately protected in the course of its operations. For example, the harassment and bad working conditions of employees in Wal-Mart led to the generation of a lot of negative press about the outsized department store. This gives the opportunity to the rival to get ahead while the company is busy trying to do some damage control

11. OTHER CASES- EXAMPLES • OTHER CASES IN THE FOLLOWING SLIDES • STUDENTS MUST SEARCH SIMILAR CASES AND GET THE FULL DETAILS

12. KUALA LUMPUR: BekasTimbalanPengarah 1 JabatanImigresen, Yusof Abu BakardidapatibersalaholehMahkamahSesyendisini, Khamis, terhadap 14 pertuduhanmenerimarasuahberjumlah RM121,500 bagimeluluskanlanjutan pas lawatanwarganegara China. Thursday, 22 December 2011 : The director of Golden Rome SdnBhd  namely Thang Ying Tiong (‘accused’) was found guilty under section 132 (1) of the Companies Act 1965 for using another company TYT Resources SdnBhd to recover debts owed to Golden Rome SdnBhd and had subsequently used the monies received for the benefit of TYT Resources Sdn Bhd. Evidence adduced in the course of the trial shown that the accused is the shadow director of TYT Resources SdnBhd where he is in charge of the daily operation and management of the company.

13. SHAH ALAM, Feb 18 — The Sessions Court here today sentenced two directors of a company to six years’ jail and four strokes of the cane each after finding them guilty on two counts of cheating a managing director of another company of RM1.5 million three years ago. Judge M. Bakri Abdul Majid handed down the sentence on MohdRozianMdYunus, 50, and MohdFaarisMohdYusof, 46, after finding that the defence had failed to raise reasonable doubts on the prosecution’s case. KUALA LUMPUR, 10 Ogos (Bernama) -- Perbuatansegelintirpemanduteksimenipu meter tambangketikapenggunasedangberhadapandengankossarahidupsemakinmeningkat, harusmembukamatasemuapihakuntukbertindakmengatasimasalahini.Perbuataninibukansahajamencemarkanimejperkhidmatanteksimalahmenimbulkantandatanyamengenaipiawaian meter teksidanpenguatkuasaanterhadappemanduteksisedemikian.

14. PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - A Scappoose woman has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for bank larceny. A U.S. District Court handed down the sentence to 35-year-old Jade Carnahan on Monday. Carnahan was the operations manager at the Rivergate Federal Credit Union on N. Ramsey Boulevard in Portland. In that capacity, she had access to customer account information. The court found Carnahan guilty of embezzling more than $400,000 from the bank vault and customer accounts for her own personal use. The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a food safety incident in the People's Republic of China, involving milk and infant formula, and other food materials and components, adulterated with melamine. By November 2008, China reported an estimated 300,000 victims,[1] with six infants dying from kidney stones and other kidney damage, and an estimated 54,000 babies being hospitalised.[2][3] The chemical appeared to have been added to milk to cause it to appear to have a higher protein content. In a separate incident four years before, watered-down milk had resulted in 13 infant deaths from malnutrition.[4]

15. MALAYSIA – Chicken is widely eaten by many and claims that the birds are being coloured yellow using a dye is worrying.Sometraders claim that consumers are being duped by chicken sellers into believing that the plucked yellow chickens are the kampung variety when they are actually farm-bred.However, the more serious issue was the Aniline dye being used in the colouringprocess.Anilinedye is normally used to colour leather and woodworks.Thosewho regularly buy chicken would have noticed that some plucked chickens are more yellow in colour than others.

16. Conclusion • The ethical issues in business have become more complicatedbecause of the global and diversified nature of many large companies. Moreover, because of the complexity of economic, social, global, natural, political, and legal and government regulations and environment, hence the company must decide whether to adhere to constant ethical principles or to adjust to domestic standards and culture.